Tag Archives: feeding

Now hear this…

“Now hear this. Stand clear of all weather decks, due to high winds and heavy seas. Batten down all loose gear.” You can bet the peregrines are hunkered down with wind gusts to 60 mph, white caps and sand blowing … Continue reading

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Taboo…

Observations continue on both north and south side pairs of peregrines. Cleve Nash has been mostly watching and photographing the north side, which are in about their second or third week of incubation. All is going well. The north side … Continue reading

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Room service…

Photo by Cleve Nash Today was a full day of confirmation. Brooding is in the routine now. For the first two hours this morning, the tiercel was in the eyrie brooding. I only knew this when I saw the female … Continue reading

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Sunday at “the rock”…

Sorry to take so long to getting back to you good followers but, I have been trying to get confirmation. Many keen observers are always helpful. Here is what I’ve seen and believe is happening.  Yesterday, Sunday, the few hours … Continue reading

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Soiled, but not foiled…

Photo by Cleve Nash On the left you can see the female and her wet vent area. The male on the right has brought her prey to eat. All signs, from observations, tell us that egg laying has begun. Cleve … Continue reading

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Favors in return…

“Simone” Photo by Cleve Nash A lot of nice people were visiting Morro Bay over the four day holiday. Many were able to see the “tall ships” do battle outside the bay and many saw the falcons for the first … Continue reading

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A few inches apart…

One warm sunny day and everything starts happening. Breeding is nearly in full swing. About three times within a four hour period on their arrival to the “rock,” the south side falcons flew into the diving board eyrie and spent … Continue reading

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Luncheon on the Bay…

Photo by Cleve Nash The photo accompanying this text is of our transient female falcon, “Doris,” in her fifth year of wintering in nearby Baywood Park. She is seen here with a Teal. The photo was shot by Cleve Nash … Continue reading

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Doris returns to “Miami”…

Doris returns to Miami...

Photo by Cleve Nash

About this time of year, we start seeing winter arrivals in and around the bay.Today is a special day with a special arrival. “Doris,” an adult female peregrine falcon, has wintered here for the last four years always in the same two spots, a cypress tree behind a little coffee shop in Baywood and in a eucalyptus tree at Mitchell and Doris Streets. She is not a banded bird so no one knows where she is from. People have speculated that she could be from the cold country, the Pacific Northwest, Yosemite National Park, etc. She leaves in early spring and returns in October.
She plumes and consumes her prey in the cypress tree. Underneath the tree is a great place to collect feathers from the kills she makes.
Happy trails, Bob
P.S. Baywood Park, California is a small community near the back of the Morro Bay Estuary.

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Madame Rue…

Madame Rue...

This is the sixth in a series of tales about the “famous and not-so-famous birds of Morro Rock.”
She was a fledgling falcon just out of the nest her first day. She was one of three chicks hatched that spring of ’08 on the south side of Morro Rock. Nothing special or unusual about her appearance or abilities, just a “plain vanilla” falcon until she landed on a narrow ledge on her first flight. The ledge and the rocks behind were covered with foliage, a nice spray of yellow flowers and some green vines. A nice backdrop for photos. If she were a bull they would call her “Ferdinand,” but with the floral above and around her she looked like a gypsy until we saw her eating the vine growing around her. Three leaves on a stem, it must be poison oak. Every one was astounded to see this. In the few months she was around the rock, she did well being fed by her parents, but we still caught glimpses of her with her favorite snack. She was given the name Madame Rue, you know “the gypsy with the gold capped tooth.” She’s got a rock with some flowers and some vines (“selling little bottles of …….”)
Happy trails, Bob P.S. If you know the rest of the lyrics you’re showing your age!

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