I fledge allegiance to the clouds
Wednesday May 19th 2010, 10:07 pm
Filed under: Wildlife

Or at least they’re flapping their wings and fluttering around making plans for the party. The ground crew has gathered below with binocs and a sun tent and, I am told, much chocolate to celebrate the eventual liftoffs. And, I assume, a box and water, if you read last year’s story in that link about the rescue.

There was some excitement I missed this morning: Clara fighting off a Golden Eagle. You stay away from my babies!

The peregrines’ nest area is at the top of a multi-stories-high HVAC enclosure.  It has about a four foot high ledge along their runway and low ledges at either end, one side of which is now blocked off by the nextbox.

The previous years’ box had room at the sides for the juveniles to get past it and to look out precariously at the city lights below, where likely no one would see them tumbling in the dark.  It was replaced at winter equinox, the time least likely to disturb the parents.  They inspected the new after some protesting at installation and found it acceptable.

Maya and Kekoa, our surviving juvies, have to stray from the comfort of home and all the way to the far end of their enclosure if they want to read a book under the covers with the nightlights on. As far as I know, they haven’t.

I look at the top of the eyases’ world from those cameras and think, whoever did the cement work up there–if they only knew.  Always, always do your job well, for your own sake, even if nobody will ever know but you.  I’m sure they thought nobody on earth would ever see or care from the ground what this ledge was going to look like at 18 floors up.  They had no idea cameras would be trained right on their work every spring for weeks on end.  They had their chance to be stars!  A ledge-end in their own time! Instead, they decided that was for the birds. On the other hand, maybe the fact that the concrete is not well smoothed is a plus for the birds’ grip; I don’t know.

Putting that aside.  As usual, since Kekoa only had to grow to 2/3 the size of his sister, his featheration has been maturing faster. That boy wants to go! He flew to the upper ledge for the first time today and then raced up and down it: LOOK!!!  Did you even KNOW there were all those things down there?! This is just SO cool!!!

And yeah, he knocked a guarding-angel parent right off the wall in his eagerness.

There’s no flashlight reading going on tonight. They had a big day. They are zonked.

Meantime, the nest on the 33d floor of the PG&E building in downtown San Francisco had no surviving fledglings the last two years.  Yesterday, the first of their four took off into the air and he made it!  He flew again, to prove his point.  At last, a surviving new falcon.  There has been much cheering going on among their fans.

And to all a good night. It’s a big day ahead tomorrow and the next.


4 Comments so far
Leave a comment

I absolutely love reading about the falcon progress. Thanks for doing that each year.

Comment by Joansie 05.20.10 @ 6:27 am

so awesome, the circle of life renewed in this case extra amazing as mankind had nearly succeeded in snuffing it out

(I think we will never see such a happy ending in the Gulf)

Comment by Bev 05.20.10 @ 8:42 am

Hooray for the SF fledging(s)!! And go Clara. There’s no creature as ferocious as a mom protecting her young.

Comment by Channon 05.20.10 @ 9:54 am

I’m originally from Rochester NY and I watch their falcon cam (which used to be atop a Kodak building and now is elsewhere). A couple of babies have just hatched and there are two eggs (damaged?) left. So our spring is a ways ahead of New York’s!

http://rfalconcam.com/rfc-main/cameras.php

Comment by Deb 05.20.10 @ 4:37 pm



Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

(required)

(required)