Photo by Heather O’Connor
Tenth day of incubation and all is going well so far other than a couple of scrapes with a visiting tiercel that is very aggressive. Both north and south side falcons have splashed him a few times in the bay.
I spent most of the morning with Cleve Nash, our generous and talented photographer, whose photos appear all over our web site. Thank you, Cleve. We were in the north parking lot, about in the middle, with spotting scopes and cameras blazing, plastic peregrine on the roof of my Ford Escape when a nice looking young middle-aged woman said, “What are you trying to attract with that plastic bird?”
I answered, “People just like you, and, I think, it is working.”
We chatted a bit and she saw the female perched outside the eyrie and asked if her mother could have a look. Mom in her “golden years” stepped up to the spotting scope. Just then the male left the nest site and proceeded to mount the female.
Somebody yelled, ”They’re copulating.”
Granma now has a firm grip on the eyepiece and uttering, “Oh, oh, oh!”
The daughter standing behind her says, “What’s wrong Mom?”
Mom said, “Nothing, I think, I just saw them do it.”
The daughter said “Do what?”
Mom said, ”You know.”
Daughter said “Really?”
Anyway, Granma went back to the car to tell Granpa.
A little while later, the daughter came back and said her Mom knew just what was going on, but didn’t see a penis. I explained to her it was a cloacal kiss* unlike ducks and geese who have phalluses.
Happy trails, Bob
*Cloacal copulation: The passing of sperm between male and female vents.
