One at a time…

Posted on May 13, 2014 by Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch

Everything seems to come at once.

The Central Coast has had its share of excitement in the last few days. First of all, two of the three falcon chicks at Shell Beach have fledged.

peregrine, falcons, Morro Rock , Morro Bay, California

Two fledglings at Shell Beach                                       Photo by Cleve Nash

Piedras Blancas Lighthouse has three new falcons. The south side of Morro Rock still has only one visible chick. The falcons on the north side of Morro Rock have not been seen as yet. Mostly, because of the tall vegetation in front of the eyrie, but prey items continue to be taken into the nest site by the adults.

I have been trying to stay on top of all the new birds and stories and then I get an orca attack upon a young grey whale right in front of Morro Rock.

Morro Rock, Morro Bay, California, orca, killer whale

Orca and Morro Rock                                                  Photo by Mike Jones, AZ-HI-AZ-I-AM 

I have a ringside seat from where I usually perch in the south parking lot. More about all these stories and the whale kill with photos in my next installment. I will go more into depth in each of the stories, one at a time.

Happy trails, Bob

Item:  AZ-HI-AZ-I-AM is a local surf shop in Morro Bay, CA. More photos of the orcas may be seen at his website.  http://www.azhiaziam.com

Posted in chicks, falcon, Morro Rock, peregrine, prey, Shell Beach | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Long trail…

Posted on May 6, 2014 by Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch

Observation date: 5 May 2014

As it has in the past, the Shell Beach peregrines are the first to have their young appear. I can’t remember a year when one of the other near eyries was first to hatch young. Pairs of falcons have occupied this 300 yard stretch of cliff face for 44 years that I personally know of and probably thousands of years before that. It is truly an historic nesting site for falcons. For the last ten years, the eyries have changed from different holes and scrapes from the long used traditional ledge-scrape they used for many years, but always in that same stretch of cliff, so crumbly and sparse.

They have many nesting neighbors along this cliffside including pigeon guillemot, cormorants, swallows, gulls, rock doves, finches and Canada geese.

Nearby pair of Pigeon Guillemots
Parent and juvenile

Photos by Cleve Nash

You can literally stand in one spot along the cliff and see all of them coming and going, some feeding young, others making incubation exchanges and the late ones still bringing in nesting material. This years young falcons of Shell Beach made their appearance last week coming to the edge of the eyrie to defecate. It’s a small opening with a sandy slope of loose soil from excavation spoils.

Looking out for…
Hungry ?
Being fed
Eating on one’s own
A downy young female ?
Siblings
Siblings
Going for more prey
Waiting for more food !

All photos by Cleve Nash

Cleve Nash whose photos are used exclusively by the Peregrine Watch has been at the nest site nearly every day for the past month and a half. He cannot put an exact number on the chicks, but he believes he has seen at least three. One much further along in feathering out than the others. This is normally the male that develops faster. The surf crashing on the rocks below the cliffs with the falcons screaming brings back a time when I was a young man and seeing my very first falcon in the wild here at Shell Beach some 44 years ago.

Been a long trail, Bob

Item:
STOP THE PRESSES !
Five minutes before posting this Shell Beach story, Cleve sent an email with… “You guessed it !”    South side chicks on Morro Rock.    I spent three hours there this afternoon and saw nothing but adults. These photos were taken today between 9:00 and 9:15 AM while I was in Shell Beach. Damn !

peregrine chick

The first appearance of the south side chick                                        Photo by Cleve Nash

Peregrine chick

A closer look at our new chick !                                                     Photo by Cleve Nash

Posted in chicks, falcon, gulls, juvenile, other birds, peregrine, Shell Beach | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Hard trail…

Posted on April 23, 2014 by Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch

Observation date: 18 April 2014

Just an update on the nesting Canada geese near the Shell Beach peregrine falcon’s eyrie. Of the six eggs, five have hatched. The next morning the adults left the cliffside nest to the beach and ocean surf 50 feet below. Two of the five followed right after the parents; the other three took their time getting up their courage. Eventually, the other three took their instinctual leap. An hour later, two were spotted lying lifeless on the shoreline, while the other three were seen following the two adults down the beach. You wonder what it is that says to a one day old gosling, “Jump off this 50 foot cliff or you will die if you stay in this warm cozy nest.

