Peregrine Monitoring at Beacon Rock happening

[billcoe]

Well, looks like Peregrine Monitoring at Beacon Rock is going to take flight!

 

Please contact me via PM or e-mail billcoe @gmail.com if you are interested in helping monitor the birds. Be looking at 3-4 hour stints and still have time to climb (although not at Beacon:).

 

Regards:

 

Bill

[billcoe]

Well. Short TR in order.

 

Ivan, me, a north Portland roof and some bungees (Green plastic tarp) 50 gallons of water falling out of the sky per min., cold - wet -windy. Great view of Beacon from the boat ramp for the 1-1/2 hours I could tolerate the cold and no Peregrines: thats right - NO Peregrines, but the highlight of the day other than hanging with Ivan and getting soaking wet and cold was seeing 2 immature (pretty damn big birds) Bald Eagles hanging out in the area, as in within 50 feet I suppose at one point. We had seen a bit of them the previous week, but this time they stayed longer and were closer.

 

Next week still has openings if anybody is interested in coming.

[markd]

bill, ivan and others,

first, thanks for volunteering your time.

 

i'm wondering, is beacon going to open earlier if no birds are seen? or will it always be closed this time of year?

 

it would be great climbing there in the spring...........

 

thanks again.

[ivan]

well there wasn't much else to do on a very rainy saturday morning, so consuming a great deal of at 6 a.m. and manning a pair of binoculars sounded pretty damn exciting...i enjoyed meself and was impressed by the eagles we saw.

 

i gather from bill that the rock stays closed regardless of what's observed, and that a single pair of falcons on big ledge have already been confirmed by a state biologist. i would presume they'll maintain the closure until the birds are removed from the threatened list.

[Winter]

Just a little info.

 

The peregrine is no longer listed under the ESA. It was widely touted as a success story and has been delisted since I think 1999 with a monitoring plan issued by USFWS in 2001 at some point.

[billcoe]

Thanks Mark:

 

Joseph would be the best guy to post the history and potential projected future of all of that out has happened at Beacon. There are raptor closures at many other crags for a variety of other birds, not just Falcons. That being said, the monitoring which Greg Borton has spearheaded in SW and Central Oregon has resulted in bans being lifted sooner as the birds clear out. That may in fact be the case this year as its been exceedingly warm and the regular timeline appears (catch that word appears) to have been moved up by mother nature. That really won't be clear until later in the year though.

 

Yes, the Peregrine comback has been remarkable indeed. There are birds throughout the Columbia gorge, and in fact, the pair which origonally nested on the PDX Fremont bridge have been responsible for quite a few other urban birds. From the Audoban society " out of 25 youngsters that have been hatched on the Fremont Bridge between 1994 and 2002, 15 have survived the fledging process and twelve of those birds required some sort of intervention or rescue."

 

Now there's birds at plenty of other locations just in Portland itself, at some point there may be more Peregrines than bums downtown if this keeps up. So it's probably just a matter of time until there is a softening of policy, but I swear to G**, sometimes I think us climbers are our own worse enemies. I think we'd be climbing on parts of Beacon now if it weren't for the actions of a few.

 

These birds can and do move nesting sites. For instance, the pair which used to be on El Cap moved to the otherside of the valley a while ago. I don't think anyone has figured out why yet.

 

In either case, it's a nice way to spend the AM (maybe less so when its so wet and cold), and as the little ones hatch, activity will pick up and make for some great viewing.

 

If anyone wants to join in, this is going to be a semi-regular thing for some time - you're all welcome and encouraged to come along.

[billcoe]

Sunday AM with Joseph and I for those interested. Shall we call it "Beer, Birds and Beacon" to see if we can attact more than just Ivan this time?

 

You are all welcome to come along, most likely meet at the Jim Dandy 7:30 am and carpool.

 

A show of hands would be nice for pre-plannig.

 

 

Anyone?

 

Bueller?

[sketchfest]

Bill,

What would a person need to bring should they be interested in coming out?

[billcoe]

Hi Paul: humor and a lawn chair are about it, and the lawn chair is optional.

 

If you have a spotting scope or binoculars bring them along. Dave Anderson, the fish and wildlife specialist for the area, stashed a set at the Beacon office, and if we can hook up with Erik Plunkett of the park service, we can use them, I have a set as well, but am waiting for a tripod for the scope.

 

Sitting and watching the south face of Beacon for 4 hours is about it. Then we'll most likely mosey down to Skamania and have lunch. I could see a few quick climbs (not at Beacon due to the closure) being a part of the ritual, but this Sunday I would like to be back in town buy @ 2:30-3PM, so I'm gonna try and trash myself Saturday and just feel the sore muscles Sun.

 

It will be important that we maintain a small presense and stay out of the way, so carpooling is important, of course, if you want to have a vehical close by, we can always ferry people in from the Beacon Rock tavern if you park there.

[billcoe]

Anyone interested in this weekend? Possibly Sun AM? Before church?