Hercules for Sure!
Sean came with me to the garage top today. It is so nice to have company up there, especially on weekends. It’s so quiet up there and sometimes odd people come up, generally looking to wave to a particular convict when they let them out on the roof exercise yard. With all my equipment, I sometimes feel a tad vulnerable, even though I know the security guards completely have my back and are watching from downstairs.
The weather was so beautiful. We decided to go to the garage top and then take a walk over to Northerly Island. We packed up all my gear and wandered garage-ward.
Herc was up on the camera pole on the NE corner of the MCC looking resplendent in the morning sunshine. She sat on this spot a lot last year, but my scope was never powerful enough to see much. We set the scope up and I swung it up to look at her. Man, that scope is great! At 25x, I could easily see the band colors. I pushed it up to 50x and saw the vague outlines of the letters. At 75x, the sideways-D and W on her bands were crystal clear. Sean looked to verify and we both did a small happy dance.
I figured the adult female at the MCC was Hercules, but one never knows. Many things can happen between nesting seasons. So, this was a good thing to get confirmation. WELCOME BACK, HERCULES!
The birds were pretty danged quiet, so we left after about 2 hours. One set of legbands down, one to go! This year, I swear, I’ll get a photo confirmation of Max’s legbands.
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