There was another falconer that had intended to get a Prairie this year, but he has decided to get his knee replaced, so there went that area of help. He has the ropes that are necessary to enable one to rappel over a cliff face if that becomes necessary. So it appears that I am on my own. There is no other help. That leaves only one spot and that is the desert aerie.
It is an old Eagle nest that is only about 7 feet below the top of the cliff. I spent yesterday modifying a fishing dip net to make it long enough to reach the nest ledge and scoop up the bird that I decide on. I replaced the net with an old tee shirt so that I could lay down on the top of the cliff and reach over for the bird of my choice.
When I visited the area on the 7th of April, she had a full clutch of five eggs, but I had no idea of how long she had been sitting. I decided to return 25 days later to see how old they were if they had hatched. Today was that day.
I wanted a day that was warm enough to not be fatal to a young bird so that I could assess whether or not I had the equipment that I would need to be able to get a bird off this cliff. That day was going to be today, whether or not I was ready.
I loaded up the quad and got to my drop off point. From here it is about 45 minutes by quad to the point that I have to park the Quad and walk. It is about another 50 minutes to the cliff face across the scab rock flat.
A Desert Playa. The road goes around, but the Quad goes across.
The Lava tubes are flows that when they cool leave hollow tubes - sometimes. Others collapse leaving rocky trenches and others are filled with soil that are easily over looked.
This flow that had fallen in was on one side of the road
This side was filled in by blowing soil.
This area's first white visitors were the Basque Sheep herders. It is thought that they were so deprived of human interaction, that they built these rock pyres, presumably so they didn't feel so alone.
This is a Lava Tube that didn't completely collapse. It is said to be two tubes one above the other, that goes for a long way.
It was very nice to see that the flowers were beginning to bloom all over the desert floor, . I was surprised to see all the little round cactus's around. They are not every where, but there was a lot of them there, and they were blooming as well.
Two different colors of Indian Paint Brush
The female had been sitting on the cliff face and flew off as I approached. She circled out a ways to keep watch on what I was doing.
The male was brooding the babies as I arrived, and both birds kept a discrete watch while I was there. I took a couple of pictures, measured my net pole and left as soon as I was able.
I was pleased to see that they had hatched four babies within the last two days. These are so small that they cannot lift their heads. It is possible that the last egg will hatch, I will find out when I come back on the 22nd of this month. The area is quite interesting in that there is a natural water tank just under the cliff. It was one of the hunting hot spots in the area. The next closest water is the Owyhee River 6 or more miles away, so the game naturally came there to drink. The area is liberally sprinkled with obsidian chips where they whiled away the time waiting for something to shoot. This however was the first time that I found white man's spent bullets there.
A 50 Caliber from Mt Home Airbase, expended who knows how many years ago alongside obsidian and chert.
The Antelope Doe's were hanging in the area, and watching me carefully to see if I was going to be a problem for them.
I saw little wildlife on this trip. I saw one mouse, one Beldings Ground Squirrel baby, three Antelope, and a Bull Snake. There were lots of tracks in the roads however, every thing from Coyotes to Rabbits. They hide pretty well however.
I will go back on the 22nd and choose the bird that will become my new hunting hawk.
