I was joined on this trip by both Valerie and Sue. We were all keen to see the progress of the Peregrine Falcons, and to see if they had chicks (and if they had fledged). We did see both the adult Peregrines – but only for fleeting visits. But we witnessed and extraordinary display by the passing Humpback Whales.
The temperature on the headland was quite pleasant, but it during our stay, it got very windy. This made it hard for me to hold a camera with a large telephotos lens without getting buffeted.
I travelled to Maroubra Beach with Valerie, and just after getting out of her car, I spotted a Nankeen Kestrel fly past with a lizard.
On the walk out, we saw more Microtis sp. orchids.
When we arrived at the peregrine falcon nesting area, around noon, we scanned the ledges of the cliffs for any resting Peregrine Falcons, but we had no success in spotting them. So we then we sat down on the clifftop and waited to see if any would show up.
While we were waiting, we did see a number of Humpback Whales –
And then we spotted the male Peregrine Falcon fly past. This was at 1:16 pm.
It did not return. So we waited again.
About then minutes later the male did return – but again it flew past and did not loop back.
More whales.
At 2:36 pm, the male flew past again.
And not long after, the female flew past.
It didn’t stay long, bit it did do some nice fast flying.
Then the main act of the whale show started. This went on from about 3 pm to 5 pm. There were lots of passing pods and many of the whales were not only passing quite close to the cliffs, but they were also breaching.
This one was interesting with its mouth open.
At 4:45 pm, a Peregrine Falcon flew past at high speed.
And some more whale action.
And a few minutes later the female Peregrine Falcon appeared again, just as were leaving, around 5 pm.
Thanks to Sue and Valerie for company on the cliffs. And also – two other bird photographers – Dale and David joined us on the cliffs.