With the Peregrine Falcons on Malabar Headland looking less likely to have had successful nesting this season, I decided to make another trip to there Northern Beaches and get some more photos of the juveniles there. This is, if they are still flying close to their nest area.
On this trip, I found the juvenile Peregrine Falcons are still flying close to their nest, but I had to wait long periods for them to show up. I arrived on the cliffs about 10:30 am, and had to wait till around 11 am for any to appear. At first, one juvenile flew past. Soon after, an adult male appeared. He did some nice fast fly byes.
And here is the juvenile –
The adult male again –
And another sequence with the juvenile –
I don’t know if this the same juvenile or one of its siblings, but it appeared with a toy – a broken off bit of pine frond.
The action ended around 11:30 am. Then things were very quiet till about 2 pm. A White-bellied Sea Eagle flew past, circled around and then flew out of sight.
I thought the Sea Eagle flying over the their territory may bring out the Peregrine Falcons again. I had to wait a few more minutes, then two juveniles appeared.
They were doing some nice flying.
Things then went quiet for another ten minutes. Then all of sudden, three juveniles were in the air together.
I moved to a better position, and for the next 15 minutes there was some great aerial action. This is what I had come to photograph.
As the young birds are growing and learning, they are becoming mush faster and more confident fliers. The speeds they fly past is astonishing. I was lucky to get some reasonable photos, but I would have missed much. There was a fairly strong wind from the North East – and that was buffeting my long camera lens a bit as I tried to pan the camera to follow their action.
I like it when two of the young Falcons grab each other’s talons (or tail) and then spin around before letting go. The birds are learning the skills they will need later when they start hunting.
Then all the three juveniles seemed to fly off and leave the area. It was only about 2:30 pm, but it was getting quite windy, so I decided to head home. I left happy with the photos I had got.
Will they be around for much longer? Perhaps for a week or two, or even a month. But on this visit – I only had action between 11 and 11:30 am, then a long wait for more action which was only really another 15 minutes between 2:15 and 2:30 pm.
Great photos of these amazing birds!
I was at Nth Head recently and got swooped by what I can only imagine was a parent Peregrine. I didn’t see the bird but heard a noise like a missile swoosh past the back of my head! It was quite startling. I looked up, and it was only then that I noticed pair of juveniles playing together in the sky. I can only assume that mum or dad was telling me to move along.
It would be unusual for juveniles to still be near their parents at this time of the year. A breeding pair will often swoop at you – but usually don’t get close. It’s an indiction that they don’t want you around – and a good time to move away.