david@star2.cm.utexas.edu (David Sigeti) (01/27/91)
I would like some help on identifying a bird of prey recently seen by my parents, who are not birders. They live about twenty miles north of San Diego in Rancho Bernardo. This is inland as well as north from S. D. They are in a retirement community but there is lots of open country around them. They recently had a bird of prey perch in their back yard. They describe it as having been a light brownish grey on the back, with a very light underside. They say that it looked very large. This might have been proximity -- it was very close to the window where they were watching. My father said that it had a verticle line on its face and when he looked at their old (second edition) Peterson's Field Guide to Western Birds and saw a picture of a Merlin, he said that it fit the facial pattern. He rejected the Kestrel. Of course, Merlins are small and pretty dark all over, although there are regional variations. The facial pattern is distinctive of falcons and should be easy for a non-birder to pick out. The second edition of Peterson's doesn't have a picture of the Prairie Falcon except in flight so my father can't check it out but that is my best guess. Both the new (third edition) Peterson's, which I have with me here in Texas, and the National Geographic Guide show San Diego as being within the range of both the Merlin and the Prairie Falcon but I don't know the birds in S. D. well enough to know how common the two species actually are there at this time of year. I would appreciate any help that anyone out there can give me, especially on the probability of seeing either a Merlin or a Prairie Falcon in that area in January. -- David Sigeti david@star2.cm.utexas.edu cmhl265@hermes.chpc.utexas.edu