For those not aware, falcons love to nest on cliffs over water. Normally this is not a problem for the birds. If it is a river cliff, there is land close by on the other side of the river to land on, or there are lots of landing places along the same cliff side as the nest. In addition, when the wind hits the cliff side it creates updrafts and the young fledglings are buoyed up rather than blown away, so even if the nest scrape is on an ocean facing cliff, the falcons fare well and predation is kept down due to the remote location of the nest.
When falcons see a tall structure such as the Bay Bridge, it looks like a great nesting site, it mimics a cliff in most respects, high, private, lots of prey close by for feeding the young. All aspects but one. The wind…
The wind is different when nesting takes place on a large bridge. The nesting location in this situation is the central anchor W4, which is over a mile from land. And because there is not a solid wall of rock, instead of updrafts, the wind, which can reach 40mph and greater, blows the fledglings away from the nest location and the birds end up in the water and they drown. If the bird is lucky enough to make it to the bridge, it can end up on the road surface and get run over. So biologists have learned through bitter experience that the best thing to do is retrieve the eggs and raise them using foster falcon parents that live in captivity, then release the falcons in a safe place and feed them until they learn to hunt on their own. Once they know how to hunt, they disperse naturally and find their way out in the world.
In addition, by taking the eggs, the hope is that George and Gracie will relocate, hopefully over land and lay another clutch of eggs.
Yesterday, Charlene and I went out to Treasure Island to catch the action. Brian Latta and Alex Stewart were to go below the bridge road bed to retrieve any eggs laid by Gracie the peregrine falcon.
We arrived at 10am and news trucks were already pulling into to park.
Before I had finished setting up, a Chronicle photographer and writer approached me and started interviewing me.
Before long the whole parking area was filled with news vans…
Glenn Stewart showed up with the news crews and kept them informed as to what was happening via phone.
I was hoping to see some sort of action, but it was very difficult viewing.
Here is a shot of the retrieval team going over the side of the bridge.
The red arrow marks the location of the nest scrape. The eggs were actually laid on the top plate above the vertical plate with the three holes in it.
The male, George had been on the eggs when Brian and Alex arrived. Gracie most likely was on a break and missed the whole drama.
George made repeated passes trying to drive off the intruders, here is a shot of one of his fly-by’s.
After the eggs had been carefully packed in foam filled containers and packed back up to the road above, gravel was laid on the spot in case the falcons decided to lay again in the same spot. Then Brian and Alex drove out to meet the press on Treasure Island.
Here you can see the press coming in close to interview Brian.
He set up the egg box in the back of the truck…
Pulled the eggs out of the foam filled containers and check for a heart beat using a fetal monitor.
Once that was done, he placed them in the incubator for the ride back down to Santa Cruz and a waiting pair of foster care falcons…
There are three eggs here, resting in a rubber shock-absorbing mesh and held in place by surgical tubing.
And when they finished interviewing Brian, and Glenn Stewart they asked me to stick around for an interview as well. Which I was happy to do, having been through this once before, I felt more at ease with being on the other side of the camera.
So for those interested, here is a link to the whole report and interview…
All shots seen here and more can be seen on this page
The shots of me and the news vans were taken by Charlene and like mine are all copyrighted. Thanks Charlene and thanks to everyone for looking. Don’t be afraid to comment on the story.
Regards,
Glenn Nevill
