Falcons at Smith Rock

[Ian Caldwell]

This week a pair of falcons have been found at Smith Rock at the Kiss of the Lepers area, which is north of Monkey Face. There are several baby birds on the nest.

 

State park staff closed the area today.

 

Main hiking trails are still open.

 

Climbing routes and ground at the base of the nest are closed.

 

Please refer to Alan Watts 2010”Rock Climbing Smith Rock State Park” Guide Book. See pages 206, 223-225. Closed routes are number 41-47, which includes #43 “First Kiss”. Hello Kitty Cliff remains open at this time.

 

Closure is until June 30, 2010.

 

[KirkW]

Wondered when this was gonna happen. We got dive bombed by a falcon a few weeks ago but we thought it had a nest on an entirely different wall to the north. It looked like it was returning to a nest to us. Is this a different breeding pair or is the closure because of the nest on the wall to the north? That nest is a LONG way away from Kiss of the Lepers.

[Ian Caldwell]

I was at the nest yesterday and saw the baby birds on it. The nest is about 100-200 feet away from the climb First Kiss, on the wall to the north. The wall/nest faces south and the nest site is completely white from bird poop.

[KirkW]

Cool Ian. Thanks for the info. The nest (or what we thought was a nest) was further away than what you are describing. We didn't see all the poo either. Maybe we chased them off the nest and they were just hanging out over there until we left? They had a long wait if that's the case because the party behind us had a mini epic on First Kiss that day.

 

 

 

 

[Ian Caldwell]

As I watched the birds on Wednesday I noticed that one of the parents would use the ledges near First Kiss to perch on. After feeding they would leave the nest and sit on those ledges for a while. We got a report from other climbers on Tuesday who were climbing First Kiss and had the parent birds buzzing them a lot.

[beaconben]

These are peregrines, right?

[Ian Caldwell]

It has not been confirmed. Prairie falcons commonly nest at Smith and that is what we had at Picnic Lunch Wall last year. The markings under the wings (dark color in the wingpit) lead me to believe they are Prairie instead of peregrines.

 

The Smith Rock Master Plan calls for protection of Prairie falcons and closures of areas within visual site of the nest around 400-600 feet.