First day and instinct leads the way 

Canada Goose and goslings

Safe and cozy                                              Photo by Cleve Nash

Canada Goose and goslings

A little walk                                        Photo by Cleve Nash

Canada Goose and goslings

Good morning                                    Photo by Cleve Nash

Canada Goose and goslings

Hi Mom                                        Photo by Cleve Nash

Canada Goose and goslings

Good to be stretching our legs and feet a bit                                   Photo by Cleve Nash

Canada Goose and goslings

Exploring and getting ready for the future                       Photo by Cleve Nash

 

Canada Goose and goslings

Let’s go for a walk                         Photo by Cleve Nash

Canada Goose and goslingsCanada Goose and goslings

Now….                                                         Photo by Cleve Nash

Canada geese, goslings, Shell Beach

Instinct leads the way                                                 Photo by Cleve Nash

Nature’s trials can be hard, Bob

Posted in chicks, eggs, hatching, other birds, Shell Beach | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

The “Amazing Criswell” wasn’t that good either…

Posted on April 17, 2014 by Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch

Observation date: 16 April 2014

For the last ten years or so I have been observing and trying to predict the day of hatching of young falcons. I do this by watching to see “this” and then “that” in their behavior. I thought after I retired in 2008, I would really be good at it because I could watch every day. For the first four years, I was 2 for 4, .500 in baseball. The last six years, I’m 0 for 6. It seems I’m always one, two or three days off. This year has been my worst. Four days off ! Yes, you guessed it. They hatched today !

Food for chicks

Bringing in the prey                                        Photo by Cleve Nash

I had predicted the 20th of April and twice today the tiercel brought prey to the nest site then left immediately. The female did not come out either time. This all took place around noon. At 2:30PM he brought another prey item. She still stayed in the nest. I left at 3:00PM. He was still sitting under the “mantle” with bloody talons and a feather stuck to the side of his beak.

If they are feeding young, as I believe, and not filling the nest site with carcasses, you should be able to see them the 1st of May. This is when they come out to the edge of the nest site to defecate. I remember when she used this hole in 2010, the young had to climb up to the opening, so it took a little longer for us to see them. Stay tuned.

Happy trails, Bob

Item: Other nest sites being level, the young appear sooner at the edge. This nest site is more difficult.

 

Posted in chicks, eggs, falcon, hatching, Morro Rock, peregrine, prey | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Rain, yes, but not in the eyrie…

Posted on April 2, 2014 by Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch

Observation date: 2 April 2014

So far so good on the incubation of eggs. Today was the sixteenth day on the scrape*. Incubation intervals are anywhere from two hours to three and a half hours. Brooding puts a real kink in their eating schedule with only the tiercel hunting. I’ve seen a couple of times where she had to take her turn on the eggs with an empty crop. She was not really happy when he came back with a half eaten small sandpiper. As he made his landing at the edge of the eyrie, she stopped him cold with her chest, ripped the prey from his talons as she was berating him and flew off to the butcher block where she finished the prey in a half a minute. She let him sit for nearly 4 hours that time on the eggs.

During her off time she hangs around the rock, takes a dust bath, exercises a bit and perches, but not him, when he comes off the nest, he’s gone for two hours nowhere to be seen.

Wet rock face

Shining water drips down the rock face into the eyrie                                 Photo by Bob Isenberg

For the last few days, we have had more than a half inch of rain. You can see the peregrine in the hole we call the “mouth.”  Water flows from this hole into the large hole below which is the nest site. A lot more rain and the eggs could be floating. Most years, this nest site is dry at this time. Keep your fingers crossed.

