Malabar Headland – 18 August 2020

Another great day out on Malabar Headland. Like the week before, I was also showing friends the area and its Peregrine Falcon residents.  This time I was joined by Valerie, Sue and Deb.

The walk was fairly uneventful. We all admired the wildflowers and we did see a few birds near the park entrance –

When we arrived at the Peregrine Falcon nest area, we spotted one bird straight away. It was the male. It looked settled on a ledge. We sat down and waited hoping it would take off. It did, eventually, about 50 minutes later.

At one stage, the Falcon looked like it was getting ready to take off. It stretched its wings, did a poo and moved a bit.

Take-off imminent?

No, it was a false alarm.

But short time later it did take off.

It flew off, so we had our lunches and looked for whales. We did spot a small pod heading south.

Then we noticed the Peregrine Falcon was back on the same ledge. More waiting to see what it would do.

It looks like it is getting ready for take-off.

But this does not look like a take-off move –

A long line fisherman was just above. I think he distracted the bird.

Now for take-off –

We watched it fly off – but it did not go far. We had not noticed its mate on another nearby ledge. The male flew down and mated.

The photo data shows it took 6 seconds.

The male flew off – I think back to the nest. We waited to see what the female would do.

It stayed for about ten minutes and then took-off –

It too flew off out of sight. We got ready to leave. Just then we noticed a pair of seals swimming by below us.

And the long line fisherman caught a fish.

We then started back to the carpark. It had been another very interesting day.