A few weeks earlier, I had been on a visit to these sea cliffs with Sue and Valerie. We had been lucky, spotting an Osprey, a nesting pair of Kestrels and a family of Peregrine Falcons with three chicks almost at the point of fledging. So we were all keen to head back.
We had another great day.
No Osprey perched on the cliffs this time, but we did spot two of the Peregrine Falcon chicks – obviously fledglings.
Here they are –
I think we got too close to them and spooked them, as they soon flew off down the cliffs.
We continued to where we had seen the nesting Kestrels last time. None were around so we sat down and had lunch and waited.
Then an adult Nankeen Kestrel appeared and perched nearby.
I moved to the other side to get better photos.
It then took off –
we had not seen any chicks and the nest – small cave lower down on the cliffs was empty. So I thought chicks may have fledged and be perched somewhere on the cliffs. As we were leaving, we looked down on another ledge and spotted two beautiful Kestrel chicks. They too had fledged.
One of the chicks moved along the ledge to where some food had been left. It looked like the remains of a mouse.
The other chick then started to look very excited.
A parent had arrived with food!
The food was delivered.
The chick was given another mouse.
Back to the other chick – it was watching.
And here is the chick with the new mouse –
The other chick flew back.
We then left to let the chicks enjoy their food.
Waling back towards the Peregrines, I spotted this Australasian Pipit. It seemed to have a crab claw.
We spotted two of the three Peregrine Falcon chicks again – at the same location we had seen them earlier.
Then we heard and saw another juvenile Peregrine Falcon flying a fair way along the cliffs. It was calling quite loud and attracted its siblings. One of them took off.
The other chick took off too, and soon all three were interacting together in the air. Some great flying, but too far away.
I moved down a bit closer.
The other joined me and we witnessed an awesome display of fast flying.
Two of the juveniles landed nearby –
Wow – a great display of aerial flying. Amazing to witness. A lot of their flying I missed as the birds were flying very fast and it was quite windy. It was hard to hold long lens to track them in the buffeting wind.
We only left and headed back to Valerie’s car after the young birds landed to rest.