I headed out to Maroubra to join Sue, and then we walked out onto Malabar Headland to hopefully observe the resident Peregrine Falcons. As days go, it started off very quiet, but the afternoon was very good.
As we walked out, we observed some of the smaller birds.
Silvereye
Superb Fairy-wren
And we saw a few whales. This Humpback Whale was going south –
It was not till about 11:30 am that we spotted a distant Peregrine Falcon. We were out on Boora Point, and the Peregrine was near Magic Point, so we walked that way. It was still there when we got to that area. It was the male.
We waited to see if it would take off. About ten minutes later it did.
It flew out of sight near Deadmans Gulph.
We waited to see if it would return, and had our lunch. Then Sue thought she heard one back near the landslide area. With binoculars, we spotted one perched on the cliff. We headed that way, and found both the pair.
Here is the male –
And nearby was the female.
The noise Sue had heard sounded like they had been mating. Perhaps they would late again? The time was now about 1:15 pm.
We watched the male take-off –
It flew at high speed past where the female was perched. The female looked like it was responsive.
The male circled around.
we watched them mate –
Their mating took about 6 seconds.
Some nice flying by the male –
The female stayed on her ledge.
About 15 minutes later the male arrived again.
The female looked like she was ready for mating again.
And the male obliged.
This time they mated for ten seconds.
The male landed on a ledge out of sight.
Back to the female –
About ten minutes later she took off.
She flew at high speed towards the Rifle Range.
About ten minutes later, at 2:20 pm we spotted one of the Peregrines having a bath in one of the rock pools below the soak near Deadmans Gulch. It looked like the male.
We thought the Peregrine may be drying out near the pool, when all of a sudden we spotted the pair flying together nearby.
The female landed on a high ledge.
She leaned over in her responsive position as the male flew past at high speed.
The male circled around and approached from behind.
They mated again. It was now about 2:30 pm.
They mated for 6 second.
Looking at both birds, they were both wet, so they both must have washed.
Here is the male –
And the female moved to her favourite perch –
The male did some more flying and landed on an overhanging bush.
The female here looks quite wet
Back to the male. It was about to take-off.
The male then did some high speed passes.
The male then flew out of sight along the cliffs.
We then met Alana, who had walked in from Malabar. She had recently returned from an overseas holiday, and it was good to catch up with her again.
While we were talking we spotted another passing whale –
The female was slowly drying herself.
At about 3:30, the male appeared again. He put on another display of acrobatics with some very high speed dives.
And the male landed on a boulder nearby.
It was now time for us to walk back to Maroubra. It had been a great day! Many thanks to Sue for great company, and it was also nice to catch up with Alana again.