Even more Peregrine

The Peregrine is still around the Marathon building, and once again, showing that I have the inability to see it in good light!
I was able to briefly talk to a Marathon employee (Dennis, I think) and the impression I gathered from him was the workers were excited about this falcon's presence.

Peregrine

The peregrine was found again around 5PM Friday. Its favorite perch appears to be nar the top of the building close to the North-east Corner. If I can ever get there when there's decent light, there might be some decent opporitunities for pics.

Pergrine Falcon, Marathon Building, Findlay

Based upon a tip from Betty Hardesty, I spotted a Peregrine Falcon this afternoon around the Marathon building in downtown Findlay. Apparently this bird has been seen on-and-off my Marathon employees most of the winter. One can hope that eventually there'll be a nesting attempt. This would also explain the noticeable decline in Rock Pigeons in Findlay this winter!
I found this bird twice in the space of an hour. Once it was perched on an eighth flood window ledge on the south-facing side of the main building, and once on a pole on the far eastern side of Marathon.
Shortly after these shots, the Pergrine took off, heading SE over the YMCA and heading towards Eagle Creek. Parking in mid-day can be a bit tricky at times around the Marathon Building, but there is some public spots on Beech St between Lincoln and Hardin Streets.


And a couple of zoomed in:

Dark Red-tailed Hawk near Oakwoods

Not a new species, but interesting nonetheless, I saw a very dark Red-tailed Hawk on Monday just NE of Oakwoods Nature Preserve, on TR 144 just outside Findlay, OH


This bird was first seen about 4:40PM perched at the very top of a pole. It was rather skittish for a Red-tail Hawk, and wouldn't tollerate someone out of a car. This and the overall lighting conditions made not the best shots but good enough.


I talked to Jeff, a former Hawk Watch volunteer, who in turned talked to yet another Jeff (Shultz) in Michigan who is rather excellent in hawk i.d. They both thought this was a Western Red-tailed Hawk, or some form of Western and unknown integrade.

No clear shots of the breast but it was a very thick and dark band. It appeared to simply have a whitish throat, with a bit of white near the legs.

I'd appreciate any thoughts or comments.

Horned Grebe on the Blanchard

Hello, there
A Horned Grebe was seen this afternoon on the Blanchard River, roughly 100yds west of I-75.
This winter plumaged individual was swimming with the wintering Pied-billed Grebe. Also present was a Great Blue Heron, as well as the omni-present Canada Geese and Mallards.

Tough walking; good birding Saturday.

Saturday morning found Jeff L., his friend Jeff, and myself birding at Camp Berry. Very cold, single digits to start, perhaps 10 to 15 below wind chill. We walked primarily along the Lone Scout Trail, which roughly follows SR 68. We were obviously the first people to walk this trail in a while; the snow was untouched and up to 18 inches deep. We got a workout birding!
Our primary goal was to search for crossbills, and we were largely unsuccessful. A brief listen of a couple White-winged call notes and that was it.
We had good birding otherwise. Probably 30 Pine Siskins, at least as many Cardinals. White-throat and White-crowned Sparrows were found along with several Golden-crowned Kinglets and a Yellow-rumped Warbler. Four Wild Turkeys were also seen. The "odd" bird was a Turkey Vulture seen soaring. There was a dilapidated barn near where the vulture was seen, I guess that is where it's been staying.
With luck, I hope to hit Camp Berry, west section, either Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon.