A big surprise!!

For several weeks I have seen what I thought was a Peregrine Falcon flying over our marina. It just blows by quickly and I never know where they are going. A few days ago, I was walking outside the marina, and heard a bit of chirping in the rocks over my head, and knew exactly what it was. A NEST!! This beautiful pair of Falcons had established a nest in some very cool eroded sandstone cliffs near the marina.

Just a couple of hundred yards from the marina, there are some very interesting carved cliffs, that were formed when the Sea of Cortez was quite a bit deeper than it is now. 

These incredibly fast flying falcons(up to 70 MPH when chasing prey) were nearly brought to extinction before we realized what the effects of DDT did to the birds. When they ingested a bird, mouse or large insect that had DDT in it, the worst cause was when the female laid her eggs, the shells were so thin that just flying in and out of the nest, the eggs would break.

I have marked on the following picture where the Peregrine Falcon is, as well as her nest site!

And here is a close up of the nest, well as close as I can get with a 400 MM lens.