David Noble Blog

I spent an amazing afternoon out on Malabar Headland. The resident family of Peregrine Falcons put on an incredible display of flying and was a privilege to witness this. I met Sue at Maroubra Beach and we walked out to near Boora Point. We later met up with Ian, the visiting Peregrine Falcon photographer from South Australia.

Later in the afternoon more bird photographers arrived including Shane, Roscoe and Sol.

Anyway, here are some of my photos which record the bird’s incredible speed and their interesting behaviour. Continue reading →

This was an outstanding day for photographing the resident family of Peregrine Falcons on Malabar Headland. On this day, I was joined by Ian, a visiting bird photographer from South Australia.

Ian had contacted me, originally via a comment on this blog, and we arranged to meet up while he was visiting Sydney. At this time of the year, he usually photographs Peregrine Falcons nearer his home on the Murray River. But with the current water levels being far too high for safe navigation on the river this possibility was ruled out. So he travelled to Sydney and on one of the days of his visit, we met up at Malabar and walked out onto the Headland.  It was good to meet him and  share our joint passion for observing and photographing these very special birds. Continue reading →

After seeing one Peregrine Falcon fledgling on the last visit, I was keen to head back and see if other chicks had fledged. On the previous visits, just before we left, we had heard, and then seen a chick on a ledge that is accessible from the bird’s scrape. We wondered if this had been the chick we had seen earlier, but that had flown well and this one seemed very reluctant, and perhaps unable to take-off.

On this trip, I was joined by Sue. We met at Maroubra Beach and walked out to Boora Point. At the Peregrine Falcon nesting area, we met Biggles, who was there for the morning, and we later met Alana. Continue reading →

Another day observing the Peregrine Falcons on the Headland. I was with Valerie and Sue.  The weather was fine – but quite windy. We were hoping to see some fledged chicks.

I have been watching this pair for five breeding seasons now. Here are some of my observations –

• 2018 – 1 chick visible 12 Oct, fledged 18 October
• 2019 – 3 chicks fledged 14 October
• 2020 – 1 chick fledged 8 Nov, another 10 November
• 2021 – 1 chick on lower ledge 5 November, 1 chick fledged 9 November

Note that the dates are not the actual dates of fledging, but the dates I visited where I observed the chicks had left the scrape and were flying. Continue reading →