Courtship begins…

Posted on December 27, 2025 by Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch

Saturday, December 27, 2025

Photo by Cleve Nash
Photo by Gary O’Neill
Photo by Gary O’Neill

These are my favorite days with the falcons. High speed antics, 20 G turns, chasing everything that flies… red-tails, turkey vultures, ospreys and anything else that gets in his way. Then the male leads the female to all previous nest sites trying to let her know “where to go.”

I am now looking at the female perched on an outcropping of rocks watching him, watching every move he makes. She does not go into her submissive pose, a signal for copulation. It’s too early. He’ll have to do more flying, more acrobatics. She didn’t seem to be much impressed with his first band of courtship flights, but it should continue for a couple more days. Tomorrow will be another day and we hope to see more flying.

Today the visitors that watched were visibly impressed with the speed and agility of the sixteen year old tiercel (male). Copulation should begin the first week or two in January. More to come. 

Happy trails, Bob and Jerry

P.S. One visitor said she could not turn her head fast enough to follow him across the face of the Rock.

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Healthy fledglings…

Posted on June 6, 2025 by Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch

Thursday, June 5, 2025

It’s a very exciting time right now as we have two healthy fledglings on the south side of Morro Rock.   I arrived at 10:00 AM today glassing the area for our new arrivals.  Then I heard that unmistakable call off to my right.  Quickly setting up my scope I soon found one of juveniles on a rocky slope about 50 yards away.  Scanning the surrounding area, I saw the second fledgling about 20 feet to the left.

After about 30 minutes, the adult female came flying in with prey, and the chase was on!  The youngsters put on a great show trying to catch up to the female attempting to take the bird from her.  In all the ruckus, she dropped the prey into a rocky ravine and had to retrieve it.  Finally getting settled down, she plucked the bird and patiently fed both chicks until they were satisfied.  The fledglings stayed at that site for the next two hours until they both took flight.                                   

Adult with two juveniles. Photo by Dean Thompson

We welcome you to come down to Morro Rock to share this experience with us.  We are at the rock between 10:00AM and 2:00PM (approximately) and will gladly share our scopes with you.

That’s about it for now.  Until next time……Jerry

P.S. Jerry happily wrote up his exciting observations while Bob was traveling in Oregon.

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Fledging…

Posted on June 5, 2025 by Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch

Thursday, June 5, 2025

Since Bob is in Hermiston, Oregon visiting his daughter, Jerry has been observing the peregrines at Morro Rock with all the regular visitors. I, also, went out to see the juveniles today. Many visitors had noticed the birds fledging since the beginning of June on the 1st. They are flying well so they have had several days being barely noticed except by a few people.

Today Jerry captured a photo on his iPhone looking through the spotting scope below.

Two juveniles being fed by the female Peregrine Photo by Jerry Pyle

Happy trails, Jerry and Heather

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Chicks showing on May 18-20…

Posted on May 22, 2025 by Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch

Wednesday, May 21, 2025

On the eighteenth of May, a first chick made an appearance under the “diving board” showing up as a little white ball of fuzz. He looks to be about 21 to 23 days old. We first saw a bird at 11:25 AM on May 18th, then on May 20th the second one at 1:05PM.

Peregrine chicks Photo by Cleve Nash

Later on May 20, two young came out to defecate. It must be starting to stink in the eyrie. They only show for up about for thirty seconds, then dart back inside. So… you must watch the hole non-stop. 

More to come.

Happy trails,  Bob.

P.S. We shared a previous photo by Cleve Nash from years ago, but the current chicks look very similar to these.

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Incubation begins…

Posted on March 19, 2025 by Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch

Wednesday, March 19, 2025

For the first two plus hours at the south side of Morro Rock, the female was not seen, but the male was in a hole eating a bird. He then flew around a bit and went into the nest site. The female then came out and exercised a bit and went straight to the twig where she sat for two hours.

The male after incubating all this time came out to the mouth of the eyrie looking around for her. She let him stew for another fifteen minutes before she went back for the exchange. This is the first sign of incubation. The eggs should hatch around April 18th to the 20th. 

Because we cannot see into the eyrie, the number of eggs laid is unknown.

Happy trails,  Bob and Jerry

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Breeding big time…

Posted on February 28, 2025 by Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch

Thursday, February 27, 2025

10AM No birds yet on the south side. Then both birds appeared in the “diving board” hole. A few visits later, the female went to a breeding rock and assumed the position. The male covered her for seven seconds. 

