Found this on an absolutely amazing site to watch: www.explore.org
So many webcams to watch....even, Manitoba Polar Bears!!!
Highly recommend to check it out!
hope this link works... it's from a webcam in Churchill!
https://youtu.be/sg_Em-KW21U
Ms Roper has captured a whack of great videos from live cams in Churchill and other northern locations including Alaska. Not sure where her falcon video was taken however, from what I've seen from the cam riggings on the polar bear cams, I haven't seen one like the one in her "visitor" video - makes me wonder if it is at another site - not the Churchill Northern Studies Centre either, so far as I know, since their expansion, they don't have a metal dome ... Allikat, have you seen this superstructure on any of the other cams you have visited? Or has anyone else?
Back to the bird, with all due respect to Ms Roper, her bird looks to me to be a dark morph Gyrfalcon not a peregrine. Gyrfalcons can range in colour from white to black, so it is an easy assumption to make. This bird looks to me to be one of the dark morphs, a brown morph in this case. Why? There are a few things that stick out for me:
- On the bird's head, the back of the nape is light-coloured which peregrines aren't, the light coloured crown though seen on some juvenile peregrines (we have a bunch of those in recent years) is more common on brown morph gyrs. There is a visible malar stripe but it isn't distinct like on peregrines and gyrs can have stripes that go from narrow & distinct to totally indistinct on both white and dark morph.
- The tail is longer than the wings whereas peregrine wings are noticeably longer than the tail - this bird's wings cross and the tips of the wings don't reach the end of its tail (I had to watch it a few time to confirm it) whereas peregrine wings cross and still the tips of their wings extend past the end of their wings.
- On the body, the back is more heavily speckled which is not the same as the colour on juvenile peregrines - the edges of the feathers are a lighter colour on the peregrines - on gyrs they have this speckling/edge markings are distinct on most morphs throughout their life. Having said that, remember that these birds have a wide range in colours so the basic patterns can range from distinct to indistinct as well.
- The bird overall is bigger (check out her other "visitor" video, that is a white morph gyrfalcon) and stockier than a peregrine. Use the square at the peak of the superstructure as a visual guide on the two videos. Peregrines are 14-19 inches in size - Gyrfalcons are 19 to 25 inches - given that the white bird is a Gyrfalcon and the brown bird is the same or almost the same size, it really is too large to be a peregrine.
- Can't tell if it is male or female though females (as I recall) are more often dark morphs than males. I can however say with more confidence that it is not a juvenile bird - juvenile gyrs have grey feet and cere. After a year, they are yellow. Peregrine chicks have the same thing but it changes from grey to yellow faster - it is related to what they eat. Falconry birds or birds in captivity can often have grey feet because of their diet which is one of the reasons rehabbers/falconers try to include a variety, particularly of more "wild" species. Its like flamingos - their pink feathers are due to the pigments in the organisms they eat - flamingos in captivity can got much paler so they get a special diet with carotenoid pigments to help them keep their feathers the colour they should be.
For those wanting to watch the cams Allikat found live, here is the link -
www.explore.org
