En route to my birding quickie at the convergence of Big Timber Creek into the Delaware River, my path crossed that of an old friend. He followed me to my routine vantage point. We chatted for a few minutes as I showed him the usual subjects including canvasbacks, common mergansers, and bufflehead.
As our conversation focused on my “goofy obsession” with birding, I turned it back on him by asking if he had ever seen a owl in the wild. From there, he was easily persuaded to undertake his first ever owl prowl. The next 20 minutes involved a short drive then a brief hike through a local nature preserve. It took him a little while to find the owl roosting in the evergreen nearby. His expression was priceless. He repeatedly gasped “he’s so cool.”
My mission for the day was clear - close the deal, turn him into a birder! I called my wife seeking a birding excursion extension. She readily granted permission before I even explained the whole situation. I turned to my still awed friend and asked, “ever see an eagle before?”
We promptly headed further south to the Manington Marsh in Salem County, a very reliable wintering eagle location in New Jersey. Instant success. We were greeted by more than a half dozen Bald Eagles of various ages along with Red-tailed Hawks and many Turkey Vultures. It was already a great day but then . . .
As we drove past several agricultural fields, we observed several Snow Goose carcasses littering the landscape. It struck me as a bit odd but we continued down the road. In a flash, a large raptor buzzed in front of the car like Tom Cruise’s famous tower fly by in Top Gun. I didn’t spill my coffee but did hit the brakes hard and pulled a quick U-turn.
The silhouette screamed falcon but the bird was much too large for the area’s relatively common American Kestrel. In fact, this bird appeared quite large by any falcon standards. It landed in the middle of a field and joined a Turkey Vulture feast on one of the goose carcasses barely a hundred feet away!
With the help of my scope, I became more intimate with the raptor than I ever dreamed possible. This bird was just not right. A uniformly brown back. Thick brown streaking. A faint moustache. A pale eyebrow. A really chunky bird. A crescendo of excitement started to run through my body. This bird was just too right!
As he lifted off, the lazy wingbeats cinched the identification - GYRFALCON.
Being primarily a Jersey birder, I had resigned my hopes of seeing this largest of falcons any time before retirement. The sequence of unexpected events that led to our being in the right place at the right time for this incredible sighting is the near epitome of serendipity.
I turned to my newly recruited part-time birding partner and gloated, “I can’t believe was just saw a gyrfalcon! Wasn’t he amazing?!?!”
His sincere retort went something like, “The brown bird was no big deal but weren’t all those vulture tearing apart the geese REALY cool!” The ride home gave ample time to explain the significance of our brush with our visitor from the arctic.
We have birded together on many occasions since that day. Whenever we’re around other birders, this perpetual neophyte turns to an unsuspecting innocent victim and spits out - “Have you ever seen a gyrfalcon in New Jersey? I have!”
Sometime somewhere someone is going to comeback at his rhetorical question with either a “YES” or a fist to the face. My guess is that he will be more surprised by the yes than the fist!
(originally posted Oct. 2006)
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