A New View of Mariah

The 90°F mid-day sun and smothering humidity proved to be little deterrent to getting outside today, though I made it a point to stick to the shadows whenever possible, and to drink plenty of liquids. I was surprised to find Mariah on the northwest corner of the launchpad, an unusual position for her. By her posture, I could tell she was a hot as I:


I set up my scope and scanned the base of the playpen on the south face of the tower, but I saw no sign of Fulmine or Ihteram. I surmised that Mariah might be watching over one or both of them from her perch, and so I started looking for a better angle from which to see the west side of the playpen. The various buildings that comprise the Kodak Office complex are interconnected by a series of walkways on various levels, which allow easy movement between them from within the structure. On the roof, wooden (or more rarely metal) catwalks and stairways serve much the same purpose. From my position atop Building 9, I started hunting for a way west and north. My peregrinations brought me at last to a long stair used to access the cooling towers that provide climate control within the complex. I'd never been up this stair before, or even noticed it, but it looked like it would provide me with a closer view of Mariah, and get me about 20 feet (6 meters) higher than my current position, so up I went. The noise from the cooling towers was thunderous, but the view was substantially improved:


Still, there was no sign of the eyases, even with the improved angle. Truthfully, unless they decided to venture very close to the edge of the playpen, I wasn't likely to see them. I got a few shots of Mariah before she took off, for what proved to be the first of many flights during the hour. Unfortunately, my camera's autofocus seemed very balky today, and many of my shots of Mariah in the air were blurry and unworthy of reproduction. She flew low over my head, which made the camera problems all the more vexing, and then she did something completely unexpected. Mariah landed below me, on the gravel-covered roof!


I was stunned, and it was my unsteady hands rather than the camera that was responsible for the lack of sharpness in that photo. I aimed more carefully as she appeared to pick at something on the rooftop:



Then, in a bizarre display, she spread her wings as if to take off. But rather than launch herself in the air, she prostrated herself like a supplicant, against the white rocks:


I couldn't divine her purpose-- was she cooling herself somehow on the rocks? Scratching an itch? Reliving her youth as a pancaking eyas?

I didn't have much time to ponder her odd pose, because she was up in the air only a few seconds later, where I took more frustratingly blurry shots. After a few overhead passes, she landed on the south side of the launch pad:


It wasn't long before she tired of that perch and relocated to the playpen railing:


My view wasn't so good, so I descended from my own high perch and walked back to my scope. From within the nestbox came the insistent cries of eyases, and Mariah responded by hopping over to see what the ruckus was about:


The white tail feathers of an eyas are visible at the opening of the nestbox in this shot:


Mariah went into the box briefly, then emerged and went back to flying. She passed very close, and I managed a fairly decent shot of her, though the lighting was very difficult, with patches of clear blue sky and hazy grey clouds that made for brightly backlit scenes. I had to enhance the highlights to bring out her details:


On she flew, out over the gorge, then back again, then out once more. This brave (or foolish) potential entree kept stock still as the huntress passed by several times:


Mariah landed again on the broad ledge of the 17^th floor of the tower:

I hope whoever has that office is a falcon fan... What a terrific view!

She was off again before long, though, and this time the camera and lighting cooperated, allowing a few decent shots like this one:


She kept flying, and I'd have kept shooting, but I had an appointment at 1:00, and equipment to pack, so I broke off my watching a bit early. With three eyases now in the playpen, I think Esperanza and Skye are sure to follow soon. We watchers are going to have our work cut out for us this year, for the 2005 brood have already proven themselves to be mobile and adventurous. I'm hoping for an opportunity to photograph them outside of the nestbox in the coming days.