Diary - 2006

The new breeding season is well underway with both pair of Peregrines in their usual places and working on producing some new youngsters for us to admire and enjoy. Already the numbers of interested birders is increasing, especially on Saturdays. It's great to see familiar faces returning and it is a lot of fun catching up with what everyone has been up to over the last months. If you don't have a scope there's still a good chance you can get a close-up view of the Peregrines - there is almost always someone around happy to let you look through theirs. So, come on out and join your fellow Peregrine Falcon
fans. 

To make it easier to keep track of everyone, here are the names I use for the birds. The pair on the south side of the Rock are Khaos and Elvis. On the east side it's Milli and Esteban. 

Back in August it was noticed that Esteban, our east side tiercel, had a problem with his right eye. He was keeping the eye closed most of the time and was scratching at it. The yellow area surrounding the eye appeared to be quite swollen. My biggest concern was how this problem might affect his ability to hunt. The good news is that the eye was healed and he was back to normal within about six weeks. Janet says Esteban's problem was likely a burr that had gotten under his eyelid. 

One interesting observation during this time - On August 29 Esteban was sitting in his usual spot, hunched over and facing the Rock. Milli flew in, calling to him, and landed on a ledge about 15 feet to the left. She had brought in a blackbird-sized prey item. She plucked a few feathers, then flew off. She didn't cache the bird . . . she just left it in the open on the ledge. Within a couple of minutes Esteban moved to the ledge she had occupied and proceeded to eat the bird. While I have no way of knowing if Milli had intentionally brought food to him, it certainly looked to me that she did. I only saw this happen one other time. Does anyone have any ideas, anecdotes, or information about one adult Peregrine helping to feed a wounded mate?

You can get a look at the eye, thanks to some photos taken by Cleve, by visiting this page:
www.morrorockPeregrines.com/docs/estebanseye.html.

Now on to this year's breeding season. I will only post here when something of interest happens. Unless you hear differently, just assume things are going as normal. For more information, consider subscribing to Raptor_Watch, our new email list. A subscription box is on the main page. 

This morning was an interesting day at the Rock, but only in part because of the Peregrines.

It has been unusually cold here and over the weekend there had been a bit of rain on the coast, but I certainly didn't expect to see snow covering the mountaintops. Looking north from the Rock towards the Cambria area and then east along the mountain range, every peak was covered with snow. Here! In the Morro Bay area! Very unusual. I don't believe I've ever see that in the 15+ years I've been around.

While I was parked there on the northeast side of the Rock, both Milli and Esteban flew overhead. Milli perched while Esteban did some pretty amazing dives along the north side of the Rock, skimming quickly along until he was just a few feet above ground, then rapidly pulling up again. Not long after he perched about ten feet away from Milli. Another Falcon appeared from the south and flew past them. Both Milli and Esteban flew after the intruder (most likely it was Khaos from the south side of the Rock). There was a little in-air talon locking. Just a little scuffling. Within a couple of minutes they were chasing Khaos north over Estero Bay.

After this great start to the morning, I drove around to the south-side parking lot. A gorgeous rainbow was arching from the ocean up towards, but not quite touching, the Rock. A group of about six dolphins were moving across the harbor entrance.

Both Khaos and Elvis appeared from around the west side of the Rock 20 minutes after I got settled in to watch. Khaos was carrying a small bird in her talons. She landed and had breakfast; Elvis preened.

Two Red-tail Hawks were circling above wreaking havoc with the gulls. Fantastic morning!

Snow, rainbows, dolphins, Red-tails, and Peregrines
. You really should make it out to the Rock!

February 27 - Wednesday

It's hard to believe, but Khaos seems to be incubating eggs, at least partially. This is a couple of weeks earlier than any previous nesting I know of. We'll see what happens. 

March 5 - Sunday

It appears that the north/east side Peregrines here have taken up nesting on the north side of the Rock in a cave almost directly to the left of the one large cave on that side. This is good news for observers and photographers. The site is considerably closer to the ground than some of the other aerie
s they have used in the past. Every year I have a difficult time finding where Milli has chosen to nest, so I may have missed nesting activity when it actually began. My best guess is that she likely began laying eggs about a week ago. Both Peregrines have been perched near this cave during this time and have been engaged in what appear to be incubation exchanges since last Tuesday. 

