Hopewell Rock & Peregrine Falcon

Peregrine Falcon

Day 10 - Hopewell Rocks & Peregrine Falcon, Hopewell Cape, NB 13.2 miles, 1080.8 For the Trip

I'll probably add more to this later, but decided to get the photos I took so far posted. While the WiFi here at the park is strong, it is a bit slow & at times, goes away.

It got cold last night - 44°F out & down to 50°F in the trailer. I almost got out the heater, but decided that was far too much trouble, so I just slept in until the inside of the trailer hit 60°F, around 8:45. Speaking (well, typing) about time, I discovered an interesting thing about my large thermometer that automatically sets the time to some broadcasted atomic clock. The interesting thing is it doesn't have a time zone for the one I'm in so it insists on being one hour behind. I tried resetting the time, but this morning it was back to being wrong. I went back to the end of the campgrond to take another photo & you can see the difference the tide makes. Neither were at high or low, still, there is quite a difference between them.

I picked up a discounted pass for the Hopewell Rock site ($8.50 instead of $9.00) then found that when I got to the gate as a senior I could have only paid $7.75. Oh well. It was closer to high tide than low, so I took some photos of the rocks. On the way back I stopped at Big Cove & met a photographer with a long lens on a pro tripod. There is a eregrine Falcon nest with a chick on a ledge about 200' from the viewing platform. He said there were two chicks, but one fell off the ledge a day or two ago. Since I had my usual 24 - 70mm lens on the camera, I couldn't do any photos.

Went back to the car & switched to the 300mm lens with 2X teleconverter, tripod, and headed back. So, you are going to have to look through a page of falcon photos. The first & last are full frame images with the combination (600mm). All the rest are cropped. While I don't really use the 300mm f:2.8 lens enough to justify the cost, when you need it not much else will do. It works well with the 2nd generation 2X teleconverter.  More photos at today's Lakeshore Images page.

The falcon was perched on a branch above the nest while hunting, but as the chick wandered away from the nest towards the edge of the ledge, she swooped down & pushed it back to the nest.

I did go out looking for lighthouses. Found two, one called the "Moving Lighthouse" since it has been moved 6 times, and the other a more standard one, although probably primarily a tourist stop since their "Zip Line" seemed more popular than the lighthouse. Dick & Anne were at the campground when I got back & are setting up. Don & Anne are expecting to arrive around 7:30 this evening.

Dick, Anne & I went for a walk around the lake here at the campground. The section across the dam was narrow & weedy, but OK. After that the final part of the walk attracted clouds of mosquitos. When we got back Don & Anne had arrived & were setting up. So, we are all here and ready to relax.

Till tomorrow.