The Twin Owls formation at Lumpy Ridge was reopened by the NPS on July 18th after a four month closure for raptor nesting.

These rocks are closed each year so that raptors have the opportunity to "nest in peace" without the risk of a climber disturbing their nesting site.  A NPS biologist told me that they primarily close these cliffs to protect the nests from people who would steal the eggs to sell at a high price  ($20,000 or more) to bird traders, believing that climbers would be be likely thieves of these valuable eggs which mostly go to "falconeers" in the Middle Eastern countries, particularly Saudia Arabia. 

According to sources well-connected with this decision, a new CO state park opening soon nearby Denver has already negotiated with "falconeers", for this special interest group to take a certain number of eggs from nests each season for their hobby while at the same time closing the cliffs to climbers to protect the remaining eggs.  The falconeers "proved" with a scientist's opinion that as only a small percentage of falcon eggs survive to adulthood, so it was appropriate to cull a certain number of eggs

Comments (0)