Gill, Douglas E., 1964
Page 24
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Transcription
124 Gill, Douglas E. 1964 ahead of Larry's shot burst of speed and frequent rests. We relaxed at our camp after the hour plus climb and I ate a relatively hearty meal of corn and beef stew. We warmed ourselves in the last of the sunlight on our ridge and quickly put on all that we had as the shade was cold. I brought an extra shirt which gave me four layers which was a vast improvement over the other night. We soon decided to go down to the chick burrow and wait for the adult to return. Working down the slope warmed us up but sitting on top of the ridge by the burrow was cold. The last of the sunlight finally faded from the last high peak and it got colder. We threw stones at a flat rock just to be active and warm up. Finally dusk settled and the first of the Dark-rumps came in. I caught one glimpse of it, but I was amazed I couldn't see it in the twilight. Soon a few more came in and all seemed to be con- centrating their activity around a ridge to the right of No. 5. Several times their calling remained in one spot for a long enough time, that I thought they were sitting on the ledge. Either that or a male in a burrow was answering. One or two birds flew around the rock ledges below No. 5 but none came up the left canyon or anywhere near the chick's burrow. We were both cold and were trying to decide what to do. It must have been nearly 1-1/2 hours after dark and the total number of birds in this area was 4 or 5 and the adult of the chick still hadn't come in. Off in the distance we could hear several more and I estimated the total number of birds for the craters may have been 15; that is the birds we were hearing may have been as high as 15 but, the total birds for the crater we agreed might be safely 25. We decided to check some of the good burrows Larry had found on the ledges below No. 5. We had difficulty finding some and found no birds. We