I got an email message today from Scott Baily today who lives on the west side of Fort Collins that contained a beautiful photo of a Gyrfalcon. It almost assuredly is the same individual found late last year by Andy Bankert at the Larimer County Landfill. The location of Scott's photo is Reservoir Ridge Natural Area, which is roughly 7 miles nnw of the landfill along the foothills. The pole in the picture is part of a powerline that crosses the foot trail that leads west from the RRNA parking lot on Overland Trail. This parking lot is on the west side of Overland Trail about a mile north of West Vine Drive. I would estimate the distance from the parking lot to the powerline at about a mile. The walking is flat. Although I don't normally go that far west when I am visiting to see/photograph the bobolinks that nest in this area in summer, Scott tells me the powerline is just east of where the two trails come together near the metal foot bridge over the irrigation ditch. If you go west from the parking lot, just key on the tall n-s powerline. It is the only one straight west of the parking lot. Scott first saw the bird at 2:30pm, went home got his camera and it was still there at 3:30. Nice refind, Scott!
Dave Leatherman
Fort Collins
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