“Simone” Photo by Cleve Nash
A lot of nice people were visiting Morro Bay over the four day holiday. Many were able to see the “tall ships” do battle outside the bay and many saw the falcons for the first time in their lives. A few of the lucky ones saw them breeding. You can’t imagine the comments from people who don’t know each other gather around a couple of spotting scopes when all this sex is taking place. How is it that people can talk for twenty minutes about a fifteen second interlude? The tiercel is still bringing her prey items either from stash sites or fresh kills and receiving sexual favors from her in return. Does this sound familiar?
While it was so busy and crowded in Morro Bay, Cleve Nash, a photographer who doesn’t care for crowds, took a short drive up the coast from his home north of here to San Simeon. It’s a cove with a beach and a pier that was used to offload materials and artifacts for William Randolph Hearst’s castle. In the parking lot, Cleve noticed a female peregrine in a pine tree. She flew to a pole where he noticed the unusual coloration around the mustache which connected to the sideburn, forming a circle. Cleve didn’t remember seeing this bird even though there are a few along that part of the coast.
I said “Call her ‘Simone.’”
Cleve said “I don’t know about that. My wife didn’t mind too much about my seeing “Doris” in Baywood, “Judy” in Morro Bay and “Shelly” in Pismo, but “Simone” just has a different ring to it.”
Happy trails, Bob
