[cobirds] Gyrfalcon not seen as of early afternoon, Fort Collins (Larimer) on 1Feb2019

Scott Baily, yesterday's refinder of the gyr initially found at the landfill by Andy Bankert, and I went out to Reservoir Ridge Natural Area on the west side of Fort Collins between 9 and 11am this morning.  In some sort of dirty trick, sitting on a pole only two away from where the gyr was yesterday afternoon, was a Prairie Falcon.   After eliminating Red-tailed Hawk and under the influence of long distance and "want", both of us talked ourselves into the initial belief the Prairie Falcon was the gyr.  So did two other birders who viewed the bird independently.  Eventually we all came to our senses.  I put together this comparison graphic for the sake of anyone else who might be going out there as an aid to unnecessary heart rate increases, or worse, misidentifications/posts, etc.  Prairie Falcons are a full 6 inches shorter than a Gyrfalcon, but a lone bird can be tough to gauge.  Other differences are contained in the Power Point frame below.

Dave Leatherman

Fort Collins

PS - the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, with some difficulty, was seen at Grandview Cemetery today by Carl, John and Mark (all from Longmont), Dave Farmer from FC, and me.  In the southwestern corner of the cemetery, the double-trunked pine EAST of the light pole east of the golf course portapotty is its favorite hang (60-70% of way up the trunk), with the big cottonwood east of the pine being its default retreat (as are probably other places we don't know about).