Nest Searching

For now, the primary task at work is to find nests. To start with, we divide the forest into compartments (sections) and work through them. In each compartment, we simply tramp about and when we get close to a nest (mostly through luck and persistence) the falcons give an alarm call. Then we zero in on the call and walk there. As we get close, the birds start attacking and you can tell how close you are by how forcefully they attack. It is like that "warmer/colder" game you play as a kid, but with more ducking. You have to keep one eye on the sky and one on the ground and walk carefully. When we find a nest, we note what is in it (usually eggs or chicks, sometimes a computer logged onto Falcon Blog), and then we hightail it out of there. I have pics, but I will have to post later.

What is interesting is these birds actually nest on the ground and they don't build a nest, but simply scrape the ground a little so the eggs don't roll away. That's it.