As I was driving home from Scott's Meats, I saw a raptor fly into a tree beside Morrow road. I thought it was a mature cooper's hawk, possibly setting up a nest, so I slowed and had a look in the tree as I drove by. I was surprised to see malar stripes (only found on falcons) so I stopped and put on my four way flashers to have a look. On second inspection - what I could see through all the branches with my bare eyes - it almost looked like a lanner falcon (native to africa but flown by falconers in the lower mainland). Then I knew I needed a real look and went to get my camera and long lens. These are two of the shots I got through the branches, they are not bad but you will have to excuse the excessive editing and cropping (shadows, highlights, sharpening and cropping all in Picasa). It is definately a juvenile peregrine falcon, but the paleness of the head and breast, as well as the narrowness of the malar stripes (lines that look like they come down from the eyes/corner of the mouth) almost make me think it is a tundra subspecies. But I suppose it could just be a very pale individual.
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