Tundra Peregrine Falcon
Falco peregrinus tundrius White, CM, 1968
Photo © By USFWS photo - fuseaction=records.display&CFID=11899291&CFTOKEN=10439201&id=B553F510%2DE093%2D4388%2D97CE9CA9A2C51283, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2670880
Sub-species
STATUS
Alaska to Greenland.
OVERVIEW
These two records were admitted nationally (BOU 1971) but after a review this sub-species was deleted.
NOT PROVEN
0). 1891 Leicestershire & Rutland Newbold Verdon, immature, shot, 31st October, now at Mansfield Museum.
(W. R. Ogilvie-Grant, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 27: 103; Eds., British Birds 5: 219, 221, photo; Witherby, 1920-24; F. C. R. Jourdain, British Birds 26: 313).
[A. H. J. Harrop, British Birds 97: 130-133, plate 71 & 72; BOURC (2004), Ibis 146: 192-195].
History W. R. Ogilvie-Grant, Editor (1911) in the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club, Vol. XXVII. p. 103, at the 169th Meeting of the Club held on 14th June 1911 at Pagani's Restaurant, London, says: 'Mr. E. Bidwell, through the kindness of Mr. W. Whitaker, exhibited a very dark Peregrine (Falco peregrinus) which that gentleman had shot at Newbold Verdon, near Market Bosworth, Leicestershire, on the 31st of October, 1891. The bird, which was in its second-year's plumage, was blacker than any specimen in the National Collection. Mr. Ogilvie-Grant said that he had examined this Falcon and had no doubt that it belonged to the dark North American race which has been named Falco nigriceps, Cassin.'
In an Editorial (1912) in British Birds, Vol. V. pp. 219, 221, they say: 'At the meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club, held on June 14th, 1911, Mr. E. Bidwell exhibited a very dark Peregrine which had been shot by Mr. W. Whitaker at Newbold Verdon, near Market Bosworth, Leicestershire, on October 31st, 1891. This bird had been examined by Mr. W. R. Ogilvie-Grant, and pronounced by him to be an example of the North American race (Bull. B.O.C., XXVII. p. 103). By the kindness of Mr. Bidwell we are able to give a reproduction from a photograph of this specimen.
Concerning both birds, Dr. Ernst Hartert writes to us as follows: - "I have examined both specimens and consider both to be young Falco peregrinus anatum. They are too dark for F. p. peregrinus, and were recognized as something unusual by every observer. F. p. pealei (as the Americans call the north-western coast race) is a very closely allied form, the young of which are probably not distinguishable from those of F. p. anatum, but as it inhabits the Commander and Aleutian Islands and Pacific coast of North America south to Oregon, it is not as likely to stray over to Europe as F. p. anatum".'
F. C. R. Jourdain (1933) in British Birds, Vol. XXVI. p. 313, under 'The Whitaker Collection', says: 'In the collection there are also a number of rare British birds which have historical interest. Among them are the second recorded specimen of the American Peregrine (Falco p. anatum), shot at Newbold Verdon, Leicestershire, October 31st, 1891, but not recognized till 1911 (cf. British Birds, Vol. V. p. 219)...it is satisfactory to know that the Marshall Collection is now permanently housed in the Taunton Museum and the Whitaker Collection at Mansfield.'
After a review it was found to be no longer acceptable (BOURC (2004) Ibis 146: 192-195).
0). 1910 Lincolnshire Humberston Fitties, immature male, caught, 28th September, now in Natural History Museum, Tring (Acc. No. 1938.3.19.1).
(G. H. Caton Haigh, British Birds 5: 219; F. L. Blathwayt, Zoologist 1912: 62; Witherby, 1920-24; Lorand & Atkin, 1989).
[A. H. J. Harrop, British Birds 97: 130-133, plates 70 & 73; BOURC (2004), Ibis 146: 192-195].
History G. H. Caton-Haigh (1912) in British Birds, Vol. V. p. 219, says: 'On September 28th, 1910, a large falcon was netted by one of the men engaged in catching plovers at Humberstone on the Lincolnshire coast. It resembled a very large and dark-coloured Peregrine, and measured twenty inches in length, the wing being fourteen inches. I sent the skin to Dr. E. Hartert, who pronounced it to be an example of the American form of the Peregrine (Falco peregrinus anatum), which does not appear to have been previously recorded from any part of Europe. This form is given in the A.O.U. Checklist as breeding locally (except in the north-west coast region where Peale's Peregrine, Falco p. pealei, is found) from Norton Sound, Alaska, northern Mackenzie, Boothia Peninsula, and western -central Greenland south to central Lower California, Arizona, south-western Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut; winters from southern British Columbia, Colorado, and New Jersey to the West Indies and Panama, and occurs in southern South America. How this individual reached the English coast it is impossible to say, but being a bird of great powers of flight, its visit is perhaps no more wonderful than that of the many waders which reach us from the same continent.'
F. L. Blathwayt (1912) in The Zoologist, 4th series, Vol. XVI. p. 62, under 'Additions to the Birds of Lincs.', says: 'One obtained, Humberstone, Lincolnshire coast, September 28th, 1910. The first recognized capture of this species in Europe (G. H. Caton Haigh); see British Birds, Vol. V. p. 219.'
After a review it was found to be no longer acceptable (BOURC (2004) Ibis 146: 192-195).
