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It looks like the Midnight/Noontime (Leavenworth, WA) birds didn't nest this year, at least in this area. The seasonal closure for these two rocks has been lifted early, effective immediately. At the Snow Creek Wall, two chicks fledged by mid-day on the 25th while the third was still at the eyrie. Be aware that the chicks are still weak flyers and you could encounter them anywhere along the wall, as well as their protective parents. Photo of the 2 chicks that fledged. Based on size comparison to the adult female who came in to deliver food we think that these are males.

New slide from just up-road from the 4th of July Trailhead, happened around noon today (Fri, 6/10/11). The road is blocked by mud and debris just past that. Barricades are up just past Bridge Creek Campground -- Icicle Road is now closed past that point. Access to Stewart/Colchuck Trailhead via 8-Mile/Mountaineer Creek Road is not affected. First photo showing the 1st lobe of the slide, second photo with a little better view of the 2nd lobe. I think there's a total of 3 - so far. More stuff came down about an hour ago.

Hi Ben, I do, but posting a picture on a forum such as this also makes the info available to people with less than good intentions. If you have a question on what routes it is near so as to avoid conflict, I can answer that, preferably by PM. Joseph: this is the first year I've found an eyrie low enough to see into. Usually we have to wait until they're big enough to start exercising their wings, or we count airborne birds after fledging and subtract 2 for adults. This is quite a treat!

The peregrines at Snow Creek Wall picked a really good spot this year, seems to be out of the way of anything popular to climb. If anyone does try an obscure route on the north end of the wall and encounters aggressive/defensive peregrine activity please let the USFS in Leavenworth know (509-548-2550). There are no climbing restrictions on the Snow Creek Wall at this time. Here's a picture of the 2 chicks that are visible, we got a head count today of 3 but will follow up in another couple weeks to see if there are any more.

Even though it isn't known if the birds are nesting yet (mainly due to a lack of funds for persistent monitoring efforts), the closure at Midnight and Noontime rocks did go into effect, as usual, on April 1. Closure posters were stapled up on April 5. If it turns out they fail to nest and the closure is lifted early word will go out through multiple venues, including this one.

I just got back from the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust annual member dinner. I talked to Bob Bugert (Executive Director) about your desires to possibly take on volunteer management of the park so that it can remain open. If y'all are serious about volunteering to take care of this park in the event it stays on the closure list, someone should contact him directly. He can help you get organized and possibly craft some sort of legal agreement. CDLT helped secure this property originally and are interested in seeing it stay open to public use. You can get his email address here: http://www.cdlandtrust.org/contact%20us.html phone: 509-667-9708

Today's update: "This fire in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness usually sends up smoke in the late afternoon & into the evening, after things have dried out a bit and the area heats up. There was some good smoke Friday eve, as it hit some fuel pockets. This fire also received moisture over the weekend. Not enough for a season ending event, but enough to slow it down. The fire has not burned to the lake - it was burning in an east-west pattern over the weekend. We guesstimated the acreage at 155 this a.m. and after flights, will know more. All trail closures remain the same. Reports will be "occasional" unless the fires begin making some runs, or smoke is noticeably present."

On the centerline in the Tumwater, between Swiftwater and Castle Rock, mid-day monday 8/16/10. Leavenworth.

Effective immediately, to protect nesting raptors and climbers The closure area includes these climbs: Champagne, Spring Fever, and Chicken on a Leash, as well as any unnamed climbs that share the wall where pitches 2 & 3 of Champagne are located. Climbs on the Main Wall/Shield and Central Areas remain open, as do climbs on Easter Tower and April Fool’s Tower. If, however, climbers find raptors behaving aggressively towards them on Easter & April Fool's tower, routes on those pinnacles will be closed as well for the safety of all those involved. The closure will last until July 31, unless monitoring reveals that fledging occurs earlier. If a change in the re-opening date occurs, updates will follow.

AlpineMonkey - the very small ticks you found are just a variation on the life stage. "These ticks have four stages in their life cycle: egg, larva, nymph, and adult. After the eggs hatch, each stage of tick must feed once to develop into the next stage. Ticks become infected while feeding on blood from an infected animal. After the tick develops into the next stage, the infection may be transmitted to humans or other animals during the feeding process. Both male and female ticks may bite humans but it is the females that are responsible for most transmission." These websites have more information: http://www.cdc.gov/ticks/transmission.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ixodes_scapularis The CDC site refers to them as blacklegged ticks, around here we call them deer ticks, same species.

