Beacon. Owl. Grunge Book Anchors.

[JosephH]

As we speak I just got a response from David saying that Barn Owls are not a significant threat to Peregrines. I'd say that jibes with pink's observations that Barn Owls have been on the face all along during all the years the Peregrines have successfully fledged on Big Ledge.

[kevbone]

Barn Owls are not a significant threat to Peregrines.

 

Neither are climbers.

[JosephH]

Pink, you better get in shape as I am going to have to spank you hard when I get down there (maybe early next month)...!

 

Climbers are, unfortunately a significant threat to Peregrine scrape site selection, egg incubation, and less so raising chicks to fledging. To adults and successful fledges, no, we aren't a threat of any kind.

[pink]

As we speak I just got a response from David saying that Barn Owls are not a significant threat to Peregrines. I'd say that jibes with pink's observations that Barn Owls have been on the face all along during all the years the Peregrines have successfully fledged on Big Ledge.

 

the owls i saw were much larger than barn owls, the year i saw it frequently was 95'/96' and i do believe the nest failed that year. who knows, i bet peregrine eggs are tasty though. i always go for the quail eggs when eating sushi, great for first dates, good to know if she swallows or just spits it out

 

 

 

Edited July 8, 2008 by pink

[JosephH]

Pink, pink, pink...

 

Great Horned Owls nest in trees and not on the face so have no incentive to "get along" or "live and let live" as a Barn Owl might have trying to coexist on the same face as the Peregrines. But this particular Barn Owl is a very large one size-wise and looks more than capable of tangling with the Peregrines which are smaller.

 

There are definitely Great Horned Owls about the park, but no one knows where the closest nest might be though there was some suspicion there might be one somewhere just west of Beacon.

[kevbone]

and looks more than capable of tangling with the Peregrines which are smaller.

 

 

What would happen if the bigger owl ate the peregrines? Would they keep closing the rock if there was proof the peregrines perished at the expense of the owls hunger? Or more to the point....would they keep closing the rock in memory of the peregrines every year?

[pink]

so you know for sure that GHO's do not bivi on rockfaces, and if i were to google this information there wouldn't be any sort of beta to found on this subject. enough of that, anyway i'm talking 95'/96' ish and i don't remember seeing you out there and if i didn't see you from 94' to 2000 you proly weren't climbing out there that much or maybe i was climbing so fast i didn't see ya. ken don't remember seeing ya, and he was out there even more that me. jim don't remember seeing you and opdyke talks to everyone and everything. i am talking about something you did not experience and when you were not existent and your (i get the impression) telling me that i am just making this crap up.

 

maybe write a longer diatribe next time and use a little double talk while your at it and i'll just bang my head against the wall and just give up like everyone else does.

 

 

[JosephH]

Most of my earlier active Beacon climbing in '80 and then again '87-'94 at which time I tapered off with family and work '95-'00, though I was still out a couple of times a month when I wasn't working in Asia or out of state. I repeatedly encountered what I assume was you and Ken - or two of someone with very long hair, one black, one blonde soloing for the better part of a day. In fact, all the times I encountered them they were soloing or rapping from soloing and I was roped-soloing. If it wasn't the two of you, I couldn't say who it was, but I will grant you they weren't particularly friendly beyond the odd grunt in passing.

 

GHO's are not beyond making nests on cliffs or using Raven or Redtail nests, but did you see a GHO nest? Or did you just see a GHO? The GHO's in BRSP have shown no such proclivity and no one has ever documented or observed one nesting on the South face. Having now monitored in endless three-to-six hour sessions steadily over the past four years (while everyone else was climbing at Ozone) as well as repeatedly traveling over the South face during that period I have no problem saying in that period no GHOs have nested on Beacon. Whereas, I've documented evidence of Barn Owls doing so in three of the past four years.

 

And no, I'm telling you all you've said was you saw a 'big fucker' - you'd have to get way more specific than that to if you want to talk to the big boys in the bird world and have it count for squat. They only operate on solid observational data and 'big fucker' doesn't quite cut it at that table. Can you do better than that description? Where on Beacon? How often? Did you see a nest? Did you see eggs? Did you see chicks? These folks operate on real data - no good data? Fuckin' oh well - zip changes then...

 

I agree, folks clearly all gave up long ago when whichever among you told them to go fuck themselves when they offered a partial closure to let you do the first few pitches of the Corner. That would have left you there and in the game to work [honestly] on the situation. Since then no one has attempted a single meaningful dialogue with any of the land managers that wasn't also accompanied a shitload of bullshit and shennanigans behind their backs the instant climbers weren't [hostilely] face-to-face with them.