Steve Schubert was watching with me yesterday and says he couldn't make out any bands on the female's legs and is hoping that if anyone else is out with a scope they might check for bands. I suspect this female is still Milli, who is banded. So, if you see anything . . . 

The south side pair continue to appear to be nesting in the small double cave below the diving board hole. I was a bit perplexed when Khaos spent over an hour outside of the cave on Saturday morning. It was fairly chilly - probably around 45 degrees - while she was out. At no time did Elvis go in to take her place. He brought food to her, then chased gulls and perched near her. However, they resumed a more normal incubation exchange schedule. Looks as if all is well and we can look forward to chicks on both sides this year.

March 7 - Tuesday

On March 8, 2001 I was very happily surprised when our south side female, Milli, landed on the edge of a rain puddle about 20 feet away from me. She looked me over for a few seconds, then waded into the puddle, drank a bit of the water, then took a bath. She stood there shaking some of the water off her wings, then flew back up to the diving board. I was astounded and thrilled. 

Well, it happened again this morning. Different bird - Khaos this time, but similar situation. There had been some rain last night and this morning, so there were several large puddles in the area just beyond the parking lost. Several cars had just left. A woman had stopped to talk to me and then walked on her way. I was sitting in my car, doing some quilting. Khaos appeared at the edge of the cave she is using this year. Five minutes later she dropped down to the puddle nearest me, tilted her head a bit and looked at me, then proceeded to bathe. She walked out of the water when she was finished, shook vigorously, preened a bit, then returned to the aerie
. 

She wasn't on the ground more than five minutes, if that. She sat in the sunlight at the aerie
entrance for about 15 minutes, then flew around a bit before returning to sit eggs. 

Sometimes magical moments just happen. This was one for me.

March 12 - Sunday

It seems all four of our Peregrines have weathered the cold, stormy weather well. Khaos spent about 30 minutes perched outside of the aerie
this morning around 9:00. Elvis put in a brief appearance at 9:30 when they exchanged incubating duties. 

Norm and Elaine Sherr, Steve Schubert, and I watched for Milli and Esteban on the north side. Esteban was seen flying around the Duke Energy stacks. Esteban approached the Rock, chased a red-tailed hawk, then took over his nesting duties while Milli came out of the aerie
and enjoyed a bit of sunshine.

April 4 - Tuesday

I'd like to apologize to all of you who have written to me recently, asking for updates on what is going on at the Rock. I haven't been feeling well. Between that and the ongoing rain storms, it has been difficult to keep track of things, so I have been remiss in passing along information. 

To catch you up, both pair of Falcons seem to be busy feeding babies. Khaos and Elvis, our south side pair, reportedly started taking in food five days ago. I haven't seen any food going in at all and am doubtful, but one other observer puts the day they began feeding as last Tuesday.  If accurate, expect little white heads to be peering over the edge within a week or so. I'll let you know the day it happens. Promise. 

The north side pair is a few days behind.

April 6 - Friday

It seems almost certain that the Khaos and Elvis have experienced a nest failure. Yesterday morning they seemed to be away from the aerie
quite a bit. It was sunny for a change and it seemed possible they were just taking advantage of a warm, dry day to get some exercise. I didn't see either of them come or go to or from the aerie
, but was often distracted, so just assumed I had missed the action. They did copulate twice. 

However, today I watched very carefully from 6:30 in the morning until about 11:15. During that time neither of them went near the aerie
beyond a fly-by. They perched in the diving-board cave, did some beautiful tandem flying, and copulated twice. No food was exchanged, no feeding behavior, no interest in the aerie
at all.

This comes after several days of rain, sometimes heavy and accompanied by strong southerly winds. My first thought is that the rain may have caused the nest failure, but their frequent copulation makes me wonder if there may have been an earlier problem.  

It looks as if this year's breeding season for Khaos and Elvis may be stretched out. Stay tuned.

April 9 - Sunday

Things on the north side of the Rock continue along at a normal pace. The pair act is remaining active at the aerie
, staying close and either exchanging sitting duties or perhaps feeding. If their chicks haven't already hatched, the time must be getting close. As those of you who have followed my writings over the last few years know, Milli always makes it difficult for me to track her down when she chooses her aerie
. She could be a week or so ahead of when I first located this year's spot. If any of you see anything of interest, please let me know and I'll share it here. 

