I was keen to visit Malabar Headland again – as I thought it would be close to the time any chicks from the nesting pair of Peregrine Falcons would be fledging. On this visit I was meeting Sue out on the cliffs. She was walking in from Maroubra, and I was coming from Malabar.
One of the reasons I wanted to walk in via Malabar, was that recently I had been seeing either one or two juvenile Black-shoudered Kites hunting along the way.
So this trip I looked out for these raptors, and I did see one of them hunting, but it was not very close.
But a little further along, I spotted a White-bellied Sea Eagle hunting for fish.
It was making its way, flying slowly over Long Bay.
It would then circle and come back.
But on this trip back, it attracted the attention of some nearby Ravens, and was harassed.
It then flew a long way out to sea. I followed it with binoculars, and I knew there it was when I saw a large flock of sea birds – Silver Gulls and Shearwaters suddenly scatter in all directions. Then I saw it reach into the sea with its talons and attempt to pluck out a fish.
It was far too distant to photograph, but I was following it with my camera, and when it got close I started taking a few photos. I had caught a nice large fish. But I had also heard the screech of a Peregrine Falcon. It was attacking the Sea Eagle.
The Peregrine Falcon flew past the Sea Eagle very close at high speed.
The Peregrine Falcon was not after the Sea Eagle’s fish. They don’t morally eat fish. But it was trying to drive the Sea Eagle out of its territory. In particular it was trying to drive the Sea Eagle away from its nest area.
The Sea Eagle was still approaching the headland, but as it did so, it disappeared below the cliffs, out of my sight for a time. The Peregrine Falcon was still harassing it with high speed dives.
The Sea Eagle appeared again, now past me.
The Peregrine Falcon was still attacking it.
Sea Eagles normally defend them selves from attack by birds like Peregrine Falcons by flying upside down and using their talons to fend off any attacks. But this Sea eagle seemed determined to hang on to its fish.
At this point, the Sea Eagle flew out of sight again. I saw the Peregrine Falcon fly around a bit more, then it flew back towards it nest area.
This had been a good start!
I then met up with Sue. She had been to the nesting area for a while, and had seen the Peregrine falcon fly out. But she had not witnessed the Sea eagle encounter.
We then looked along the cliffs for any perched Peregrine Falcons, but had not luck. We then settled down to wait.
We also looked for whales. We did see two Border Force boats speed past –
There were also lots of Silver Gulls, and some Shearwaters, not too far out in the sea. We assumed their must have been some fish nearby.
We did see a few Humpback Whales –
We had lunch and continued with our waiting. Occasionally walking along the cliffs and using binoculars to look for perched birds.
It was not till close to 3 pm that we saw a Peregrine Falcon fly past –
It flew out towards Magic Point. We flowed it through binoculars and then we also spotted a Sea Eagle. Perhaps the one I had seen earlier. We saw the Peregrine Falcon attacking it, again and again, as it flew towards the Rifle Range.
Looking out to sea – we spotted this very disturbed area – probably a baitball.
Then, at 3:20 pm, we spotted the female Peregrine Falcon perched on a ledge.
We watched it for over half an hour, then it took off –
We spotted it perched a bit further along –
Then, we were quite surprised to see a Cattle Egret fly past. And it was a fair way out.
We then spotted the Peregrine Falcon flying out to sea. Was it flying out to attack the Cattle Egret? Perhaps – but whatever happened was too far away to observe.
We then decided to both walk out to Malabar. I was hoping to see the Black-shouldered Kite again, and indeed we saw it perched on its favourite pole. It had prey.
The prey was quite large, and had fur and claws. We could not get a clear view, but it looked more like a possum rather than a cat.
So this day on the Headland started and ended well, but we also had a long lull in the middle – with little or no action. Not even whale activity.
And with the Peregrines. Looking later at my photos, we only saw the female this visit. And I don’t know the status of any chicks. But they are certainly defending their nest area. And it does look like they have made a scrape in a different spot to previous years.