Peregrine Falcons 2017, Part 1

Peregrine Falcons breed and nest at Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve. Over the years, they have become famous and are major attractions for birders from all over the world. Every year about this time, many bird photographers come to the state park to see if they can capture images of the newly fledged Peregrines. They are active and learning to fly around the nest and cliffs at Torrey Pines Beach and make for some wonderful opportunities for the photographers.

Keeping an eye on Herbs website http://www.pbase.com/herb1rm/root , I have learned that the Peregrine Falcon nestlings have fledged. Excited about getting some action shots today, I arrive at the famous Guy Fleming Trail https://torreypine.org/history2/protecting-pines/guy-fleming/ . I immediately headed towards the ocean cliffs hoping to see some Peregrine fledglings on this gloomy June morning. June Gloom is not the ideal lighting for getting aerial shots of Peregrine Falcons in flight. As soon as I arrived at the cliff top trail, I spot an adult Peregrine Falcon flying past. 

His presence should be a warning to this young Osprey looking for breakfast. I wonder where he came from. The Del Mar fledglings are still too young to be leaving their nest area. He looks much older even though he still has his fish scale edging on the plumage of his wings. 

He spots some surf fish and hovers for a few seconds. You can see lots of adult feathers coming in. See several of his tail feathers are dark and his primaries look like new adult feathers just coming in nice and dark. 

Two Peregrine fledglings also spot the Osprey and start their warning calls. Soon, the Osprey leaves the area and it's time for the peregrine fledglings to get back to mock aerial fighting and chasing each other again. 

One youngster zooms by. Peregrine Falcon, Falco peregrinus measures 16 inches long with a wingspan of 41 inches.

Absolutely breathtaking to see one of these fly by. 

If you visit this state park, you will see other birds fly by. Especially the Brown Pelicans as they are always plentiful and fun to watch. 

A fledgling takes a good look at all the photographers lined up at the cliffs as cameras are heard clicking away. 

What a wonderful sight.

 

Here comes the adult again. (See the yellow coloring at the base of his beak). He flies by looking but I think he is looking past all of the photographers and looking to see where all of his four fledglings are at all times. I believe this to be the new male that arrived to bond with the resident female of Torrey Pines cliffs. 

According to Herb, the male has a leg band on each leg. He has photographed this male close enough to get the number off one of the bands. He got in touch with USGS, the North American Bird Banding Program, which had some interesting information on this new male. This male Peregrine Falcon is 3 yrs old. He was born in Oregon. 

He had traveled to Mission Bay where he was very successful at hunting, especially the Least Terns. There is a breeding program in Mission Bay to save the endangered Least Terns. This new visitor from Oregon was not welcomed at Mission Bay and by all the personnel involved in preserving the Least Terns in our area. A biologist from New Mexico was able to trap this banded male and decided to drive him all of the way up to Torrey Pines State Beach to release him hoping he will stay away from the Least Tern nesting sites. The new Peregrine male must have liked the cliffs of Torrey Pines beach as he has became the new resident male, taking over the territory and bonding with the resident female. They have produced four youngsters and all are reported to be doing well and all have fledged. 

The male lands at his favorite defeathering site. This is where he plucks his prey. Look at all the feathers from his last prey.

Another fledgling flies by.

The adult is keeping his eye on the youngsters. 

One of the fledglings appears to spot the parent. 

The youngster aggressively flies towards the parent. The parent flies off the cliff out over the water.  The youngsters are always hungry and want the parent to go get food.

The adult  flies by being chased by his young fledgling. 

The chase... This youngster wants the parent to go hunt. He is hungry and makes this known to the adult.

A nice look at one of the fledglings.

The fledgling # 1 is now joined by her nestmate.

Youngster #1 shows off her ability to stop on a dime and change directions.

He is so fast that it is quite a challenge to keep track of these acrobatic birds. 

They are now flying after something. Appear to be on a mission. 

Trying to keep focus of the Peregrine as the whitewater surges below.  

The Youngsters are moving so fast that it is hard to know where they will appear. One minute they fly by and disappear below the cliffs but in another second they come shooting up and are going in another direction. Sometimes things are quiet for half an hour or so and you see none of the fledglings.

There is always a challenge from another fledgling and a mock fight can erupt at any moment.

Now they have found their target. It's dad (at the top of this photo) with prey! Two of the fledglings are in hot pursuit. 

The larger one which I call youngster # 1 flies right into dad from the back. He is grabbing for the prey but appears to be overly aggressive with his flying maneuver. The youngster #2 watches but stays close by.

The air is filled with the calls of the youngsters! Looks like youngster # 1 has hold of something.

Youngster # 1 has reached for the prey by grabbing onto dad's leg with his right leg and trying to grab the prey with his left talons. Youngster #2 is holding back watching but in striking position. 

Close-up of the Screaming youngster #1 .

"Let go of the prey dad"! "I got this"...

Close-up of youngster #1 grabbing for the prey.

 

Zooming in on the action. You can see that the youngster has a hold of his dad's leg with his right talons grabbing for the prey with his left.

"Let go of the prey dad"!! The prey is in the right talon of the adult but the young fledgling is having some difficulty getting the prey untangled from his dads talons.

Let go of the prey dad!

Zooming in on the action.

 

The youngster has not perfected the food exchange maneuver and appears to be having a little bit of difficulty getting the prey away from dad's talons. 

Close-up.

Dad lets the prey go but youngster # 1 misses... Now it is dropping away from the youngsters grasp.

Close-up...The youngster refuses to release dad's talons. But sees his meal escaping his grasp. 

Zooming in for a closer look.

Now the prey has dropped too far for him to retrieve as he appears to be stuck to his dad's talons. Youngster #2 makes his move!

Most likely being such a young bird, he has not learned to make a smooth prey exchange yet. He watches his prize fall away from his grasp.

Youngster #1 tries to fly towards the falling prey extending out his left talons as he drags his dad with the other talon. Youngster #2 is delighted at his chance to grab this tasty morsel. His nestmate's loss is his gain.

 

I wish I could say for certain that the youngster's talons were not stuck in the adult's leg band. I hope it was just the youngster's inexperience at food exchange that kept him still hanging on to his dad's leg.

Got it!  Youngster #2 has got the prey as screams of frustration are heard from youngster #1. Dad is also voicing his dislike of being hauled through the air by his leg by his youngster.

"Let go"! Dad screams out as his leg is pulled to the max. 

 

Youngster #2 grabs the prey and hauls off as fast as possible while youngster #1 is stuck to his dad's leg. 

Youngster #1 appear to be dropping  towards the water as youngster#2 makes his escape with the prize.

Still not letting go...

Youngster #1 descends towards the white water down below as dad hangs upside down trying to pull free.

Close-up. In this photo, it doesn't appear that the youngster's talon is stuck in the leg band of his dad. But they keep falling as the youngster has his brakes on and dad looks like he is pulling with all his might trying to get free. 

This is the last image of the two Peregrines that I see before they disappear below the cliff's edge. Check back soon to see Part 2 of Peregrine Falcons 2017!

Have a wonderful week everyone!