Lately, I have been trying to visit Malabar Headland National Park about once each week. The main purpose being to photograph the nesting Peregrine Falcons. This visit started off very quiet, but got a lot more lively a little later.
On the walk in, at the Maroubra Beach car park, I saw a pair of Willie Wagtails harassing three Laughing Kookaburras.
And there were a few Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos –
Waling out to Boora Point, there were the usual New Holland Honeyeaters.
When I arrived at the Peregrine Falcon nest area, I could not spot any Falcons. I scanned the cliffs nearby with binoculars bit could not see any. As I think one bird is always on the nest -sitting on eggs, the other bird could also be hidden near the nest, or away getting food. So I sat down to wait. This was around 10 am. Far to in the sea I could see lots of Shearwaters –
I then went for a walk to see if the Sun Orchids were out. They weren’t, but there were lots of other flowers in bloom.
Below Boora Point, I could see a Pelican.
Back at the Peregrine Falcon nest area, one of the birds, the female, was eating. It was now about 11 am.
Meanwhile the Pelican flew past.
The Peregrine Falcon was almost finished.
It moved further along the ledge.
Then took off.
It flew past a few times and went along the cliffs, to return a short time later.
On one return, it did a very fast stoop.
And then it perched on a ledge.
Then I got a nice take-off sequence –
The female flew to the nest, and then the male appeared.
It landed on close by.
It didn’t stay there long.
It did some more nice flying around, then left the area. Perhaps to hunt. This was at 11:40 am.
I had just finished my lunch when I spotted a Peregrine Falcon flying towards the nest area from the east.
But I could see from its wing, that it was not one of the nesting pair. It was an intruder!
It flew past the nest area, and was then intercepted by the male. A fight broke out that was amazing to witness.
At one point, the female Peregrine Falcon from the nesting pair also appeared. Then the intruder decided to leave.
The female returned to the nest, while the male chased after the intruder. It appeared again about 1 pm and perched on a ledge.
Another take-off sequence, but this time its the male.
The male then flew off.
It returned again just before 2 pm.
It stayed on the ledge for a fair while. Michael from the Greenway Birdos arrived, and we waited for some action. It went for a short flight at 2:45 pm, then returned to the same spot.
We waited a bit longer to see if there would be more flying, but the light was deteriorating, so we decided to leave. Many thanks to Michael for a lift home.