This was a full day, starting off at Sydney Park, and then visiting Malabar Headland to photograph the Peregrine Falcons.
At Sydney Park, I had two aims – to photograph the Tawny Frogmouths and the Powerful Owl. I first went to the Tawny Frogmouth nest and from a certain angle I could see two chicks looking out.
I soon located the Powerful Owl. It was close to where I had seen it previously. This time, it was awake and looking down at me.
I then visited the large pond to check out the Australasian Grebe nest.
And also in the same pond was a third Grebe –
In the Island Pond, I could see three Turtles –
And here is the Black Swan and cygnet –
It was then to Malabar Headland – by train, light rail and bus. I was soon on the walk out from Maroubra Beach. On the way out the New Holland Honeyeaters were active.
And the Flannel Flowers were in full bloom.
I arrived at the Peregrine Falcon nesting site about 11:45 am. The female was on guard duty.
While I was waiting for some action, some Humpback Whales cruised past relatively closely –
And the Peregrine Falcon did not react when a Pelican flew past.
The Peregrine Falcon started stretching its wings. Was it about to take off? I had been watching her for an hour.
No. It started to inspect its talons.
Then she started an unusual behaviour – it looked like she was taking bites of air.
She kept this up for about ten minutes. Perhaps it was some sort of beak exercise?
Another Humpback Whale –
And a Great Cormorant –
Then, finally, at about 1:30 pm, the female Peregrine Falcon did take off –
Then the male Peregrine Falcon appeared.
It flew off, but I located it near Boora Point about 15 minutes later.
I was ready when he took off –
Then some more Humpback Whales –
I waited around for a while, then the female returned around 2:40 pm.
She soon took off and flew around –
Then another brief stay on the ledge.
Then another flight –
It was quite windy on the headland, and this made it difficult to hold my camera to follow the birds when flying. So I didn’t stay too long.
On the walk back to Maroubra Beach, I saw more Microtis unifolia orchids –
