FAST ATRACKING PEREGRINE DIARY

MORE THAN 20 YEARS AGO, -BASED ORNITHOLOGIST ANDREW JENKINS BEGAN WATCHING PEREGRINE FALCONS ON THE . LITTLE DID HE KNOW THEN THAT HE WOULD STILL BE MONITORING THESE BIRDS NEARLY HALF A LIFETIME LATER OR THAT HIS STUDY POPULATION WOULD MORE THAN TRIPLE IN SIZE DURING THAT TIME. 

TEXT & PHOTOGRAPHS BY ANDREW JENKINS

46 PEREGRINE falcon FEBRUARY/MARCH 2010 PEREGRINE FALCON 47 enkins’s study of this remarkable and spectacular bird is centred on a colour-ringing scheme that allows him to follow the for- tunes of marked individuals from cradle to grave. The aims are Jto identify­ factors that determine the success or failure of these individuals (or their genetic fitness) and to understand the net effect of these factors on the status of the population. Direct human support as a result of urbanisation and the incipient effects of climate change have so far been implicated as important drivers of the upward trend in numbers of the Cape’s fastest inhabitant. Here, in the first of two articles, Jenkins shares his diary tracking the progress of Peregrine Falcons Falco peregrinus during a typical breeding season on the Cape Peninsula.

fast & furious As she reaches the light, she simultan­ The18 August metal of the tripod slung over eously catches the breeze, and what my shoulder is uncomfortably cold to was a heavy, pulsating shape achieves the touch and my laboured breathing calmer buoyancy, turning in a glide just condenses in slight vapour clouds with below me. Blue-grey, white and black, each step I take up the steep pathway. with a dark, liquid eye ringed in yellow. It’s a chilly morning and I’m walking to She turns again, loses the support of the the tourist look-out area at the southern wind and resumes flapping, all hefty extremity of . There’s a hint shoulders and purpose, heading north. of mist over the open Atlantic to the She circles, then approaches the mast west and the rollers are roaring in onto into the breeze, coming in fast and low Diaz Beach far below. The air is fresh, and throwing up suddenly and steeply with a tang of kelp, and as I reach the to drain all power from her flight in old lighthouse at the crest of the hill a a stalled landing. Her claws making a light breeze flurries the anemometer on slightly metallic sound as she grasps the communications mast that stands the steelwork, she settles to look over Previous spread A male Peregrine in just to the north. the bay. defensive mode. Steep, sun-drenched fynbos slopes slip I hurriedly arrange the spotting scope away to my left as I look south-east to­- and train it on her, tweaking the focus Above Self-portrait after visiting the wards Cape Hangklip, and shadowy crags into sharpest relief. Since landing, she’s Maitland silo site without adequate on my right drop a startling 200 metres had time to relax slightly, and her plum- protection. Hands-on work at the nest is straight into the sea. There are hundreds age is slackened and ruffled against the a necessary part of this kind of study, but of Cape Cormorants perched on the cold, with one leg retracted into her can be traumatic for both falcons and white-stained sea-cliffs and many are belly feathers and only the scarred toes biologist. wheeling around the rocky tip of the of her gripping foot visible. She shifts point on their way to and from the open her weight and extends her resting Opposite Braveheart. Levels of aggres- ocean. Suddenly, from the shadows leg, then proceeds with a meticulous sion by parent falcons (mainly females) of the tallest rock-face, panicked cor- bout of preening. After several minutes during visits to the nest vary from highly morants start peeling away from the of intensive work, she pauses to look irritated in some birds to borderline cliff ahead of a Peregrine surging up around, rouses or shakes out her feath- murderous in others. The Maitland female and along the cliff-line. Wings pumping ers, then stretches out the right wing tops the list of maniacal mothers, and has hard in the cold, dead air, the falcon and leg together, followed by those on both the equipment and the temperament cuts across the ancient rocks and beats the left. The latter movements are slow to inflict serious damage. up towards the sun. and limber and afford me the chance 