One hour and  fourteen minutes later … same thing.

One hour and  seventeen minutes later … same thing.

One hour and  thirteen minutes later … same thing.

Ten seconds later … same thing.

When it gets to be every thirty minutes, she will start laying eggs, about two or three weeks from today. So exciting, got to go to the house. Bye!

Happy trails, Bob and Jerry

Item: All breeding took place on the twig except for the first time. For us to try that, it would be like standing up in a hammock.

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Better late than never…

Posted on February 10, 2025 by Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch

Monday, February 10, 2025

Morro Rock with "Bowling ball" nest site shown.
Morro Rock nest site shown
“Bowling ball” hole

Monday, February 10th, first breeding observed today at 11:30 AM on a sunlight rock. After a month of watching and waiting, I wasn’t sure they were ever going to have young this year. In all the years I have observed these birds, they have always started breeding the first week of January without fail. Last year the 7th of January, the year before that the 4th of January. The north side pair have been spending a lot of time around the “bowling ball” eyrie she had nested there three years ago. And this is my guess for this year, but you never know.

I have no answer for the late breeding only that wildlife knows something that we don’t. I’ll keep you informed.

Happy trails, Bob and Jerry 

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Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival 2025…

Posted on January 28, 2025 by Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch

Friday, January 24, 2025

Bob and Jerry set up early waiting for the visiting birders in groups to arrive.
Bob Isenberg, Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival 2025

I know our last posting had some dismal news regarding our Peregrine Falcons at Morro Rock. We were getting concerned that we would be making a lot of excuses at the 2025 Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival, January 16th through the 20th. However, on January 15th, we had a very good day sighting both male and female falcons flying and perching for extended periods. That lifted our spirits.

Our site at the Festival was a “Stop and Scope” affair. We set up four scopes and lots of chairs for people to stay and view as long as they wished. Our birds did not disappoint. Both of them showing up multiple times each day.

At times , we had as many as six scopes and two cameras set up. We welcomed as many as five tour groups each of the four days as well as the general public which totaled 100-150 viewers per day.

As you might imagine, between setting up, tearing down, setting and re-setting scopes as the birds changed perches throughout the day and talking to so many people, we were exhausted by the end of the Festival.

We are now back to our regular schedule, ten to two o’clock, with both falcons gracing us with their presence daily. What we have not seen yet is the breeding, which at this point is about two weeks later than in past years. They could be breeding somewhere else out of our visual field. We are seeing them for extended periods and would likely see some “action.”

Jerry Pyle and Bob Isenberg on normal duty

That’s it for now. Observations contributed by Jerry Pyle.

Happy trails, Bob and Jerry

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Strange year…2024…

Posted on December 25, 2024 by Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch

Wednesday, December 25, 2024

For the last couple of months nothing has been going right in many ways as in years past.

We have been skunked five out of seven days every week. Only an occasional fly-by and no landings. The tiercel has been AWOL for the last  ten days. Normally, we would have seen bonding, courtship by this time of the year. We have seen reports of sightings around the Morro Bay estuary, but not the Rock. Very slim. Jerry and I are still here every day! We pass the time with our spotting scopes on sea otters, birds on the sand spit south of us, birds perched on the three stacks, etc.

Sorry I don’t have more. Sad! But we do have a celebration of Morro Bay holidays in the local style with our decorative, nautical Christmas tree of crab pots and buoy markers.

Happy trails, Bob and Jerry

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Incubation starts…

Posted on March 23, 2024 by Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch

Saturday, 23 March 2024

After a week of egg laying, today we saw the first signs of hard incubation. As we arrived on the south side of Morro Rock, 10 AM and only the male falcon was visible, high up on the edge of an arrowhead shaped hole about 10 yards from the nest site. Around 11AM we heard chupping from the nest site. The female then came out of the eyrie and flew to a rock about 100 yards east where the male quickly copulated with her and then flew into the nest site. All of this in about 45 seconds. 

He remained in the nest site for an hour and ten minutes. This continued on for the rest of the day. The female staying in for two hours or more at a time.  He sits on the nest for half as long as she does. This is normal behavior since the female does not hunt. He must find food and bring prey to her. 

Happy trails, Bob and Jerry

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