I was still recovering from a cold, and was a bit tired after a bushwalk the day before, but wanted to get out. I thought an easy day spent at the Northern Beaches with some bird photography could be good. It was. I had nice encounter with a Peregrine Falcon – one of a nesting pair. I also saw quite a few other birds.
It was the Peregrine Falcon that was the highlight of my visit. It was close to its nest high in the sea cliffs and when I spotted it, it was circling overhead looking for prey. A few times it came down to give me a look over. I was ready with my camera and this allowed me to get a few bursts of shots as it flew towards me. These birds can fly very fast – and it can be tricky to track them and to make sure the camera settings are correct. They present different challenges to photographing Swallows in flight. But the bird stayed around for at least an hour – so I was able to get a few multiple sequences.
I saw it dive quite a few times for prey below the cliffs, and I never saw it catch anything – but it may have out of my sight. It would later reappear high up and then circle back along the cliffs. Here are some of my photos of it –
I assume it was a male Peregrine Falcon. Later I would see its mate. White I was photographing this falcon, quite a few other people walked past along the Coastal Path – but didn’t seem to see or hear it.
When I became tired of waiting for the falcon to reappear, I headed off to another location to see what birds were there. I soon spotted a hovering Black-shouldered Kite.
I took a few photos, then it suddenly dived. I moved along the path and saw that it had not dived for prey, but rather to sit on a perch – low on a dead tree.
I was able to get plenty more photos of it, but it was not doing anything special. it spent a long time preening and then continued to sit. I had my camera ready in case it took off. I waited, but still the bird stayed on its perch.
I found a few New Holland Honeyeaters to photograph instead. After another ten minutes I became bored, so moved off.
I walked out to a rock platform and photographed a White-faced Heron hunting for food. It caught a few small fish.
A few Crested Terns were around.
Walking back – the Kite was still perched exactly the same. And this was probably around 40 minutes later. Instead I photographed a nice Superb Fairy-wrens – a male in its breeding plumage.
Back at the cliffs, the Peregrine falcon had not back out so I looked out to sea for whales. I saw a few a long way out near one of the whale watching boats.
Then the Falcon returned and I got a few more photos of it with the Sun in different direction.
Then it dived again, and reappeared a few minutes later with some animal in its talons. It flew along the cliffs and while it did this, what I presume was its mate came out and flew towards it. Then they seemed to be having some sort of argument over the prey the first one had caught. This was interesting to watch – although they were a fair way away.
I have just come home from the Dee Why cliff top walk (Friday 13th 3:15 pm) and someone (I hope not you) with a large telephoto lens was sitting a few meters off the track on the cliff edge photographing the falcon. The bird was obviously very distressed and squawking continuously, presumably because the person was very near it’s nest.
You will agree it’s nice to get photos but not at the expense of the bird or it’s nest. This person was somehow oblivious to the birds obvious distress. Very annoying for the bird and for me!
Your concerns here are warranted Paul. I too have had one of the falcons at Dee Why seem a bit distressed – calling to its mate probably? But nearby were a group of other people taking selfies and they didn’t seem to notice the bird was flying close by or calling out. Its common for these birds to call to each other while nesting. The male often does the food collecting and then brings food for the female sitting on eggs. It calls to the female – which then flies out and they exchange the food mid air. I think they call to each other if there is danger (eg a person) near the nest area. I was not there today (Friday), not there on the 13th (yesterday, Thursday) – but this pair is well known to bird photographers I think.