Peregrine advocates,
Here's another Peregrine Falcon reference from Ohio's past. Ohio Native American knowledge of falcons is cast in stone, well, carved in stone, in this example. Follow this link to see this Stone-falcon, an effigy pipe interpreted as a stylized peregrine, collected long ago in southern Ohio, carved from a lump of "pipestone" mined from Ohio's most celebrated source for this material, Feurt Hill, near Portsmouth, Ohio in Scioto County.
http://www.explorehistory.org/cds/March/materials/act25.htm
Of course, this effigy does not establish the peregrine as a native Ohio breeding bird. Peregrines migrate and so do people. Native American Ohioans traded widely and Feurt Hill pipestone was a trade item. Native Americans travelled widely on land and water using the Ohio River and its tributaries and a vast network of "highways" so they could have seen peregrines elsewhere. I'm sure these magnificent falcons inspired the first peoples of Ohio Country, then, just as they inspire modern Ohioans, today.
Tom Bain
The Central Ohio Clayey Till Plain
Delaware County
-----Original Message-----
From: Ohio birds [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Tom Bain
Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 2010 10:21 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [Ohio-birds] Stone-falcon
More for peregrine fans and history buffs,
I've seen Kathi's resource (thanks, Kathi) and others too, from Charlevoix (early 1720's) to Audubon using confusing nomenclature later interpreted variously by different workers. Stone-falcon has been interpreted as Merlin and peregrine, both, I have concluded. Of course, we can't be certain from this single note or from a collection of similar notes that peregrines belong on Ohio's breeding list. We cannot be certain because our earliest recollections are very limited and are not generally accepted as reliable, and because there has been a long confusing nomenclature evolution with multiple cultural influences. I encourage readers to discover the old stuff and enjoy the reading and the confusion. Many observers offer a list of birds and by process of elimination, you will decide for yourself which is which and which are fanciful. Aside: Samuel Eliot Morrison's "Northern Voyages" describes fanciful accounts of living mammoths described by lost sailors wandering the Southeastern US in the 16th Century! Charlevoix recounts native traditions of an elk (meaning moose--that nomenclature thing again) equipped with a floppy snout longer than a man's arm and with fingers at the tip--sounds like an elephant to me--real--fanciful, cultural memory? Both early writers offer us notes about our birds, too (Begin your exploration with easy ready; John Bakeless, http://www.amazon.com/America-Seen-Its-First-Explorers/dp/0486260313/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1279115947&sr=1-3
Peregrine Falcons using limiting landscapes mainly used ecotones such as lake shore and riparian corridor to ply their trade where tall bluffs and cliffs afforded long views of passing prey and gravity-protected nest ledges. These were not common places in Ohio, then or now, but we have a few. If I can find it, I will post a note about the "hawk'O the rocks" (something like that) found on "Hanging Rock", a 400 foot relief sandstone exposure overlooking the Ohio river near Ironton, Ohio, recorded in the early "Ironton Register". One Reverend John Kelly, an early pioneer, before the iron industry changed the ecology of the Hanging Rock Iron Region, offered his interviewer a list of familiar bird species and gives us the "hawk'O the rocks" to contemplate--peregrine--Merlin? I dream of a native Ohio Duck Hawk ripping through currents of riparian wind, a dull thud and puff of fine green feathers, a down-loop and grasping of the hammered Carolina Parakeet followed by a bee-line carry to Hanging Rock, and a "kakking" response from a large female peregrine on feeble downy young on a sandy Ohio ledge--never again.
The peregrines plying their trade in our urban 'heat islands' today are an unholy mix of subspecies (including European blood, according to my peregrine research friends) unlike our original large eastern subspecies. Our original "duck hawk" is lost in time like tears in rain, Thanks to DDT and a consuming obsession with mosquito-free living during the 1950's and 60's. Today's mixed birds behave differently, too. Nevertheless, I get calls from dear friends annually about the return of "their" peregrines. They become excited about all birds when they win a glace of a stooping heat island peregrine. That's important!
Tom Bain
The Central Ohio Clayey Till Plain
Delaware County, Ohio
-----Original Message-----
From: Ohio birds [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kathi Hutton
Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 2010 8:46 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [Ohio-birds] Stone-falcon
I was fascinated by Tom Bain's historic reference to a bird pf prey referred to as a stone-falcon: "Of other birds of prey, there are to be found here the hawk, the stone-falcon, that remains near the rocks..." and did a little Google search. From what I read, Stone falcon is an old British term for Merlin, not Peregrine. I found it at this site: http://www.birdforum.net/archive/index.php/t-6640.html along with a number of other out-dated bird names, including Wood Pie, Summer Snipe, and Windhover.
~Kathi Hutton
Clermont County, SW Ohio
Visit me at:
http://katdocsworld.blogspot.com/
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Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.
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