April 16 - Sunday

Steve Schubert, Cleve Nash and I watched late this morning as the tiercel on the north side of the Rock took food into the aerie
. He flew out of the aerie
when the female went in, perched nearby for about ten minutes, then got some cached food and took it in to feed chicks. Yea!! The south side pair seems to be preparing to recycle and lay eggs again. Perhaps we will still have two sets of youngsters.

April 19 - Wednesday

It looks as if the south side pair are laying eggs or incubating in the diving board cave. During 4 hours of watching this morning, there was not any time when one or both of them weren't either in the aerie
or very close by. 

Meanwhile, things continue as expected with Milli and Esteban. Their youngsters are likely 2 or 3 weeks old now. 

April 22 - Friday

A couple of interesting things happened today. Maybe "odd" is a better word. I'll tell you. You can decide. The first was Peregrine related, the second only vaguely so. 

I watched Khaos as she sat on the diving board, wailing occasionally, from 6:30 a.m. until close to 7:00. Elvis flew in, circled above, and she joined him in flight. It was obvious he was carrying a good-sized shorebird and she wanted it. They both landed on the diving board and Elvis passed his gift over to her. As soon as Khaos had it in her talons, a puff of brown and white feathers wafted up around her feet. She flew off to one of her favorite dining spots and vigorously attacked what was obviously her version of one of our French bakery's delicious breakfast sandwiches. Even from my spot on the ground looking through the binoculars, it was obvious she was very concentrated on her meal. 

Ten minutes later Khaos was still enthusiastically eating. Elvis took flight, circling above her a couple of times and wailing. She did look up at him briefly, but immediately went back to her breakfast. I had to chuckle when Elvis went ahead with his own plans and copulated with her - as she continued ripping meat and feathers from her shorebird. Does this mean they have reached a certain middle-aged level of boredom for each other?  

Whatever it was Elvis had brought in, it was meaty enough that he was able to get some bites from it after Khaos finished eating. He was quite the provider this morning. 

Now onto something odder and more human. Let's call him "Fred" (with an advance apology to all of the real "Fred" folk we know). Fred is new to me, though apparently he has been around and I just haven't noticed him. He approached my car this morning after I accidentally honked my car horn with my crossword puzzle book. 

Fred began telling me about his connection to the Rock and to critters. According to him, 23 years ago he found a male Peregrine at the base of the Rock. He picked it up and, realizing it was dying, took it home. Through his own telepathic interactions with the bird, who said his name was "Tweety," and a daily shot of Novocain, Fred was able to nurse the bird back to health. He released it from the spot where it had been found when the Falcon told him that he was now able to take care of himself. Tweety, says Fred, still lives at the Rock and has a nest full of babies. Oh, and he (the Falcon) has somehow morphed into a female. 

If you've been around Morro Bay for 20+ years, you may have read about this accomplishment in the local paper. The front page headline read, "Ninjas Save Peregrine." See, Fred and a friend are American Ninjas. Their real occupation is protecting Morro Bay from Iraqis, most of whom hang out at the local McDonald's. 

Fred continues to care for Tweety, scaling half way up the Rock everyday. Tweety meets him halfway, landing on Fred's shoulder to receive his/her still needed daily shot of Novocain. It's those ninja powers that keep this interaction shielded from our eyes.

Fred talked for almost an hour, so there are many more stories to share, but I've given you the important one. Fred has stolen the coveted title of "Rock Guy With The Wildest Imagination" from my previous favorite. 

And you thought spending hours every day at the Rock would become boring!  

April 22 - Saturday

Khaos seems to be sitting eggs in the diving board cave now. She is spending quite a bit of her time inside while Elvis has become increasingly aggressive about defending the area.

April 23 - Sunday

For a few weeks now there has been speculation among some of the frequent observers that the north side female may not be Milli. Chris got a quick look at the legs of what he thought was the female going into the aerie
one morning. He wasn't able to see a band, but the sighting was quick and only partial. Steve Schubert, last weekend, said he hadn't seen bands either. Yesterday Cleve sent a photo taken of a bird leaving the aerie
. He wasn't sure if it was the falcon or the tiercel. Neither Janet nor I were positive either, but we both felt it looked to be a female. But, again, not a full view of the legs. This morning, however, Vince Cicero and I both got good looks at what we knew to be the female's legs and found no bracelets.  Our north side female is not Milli. 

