Quattro Falco: Part II

Back in June, I posted a photo of four juvenile American kestrels (Falco sparverius Linn.) that I sighted on a utility pole behind my house. December was another four-falcon month, only this time it was four species, rather than just four siblings.

During this most-recent 31-day period, I was finally able to get my field glasses on a pair of peregrine falcons (F. peregrinus Tunstall), a merlin (F. columbarius Linn.) and just yesterday, a prairie falcon (F. mexicanus Schlegel). Add these to the near-daily sightings of what are likely a few of the same American kestrels from the prior photo, or at least one or both of their parents, and I have all four of the falcons I could reasonably expect to see in eastern Pima County. It does, however, make me wonder what other diurnal raptors I might have seen were I to have traveled.

Nevertheless, the four falcons are among the 78 bird species I sighted in, over, or at some distance from my house during 2007. Further, that's 78 of the 84 species I've been lucky enough to see (and ID correctly, I hope) since moving here in autumn 2003. I'm looking forward to more "big sits" in 2008, though I do need to remember to: (a) bird somewhere other than in my front yard from time to time; and (b) more than occasionally ride a bicycle.

Oh, and Happy New Year!