I'm not sure why it was/would be, but I'm told it's open. And I'm told that there's a link on the website for recreation info including roads. To Methow Valley RD (north), go directly here: http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/oka/recreation/mvroadsn.shtml Thate link starts here: http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/oka/recreation/index.shtml Click on "Road Condition", then pick link for MVRD N or S, or Tonasket.

I'm not sure what point you're trying to make. The Act clearly says that STATES have the right to protect nests. A State Park is an agency run by the State, therefore they have the right to protect birds and their nests.

Even though the peregrine falcon is no longer a federally listed endangered/threatened species, it's still protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 which states, in part: SEC. 7. [16 U.S.C. 708] That nothing in this Act shall be construed to prevent the several States and Territories from making or enforcing laws or regulations not inconsistent with the provisions of said conventions or of this Act, or from making or enforcing laws or regulations which shall give further protection to migratory birds, their nests, and eggs, if such laws or regulations do not extend the open seasons for such birds beyond the dates approved by the President in accordance with section three of this Act. Which, of course, is not limited to giving the States the right to protect nests, so if the nest was on Federal land, those management agencies would do the same. I found a .pdf copy online some time ago, I'm sure if you googled it you can too if you want to read the entire act (it's only 4 pages).

A couple people have asked me: if the young have fledged, why is the wall still closed? Doesn't that mean they are gone from the area? Here is some additional info on falcon biology & behavior, for those of you interested: * No, they are not gone from the area. When we saw them on Wednesday they'd only gotten about 75' from Outer Space. We saw one fly, weakly, from this new spot to a tree on top of the wall. The other two stayed on this new ledge. They are still mostly walking around, getting around by hopping and flapping from ledge to ledge. * It takes them about 10 days (after fledging) to really get the hang of flying, mainly because their flight feathers and pectoral muscles are still growing. * In this time, they are likely to be perching anywhere on the wall that strikes their fancy or looks safe to land as they're running out of gas. This means they could be on any ledge, tree, or snag on any climbing route in the closure area, exhausted, as you approach. During this critical 10-day period, the parents have to bring food to the chicks. Disruption during feeding can delay development of full flight potential. * Until the young are strong enough to to safely avoid any unwanted (on their part) encounters, we're not sure how the parents will react to people climbing up towards their vulnerable chicks. * The wall is being opened only 8 days after fledging, partly because of the (nearly) complete lack of disturbance they've enjoyed so far. The parents have been able to hunt and deliver food without distraction, and the chicks feed and exercise in relative comfort and safety. The other reason is that we anticipate most of the climber traffic will arrive next weekend (10-11 days post fledging), and a mid-week opening seemed like a good way to reintroduce climbers to the birds. I'll be glad to send (or post) more information if anyone wants it. Thanks again for your interest and support.

So remember when I said it looked like there was a 5 day spread in age based on feather development? Well I was wrong, kind of, and I found out why. Male falcons mature faster than females, so at the same age the males will have more adult feathering. So the brown falcon is a male, and the two fluffier white ones are females. They fledged tuesday July 7th, sorry, no additional pictures (unless you wanna see falcon chicks at Drury Falls or the golden eagle chick on the Bridge Creek Wall - which is another topic I'll get to later). The closure will be lifted early (midnight July 14), so climb-on beginning July 15. Wenatchee National Forest, Conditions Report SCW Closure Poster An important FYI: the young are still dependent on their parents for food and will aggressively chase them in flight starting 10d post-fledging, up to 6 weeks post-fledging. For those of you new to the SCW in a post-fledging environment, you can expect a lot of vocalization as the young chase and beg for food, and some close fly-bys as you're on the wall. There shouldn't be any aggression to climbers from the parents - and if you experience any we would like to know about it. The young are very weak flyers right now but steadily get better, gaining "powered flight" 15-25 days post-fledging. After about 6 weeks the show should be over and you'll have the wall all to yourselves (and the goats). Please please please wait until the 15th! And again, a sincere thanks to the climbing community for supporting the closure and ensuring another successful year for this pair! And watch out for rattlesnakes on the trail, it seems to be a snakey year (2 more yesterday)!

