Tuesday, June 09, 2009



Above is one of the falcon near-fledglings who began its hatch & fledge on the southern campus of the BigU.
Arrived at base of tower to discover a difficult angle so meandered to find this better angle, surrounded by birders with binos and men who work in the building below the tower with their own binos.
Up in the tower were, reportedly, three men of the DEC who had been harnessed to a metal ladder and who made the long climb in near-darkness.
Yours Truly, ever intrepid, asked if it might be possible to also make the climb.
The answer was a resounding, unwavering No.
Even after YT explained that there have been other vertical trips of such steepness/photo-operativeness/import.
YT cites past climbs up creaking and semi-non-existent stairs/ladders inside church belltowers, grain elevators, climbing scaffolding built over the Middling City's former Buffalo Savings Bank golden dome.

So, (im)patiently YT waited and waited to see - finally - a hand reaching into the falcons's nesting box to net the fledglings one by one.
They were each banded for their safety and the like.
This took a long time and what we could see on the ground was a white bucket appearing, disappearing, and reappearing in a window pane.
Then a parent falcon swooping in to perch and whoop when it was discovered that the chicks were MIA.
And then the happy reunion.
And then a happy photo op with some men of DEC, sweaty and harnessed.
And, as promised, one of the men of DEC was highly Cute, as promised by a birder lady.
She stressed this point, as well as others about falcons in general, several times.

Tomorrow is jetting off, merrily, for work and fun in the Shiney Apple.

Tomorrow night Justy and I see Waiting for Godot at Studio 54.
Have not been there since attending a gigantic, fantastic HipHop party there in the early 90s. Cast includes John Goodman and Nathan Lane.
Seats seem to be fairly excellent.

Details of Sam Experience to follow, You can bet your B'Way Dollar on that.

Shining, Happy Love.