Several of us were watching the SCPBRG screen together tonight, when, for the first time in awhile, Clara showed up to take her sentry position on the ledge! I’d been missing that the last couple weeks.
I said to the others, She used to hop down from there in the night, once, and go into the nestbox. She would pace in there as if missing their babyhoods. (I didn’t add, but was thinking, and she would also often snuggle down in the far left corner for just a moment.)
Right after I said that, she did exactly those things. For no more than a minute. Then she flew lightly back up to her sentry position. (Let’s see, the kids have moved out, let’s measure that opening for curtains and put in new furniture, put the old up for a swap on Gravelry…)
But again, only for a moment. Hmm. She walked to the edge of the ledge, looked over, checked on her two fledglings on the louver down there, then walked back to her usual spot, which is, I think, just out of their sight–to avoid, I’ve been told, peregrine cries of Hey, Mom, we want a midnight snack!
They seemed to be doing okay more and more on their own and she had been keeping her distance of late. But for whatever reason, tonight, either they or she just needed that extra sense of presence: Mom’s here. All’s well.