They grow up so fast... Turns out the 3rd egg did hatch, and there appears to be a 5-day spread in development between the oldest chick (1st egg seen on Saturday) and the youngest (2 more eggs seen on Sunday). Estimates are 35d, 32d, and 30d - mind you these are just estimates based on feather development. For comparison, 3 chicks side-by-side below - from oldest on the left, to youngest on the right. The more brown they are, the more "adult" plumage they have. The white fluffy pants, back, and shoulders are more prominent on the younger two chicks. Yeah... sorry about the poop. If it's any consolation, they aim their butts out into space to poop, so most of it will be on the wall and not on the ledge.

It's funny until you read about some poor schmuck who followed the advice he found online on some youtube video and ended up in the hospital - that's all I'm saying. Actually, that might be funny too... MARIT - don't listen to that guy, it's NOT safe! Funny yes, kind of like a low speed auto accident, you can't look away but you can't believe what you're seeing.

Is this guy for real?? "Slow is safe"?? And use webbing b/c it's static and exerts the least force on your tools? Good lord, - where the hell did he learn this stuff? Don't listen to that guy in the 2nd video marit, he's full of crap. At least according to everything I've been taught, and read in Accidents in North American Mountaineering.

I'm not sure where the third falcon (that visited you at Trundle Dome) would have come from, but it wasn't from SCW. The chicks just gained the ability to walk last weekend and can occasionally be seen at the edge of Library Ledge. Here is a single chick below - where it's sitting is basically where you mantle up onto the ledge to finish the pitch. You'll have to forgive the photo quality, the pics were taken from 1/4-mile away at 45-60 power through a spotting scope on a windy day. There are two chicks, out of a reported 3 eggs - the fate of the 3rd egg is unknown. The "scrape" (where the eggs were incubated) is at the far left of the two pics below where most of the whitewash is. So you can see the chicks are getting around pretty well. In the pic just above, the 2 chicks are at the site where an adult brought in a robin-sized bird for lunch. If you squint (and take my word for it), you can see the adult feeding the chick on the right. The adult, barely visible, is below.

A correction to that article: the upper 3 campgrounds (Chatter Cr, Black Pine, Rock Island) are NOT closed to use. They are only closed to use by vehicle access because of the road washout. You can still use them, you just have to walk or bicycle in. You also have to pack all your garbage out, and I think the water pumps are not working. I would also suggest not peeing in the vault toilets, they haven't been pumped out since before the flood last year and are getting pretty full - save the remaining space for #2.

If anyone reading this was climbing the SCW on saturday (one party of two, one party of four), I would be very interested in hearing of your experience. We saw climbers in the open area of the wall (as well as the fluffy white heads of baby peregrines!). We also saw an adult falcon perched in a tree looking straight down on the party of 4 (or two parties of 2) as you began climbing from the big tree/grassy ledge. We couldn't tell if the falcons were concerned or simply curious, and we couldn't watch you and the eyrie at the same time continuously, so we don't know if you were ever attacked or buzzed. But I'm always curious about your observations, because I'm sure they're so very different from mine, 1000' away. You can PM me here or send an email. Thanks!

The road is now open all the way to Trinity.

