Gray whale calf drama…

Posted on May 18, 2014 by Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch

Observation date: 8 May 2014

Orcas Photo by R. Dexter Lipton

Orcas                                                        Photo by R. Dexter Lipton

When I arrived at the south parking lot around 8:30 AM, people were running, some walking to the breakwater to get a look at the drama unfolding just off shore.

orca, killer whale

Orca breaching                                   Photo by Mike Jones/AZHIAZIAM

A pod of orcas were trying to separate a young gray whale calf from its mother. I set up one of my three spotting scopes on the orcas, the other two on the falcons.From my vantage point, I could see the male orcas trying to climb on the whale’s back. The tall dorsal fin of the male and white eye patch were very visible.

The SubSeas Tours whale watching boat, “Dos Osos,” the Harbor Patrol boat and two smaller craft were very near. The show went on for a total of seven hours.

gray whale calf, Morro Bay, beach, whale, gulls

Gray whale calf washed up on the Morro Strand beach                                                     Photo by Mike Baird

The seven or eight active orcas managed to drown the calf and they with the rest of the pod consumed most of the soft tissue, lips, eyes, tongue, but nothing from the back of the head to the tail.

gray whale calf, orcas

Gashes on the Gray whale calf  from orca teeth                                            Photo by Joyce Cory

Three days later, it washed up on Morro Strand about a half mile north of Morro Rock. The following day, they buried it at water’s edge with a backhoe.

gray whale calf, orcas, Morro Bay, CA

Gulls acting as the clean up crew                                                     Photo by Joyce Cory

It made the news, many photos are showing up around town. Here are, but a few and their contributors.

Happy trails, Bob

 

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Two down, one to go…

Posted on May 13, 2014 by Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch

Observation date: 13 May 2014

We turn to Shell Beach, where all the action is with the young falcons. Two of the three young have fledged leaving a very large female in the eyrie. Females being larger take longer to develop, plus she could have been a day or two younger. When the first two had already lost all of their down, she was still pure white. The parents seemed to care more about the one that hadn’t flown, still coming and going to eyrie to feed her.

peregrine, birds, falcons

First flight and first landing                                                        Photo by Cleve Nash

peregrine, birds, falcons, juvenile

Getting close…                                                      Photo by Cleve Nash

peregrine, birds, falcons, juvenile

Oooops! First flights aren’t always graceful …                        Photo by Cleve Nash

While photographing the falcons today, Cleve Nash related a cute story about the tiercel taking off in a hurry around the cliff side point and returning within 30 seconds, pigeon guillemot “in hand.” He deftly plumed it and opened the chest cavity for the two newly fledged youngsters. Cleve had not seen either adult take a pigeon guillemot even though they nest all over the cliff face. Neither of the chicks would take a bite. When the adult male returned he would not touch it either! This could have been a lesson in shopping. I had a similar experience as a young man in 1958 rafting the Peace River in the Northwest Territories, Canada, 180 miles and running out of provisions, someone shot a merganser. It was the foulest, fishy thing ever! No one could eat it.

Happy trails, Bob

Item: Fifty years later, I can still remember the taste and smell…

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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

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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

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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

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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.

 

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Feathers drifted down…

Posted on April 11, 2014 by Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch

Observation date: 8 April 2014

With 13 more days of incubation to go, action has picked up around here.

"Brownie"

Juvenile female peregrine                             Photo by Cleve Nash

Yesterday, a large juvenile female falcon or “brownie” followed the resident male who was returning to the rock with prey thinking it was going to get a meal. Boy, was it surprised! The tiercel began screaming as he approached the rock. The female left the eggs and made a bee-line for the young intruder. The male dropped the prey at the nest edge and joined the battle over the bay. The resident pair hammered the young bird time after time. You could hear a different scream from what must have been the young female. There was nothing that I could do. Who knows…it could have been one of theirs. A few feathers drifted down and the pair returned to the rock to brood. The young one faded into the haze long over the sand spit.

One of the other eyries that we watch in Shell Beach have hatched their young. Cleve Nash has been seeing the tiercel take prey into the nest site for the last three days. No young visible as yet. You can bet you will see photos right here. Stay tuned.

Happy trails, Bob

Item: “Brownie” or juvenile. Note dark brown plumage and narrow yellow band on the end of the tail.

juvenile attacked

Hammered repeatedly… Photo by Cleve Nash

 

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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.

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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.”

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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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