Get a load of these cute chicks.
The wide world tunes in to watch S.J.'s falcon family values show
Mercury News Editorial, San Jose Mercury News
Article Launched:05/13/2007 02:08:33 AM PDT
San Jose's new favorite mom is rewriting the book on family values. For example, the epitome of maternal care these days is hauling a fresh carcass home, ripping it into tiny bits and stuffing them raw into the kids' mouths. (Memo: Do not invite to Mother's Day brunch. Especially if you're a pigeon.)
The fascination and - no exaggeration - pure love inspired by Clara and Jose, City Hall's peregrine falcon pair, are almost as wonderful as the wild creatures themselves. Tens of thousands of people from Silicon Valley to Baghdad are glued to the Webcast of this ultimate reality show: a camera focused 24/7 on the nest on a south-facing ledge near the top of the 18-story City Hall.
There, the first-time parents nurture three white fuzz-balls that in just a few weeks will be as big as them. And we think our kids grow up fast.
For the tireless staff of the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group, watching falcon families is old hat - inasmuch as the behavior of a beautiful and endangered species can ever be humdrum. (In 1970, there were just two nesting pairs of peregrines left in California, thanks to pesticides and other man-made horrors. Now the estimate is 250 pairs, an inspiring recovery.)
But for many of the nearly 700 falcon fans who are part of Jose's and Clara's official online discussion group, this is all wonderfully new. Most of the posts read like love notes. Friday, the first poem appeared. Can a song be far behind?
Falcons, it turns out, are nurturing parents, doting on the kids and taking turns babysitting and hunting. Sometimes Jose and Clara just stand watching their eyases - falcon-speak for chicks - and cock their heads back and forth, as if amazed at what they've produced. It's a sensation many a first-time parent has shared.
A terrific partnership between the bird researchers and the city have made this reality show possible. It's a new focus for civic pride and a tremendous educational resource: Some teachers keep the falcon cam up all day in their classrooms.
For linking the city with the Santa Cruz group, thank Evet Loewen, chief deputy city attorney and newly minted falcon whisperer: Not even a birder before these predators showed up, Loewen now has a magical knack for knowing when Jose and Clara will be soaring.
The falcons are great ambassadors for a city that values the environment. At an international bioscience trade show that drew 22,000 people to Boston last week, local journalists dubbed San Jose's booth the most interesting of all. Guess what was playing live on the computer screen.
But if city representatives at that booth were bragging about Silicon Valley productivity, they'd better not rely on this month's statistics. Just about everybody with a computer is flipping back and forth to the falcon cam throughout the day.
Not us, of course. We're hard at work.
Wait - is it feeding time? And where's Mom?
FILE UNDER: Human Navel-gazing. The point, apparently, is to celebrate the fact that human mothers haul bloody meat home for the kids in plastic-wrapped packages.
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