Recently, there have been numerous inaccuracies posted regarding peregrine biology & behavior and falcon/climber interactions, here is my attempt to set some things straight. 1. Falcons may or may NOT “fly whether we go climbing through their nest sites or not”. If a nest is disturbed and the adult is forced to leave her sitting position, any number of things could happen: a. Since eggs are in many cases located between the feet/legs and the belly of the adult bird as it’s sitting in the nest/scrape, when it jumps up to flee or defend, the eggs may be dislodged from the nest ledge (eyrie). In a large clutch, obviously not all the eggs will be held in this position and not all will be susceptible in this manner. I’m sure everyone knows what happens when you ground-fall from 400 feet up. b. Newly hatched chicks lack the muscular strength to stand, and rest either on their belly or their “butts” until about 25 days old – they may also be accidentally dislodged from the eyrie and killed during a defensive display. c. In a lengthy territorial/defensive maneuver, eggs are susceptible to chilling or overheating, killing the developing chick. I’ve talked to a climber (as we shared a climbing wall) who described rapping into a previously-unknown eyrie. The route he intended to climb started at the same ledge as the nest/eggs, and the only way out was to climb back up. Since he was only being harassed by the adults and not physically attacked, instead of climbing and retreating he set up a top rope and ran a few laps! During this time neither adult was able to incubate the eggs – I do not know the fate of this particular clutch. During the time that LisaD sat on the ledge and brought her partner up and belayed him as he climbed the next pitch, the female stood guard next to her egg, not incubating. Imagine if there had been several parties that day… d. Frequent interruptions of incubation result in longer than normal incubation – meaning it takes longer to hatch the eggs, fledge the young, and ultimately, reopen the wall to climbing. e. Repeated intrusions into their nest site could cause total abandonment of the site, even one with eggs in it. Falcons nesting in remote wilderness areas tend to be relatively intolerant of human encroachment in their territories. Conversely, falcons that choose to nest where they are exposed to regular human traffic are usually more tolerant of humans. In addition, nesting falcons are much more sensitive to people above their eyrie than to people below or across from it. I don’t know anything about the climbing routes and hiking trails referred to at Beacon… f. The non-incubating bird (usually the male), if forced to defend the nest, or even simply perching and watching the trespasser will not be hunting. The incubating bird (usually the female) is dependent on the hunting bird to bring food, as the eggs need to be incubated constantly. About 2 weeks after hatching, depending on ambient temps and the number of chicks, the young no longer need constant brooding and both adults are finally able to hunt. If either or both parents have to stand guard and are not hunting, nutritional needs of growing chicks may not be met. g. As hatching approaches, the adults usually become more aggressive. LisaD and partner were lucky, they happened on the nest at a very early stage. If peregrines are feeding and protecting chicks (and not just incubating eggs), they can be quite aggressive. LisaD and partner were dive bombed while on the route, both below and above the eyrie ledge. Having a falcon waiting for you with wings outspread trying to scare you off is NOT the worst thing that could happen. Imagine taking a 15-40’ whipper, 400 feet off the deck because of climber panic or an actual strike. Imagine spraining an ankle or wrist, or even breaking something. Imagine the kind of rescue that would ensue. I’ve watched peregrines attack turkey vultures and golden eagles up to a half-mile away, it’s not pretty for the trespasser. 2. Because a nest is built by scraping a depression in sand does not mean "its not even a nest". Sticks (eagles, osprey), grass/moss (sparrows, thrushes), and mud (dippers, swallows) are not the only building materials that qualify as nests. 3. DDT causes eggshell thinning, it does not make eggs brittle (DDE, a DDT metabolite, blocks the movement of calcium during eggshell formation causing the shells to be thin). The effect is the same though: adults incubating eggs crushed the eggs and developing embryos. There is also still a theory that residual chemicals in the environment (such as PCBs & PBDEs) are being bioacumulated by peregrines, causing reproductive failure after 5-6 years. There hasn’t been enough direct evidence to prove this yet though… 4. According to the USFWS, great-horned owls and golden eagles are known to occasionally kill fledgling peregrines, and less often, adults. Peregrine eggs and hatchlings also sometimes fall victim to raccoons and ravens. The argument that climbers aren’t “hurting the population of falcons any more than the birds' natural predators are” is beside the point. If peregrines are already experiencing a natural loss due to predation, why add to that? Why ignore a closure that lasts 75 days out of a potential 150+ days and potentially jeopardize an entire year’s breeding effort? 5. “Roller Pigeon” hobbyists illegally kill thousands of raptors (including peregrines) every year in North America, because they rightly see these genetically defective pigeons as easy food items. Raptors don’t even have to be “caught in the act”, they are just killed whenever there is an opportunity. We don’t have these birds banded so we don’t know if they are migratory and if so, where they migrate to. But it is possible they have to run this gauntlet every year, twice a year. Please, if they make it back here to breed, give them a chance to! The Snow Creek Wall is located inside a Wilderness boundary. This year, when the falcons “set up shop” climber traffic was light to non-existent. They chose this location thinking it was “safe”. These birds are not the WAMU birds, they are NOT used to high levels of human activity. Just because you don’t “step on an egg” doesn’t mean you are not hurting the birds. There have been studies done on various wildlife species to analyze the effects of disturbance as measured hormonally. Fecal corticosterone levels reveal that an animal may be stressed physiologically even though it may appear calm outwardly. Remember, they don’t have facial expressions or body language that can be read by you or me when you’re standing face-to-face on a ledge. In 4 years of previous observations, the peregrines incubated peacefully at the far north end of the SCW, but after hatching the adults became disturbed by climbers on Outer Space. They may not have attacked anyone (that I’ve heard of or witnessed), but they definitely buzz the climbers on the route and vocalize loudly. Outer Space is over 200 meters from the previous eyrie, trying to climb within 1 rope length is asking for trouble – both for you, and the falcons.