48 PEREGRINE FALCON AFRICA – BIRDS & BIRDING FEBRUARY/MARCH 2010 PEREGRINE FALCON 49 to inspect each of her tarsi through approaches she lowers her head still THE SEASON LIES the scope, as she moves them towards further and raises her tail invitingly. The BEFORE ME LIKE A the tips of her flexed wings. She carries pair copulate in a brief confusion of flut- both numbered SAFRING and coloured tering wings and wailing and chittering COMPLEX SOAPIE, aluminium rings on her legs, and the calls. Afterwards, the male circles the COMPLETE WITH colour combination (red/silver right and mast again and then lands near the top. SAFRING left) confirms that she is the Before he settles fully at the perch, I get from the remote rock-faces of Table maintenance is scheduled for before or Above A female Peregrine perched at EQUAL DOSES OF same bird that has occupied the Cape him in the scope to study him in detail. Mountain to stone quarries, palled in after the breeding season, or putting up her nest box on the cooling towers of the FATIGUE AND TEDIUM, Point territory for the previous six sea- Like her, he is colour-ringed, and is the dust, and grubby, condemned buildings nest boxes to encourage the birds to nest Athlone . Peregrines have sons. I ringed her as a nestling in a ter- six-year-old product of a territory about in industrial Cape Town. Each territory where they are safest and least likely to bred here since the author installed nest FASCINATION AND ritory more than 20 kilometres to the 18 kilometres away. presents unique challenges and each compromise human interests. boxes in 1989. The future of this site is EXHILARATION north and now, at eight years old, she is By just after 08h00 I have completed must be studied with a similar level of At the Red Cross War Memorial now in the balance, as municipal officials in her prime. my tasks for the morning at this, the detail if I am to develop and maintain Children’s Hospital in , the contemplate the demolition of the now- Having confirmed her identity, I can most southerly territory in my study a complete picture of how the popula- staff show plenty of interest in the disused towers and stacks. relax a little, watching her with the area. I have confirmed that it is still tion works. The pending season lies welfare of the resident Peregrines. Sister naked eye while I make a cup of coffee occupied by a pair of adults and that before me like a huge, complex soapie, Knobel is once again more than happy Opposite The Cape Point female pre- and update my notes. I have just enough they are the same individuals that were complete with equal doses of fatigue and to let me use her office window as an pares to take a freshly caught Common time for a much-needed hit of caffeine present in the previous season. Mission tedium, fascination and exhilaration. access point for the exterior of the Starling from her mate in a mid-air food before her casual demeanour changes. accomplished, I start walking back down ‘Here we go again,’ I mutter to myself building on the sixth floor. There are pass. Courtship feeding is a critical I revert to the scope as she turns and to the car park. as I put my vehicle in gear and drive two boxes at Red Cross, which I put up com­ponent of the breeding cycle: the bows forward, her plumage clenched So begins my annual round of survey- north. a few years ago after the birds had tried frequency with which males provision tight, uttering a loud, rather strange, ing and monitoring Peregrine Falcon to nest behind an air-conditioning unit, females in July/August affects the ulti-­­ grating call ‘Krrchuck…krrchuck…krr- nests on the Cape Peninsula. In a few without much success. mate success or failure of the season. chuck…’. Searching the sky ahead of her weeks’ time I will need to visit the The8 September breeding season is fully under way. As I inch up to the side of the nest with my binoculars, I pick up the male, cliff where this pair generally breeds, to I try to get clutch sizes and measure- box, which faces out into the hospital gliding in fast from the south-east. His determine whether they have laid and ments at a representative sample of 15 to car park, I talk quietly to the anticipated taut wings tear the air as he scorches are incubating a clutch of eggs. Then, 20 nests each year and need to get the occupant and then knock on the roof around and past me, his long-toed, if I can confirm a breeding attempt, I early-laying sites in the bag to stay ahead once I get there in an effort to alert the orange-yellow feet hanging slightly, his will have to make at least one more visit of the game. This means heading for the possibly incubating bird to my presence. eyes glazed with the intensity of his to the site, this time lugging ropes and suburbs. While the nests on buildings If I create a sudden disturbance, the bird powerful display. He is instantly distant, ringing equipment, to try to access the are relatively easy to visit, they usually might damage the clutch as it rapidly turning across the wind in a razor-sharp nest ledge and ring and colour-ring the require me to work closely with owners exits the box. I sense movement within, arc of grey, soaring up and back before brood of chicks. or residents and quite often involve but nothing flies out, so I slowly peer dropping towards the mast. The female This is just one of nearly 50 such terri- managing the bird–people interface; for around the side of the box. The female has been calling throughout and as he tories within my area, ranging in nature example, trying to ensure that building Peregrine is there, backed into the far 

50 PEREGRINE FALCON AFRICA – BIRDS & BIRDING FEBRUARY/MARCH 2010 PEREGRINE FALCON 51 corner, feathers raised in threat display and with a foot resting on one of her clutch of four eggs. I gently nudge the bird a little further away from the clutch and proceed to measure, weigh and photograph her eggs while she stands by watching, shocked but determined to hold her ground. As I work, taxis down on Klipfontein Road hoot aggres- sively as their guards yell out the names of nearby destinations, and newspaper vendors shout ‘Argie … Aaaaargie!’

