We had a very busy birding year with Bob going daily to Morro Rock showing hundreds of visitors the Peregrine Falcons, a Burrowing Owl and many other birds. Heather went out eBirding keeping Checklists for Cornell most days and is up to 277 species in the San Luis Obispo County so far. She also went on a Pelagic Trip.
Photos from Top Left down. Peregrine Falcon, Burrowing Owl, Bob, Pigeon Guillemot, Blue Grosbeak, Western Gull, Black-crowned Night Heron, Nuptials’s Woodpecker, Black Oystercatcher, Heather, Black-footed Albatross, American Avocet.
Our best to you in the New Year
Bob Isenberg and Heather O’Connor in Morro Bay, California, USA
One of our recipients of a Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch scholarship, Nicole Durtschi, is now a Biologist with the California State Parks and was willing to show me around the protected Least Tern nesting sites.
Photo by Heather O’Connor
We hopped into a CA State Park 4×4 pick-up truck to visit the area that had experienced habitat loss due to the hot-rodding of dune buggies flattening out the rolling sand dunes. Out we went into wind and onto the trails to observe how the CA State Parks were protecting the Least Terns.
Photo by Heather O’Connor
Because public access with off-road vehicles had degraded the habitat, straw piles had been put out to help the wind build up the dunes during the pandemic. Native seeds and plants were scattered and planted over the area. Vegetation was now growing well. It produced a perfect habitat for Least Terns and Snowy Plovers to nest in.
Photo by Heather O’Connor
Terns will make several scrapes. The female will choose to occupy a scrape. It’s a little hollow in the sand, soil or light colored pebbles with a few bits of wood or grass stems added at times after incubation has begun.
*Photo by John Van de Graaff https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/leater1/cur/breeding#nestsite
Usually two beige to light olive with darker speckled eggs are laid. Nicole told me of a method to tell when the tern eggs will hatch. They float an egg in water and according to the angle at which it floats, they will calculate the date when it should hatch.
*Photo by Arthur Morris https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/leater1/cur/breeding#nestsite
Nicole had been working with the State Parks to protect Least Terns for four years and had seen a promising increase in numbers of nests. She had a map of locations and a data sheet to record more information about the terns’ nesting conditions as we drove slowly through the sandy trails.
Disturbances by human, avian and terrestrial predators have caused fewer chicks to survive. Yes, we did have to stop and remind people to not go beyond the signed closed off area. Several years ago a skunk was a major predator. Since then Northern Harriers and other raptors caused attrition. This year an American Kestrel is causing problems.
After visiting many locations to collect her data and to give me an opportunity to take a few photos, we headed back. It was very educational to learn more about a new bird for me and its life cycle in the nesting season. I’m so glad the effort is being made locally to protect one of the over 10,000 species of birds on this planet!
Happy trails, Heather and Bob
*Photos other than mine that I have used are credited to individual photographers who contribute to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Birds of the World and Macaulay Library
Petra and Jack Clayton have contributed another peregrine falcon video for you to watch. They have been posting videos on www.flickr.com for years to show the activity of so many different species of birds. Maybe you’d like to follow them.
One of the reasons we show you what is going on at Morro Rock is to support our efforts to raise money to give to a CalPoly Wildlife Biology student a scholarship. This past week we sent off $1,000 to CalPoly for that very reason.
Now is the time to make the contribution you’d been planning to give. Please use the DONATE button on the right side or mail a check made out to Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch to 765 Center Ct., Morro Bay CA 93442.
This coming Tuesday, Heather will be going out to see the nesting Least Terns with one of our previous CalPoly Biology Scholarship recipients. It makes a significant difference in our lives to support the students in their science endeavors these days.
The young peregrines, two of them, on the South side fledged yesterday, May 31. I was not there to see this, but my cronies were there. Jack and Petra Clayton, Gordon Robb, Jerry Pyle.
Fledgling Photo by Jack and Petra Clayton
But today I was there at 7:30 AM. Not one bird, adult or chick, would show up for two hours. After glassing the Rock, which seemed like forever, I found a young chick in a jumble of rocks, so camouflaged in its coloring.
