Today, May 5, Johnny and I hiked up The Thumb from the approved trailhead at the end of NE Devil's Lake Blvd. It is a long, steep route and very popular. We were early enough to avoid many people going up and were the first ones to reach the top. However by the time we left there were many coming up and going down. My goal was to find out if the Middle Rock pair were nesting, to see if there was any sign of BLOY activity on South or North Rocks, and to see if the trail was doable for me. It was, once. I would not want to climb it on a weekly basis to check nesting! However, today we were successful. The Middle Rock BLOY nest is where it has been in the past, directly down from the highest point of the rock, just below the horizontal cleft in the rock.
Update: This nest was lost and another begun, also with 3 eggs. I monitored mostly from the cove below but on June 24 climbed up the trail again and saw the new nest with 3 eggs. When I no longer saw BLOY from the cove, I climbed again on July 14 and BLOY and eggs were gone.
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