30 March 2022
Back to the business of birds. I have been watching the south side pair of falcons daily for the last eight weeks. Everything seemed out of sync. Courtship should have been in December. I didn’t see any going on, but the birds could have been breeding on the ocean side of Morro Rock which I cannot see. It’s only visible from a boat. Breeding should have been in January, February and March, but only recently has been visible.
Now we are in the 15th day of incubation and I am happy. The eggs should hatch about the 17th ofApril, Easter, and we should start seeing the young come to the edge of the nest about the first week in May. The young normally fledge at 44 days old. If I got the first day of incubation correct, they should fledge about May 30th, Memorial Day.
Happy trails, Bob
This is consistent with what we had been seeing. Do you have a sense of if this is a new male this year? We had several observations of him flying back and forth in an obvious attempt to show her his stuff…
Berkeley is late this year also. Second age just laid and an entire soap opera between more than just the “usual” adults at that site. People there were beginning to lose hope.
The very first year at the Oracle/Redwood Shores sight had eggs hatch in mid/late June and fledged in August! We also observed a pair reclutch after a too early (Feb.) hatch.
Bob – I can’t thank you enough for all your faithful years documenting the Morro Rock Peregrines. I can still remember discovering a love of these birds and wondering if I would ever see one in the wild. Good work by so very many did in fact make for this success!
The male arrived here last year in juvenile plumage making him less than one year old. They bred and had one chick. It fledged and lasted for three days. We never saw it after that and never found a carcass. The male is now two years old. I don’t know the age of the female, but she arrived a month before he did last year. She was in adult plumage. All my estimations are from daily observations and are an educated guess.
Thank you for your kind comment.
Good work, Bob. Thanks for keeping us all in the fold.
Hi Bob, what time/days are you normally out looking for the falcons? I’d love to bring my scope and have a look. Maybe you can help me find the nest?
Yes, please come out to the south side of Morro Rock. You’ll go past the locked gate and find me there between 10AM to 2PM every day.