Whitewash the truth

We have an embarrassing richness of cliffs up here where I live. The landscape is dramatic to say the least.  We also have a richness of falcons. Within 4 kilometres of where I live there are two active aeries, a Gyrfalcon’s and a Peregrine Falcon’s. Extend that to thirty kilometres and you can add at least one more Peregrine aerie and another cliff nesting raptor, the Rough-legged Hawk.

This weekend we camped some 75 kilometres south of here by snowmobile. Against a bright blue sky I watched another Peregrine hunting over the tundra where I’d been just watching Red-throated Loons, Snow Buntings, Lapland Longspurs and Rock Ptarmigan in their mad rush to breed in the short summer.  That Peregrine probably had an aerie in one of the two cliff lined valleys to either side of where we were.

The point of this is not to brag that I get to watch some of the world’s most spectacular falcons in a jaw-dropping scenery instead of a high rise building. Oh, who am I kidding, that is exactly the point. However, in the context of this week, my point is that there is a lot of prime real estate up here for falcon aeries. A lot, and if you’re searching for falcons rather than just hoping to stumble upon them,  you need something to show you the way. That something is poop.

Both Gyrfalcons and Peregrines have a number of preferred perches on the cliffs around their aeries. And as they sit at these perches the accumulated poop whitewashes the rock, making a readily noticeable sign post that says “Here be raptors”.  Like a fresh coat of paint these poop stains stand out around active nests (the aerie is also whitewashed), and fade through the winter as the elements wear them away.

Visiting a new area I’ll spend time scanning the cliffs, looking for the tell tale sign, the poop stained rock jutting out of the cliff face. If I find one, chance are there will be several more close by, and in somewhere amongst those purchase will be an aerie, usually in a little cave in the wall.

Oh sure, some times the birds will betray their presence with a call or you’ll catch them flying near the aerie, but if you want to increase your chances of finding aeries in the many cliffs up here, follow the poop.