Another day observing the Peregrine Falcons on the Headland. I was with Valerie and Sue. The weather was fine – but quite windy. We were hoping to see some fledged chicks.
I have been watching this pair for five breeding seasons now. Here are some of my observations –
- 2018 – 1 chick visible 12 Oct, fledged 18 October
- 2019 – 3 chicks fledged 14 October
- 2020 – 1 chick fledged 8 Nov, another 10 November
- 2021 – 1 chick on lower ledge 5 November, 1 chick fledged 9 November
Note that the dates are not the actual dates of fledging, but the dates I visited where I observed the chicks had left the scrape and were flying.
So what about this year? Well one chick has now fledged.
When we arrived at the nest area, we spotted the female on guard duty.
We didn’t have to wait long before she did some nice flying.
And she landed back on her ledge.
A little later she flew down the cliffs a short distance and landed on another ledge. We went closer to investigate. She was eating.
And there was a second bird near her.
She seemed to be quite hungry.
She finished eating and flew off.
She seemed to go back to the scrape.
Now looking at the other Peregrine Falcon. It was a newly fledged chick!
The female then left the scrape and did some more fast flying.
And she landed back on her original ledge.
Back to the chick. It was very windy by now. Perhaps too windy for the chick to safely fly?
It settled down and had a nap.
We left the chick in peace and looked for whales for a while. We spotted a Pied Cormorant –
Then we saw the juvenile in the air. It seemed to flying very well in the strong winds.
It flew into the scrape. Meanwhile it’s mother was still on her ledge.
Later, the male arrived, and landed on a high perch.
The females calling out to the male. The male suddenly took off and flew away along the cliffs.
The female started calling again. Was she wanting food?
The male appeared again.
The female was still calling. It suddenly took off.
It landed on a lower ledge just under the male.
The male stayed in its perch.
Then all of sudden, a juvenile appeared – it must have taken off from the scrape. It flew off along the cliffs out of sight.
After a bit of a delay, the male took off and followed the juvenile.
I left the others and went out to the point. I could see the male in the far distance. It looked like it had just had a wash.
I walked back to the nest area, and we saw a juvenile on a lower ledge, near the scrape. I don’t know if it was the same juvenile we saw earlier or another. But, it seemed very reluctant or unable to fly.
We didn’t want to stay too close to the young bird, and we thought it was about time to head for home. Another interesting day. So one chick has fledged and there are perhaps more.