More Peregrine Falcons – 23 October 2022

Over the past five years I have been documenting a breeding pair of Peregrine Falcons on Malabar Headland. However on this day I visited another section of the Sydney Coastline in order to photograph a family of Peregrine Falcons. This pair have three chicks that fledged, perhaps three weeks ago, so they are quite good fliers.

I didn’t intend to stay most of the day, but the juveniles put on a good flying display, so I stayed from around 10:30 am till around 5 pm. I had a late start to avoid a storm that seemed to be passing over the area.

Not long after I arrived, I spotted one of the juveniles flying along the cliffs –

And there was also a parent around. The female.

Back to a juvenile –

And the parent was nearby one guard duty.

I could not get any good photos of a parent flying with a juvenile.

I watched one of the juveniles take off from this ledge –

There were a few quiet times when none of he birds were active or visible. I met a few other bird photographers on the cliffs, including Philip and Adam.

Later, I saw an Osprey fly past.

Here, one of the juveniles is returning to that same ledge.

It climbs to a higher spot this time.

It now lands on a ledge.

One of its siblings is nearby –

The first one has a lie down.

Then a nice take-off –

Later in the afternoon, two juveniles perch on this ledge. They seem to be waiting patiently – perhaps for food? So I stayed around hoping that a parent would arrive with prey.

Sometimes, one or both would move to another spot.

And now all three are close. One on the ledge –

And two siblings slightly higher.

Then two moved back the other ledge.

It is interesting that from my observations, when I have seen three chicks, two seem to hang out together and the third seems to be by itself. I wonder if this is a general trait with Peregrine families. Perhaps the two that prefer to stay together hatched closer together or perhaps they are the same sex.

The third chick flew in to a different spot –

The the two, started getting real excited.

One took off.

Then the second –

It dive down with great speed. Perhaps food had arrived?

Both parents were now around. It seems that one had brought back prey.

The day ended with a good display of flying from the parents and the chicks.

And these two adults have a switcheroo. The female flies up –

And wants the perch that the male is on. So the male leaves it.

It was now getting late, so time to leave. And thanks to Philip for a lift to the main bus stop.