Category Archives: Morro Rock

A fisherman of another kind…

Posted on August 11, 2012 by Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch

A fisherman of another kind...

Photo by Cleve Nash

This is the fourth in a series of tales about the “famous and not-so-famous birds of Morro Rock.”

The bird I am speaking of is our resident osprey, a magnificent and colorful large bird of prey. He does not make his home on the rock but he visits there frequently. Most of the time, he is in and around the bay. Perching on sailboats, fishing vessels, lamp posts, etc. Morro Bay, you might say, is his home. In the five or six years I’ve watched him, he has never had a mate or nest site. I don’t know if he is male or female.
The nearest thing to a home was a tree at the west end of the Morro Bay Museum/marina parking lot. There you would find him in the tree and Cleve Nash on the ground with camera in hand. The water was very shallow there even at high tide. This explains why he was able to take the flounder and diving ducks such as the Bufflehead, in the photo below, although he is able to catch prey at three meters in depth.
One day I asked Cleve if he ever got a shot of him entering the water with his talons stretched straight out in front. This he does at the very last second before hitting the water. Cleve responded at that time that he had taken over 900 photos and hadn’t gotten that one yet. When it comes to photography, Cleve is relentless and stubborn with his subjects. One time while shooting White-tailed Kites near San Simeon, Cleve stood for a long period of time with a camouflage drape over himself. A Cooper’s Hawk landed on the lens of his 500 mm camera eighteen inches from his face. This is dedication!
The osprey’s favorite tree fell down last year. Now he and a great egret fuss over a tree nearby. I tried to get some people interested in putting up a tall pole with a tire on top to attract a mate, but I’m not a politician and nothing came of it. He’s still here and roams the bay and if you walk the waterfront to look at the bay or sunset and see scales falling from the sky. It’s just the osprey on the lamp post above your head enjoying his evening repast.
Happy trails, Bob
P.S. The fish is a Starry Flounder.

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Above the rest…

Posted on August 9, 2012 by Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch

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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Then there were none…

Posted on August 4, 2012 by Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch

Then there were none...

Western gull nest site in the “chimney.”

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