Cleve Nash, our local photographer, was at the Shell Beach eyrie today. The falcons there are brooding, also, as is a very large Canadian Honker (Canada Goose) nearby whose chicks will be in great danger when they hatch. Stay tuned!

Canada goose tending eggs

Canada goose tending eggs                                                      Photo by Cleve Nash

Happy trails, Bob

Item: Scrape is a depression in rock or gravel in lieu of building a stick nest.

Posted in falcon, Morro Rock, peregrine, Shell Beach | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Oriole spring…

Posted on March 21, 2014 by Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch
Oriole deep in… Photo by Bob Isenberg
Oriole in the woody shrubs Photo by Bob Isenberg

I know spring is here, not by the calendar, but because I saw my first oriole at Morro Rock today. A beautiful male in breeding plumage. I got off a dozen shots of him with my Canon 70 D, but he was so elusive in the willow thicket all I got was a lot of foliage and a little color of him. When my “beach chair” birding buddies* arrive here from New York,  they will take care of him.

The south side falcons are in their fourth day of incubation. The female has lost her wide girth after laying this clutch of eggs, but she has been stuffing herself these last few days and at times, she looks as though she ate a tennis ball.

A very full crop Photo by Cleve Nash

A very full crop                                      Photo by Cleve Nash

If our calculations are anywhere close, the chicks should hatch around the 20th of April. We will know for sure, when we see food for the chicks go into the nest site. However, the young won’t be visible for another two weeks. At that time, if they are strong enough, they will come out to the edge to defecate. Stay tuned.

Happy trails, Bob

* See archives: June 2013, “Birding by lawn chair.”

Posted in falcon, Morro Rock, peregrine | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

A woman’s prerogative…

Posted on March 15, 2014 by Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch

Observation date: 14 March 2014

Morro Rock

The “Rock”                          Photo by Bob Isenberg

It seems as though we have a change of venue this season. The resident female falcon has selected a nest site other than the “diving board” hole which she has used 9 out of 12 seasons. This year she chose the “waterfall” hole. She has only used this once before, that being in 2010 when she raised three young there that year. This is not unusual for females to make these changes as most men should know; it seems that they have a license to do this !

Morro Rock, peregrine nest site

Female in “waterfall” hole, male above in the “mouth”                      Photo by Bob Isenberg

I believe egg laying has begun.  The routine for the last two days is as follows. Female in the eyrie for 60 – 90 minutes, while the male perches nearby. When she leaves the nest site, she flies to a breeding rock, where the male soon follows and they copulate. He then returns to the nest site and disappears for 15 to 30 minutes. Then he will appear at the edge of the nest and stand there for nearly an hour while she stretches or exercises or eats something that he may have brought her. This scenario is repeated through out the day.

What I believe we are seeing is her trying to lay an egg,  then resting, while he guards the clutch when she leaves. She will not begin brooding until all four eggs are laid. This is so they will all hatch at the same time. If we are close in our observations, incubation should start late next week. At that time the eggs will not be left unattended for more than half a minute.

Happy trails, Bob

Item: North side falcons at Morro Rock are a couple of days ahead of the south side pair, we believe.

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Access restricted…

Posted on March 3, 2014 by Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch

Observation date: 3 March 2014

Morro Bay Inlet

Stormy waves across the inlet Photo by Heather O’Connor

Video:  February storm 2014

Access to Morro Rock has been severely restricted due to extreme weather conditions with gale force winds. Not only was the gate locked to the south parking lot, but a police officer with flashing lights and loud speaker kept everything and everyone out, even to foot traffic. The waves coming into the harbor entrance were three to four feet high half way to Target Rock about 1/4 mile into the harbor. At high tide neither north nor south jetties were visible most of the time.

The gate was opened at 2PM today, Monday. Before that I was able to ride my new recumbent trike out to see the birds.

Bob Isenberg, ICE trike,

Bob with very new trike                                 Photo by Heather O’Connor

They seemed to be where I left them four days ago. The female standing on the “diving board” and the male on the lip of the “waterfall” hole. The rest of the week looks good for observations. I should have something better to write about than the weather.

