I made another trip to Malabar Headland National Park, and was rewarded with some great observations of the resident pair of Peregrine Falcons.
On my last visit, I had seen one of the birds, probably the male, return with some food (a just killed and plucked bird) and then fly past their nest area and call for its mate. The female then flew out and a mid-air food exchange took place. On this visit I was able to witness this twice.
By checking the photo exif data, the first food exchange took place around 10 am, and the second around 12:30 pm. In both cases the male gave the female a whole bird. I think then that the female probably took these to feed some chicks.
Here are my sequences of photos. The action happens very fast, and you need a camera and lens with fast autofocus, and you need to be able to able to track the birds as best you can.
Mid-air Food Exchange 1
The much larger female is behind the male, which has the food.
The next photo was taken of one of the falcons about half an hour later.
Mid-air Food Exchange 2
The female must have heard the male returning, so it flies out.
Now you can see both birds, the male above has the food.
The female turns upside down the grab the food.
The female then lands on a ledge
The female then starts checking the food –
It then takes off and flies to another ledge –
The falcon must have then flown off again with the food, perhaps to the nest which is out of sight. I didn’t see either of the birds again for a few hours.
Lots of wildflowers were out, including some Caladenia Orchids.
And a police helicopter flew past pretty close –
I then spotted one of the Peregrine Falcons. It was flying around next to their nest area. Here are some of the photos of it cruising by –
It then landed for a rest.
But not for long.
And landed again.
Lastly, some of the other birds I saw on the day.
Nankeen Kestrel
Nankeen Kestrel
Shining Bronze Cuckoo
New Holland Honeyeater
Superb Fairy-wrens
It had been a very good day!
Hi David,
Nice to meet you today, thank you for the information.
These photos are amazing, this bird is incredible…..Extremely beautiful.
We will postpone our activities until we have further information.
kind regards,
Ben
The Peregrine Falcon appeared just after you left. I had gone for a walk to the old bunker and spotted it when I got back (1:16 pm). It was in the same perch, till I got bored and left about 3:15 pm.