{"id":19956,"date":"2015-02-12T05:26:06","date_gmt":"2015-02-12T12:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=19956"},"modified":"2026-03-14T07:36:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T12:36:36","slug":"a-utah-gyrfalcon-lifer-and-cruddy-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/02\/12\/a-utah-gyrfalcon-lifer-and-cruddy-photos\/","title":{"rendered":"Utah Gyrfalcon Lifer And Cruddy Photos"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FuzzyFuzzy fly by Gyrfalcon<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday was a bit exciting when Ron Dudley found a large falcon along the causeway to Antelope Island State Park. He did not know what the bird was.<\/p>\n

The Gyrfalcon first flew over us heading east and we turned around to try and catch up with it. When we got turned around and headed east after the bird I was able to get a better look at it and I knew (or was almost certain) that he had located a Gyrfalcon.<\/p>\n

\"NikonNikon D810 LCD Screen – Gyrfalcon<\/span><\/p>\n

After flying several miles the falcon landed on a mudflat and I was able to get some very long distance images of it then captured the blown up images on my LCD with my cell phone and sent them to my friend Jerry Liguori for his ID expertise. I was 95% certain of the ID but I really wanted to be sure. Jerry ID’d it as a juvenile Gray Gyrfalcon.<\/p>\n

The image above is a cell phone capture of my Nikon D810 LCD screen that shows just how tiny in the frame the gyrfalcon was after it took off from the mudflat.<\/p>\n

\"GyrfalconGyrfalcon – Way off in the distance<\/span><\/p>\n

And this is the image at 100% resolution, really crappy but enough to help with the ID though.<\/p>\n

\"GyrfalconGyrfalcon on the wing<\/span><\/p>\n

Ron did not send out an email to the UBIRD group, after some time I did and I got blasted by some birders because I didn’t send it out sooner.<\/p>\n

I didn’t find<\/em> the bird, it was pointed out to me. It was not MY<\/em> bird to report to anyone. The anger of the birders was misplaced as far as I am concerned.<\/p>\n

I advised Ron to report it to the records committee which he did later that day.<\/p>\n

The Gyrfalcon showed no signs of jesses or bands in any of my cruddy images so we don’t believe at this point that it is an escaped falconry bird. There are six previous records accepted by the Utah Bird Records Committee, the most recent of which was in 2001.<\/p>\n

This could be the seventh record of a Gyrfalcon in Utah, we will have to wait and see if it accepted. I hope the bird sticks around so that other people can see it. Me? Well I would love another chance with it to get much higher quality images of this feathered wanderer who comes from the frozen tundra of the far north.<\/p>\n

An exciting morning for sure! I came away with a Utah Gyrfalcon lifer and cruddy photos. I’d love to get more images of wild gyrfalcons in Utah but of much better quality! One day perhaps.<\/p>\n

Life is good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Gyrfalcon photos plus facts an information about this species.<\/p>\n

Update: The record was accepted and this became the seventh record of a Gyrfalcon reported in Utah.<\/p>\n

By the way, the light was horrible and the bird looks more brown than gray partly because of that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This could be the seventh record of a Gyrfalcon in Utah, we will have to wait and see if it accepted. I hope the bird sticks around so that other people can see it. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[511,27,2467,26],"tags":[431,4021,2663,3981,2469,4078,4279,4052,5389,2468,4071,153,1902],"class_list":["post-19956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-gyrfalcons","category-utah","tag-antelope-island-causeway","tag-bird-photography","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-davis-county","tag-falco-rusticolus","tag-falcon","tag-falcons","tag-flight","tag-gryfalcons","tag-gyrfalcon","tag-juvenile","tag-raptors","tag-rare"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/gyr-mia-mcpherson-1510.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-5bS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14416,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/02\/22\/white-gyrfalcon-yet-another-escaped-falconry-bird\/","url_meta":{"origin":19956,"position":0},"title":"White Gyrfalcon – Yet Another Escaped Falconry Bird!","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 22, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In the four and a half years I have been in Utah I have found, pointed out, and photographed four escaped falconry birds, one in 2009, and two in 2012.","rel":"","context":"In "American Kestrels"","block_context":{"text":"American Kestrels","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/falcons\/american-kestrel\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Gyrfalcon getting ready to lift off, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/gyrfalcon-ready-to-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-0398.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/gyrfalcon-ready-to-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-0398.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Next To The Great Salt Lake","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The bird that started my day was an immature Prairie Falcon at sunrise next to the Great Salt Lake and as the sun started to rise the falcon seemed to glow.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Prairie Falcon at sunrise next to the Great Salt Lake, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/prairie-falcon-sunrise-mia-mcpherson-4550.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/prairie-falcon-sunrise-mia-mcpherson-4550.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Falcon in snow, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/peregrine-falcon-snow-winter-mia-mcpherson-8305.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/peregrine-falcon-snow-winter-mia-mcpherson-8305.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/peregrine-falcon-snow-winter-mia-mcpherson-8305.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/peregrine-falcon-snow-winter-mia-mcpherson-8305.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":32022,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/11\/08\/a-peregrine-falcon-on-a-tumbleweed-perch\/","url_meta":{"origin":19956,"position":4},"title":"Peregrine Falcon on a Tumbleweed Perch","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I was delighted to have a minute or two with this immature Peregrine Falcon on a tumbleweed perch in northern Utah. It made my day.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Peregrine Falcon fluttering its wings on a tumbleweed, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/peregrine-falcon-tumbleweed-mia-mcpherson-7999.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/peregrine-falcon-tumbleweed-mia-mcpherson-7999.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/peregrine-falcon-tumbleweed-mia-mcpherson-7999.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/peregrine-falcon-tumbleweed-mia-mcpherson-7999.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4599,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/03\/06\/prairie-falcon-the-fun-keeps-going\/","url_meta":{"origin":19956,"position":5},"title":"Prairie Falcon ~ The Fun Keeps Going","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I have had an amazing time photographing Prairie Falcons (Falco mexicanus) since last fall. Since the ducks are no longer near the causeway to Antelope Island I have had a more difficult time locating them because they are now searching for their normal winter diet of Western Meadowlarks and Horned\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Prairie Falcon lift off #1, Antelope Island State Park in Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/prairie-falcon-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-6716.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/prairie-falcon-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-6716.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/prairie-falcon-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-6716.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/prairie-falcon-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-6716.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}