In peregrine news: last week the two San Jose females accidentally bumped their brothers off the ledge early. Both got an elevator ride to the roof for a do-over and both are flying well now and getting past the stage of trying to grab the side of the building with their feet on the way down.
Today, the first female took a good flight herself and landed on an outside stairway. Then, as if she’d forgotten she’d just used these flappy flappy things attached to her and they’d actually worked, she walked–!–up five flights of stairs. Just like any baby can go up them before they can go down, but, still.
Later the last eyas finally flew, too. And she hiked up the stairs like her sister.
So far it looks like we will have all four survive this year.
The San Francisco trio (their fourth died early) are about a week behind ours.
And then an old friend shared a link to a peregrine cam in Salt Lake City today. Wait–this one’s in color and the image is sharper. And it has audio! More firsts on the list of things newly heard: babies screeching and parents soothing and I’d had no idea they sounded like the sounds that keep coming out of my speakers, I’d only ever heard the parents’ strident defending of their young mid-air. This is so different. Almost like a cat purring, at times.
It is amazing how many of the city sounds below the cam picks up, too, including, at one point, a siren going by.
Given where that cam is, if anybody calls for an ambulance in the building my parents now live in, if that cam’s running and that tab is open on my computer I’ll be able to hear it.
Who knew a peregrine falcon cam could play kind of a backup Life Alert for senior parents. Mind. Blown. (Oh hi, Mom! Hi, Dad!)