Click the thumbnail below to see the photo Cleve took yesterday along with the two pictured below.

This makes me sad, wondering where Milli is and if she is even alive now. It seems unlikely she would abandon an established nesting site.

April 30 - Sunday 

Our new north side Falcon and her tiercel, Esteban, continue to take food into the aerie
. The pace is increasing, with deliveries sometimes coming an hour apart. We haven't seen any fuzzy white chicks yet, but I feel sure they have been coming out of the aerie
into the part of the ledge that is out of our sight. The ledge slopes downward and is fronted by a tall, thick bunch of grass. It may take a few days for the youngsters to fight their way uphill and through the vegetation. Any day now! 

Meanwhile, here are some photos of our unnamed Falcon. She's a beauty. Click on either image below if you'd like to be taken to the larger view of both. The photos are taken by Cleve Nash. 

May 1 - Monday

No chicks spotted yet, but it was still an interesting morning. Nothing was visible at all for most of the morning because of fog, but about 11:00 the Rock cleared around 11:00 and I got a real treat. The female began to circle slowly from the Rock out to where I was parked. She passed over my car, directly where I could see her, and only about 15 feet above me. As she moved slowly overhead, she looked directly down at me. Eye contact! What a thrill! I suspect birds aren't so happy with eye contact with a Peregrine, but it seemed pretty unlikely she was going to pluck me from my car and carry me off, so it was exciting. 

She circled two more times, duplicating her path and actions, before drifting back to the Rock. Esteban had been circling also, but off towards the bay. He headed back toward the Rock and made a similar circle, but higher up and he didn't pay any attention to me. He did, however, do something interesting. He landed on a boulder about 2/3s of the way up the Rock. Directly in front of him just a couple of feet was a gull sitting on a nest. Off to his right just a couple of feet was another gull. All three stayed where they were for a couple of minutes. The gull on the nest bobbed its head around nervously, then moved about a foot away from the nest. I watched, wondering what Esteban was going to do next. He just flew nonchalantly away. Interesting confrontation.

May 3 - Wednesday  

I'm sorry to report that the north side aerie
has experienced a failure. I hadn't noted food being taken in on Monday, but the fog was so thick, I very possibly could have missed it. But by mid-morning yesterday it seemed certain no food was being taken into the aerie
. Not only that, the Peregrines
were staying completely away from the area. They perched on the east side in places they commonly sit, but didn't come near the aerie
. When flying about, they would pass by, but show no interest in the cave or ledge. I focused completely on the aerie
and the Peregrines
for the rest of the morning. Nothing. I spent 2 more hours there in the late afternoon - nothing. 

This morning I arrived well before sunrise, hoping to be proven wrong in my fears by seeing a delivery to the aerie
. Nothing. All morning. Around 9:30 both Peregrines
flew into the larger cave about 50 feet to the right. This one was used in 2001 by Milli and her mate. The two birds echupped a lot to each other while inside the cave. The Falcon flew back around to the east side after a few minutes; the tiercel stayed behind for about 30 minutes. When I left around 10:30 they were both back on the east side of the Rock. 

I'm perplexed about what could have happened to whatever chicks were being fed.

May 4 - Thursday

Not quite ready to give up hope, I watched the north side aerie
for an hour and a half early this morning. Both adults were present, but never approached the aerie
. They were hanging out in that large cave to the right. But it's obvious there will be no fledglings for us on the north side. Now to begin watching for a possible recycling. On the bright side, we still have Khaos and Elvis sitting eggs. 

May 13 - Saturday

Here's a fantastic photo from Cleve of some red-tail hawk youngsters. At least this will give us some babies to pass the time admiring. As always, click on the image to see the large, complete image. I'd suggest you join our email list, Raptor Watch, to have access to more of Cleve's and others' photos. There is a box at the bottom of this page to let you join easily.

