news flash!it's official: yesterday morning the audobon society declared that the peregrine falcons have returned to a nesting site (somewhere near here).
i was on my way tot he mountain for some morning skiing and on my way i came across a couple of people standing in the road with spotting scopes.
now, i have been birderwatching before, so i recognize the look. and quite frankly if something interesting is going on i will pull over and ask about it.
it's kind of a way of life for me.
so i got to talk with the nice lady from the audobon society and her associate, and i got to look through their very nice spotting scopes.
a peregrine falcon is an impressive bird, and it is super cool to see the male bring lovely gifts of freshly dead stuff to the female.
so the cliff is closed to climbers until the chicks hatch.
3 comments:
If it’s generally known that the birds are nesting is there any danger of egg collectors sneaking in?
Round here the rare birds’ nest sites are kept secret for just that reason.
i do not believe there is danger of egg collectors. i have never even heard of such a thing.
but each year they post signs on the trail system telling people to stay away from the cliffs during nesting season.
it is no easy thing to get to a place from which you can climb down to place climbing gear, and i wouldn't think the one nest would be of all that much interest.
i could be wrong.
and yet they publish it, so there's apparently widespread failure to be worried about this.
While peregrine egg theft is more common in Europe, it's a concern here in the US as well. Their sale is quite lucrative...some unscrupulous falconers here and big business in the middle east...google saudi falcon hospital.
I am a falcon watcher, mostly of the pairs at boxes placed on buildings & bridges. There's a natural cliff nest not too far from where I live in NY. The climbing trails are closed but they absolutely do not publish any hint of where to find it. Just too much risk of theft.
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