A landing Photo by Jack and Petra Clayton
I must have passed over it two or three times. All we saw in six and a half hours of observation were the two adults and the one chick. I hope nothing is amiss.
I mentioned in the last post that the north side peregrine chicks were flying well. Landings are a little shaky, but soon, they will have them down pat! These are the photos taken of the first attempts.
Photos by Steve Acheff
Thinking about flying is important.
Photos by Steve Acheff
Chicks are building muscle strength before the first flights.
Photos by Steve Acheff
Flying into the eyrie is a safe place to try the first flight, don’t you think? Or is it more wing strengthening?
Ever day I search for the new location where they might have flown to and landed.
The north side peregrine chicks are flying well now, traversing the Rock face from north to south. Landings are a little shaky, but in a week or two, they will have them down pat!
Today at 9:15AM, we got our first glimpse the two white puffball chicks on the south side of Morro Rock. They appear to be about 23 to 24 days old. They stood at the mouth of the “diving board” eyrie for a few minutes, then went back out of sight. Four of us spent another six hours and saw nothing of the chicks.
“Diving board” eyrie Photo by Kathy DeVoy
Tomorrow is another day. You can bet I’ll be there!
Peregrine falcon chicks Photo by Kathy DeVoyTwo peregrine falcon chicks Photo by Kathy DeVoy
Be sure to go to the website to see the photos in the best light and a bigger size!
Just wanted to share with you some of the photos that have been sent to us recently. Many visitors and photographers enjoy these falcons as much as we do! There are two chicks at this Piedras Blancas site. It is in a large offshore rock that has been a nest site for many years.
Peregrine falcon to the upper left, two downy chicks to the upper middle right in the nest site Photo by Gary O’NeillHighlighted nest site Photo by Gary O’NeillMature Peregrine falcon Photo by Gary O’NeillMature Peregrine falcon Photo by Gary O’NeillMature Peregrine falcon in upper left, two downy chicks in circled nest site Photo by Gary O’Neill
When I returned from four hours on the south side of Morro Rock, there was a note on my windshield from a fellow birder. He wanted to let me know that he had seen a single chick out on the edge of the “cathedral” hole on the north side of the Rock. That was yesterday, May 2nd. This morning I went to the north side first thing to look. Within five minutes, one came to the edge, then a second one appeared. They relieved themselves over the edge and stayed for three or four minutes.
Tomorrow I’ll try to get a photo.
Day 1 to 24Day 25 to 48
Happy trails, Bob
Item: I think I missed the hatch date on the north side by a couple of days. The chicks are getting dark around the eyes.
This morning on the south side of Morro Rock, the male landed in a very small hole, one that they stash prey into. As he left the hole, a flutter of feathers trailed him out with his powerful wingbeat. He entered the eyrie twenty yards away with the prey. As he entered, the female came out of the eyrie. After perching a few times at different sites for a few minutes at each, she then left for about fifteen minutes and returned from the sandpit with fresh prey to deposit in a stash hole.
This is what I have been waiting to see. Now you know the young have hatched. Probably within the last 24 hours.
One peregrine source says 31 to 33 days to incubation. Another says 32 to 35 days. So I missed again, either two or four days off.
“What the Hell!” I’ve only hit it once or twice in the last 35 years. But now we have chicks! “Yeah!” They should be able to be visible by mid-May.
North Side of Morro Rock Pastel by Heather O’Connor
It’s a blustery day, cold, windy, rainy, not a day I would care to spend at Morro Rock, but here I am watching with next to nothing happening on the south side of the Rock. If I got the start of incubation correct, chicks should hatch by tomorrow.
Gordon Robb, one of the near full time falcon watchers called me from the north side of the Rock to tell me that the tiercel just brought the female a small bird. She took it into the “cathedral” eyrie at 12:40 PM. The parent birds never eat in the nest site, so it’s a good chance we have chicks on the north side of the Rock that probably hatched in the last 24 hours. In about two weeks, we should know how many.
South side of Morro Rock-During breeding season through fledging: Late December-July. (Sometimes the CA State Parks closes the gate and makes it impossible to take Bob's truck out to set up during the winter. Call first.)
If you wish to find Bob Isenberg check the north side of Morro Rock, where he photographs surfers many mornings.
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here:
Cookie Policy