Cleve Nash, Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch photographer, visited the Shell Beach falcons and said, “After a brief interlude with the tiercel the female retired to the nest site. Incidentally, this is the same one she used last year.

Happy trails, Bob

Item: Buy the time Heather posts this, Clara will have laid her second or third egg at San Jose City Hall. San Jose City Hall falcon web cam: http://tinyurl.com/y4yey7j

About the weather:   After three years of drought, we welcome the blustery winds and deluges here in California. It is a well needed gift that we appreciate and would like more of!

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Something to ponder…

Posted on February 16, 2014 by Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch

Observation date: 13 February 2014

Female sitting in the "waterfall" hole, tiercel above Photo by Bob Isenberg

Female sitting in the “waterfall” hole, the tiercel above              Photo by Bob Isenberg

As it nears nesting time, we are not always sure of what we see or what it is we want to see. On the 13th of February, I observed the female sitting in the “waterfall” hole on my arrival at the rock at 9AM. She remained there until 2PM, just her head showing over the lip of the opening. At times her eyes would close for a few minutes. The day before on her arrival at 11:30 AM, she landed on the “diving board” and within a few seconds retired to the rear of this former eyrie not to be seen for the next two hours. This type of behavior is consistent with egg laying, but previous years of observation say we are still a couple of weeks early.

In my previous posting “Soon to be busy…”, I mentioned that she stops hunting and he brings food to her. I have not seen any food exchanges as of yet.

What I am looking for is the tell-tale soiled vent that she will have after egg laying begins. This you cannot mistake, but I have yet to catch her in a sitting or perching position where this can be seen or photographed.

peregrine, falcon

Under the tail, the vent feathers are dry, so no egg laying yet                                 Photo by Cleve Nash

Right now it’s all speculation, in time it will happen. Meanwhile, it gives me something to write about and the rest of us something to ponder.

Happy trails, Bob

Item:
If you are confused about the suspense about not knowing, wait a month or two and you can jump right over the “suspense” part.

Posted in falcon, hunting, Morro Rock, peregrine | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Soon to be busy…

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch

As breeding becomes more frequent for the adult falcons at Morro Rock, now about every two hours or so, but this schedule can be interrupted by two couplings in ten minutes which is not unusual.

peregrine breeding, falcon,

Note his curled talons to not injure his mate during frequent breeding          Photo by Cleve Nash

The next couple of activities that we will be looking for will be the selection of nest or eyrie. The tiercel will lead her to different sites and vocalize. She might stop and look or simply pass by on the wing and not even look. When she is heavy with eggs, she will make the choice no matter what he says or does. At this time she will also cease to hunt or stray far from the site that she favors. He will begin to bring prey to her as she demands with loud vocalizing. The male will actually “over hunt” by killing and stashing prey in different larders. The tiercel will not have time for much else for the next 60 days. This is when she will begin to hunt again. At this time the chicks will be two to three weeks old and growing rapidly. He simply cannot keep up with the demand of feeding everyone including himself. Besides all of these other duties, he will have to include frequent incubation exchanges.

These numbers are approximate.

Number of days female is not hunting

Cessation of female hunting         2   weeks prior to egg laying     ± 14 days
Egg laying and incubation        ± 33  days                                         ± 33 days
Chick growth                                   2    weeks                                       ± 14 days
Female returns to hunting         total equals                       ± 60 days

± means plus or minus

Happy trails, Bob

Item:
We never know where she’ll nest until she does, but she has used the “diving board” eyrie nine out of twelve seasons. See other sites that have been used in the past.

Nest sites appear in green,

all other holes, commonly used for perching or as larders,  in red.

2001    This female nested in the “Mail slot” and had 1 chick.

2010    She nested in the “WaterFall” and had 3 chicks.

2011     She nested in the “Lower five” and had 3 chicks.

Morro Rock

The “Rock”                            Photo by Bob Isenberg

 

Posted in chicks, falcon, hunting, Morro Rock, peregrine, prey | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments