Unusual bird stops near Marion for overnight stay
Up in the sky.
It's a bird.
It's a plane.
Oh. It is a bird.
But it's not just any bird.
Earlier this month, a Peregrine falcon from Antofagasta, Chile, roosted just three miles south of Marion, off Sunflower Road.
How do we know this?
The Falcon Research Group, based in Bow, Wash., caught and tagged the adult male falcon Feb. 28, 2007, in Chile and followed him, via computer, to the bird's nesting site on the south end of Baffin Island in Canada.
The bird flew to Chile last fall and then started its journey back to Canada around April 18, already logging 5,252 miles when he arrived in Marion County.
"We expect that he will return to the same nest site on Baffin," Bud Anderson said, the founding member of the Falcon Research Group and raptor biologist.
The falcon was named Sparrow King by researchers because he was a champion at catching sparrows. The group saw him catch eight sparrows while they observed the impressive bird.
The bird was tracked prior to his stop by Marion, noting that he flew 546 miles in two days, passing through Texas, Oklahoma, and then on to Kansas. The tracking device indicated that the bird is following the same route as last year but slightly more east. When the bird roosted, it was noted that Sparrow King was near Sunflower Road two miles south of Marion and west of U.S.-77, not far from the Cottonwood River.
"Sparky," as he is nicknamed by the research group, was in northwest Minnesota May 21, the last entry on the research team's web site, flying 95 miles in two days. Prior to that report, the falcon flew through South Dakota.
Falcon Research Group was founded by Anderson in 1985 in Bow, approximately one hour north of Seattle.
The group is committed to the conservation of birds of prey and believe that education is the best way for the birds to survive in the rapidly changing future.
It is a volunteer-based organization with approximately 1,000 members, the majority from Western Washington.
For more information and to track Sparrow King, go to www.frg.org. Click on "Field Research," go to the "Southern Cross Peregrine Project" and select "Sparrow King."
