Part 9 - 2019. Boone, Rose and Final Summary
You may have noticed that I have not written anything about Boone, Rose and the second cliff nest. For a number of reasons, I made the decision to give them a great deal of privacy this year.
It was all I could do to keep up with one nest and although we did monitor Boone and Rose we were not able to do so as often as we would have liked. There are also some politics involved in this decision and over the last couple of years copyright laws were likely ignored by a government agency. I decided to not give away all the information from my observations to those who chose to use it without permission. I can say it often enough; I've never had an issue with the birders of Kentucky.
A partial summary:
I believe that Rose was late on the scene for the nesting season and they moved ahead quickly in their relationship to laying eggs. Part of my thinking was the relationship just seemed very new and not as strong as Dee and BJ. However, as the season progressed that relationship seemed to get stronger. As the season wraps up Boone and Rose will have all winter to really get to know each other and solidify their relationship.
Rose is a stunning falcon and an amazing mom.
Rose has strong maternal instincts and she was as gentle and attentive as could be to her young. I couldn't help but keep saying, "Awwwwww" when I watched her.
Boone, as always, is a great provider and loves to sit on the eggs and newly hatched eyasses. Rose learned early that a nest exchange would have to include her chasing him off.
Boone on eggs
The rest of this story will have to wait until next year.
As a final summary of the year 2019 -
Boone, Dee and their new mates continue to change the future of Peregrines nesting on cliffs. With the break-up of the original pair there was the unexpected benefit of doubling the cliff nests this year. Now there are more cliff-hatched Peregrines who should nest on cliffs and numbers of falcons and cliff nests should multiply every year.