For the Birds

These eagles just keep popping up.  It feels like each day that I've been out climbing or fishing, I've seen them flying.  There was the Bald that was cruising up the Frying Pan.  I saw him while I was knocking the ice from my guides in early February.  Then there was the double day that Josh and I had in Eldo on January 2.  On a New Year's Gentleman's lap up The Naked Edge, he and I saw a Golden and a Bald in the canyon.  I'm the luckiest bastard in the world.  I keep getting to hang out where I can reasonably expect to see these iconic birds gliding around on the thermals.  I'm grateful.

There's the case of this one particular Golden Eagle family that's got me most interested.  Out on the west slope, they live in what I can best describe as a log cabin for birds.  This massive arrangement of sticks, about the size of a golf cart, is perched inside of a cave.  The cave is about 100 feet above the mouth of a limestone canyon.  Better still, the nest is at the head of a buffet line.  The cliffs and associated eagles look down to a Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife fish hatchery.  I doubt the cliffs care, but the birds surely salivate at the hundreds of thousands of TV dinners just waiting to be plucked.   For years, I drove right past this nest on my way to the climbing routes up canyon without even noticing it's presence.  Now, I stop and watch, hoping to see one coming home from the grocery store.

Just last week I was out there, though February certainly isn't prime time.  At 7,000 feet, it's much more of a summer destination.  These days, there is a fair bit of ice seeping from the walls.  I went out to give a tour to RD Pascoe, the Policy Director at The Access Fund.  With his help, several other Rifle climbers and myself have been trying to convince the Parks and Wildlife Commission to open their portion of the lower canyon to our climbing.  It's long been closed, and we're hoping we can change some minds.

One of the hurdles raised in opposition to our rule change has been the fact that this prime eagle habitat could be disrupted by people like me climbing a route in the vicinity.  I'll even admit that, yes, there's a risk.  I'm a rock climber.  A small bit of risk normally doesn't dissuade me.  And that's how I feel about the birds.  With their relative castle and a never ending feed bag just a quick dive-bomb away, there's little chance they'd leave.  Especially if we're not storming their walls before the chicks have fledged.  That's why we are more than willing to accept a seasonal ban on climbing and route development in exchange for a chance to climb there during the summer and fall.   We'll see how it goes.

The fun thing about the Wildlife Commission action is that it moves at the speed of my job.  Which is to say that it moves at the speed of government.  Which is to say it hardly moves.  Until our next meeting on March 8, I am trying to get out and enjoy the coming Spring.  Hopefully I'll have some good photos for you then.  Here are a couple from recent outings:

Climbers (Maybe on The Bulge?)

    

Josh chasing the warm sunlight headed to The Edge