May 17 - Wednesday

Steve Schubert wrote yesterday that he feels fairly sure he saw an immature Peregrine flying over the south east face of the Rock. He felt it was flying weakly, like a recent fledgling and added, "What the heck was that???" Danged if I know.  

This morning I watched for four hours and saw one adult female perched on the east side of the Rock. One Peregrine was making a lot of noise as it flew by earlier, but the fog was too dense to get a good look at it. From the size I'd say female, but no clue as to the coloration. The rest of the morning was just too foggy to make out anything. 

I remember when keeping track of Peregrine activities at the Rock was a simple thing. 

May 23 - Tuesday

Vince and Rosemary Duffy report having seen food being taken into the Shell Beach aerie
. Other than this sighting, I haven't heard from anyone else this year about that location. Good news though!

Meanwhile, the juvenile being tracked by webcam in San Francisco is ready to fledge any minute now. For a kick, tune in. Maybe you'll get there in time to see him take flight. Check it out by clicking http://www2.ucsc.edu/scpbrg/Falconcamera2.htm

May 28 - Sunday

The south side Peregrines have started bringing food into the aerie
, so it looks as if we will be having little, fuzzy, white critters peeking over the edge in a couple of weeks. I'm saying this with a bit of reticence - this year's two nest failures have make a skeptic of me. Everyone cross your fingers!

The San Francisco baby tiercel, now named "Carson," fledged at 10:40 Friday morning. It was smooth sailing for the little guy and he is busy wowing the folks who gather to see him from the streets below. 

June 3 - Saturday

Vince Duffy reports seeing three fledged juveniles at Shell Beach. This would be a good time to catch a glimpse at eye level. For those of you who aren't familiar with the location of this aerie
, it is on the cliffs below the tennis court. Park on either side of the tennis court to watch. 

June 7 - Wednesday

Here is yet another terrific shot from Cleve Nash. This is two of the Shell Beach fledglings enjoying their new flight powers. Click on the image for the larger version.

June 18 - Sunday

There is little to report from those of sitting baby watch at the Rock. A white fluffy critter keeps hovering in the background, but never comes forward to allow us to claim having finally seen a full chick. So far I'm counting it as half a chicklet. Seen several times by various witnesses.

This has been an extremely long breeding season for Peregrines at the Rock. It began early with the south side pair incubating eggs on February 27th. That would have set us with an approximate hatching the end of March and chicks toddling out to peer down on us 3 - 4 weeks later. Unfortunately, there was a nest failure a few days into April. 

On March 5, the north side pair showed signs they were sitting eggs. All went well there until three weeks into taking food into the aerie
, when the feeding suddenly stopped. We never even saw the youngsters. 

Back to the south side. Here we are about three weeks and a few days into watching food being delivered into the aerie
. I've been antsy, expecting to see chicks for a few days now. Guess I'm jumping the gun a bit. Looking back over my notes of the past years, they certainly should appear in the next few days. Not that any of them are likely to be on my time schedule. 

But, it feels like forever we've been waiting for baby Peregrines. This morning Cleve suggested we name the chick who ventures out first "Godot." (Or can that only be used if it never shows?)

June 23 - Friday

At long last a baby Falcon was seen peering over the edge of the diving board hole. Cleve saw it around 4:00 this afternoon and captured that long sought first glimpse. Click on the photo below to see the babe.

Let the fun begin!
 

June 30 - Friday

After four mornings of foggy conditions with very brief glimpses at our youngster, the fog cleared and there he was. It's amazing how much difference even a few days make. Take a look. If you're hoping to get a look at this handsome critter before he fledges, you've only got a couple of weeks. I'll let you know when it's looking as if he is ready to take the big leap.  

July 5 - Wednesday

Our little Falcon has decided to take to the air a couple of weeks before his scheduled launch date. Perhaps it is his independence celebration, though I suspect it may have had more to do with fireworks than free will. 

This morning I was startled to see our youngster come flying across the face of the Rock, (pretty much crash) landing about halfway up on a ledge and 6 feet from a gull. The gull looked him over, took a few steps toward him, and bobbed its head at him. A few more of those moves send the fledgling down a few feet to the next lower ledge. Neither Peregrine parent seemed to be around as he spent the next hour or so on that ledge and then on a boulder out of my sight. 

