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Monthly Archives: August 2012
Above the rest…
Photo by Cleve Nash
This is the third in a series of tales about the “famous and not-so-famous birds of Morro Rock.
Before I get into the story of our third famous bird, I would like to give our readers an update on the injured falcon chick found June 26, 2012. The young bird is doing well. She has been moved to a larger 30 foot flight cage where she is being conditioned to fly. With full time care by Jeri Roberts, she will be released in the next week or so. I hope to have a video of this.
Every few years, we have a clutch of young falcons with one bird in it that shines head and heels above the others. This bird was hatched on the north side of the rock in a cast of three falcons. He was a small male, distinctively colored with a pale bleached blond hairdo. Some one called him the “Surfer” and the name stuck. He was very gregarious and much of a loner. He didn’t seem to indulge in nestling games. You might say he didn’t play well with others. He was farther ahead of the others in every respect, very agile and coordinated. As they got older and ready to fledge, the other two would flap to strengthen their muscles, but the “Surfer” instead flew straight off the ledge and across the bay to the big power plant and landed on the roof. We were all astonished and amazed. They don’t do this. They fly 50 feet and crash in a bush. For the next couple of days, they might go 200 yards and get stuck on a steep slope for two hours. But not the “Surfer.” On his third day of flying, he tried to grab a swallow over the north parking lot. The other two young falcons could only watch and wish.
By fall when it is time for the adults to chase the young off, the “Surfer” was already gone. I missed him. He was special.
Happy trails, Bob
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Posted in chicks, falcon, juvenile, Morro Rock
Tagged accident or injury, chicks, falcon, juvenile, Morro Rock, peregrines, survival
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Welcome “Spec” to Morro Rock!
On one of my previous postings, dated July 5th, titled “Pure speculation” I had a good idea that the black turkey vultures might be nesting in an old eyrie they had used a few years back. Earlier that month I thought I saw vultures copulating near the nest site.
Well, yesterday all my speculations came to fruition. “Welcome Spec to Morro Rock.” One big beautiful ugly baby vulture! Most people thought I was full of you-know-what, but there he was at 12:12PM standing on the rock that hides the nest site. A lot of white on the chest and a downy head. I hurried to get a shot with my Canon SX35. I fumbled and stumbled, then buck fever set in, but I got one at 200 yards. The image was fair so I got on the horn to Cleve Nash, our resident long range specialist. I begged and pleaded with him to meet the next day with all of his large artillery, close to 5000mm fully armed. Well, for the first three hours, nothing. And to think I pulled him away on the first bright sunny day that we’ve had in a week. A photo of a vulture! No dignity at all. Cleve was a great sport all the time I was apologizing and groveling about the vulture not showing up. We watched several pairs of adult vultures circle the nest site. We would get excited on thinking one would land to feed the young, but nothing came of it. After they left, the chick came out and Cleve got the shot, in fact he got many shots of him hopping to another rock and flapping his wings. Cleve was not entirely happy because of the lighting and the wind. So tired, hungry and happy, we left the rock and the young vulture in the warm sun and cool ocean breeze.
Happy trails, Bob.
P.S. This was written yesterday. “Spec” fledged today.
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8-6-12 21681
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Then there were none…
Photo by Cleve Nash.
This is the second in a series of tales about the “famous and not-so-famous birds of Morro Rock
The chimney is the home of “Heathcliff and Gertrude.”* It is a free-standing spire about 60 feet in height with many holes and crevices. It has one large dominant hole with two vertical ridges at the back giving the appearance of a throat with a smaller hole underneath. It is separate from the main rock by about five feet. Every year the large hole is occupied by a pair of Western Gulls at nesting time. You just kind of took them for granted; they were a fixture.
About four years ago, the female peregrine took an interest in the chimney and would fly by the face of the hole. That year, the falcon had three young just out of the nest. The gulls had three downy chicks in the large hole on the chimney. The male falcon would land on top of the chimney frequently with prey to pluck and then deliver to the young. Then one day I no longer took the gulls for granted; they got my full attention. When the female falcon swooped in and grabbed one of the chicks and flew over to one of her young not far away and proceeded to open up the chest cavity for the chick. Within minutes she came back and took a second chick, but not without the parent gull giving chase. She killed the young gull on the wing by severing the neck behind the head and gave it to her second chick. She returned one more time and landed in the small hole beneath the larger nest site hole. When the adult gull flew from the nest to see where she went, the falcon jumped up and grabbed the third gull chick and took it to a perch alive. I watched the falcon with the chick in her talons through my spotting scope for three or four minutes. The young gull sat there looking around in the falcon’s talons. The falcon was looking around for her third chick. She spotted it on a distant dune a half mile away. Then she proceeded to bend down and dispatch the gull, then flew it out to her young on the dune. No one occupied the chimney hole this year, but I am sure in the future there will be another “Heathcliff and Gertrude.”
Happy trails, Bob
* Heathcliff and Gertrude – Some of you will remember the “Red Skelton Show” of the 60s and 70s and his skit of the two seagulls “Heathcliff and Gertrude.”
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Posted in chicks, falcon, gulls, hunting, juvenile
Tagged chicks, falcon, gulls, hunting, juvenile, other birds, peregrines, survival
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Kitten in the willows…
This is the first in a series of tales of “famous and not-so-famous birds” in and around Morro Rock, Morro Bay, California.
On a fall morning, a couple of the local birders led by Tom Edell* heard a sound of a kitten in the willows at the base of the Morro Rock. One of them knew it wasn’t a cat because he was familiar with the sound of a catbird. This is not something you hear if you are born and raised in California. There have been sightings in California, but this is only the second in San Luis Obispo County. He arrived on November 10, 2008.
Within days, word got around and we were inundated by bird nuts of every description from four states that I know of. They would walk up and down the parking lot, ears and eyes attuned for this elusive prey. The third day some were able to catch a glimpse of the bird. He acts very much like a thrasher on the ground most of the time going through the underbrush and occasionally popping up for a short flight to another thicket. The fourth day was very windy and a little lady named Ida rode the bus from San Luis Obispo to Morro Bay to enjoy the sun and pick cactus apples, also known as prickly pears. She would peel them, put them in a bag to take home and juice. It was so windy, she pulled her little shopping cart into the willows to sit down and peel apples. After she had left, I saw the catbird plain as day eating the cactus apple skins. I got a pair of gloves and walked 100 yards to pick some apples. I cut one in half and laid it open where I had seen the bird in an opening about a few feet from the underbrush. Within ten minutes, he came out to the feast to eat and stayed there for the next two weeks.
Hundreds of people came to see and photograph the bird. The “Rare Bird Alert” did too good of a job. The bird would appear about every thirty minutes like clockwork. People would yell at me to get more apples. Pretty soon someone put a water dish there. This is getting to be too much; it’s a zoo with animals, with strange hats, who have things hanging around their necks and looking through glass tubes and all at a four ounce bird fifteen feet away. They brought beach chairs and sat around the little clearing hoping to add to their life list, a poor little critter that got blown off course. Sometimes, I wish I had never put out the apple. He left before the Christmas Bird Count! Happy trails, Bob.
Tom Edell- One of San Luis Obispo’s foremost birders and wildlife enthusiasts.
Kevin L. Cole – Photo by local photographer in Morro Bay.
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