Exit 38 Falcon's?

[Rick]

I was climbing at Exit 38, off of the RR trail on a route called "Won't Get Fooled Again" last thursday. There was what appeared to be a Peregrine Falcon squaking loudly just above me and to the left of the route. Does anyone know if there are Peregrine's there? Or is it another specie's of Falcon. Sure looked like the photo of the one on Outer Space.

[Rad]

Was there this morning climbing Just Dessert and Late for Dinner and mama falcon was swirling and talking. She didn't dive at us, but she checked us out until she decided we weren't getting closer to her.

 

It would probably be best to stay off the following climbs until July - some of these are quite popular:

 

Jiffy Pop.

Rat Face.

I can Fly.

Underground Economy (very popular 5.9).

Overture (A GREAT CLIMB BTW).

Underture.

Won't Get Fooled Again.

 

Thanks.

Rad

 

[Jens]

A biologist told me that Falcon populations have exploded in the US.

[Rad]

A few years back a man got arrested for shooting a peregrine and he contested the fine. At his hearing, he told the judge he did it because his family was poor and they needed food. The judge let him off with a warning and community service. When the hearing ended, the judge leaned over to the man and asked, "So I'm just curious, what does Peregrine taste like?". The man replied, "Oh, almost as sweet as Spotted Owl but more meaty and tough like Bald Eagle".

[kevbone]

I was climbing at Exit 38, off of the RR trail on a route called "Won't Get Fooled Again" last thursday. There was what appeared to be a Peregrine Falcon squaking loudly just above me and to the left of the route. Does anyone know if there are Peregrine's there? Or is it another specie's of Falcon. Sure looked like the photo of the one on Outer Space.

 

Dont tell Joseph Healey.

[JosephH]

A biologist told me that Falcon populations have exploded in the US.

 

At no point have Falcon populations ever 'exploded' - they have made steady and painstaking gains from 1970 when there were no pairs east of the Mississippi and only a relative handful of them west of it to today where they have reclaimed about 3/4 of their natural range. That equates to places like NY state having just under 70 pairs in 2008 (13 pairs in NYC).

 

There is not and never has been an 'explosion' of Peregrines - just a steady, hard fought forty year battle to restore them which sees gains and loses in every year. And we're still only talking under 2,000 breeding pairs in the U.S. and Canada. In Oregon the average number of young fledged per occupied nest site averaged 1.55 from 2001 to 2005 and 2.18 young per successful nesting attempt during this same period. Couple that with the fact they have a mortality rate in their first year of 59–70%, going down to 25–32% in adults. You can see between their rate of breeding success and mortality that there is no way they can even begin to sustain anything but slow and steady gains in their numbers.

 

Kevbone has a far higher breeding rate.

[ivan]

joe, how's the falcon scene setting up at beacon this spring? did their nesting site ever get figured out?

[JosephH]

All the Gorge nesting appears to be about a week behind, so I'm just guessing we're looking at more like June 2x as opposed to a June 1x opening. I plan on really ramping up the monitoring over the next two weeks...

[ivan]

thanks for the update

[rocky_joe]

all this talk of falcons, but nothing of the needs of those falcons have. I think a falconer may have a few solutions for y'all.

[LostCamKenny]

You can see between their rate of breeding success and mortality that there is no way they can even begin to sustain anything but slow and steady gains in their numbers.

 

Oh, there's a way... the possibilities for an explosion exist but certain conditions will have to be met. You can rarely say "never," "always," or "no way" when talking about science - just isn't realistic.

 

Juvenile mortality rates - for starters - must decrease before an explosion can occur and an increase in the average clutch size (that's the number of eggs the female lays, for you laymen) would help matters tremendously. Siblicide - which is the killing of an individual offspring by a sibling offspring to reduce competition at the nest site - occurs with eagles and a few other raptors, I believe, and could have something to do with the juvenile mortality rates, but without detailed information about the nest sites, themselves (i.e. where they are located, their size, their aspect) we are lost for further dramatic increases in numbers. And the numbers don't lie!