A parent brought in food 30 minutes later, taking it straight to the aerie
. She sat near the edge of the aerie
, looking around in back of her. It seemed as if she had expected to find the youngster in the aerie
and was confused as to its whereabouts. 

Freeman and Worth Hall looked for the little guy, but couldn't locate him. Cleve arrived later, but he couldn't find him. Either he was in a spot on that boulder that wasn't viewable from the ground or he had gone into the aerie
when we weren't looking. 

Anyway, fledging has occurred on what is probably day 33 after hatching. He still has his Mohawk of feathers on his head and spots of white down, but he is flying. I'm worrying and soon my hair will have new spots of white. 

July 9 - Saturday

Finally - a truly satisfying day of watching our only baby this year. No fog, a soft breeze, and our fledgling in view most of the morning. Cleve was there early, cameras at the ready. Many people came out to catch some of the antics as the fledgling perched, flew fairly steadily, and crash landed in a variety of stunning moves. We've waited for this little guy since March. It's a shame he doesn't know how much he is appreciated, but what a thrill it is for all of us who get to have him in our lives for a bit. Don't miss your chance to see this little guy. 

July 22 - Saturday

It's been an unsettling week at the Rock. I was just wanting to pass along some observations in hopes someone might have some ideas about the gulls, in particular. 

For starters, there are a *lot* of brown pelicans. Way more than usual. At first (in the last couple of weeks) it was mostly juveniles. Now there are a lot more adults - hundreds and hundreds of them on the Rock, in the skies, and on the beaches. You can't look up without seeing a flock overhead, across by the spit, over the bay. Large flocks of them. The pelicans have been perching on virtually every flat surface above about 50 feet on the Rock. You look up along the crest in each direction and see rows of pelicans. It's something out of a Hitchcock fantasy. Creepy. Today wasn't nearly as bad, but still creepy. 

Yesterday our fledgling Peregrine flew in and went to land on his favorite perch. He was greeted by two pelicans sitting there, so he quickly diverted and landed a few feet away. Wailing loudly, he eyed them. They tucked their bills in and both stared down at him. He eventually gave up and flew to the aerie
, where he was still sitting when I left an hour later. He was, literally, surrounded by pelicans. Khaos was nowhere to be seen. Today I didn't see either adult, but Junior did make an appearance around 10:00 and was still there when I left.

But the really weird thing is this. Western gull chicks are fledging today and yesterday. They seem to be no more than in the air when they are set upon by several adults, who gang up on them. The adults peck and the babies and grab their necks, sometimes pinning them to the ground. One youngster escaped and took to hiding under Cleve's truck, then made his way on down the row of cars. Two others were hiding behind bushes, only to be attacked again as soon as they showed themselves. 

August 6 - Sunday

The strange gull behavior only lasted for a few days. By now all of the juveniles have fledged, for better or worse. Now adults only chase them off, sometimes grabbing them by the tail for a few seconds. The usual aggression. No one has come up with an answer as to what was going on.

Pelicans continue to be around in large groups, though there seems to be far fewer covering the Rock. I'm seeing both Khaos and Elvis everyday, but Junior doesn't seem to be around much. He showed up this morning around 6:30, but just flew from perch to perch, then flew off toward the sandspit. I'm wondering if all of the pelicans sitting around on most of his usual spots are causing him to stay away. Of course, he could just be sitting out of my sight. 

Ruth Vasconcellos and her hubby, Ron, report sightings in the last week of our youngster right in front of their house, near the heron rookery, and over the golf course. Ruth said, "He was squawking and making a racket which is why I was able to spot him; one can hear him way before seeing him." That's our boy!

Things are pretty much winding down for this year's (very lengthy) breeding and baby season. Barring anything unusual happening, there won't be much more to share with you on this page. I would suggest - to any of you who haven't yet - that you join our raptor_watch list. I'll post information there throughout the year. Best of all, Cleve shares his fantastic photos of Falcons, kites, and red-tail hawks with the group, as do others. Please join us there. Groups members share their experiences with raptors of all sorts from all over. To join, just go back to the main page and enter your email address in the form. 

August 30, Wednesday

Dan Morris sends up this photo taken of what is likely our youngster. He was flying over the Morro Bay golf club today. Click the image to view the larger version.

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