Malabar Headland – 9 November 2021

After the early morning Mudlarks bird survey, I headed out to Malabar Headland to see the status of the Peregrine Falcons.

I had been out to the headland three days earlier, when a chick seemed to be stuck on a lower ledge. Since then the park had been closed due to shooting at the adjacent rifle range. I was keen to see how the chick had fared and how its siblings were. Had they all fledged?

When I arrived, I soon spotted an adult (the female?) perched on one of its usual ledges near the nest area. It seemed to be on guard duty.

There was no sign of the chick that had been on the lower ledge. It looked like it had either fallen down or flown down to this ledge and been unable to get back up. The only way it could survive would be for it to fly up. If it tried to fly without being able to climb then it would fly into the sea and die.

I could see the remains of some birds and some footprints on the lower ledge. So I could see its parents had kept it provided with food.

Then the second adult arrived.

It first landed on the scrape (nest) ledge.

It then flew down to the lower ledge where the chick had been.

It seemed to search around.

It then took off and flew away.

A little while later, I could hear a chick calling. I soon spotted one high on the cliffs.

Was it the chick from the lower ledge or one of its siblings? I don’t know.

It could certainly fly quite well.

It flew off around the cliffs. I then watched a pod of dolphins pass by.

And this nice skink –

Then the second adult came back.

It flew past and disappeared. By this time Roscoe, the other bird photographer had arrived. He later spotted it perched further along the cliffs.

The chick was perched nearby.

Then the chick took off and flew around a bit. So did the adult.

The adult landed on a lower level.

Walking closer to it and looking down, I could see some snagged fishing line nearby. This is not good! It could tangle up with the birds when they start to fly.

All of a sudden the adult took off –

An unwelcome  intruder was present. A Brown Goshawk. It was soon encouraged to leave.

Then the chick flew down to Boora Point and perched on the clifftop.

And then it did some nice flying.

One of its parents arrived.

The parent then gave it some lessons.

It is amazing to watch these very quick flying birds fly like this. The show was not over.

The chick landed. It was probably quite tired.

The parent also landed.

it was nice to photograph the chick take-off.

The chick then perched for another rest. Then the second parent arrived with some food.

The chick must have been hungry. It took off after its the parent.

But the parent was not going to hand over the food with some work from the chick. It had to do some more learning.

The both flew off on the far side of the cliffs, then the parent returned. It now had no food.

The chick now had the food.

I thought the chick would probably rest after eating, and it seemed like a good time to head home. On my way I spotted a Black-shouldered Kite perched on a pole.

This had been an amazing and very special day observing and photographing these birds.

I still don’t know the status of the other Peregrine Falcon chicks.