Malabar Headland – 10 July 2023

It was time for another visit to Malabar Headland. Both Sue and Valerie were keen to join me. The weather forecast was good – a fine day with fresh westerly winds.

I travelled to Maroubra with Valerie, and we met up with Sue at Magic Point.

Walking out, we spotted some small birds.

Red-browed Finch

Fan-tailed Cuckoo

Superb Fairy-wrens

New Holland Honeyeater

Australasian Gannet

We walked out near Boora Point, but saw no signs of the Peregrine Falcons we had been hoping to see.  But we did see some Humpback Whales –

And it is amazing to see the Gannets diving for fish. The photographs do show how much they streamline before hiting the water –

Some Ravens appeared on the cliffs, when all of sudden a Peregrine Falcon arrived and chased them away.

But, that was all we saw of the Peregrine Falcon.

Back to the whales –

Then at 12:20 pm, all of sudden a Peregrine Falcon flew out at high speed.

There was a second Peregrine Falcon.

They clashed!

Then a third Peregrine Falcon arrived to join in.

This fracas was far out above the sea. But it looks like a Peregrine Falcon had intruded on the territory of the local pair.

That was all we saw of the Falcon for a fair while.

Below us in the sea, we were looking for seals and turtles, but could not help noticing a huge number of Jellyfish.

And a few more whales passed the cliffs –

Then, at about 2:30 pm, a Peregrine Falcon flew in to the cliffs nearby. It was the male.

But it did not stay long. It flew off with a dead Starling. It must have cached the bird in a hole on the cliffs.

Then we head the female below on a ledge –

The female then flew off towards the landslide area.

We walked to the landslide, and when we arrived we heard the calls of the Peregrine Falcons “renewing their bonds”. When they mate, they make a racket!

The female remained in this spot for a while.

Below – more Jellyfish. Lots of them.

The female was getting ready to take off.

It flew to a lower ledge nearby. We then spotted the male perched a little higher.

Then they mated again.

The male flew to a ledge under us that we could no see. The female remained on her ledge.

The female took off and flew to another spot out of sight.

And then we saw the male fly past with some bits of prey.

And it returned with nothing. Perhaps it had cached something?

We then spotted it eating on the same lower spot it had been perched on before the second mating.

We did not want to disturb the bird in its feeding so we left the area.

They day had started off very quiet, but had become more interesting in the afternoon. Our patience had been rewarded.