Did a peregrine falcon really drop in on Marlan "Hawk" Haakenson?

Haakenson, owner of Hawk's Pit Stop on Memorial Highway who lives in a nearby home, ranged through a series of identifications on the raptor he spotted Monday.

First he thought it was a fake bird, something designed to scare away other birds.

"Then it moved," Haakenson said Tuesday, "and I thought it was a hawk. I got a good look at it, and it was pecking away at a dead pigeon."

"Hawk" invited some people to look at the hawk in back, and one observer suggested the bird might be a falcon.

"I went through a bird book, and (the bird) is identical to the peregrine falcon I saw in the book," Haakenson said. The only problem was the book's range map didn't put peregrine falcons anywhere or anytime in North Dakota.

"It had a dark, blackish head on it, a mask around the eyeballs and dark eyes," Haakenson explained. "I could see it really good, it was 10 or 12 feet out the back window."

"It's believable," said longtime birder Dan Svingen, co-author of "Birding North Dakota."

Although peregrines are considered to be rare for North Dakota in the winter and uncommon in spring and fall, Svingen guessed the peregrine is a late migrant, heading south for a winter stay on the Gulf Coast.

No peregrines were counted during Bismarck's annual Christmas Bird Count, but Svingen said he saw peregrine falcons in the Bismarck area this past fall. And nesting peregrine falcons and their offspring were the subjects for a Web cam that was set up in Fargo this summer.

"It's fun to hear about, and it's very credible," Svingen said.

The National Geographic "Field Guide to the Birds of North America" says peregrine falcons are 16 to 20 inches long, with a black crown and nape, and a "black wedge extends below eye, forming a distinctive helmet."

Haakenson said his wife, Barb, feeds birds in their back yard, but Haakenson doesn't consider himself a birder.

His sighting now leaves him wondering if other raptors he's seen "swooping around" in recent years might have been peregrine falcons.

"We called them sparrow hawks," he said, "but it seems like I did see a bird that might have been the same thing (as a peregrine falcon) eating on a sparrow-sized bird."

Although he hasn't seen this bird since Monday, Haakenson is prepared if it returns.

"I have my camera on the kitchen counter," he said. "If I see it again, I will try to get a picture snapped."