 

Hey, from my perspective, the head-banger approach to dealing with the various land managers of record for Beacon and the closure was totally ineffective - zip got done beyond pissing off everyone involved. It was also backed by endless bad-rapping of the various folks you needed to deal with, not to mention relentless 'pirate' breaches of the closure. A real gem of a strategy which delivered nada. I've delivered four straight years of early opens and the only credible path to even a remote possibility of lifting the closure over the long haul. Anyone else who wants to pony up and try to do better has my blessing.

 

Again, there isn't a single one of you dudes - not even Opdycke - who wants Beacon open year round more than I do. Got a better idea on how to do that? I'm all fucking ears...

[pink]

1) i never mentioned anything about GHO's, you did.

2) i never mentioned anything about a nest, you did.

3) i never mentioned anything about a GHO nesting, you did.

4) i saw a large brown owl fly out from behind "beacon towers" on several occasions during the day, owls are nocturnal (i think). so i spooked them and they bolted. are gho's allowed to hang out on cliffs and perhaps hunt from there.

5) now your saying that gho's do nest on cliffs.

6) i don't care if "big fucker" doesn't cut the butter with you or that jerk off dave anderson.

7) the head banger approach? where do you come up with this crap again, your always beating on kevin for not getting over shit, maybe you need to get over some shite dude.

8) joseph, i don't give a flying fuck about beacon anymore thanks to you, you can have it. bolt the fuck out of for all i care. your always gonna be right and that's just fine with me.

9) beacon closing was the best thing that ever happened to me, it made me realize that portland climbing is lame and forced me to seek out bigger and better things.

10) talk about shennanigans, hanging giant signs from buildings for greenpeace to prove a point, was that legal. kinda of a head banger approach don't ya think. or just a stupid hippie approach. i like the headbanger better than dancing ina stupid circle anyhow.

11) why are so obsessive dude? ya know beacon used to open up early before you came along.

 

please take me off your stupid beacon e-mail list, i no longer consider myself a local at beacon and obviously you fit the suit better than i do anyway being all i ever did was just go out there and climb the thing.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 9, 2008 by pink

[denalidave]

As we speak I just got a response from David saying that Barn Owls are not a significant threat to Peregrines. I'd say that jibes with pink's observations that Barn Owls have been on the face all along during all the years the Peregrines have successfully fledged on Big Ledge.

 

the owls i saw were much larger than barn owls, the year i saw it frequently was 95'/96' and i do believe the nest failed that year. who knows, i bet peregrine eggs are tasty though. i always go for the quail eggs when eating sushi, great for first dates, good to know if she swallows or just spits it out

 

 

 

MMMM sushi!

[JosephH]

1-3) When you say "the owls i saw were much larger than barn owls", you're saying GHO's...

 

4) "i saw a large brown owl fly out" - these are both Barn Owls:

 

 

 

The one out there now is also very large, but mostly white when flying and seen from below.

 

5) "now your saying that gho's do nest on cliffs - I said at Beacon they don't nest on the face, they nest in the trees around Beacon.

 

6) "that jerk off dave anderson" - WDFW and David Anderson are the only ones who can lift the closure so caring what they think is the only way it's going to ever happen.

 

7) "head-banger approach" - Get over it? I'd love to if it didn't bang it's head again every year like frigging clockwork.

 

8) "bolt the fuck out of it" - Other than the ones on my FA's, I've only replaced the existing anchors at Beacon - someone else bolted the fuck out of it. Hey, I'd be all for removing them all, including mine.

 

10) "talk about shennanigans" - Oh well, can't please everyone, it had a pretty good effect at the time...

 

11) "why are so obsessive dude?" - Because I do live here and I want the damn rock open so I can climb and I didn't see anyone else doing anything about it other than bitching. An auditable history of hard data is the only way it will possibly get out from under the closure. No point in working for that goal on any basis but consistently and being in it for the long haul.

 

And 'climb the thing' is my only interest as well...

 

[ivan]

i thought pissing contests like these just happened during the rainy months when we CAN'T climb at beacon?

[kevbone]

JH……thank you for your effort to bring order to our climbing crag. Thank you for working with the park service to monitor the birds…..but…

 

This statement is BS.

 

These folks operate on real data

 

If they operated on real data they would see that the peregrines are not endangered anymore.