4 May 2020
The first hour of my morning, I normally stop on the north side of Morro Rock and set up by the Rock Monument hoping to get a look at the chicks that haven’t made their appearance yet, but all I ever see is the adult female standing at the mouth of the “Cathedral Hole” looking back into it. So I get bored and go over to the south side to watch the new young pair. They’re usually more active.
After an hour of nothing there, one of my cronies, Jim Zuur, shows up and says, “I just saw a downy chick come to the edge of the “Cathedral Hole” and defecate!’
“Are you sh…ting me?” Right then I packed up and headed back to the north side. Twenty minutes and nothing, but the female in the same place. Two more of my compadres show up, Gordon and Mike, and I relay the chick sighting.
Gordon says, “ I’m going over to the back of the parking lot so I can see farther back into the hole.”
I said, “Give me a call if you see anything.”
I’m about 250 yards from the hole. They are about 550 yards from the hole, but can see back into the nest. Fifteen minutes goes by, no call, no nothing. They’ve got to be seeing something. I pack up and head over to where they are. Gordon has an 8x monocular and Mike has 8x binoculars.
“Put up the scope, Bob! We’ve got chicks,” says Gordon.
With the Swarovski 95mm on 70x we have three downy chicks. Gordon is hogging the scope looking for the fourth chick that he had predicted in January.
“It could be in there. We’ll know in a few days.”
Happy trails, Bob
Love your post and thank you for all the work you all do in supporting the Peregrine Falcons.
Thanks, Sam. We love to have regular followers and visitors just like you.