After9 September arranging access with the man- agement of the Tiger Oats plant in Maitland, I walk through the ground- floor processing area, dodging busy forklifts, and start the steps-and-ladders ascent of the grain store. Everything is covered in cereal dust and my nose and eyes start itching as I labour up into the dark, windy extremities of the tower. Hopping out of the window onto the silo roof, I keep a careful watch on my surroundings. This site is home to the most aggressive bird in my study population, and if she’s not sitting on zelda bate (4) eggs just round the corner, she’s liable to blindside me. As I’d hoped, my nem- fast, deadly accurate and full contact. esis is at her nest box, not incubating She’s sent a maintenance contractor off Above Working quarries are tough as expected but perched at the entrance to the emergency room in her time, and places in many respects, but the road and looking mean. I just have time to in previous encounters has reduced me infrastructure can be handy for falcon glimpse a single, untended egg in the to a cowering wreck, bleeding profusely field work. box before the female’s angry chatter from my lacerated scalp, the whites rises in tempo and she takes to the air. clearly visible in my terrified eyes! I hast- Inset Clutch and egg size are standard Unprotected exposure to this bird when ily take a few photographs and retreat. measurements which indicate commit- she’s angry can lead to bloodshed: her This usually productive pair is very wailing food call heralds his arrival, ment to breeding by each pair each approach to nest defence is lightning late this year and may well register a carrying food (a fully plucked, medium- season. breeding failure. The probable reason is sized bird, perhaps a Laughing Dove). the replacement of the old, unmarked I pick him up in the binoculars as he Opposite, left Monitoring urban nests male of the past few years with a new, rides the north wind and then angles involves clambering around in some fairly ringed bird. At only two years old, this across the quarry benches to his mate. off-beat places. This Peregrine site is newcomer certainly has my respect for She has risen carefully off her ‘scrape’ (a hosted by the Dutch Reformed Church. pairing up with the old battleaxe (who depression made in loose substrate on a is going on for 11), but he may not yet more or less flat ledge) and waddles to Opposite, right Starting them young. have sufficient maturity or experience to the edge of the nest ledge in anticipa- The author’s son accompanies him to sire a full and fertile clutch. tion of his arrival. As he completes a help with data collection at an easy- rather compromised landing, one foot access nest occupied by relatively calm grasping the prey, the other fumbling for falcons. I12 start September the day at a working quarry set purchase on the rocky scree, she lunges among the wheatfields north-west of forward, roughly grabs the prey parcel . It gets pretty noisy and dan­- and exits the nest area to go and feed, gerous in these places once the workday rudely shouting the odds as she does starts, so I must get there by 06h00 to so. He looks a little dazed in the face get a clear, quiet hour to work in. The of her ingratitude, but soon recovers, echo of the vehicle’s engine has barely hops across to the scrape and gingerly had time to dissipate across the dank, settles on what must be a clutch of eggs. grey walls of the quarry when the male’s During this interaction I manage to 

52 PEREGRINE FALCON AFRICA – BIRDS & BIRDING FEBRUARY/MARCH 2010 PEREGRINE FALCON 53 It’s26 gettingSeptember towards the end of the laying season, and I spend the morning on the eastern back table of . The huge cliffs on this heavily forested side of the mountain can only proper­ ly be worked from the top. Thankfully, South African National Parks allows me to drive up the access road from Constantia Nek to the overseer’s hut, so I’m on the footpath to Maclear’s Beacon by sunrise. After a 30-minute walk from the vehicle, I’m at my first site. It’s a remarkably wind-still day and, revelling zelda bate in the fresh perfume of the fynbos, I This is where Peregrines really belong, embraced by open air, with watch as Black and Alpine swifts hawk insects in the warming air of the void. endless vistas in which to locate and chase down their avian Prey I hear the Peregrines before I see them cliff on the southern Peninsula and a Above In the temporary absence of – loud wailing and chucking calls – then 45-metre abseil brings me to another their mother, two four- to five-day-old check the legs of both birds: she’s un­- sun. Since then, I’ve watched Rock locate the female, and soon afterwards clutch of three eggs. Before leaving the hatchlings use each other and their un- ringed (damn!), he’s ringed (the same Kestrels and White-necked Ravens skir- the male, perched close together on ledge I take a moment to register my sur- hatched sibling for warmth and support. bird trapped here as an adult six years mishing over space on the cliff-faces to the outer extremity of the cliff opposite roundings: the grim darkness at the foot earlier). the north, and Jackal Buzzards hanging and below me. I set the scope on them, of the cliff contrasting with the bright Above, left The Red Cross Hospital Quarries can be unattractive places on the south-easter over the broken rock turning the eyepiece to full power. The blue of the sea, and whales blowing just female stands her ground while her eggs to work in, especially those still being to the south. But after a litre of coffee, clarity of the Swarovski glass comes offshore. It’s another world on these big, are weighed and measured. mined, and abseiling to nests on the a full packet of ginger-nut biscuits and into its own in these situations and in exposed cliffs, where gravity rules and quarried faces can be tricky because seven hours of eye-strain and sunburn, the cold, clear air, the image presented one’s perspectives on life get shifted. Opposite, above Abseiling down to much of the recently blasted rock is I still haven’t managed to squeeze out at 60x magnification is outstanding. It This is where Peregrines really belong, cliff nests can be fun; ascending the rope unstable. However, one big plus is that of the soaring crag even the slightest takes a while, but eventually I manage embraced by open air, with endless afterwards, less so! At sites with aggressive it’s often possible to drive to a point glimpse of a Peregrine. to determine that the male is unringed vistas in which to locate and chase down females, the author wears a soft scrum cap directly above the nest ledge and anchor Patience rewards in the end, and I see and get the combination of the colour- their avian prey at speeds the human eye to shield his head from attack and simul- the rope to the vehicle, which saves a lot the male swinging in from the north- ringed female. can barely comprehend. The screaming taneously protect the birds from potential of time and effort. This particular ledge west with a decent-sized payload tucked Unfortunately, these birds seem way of the falcons and the rapid approach injury in collisions with his head. is only about three metres down from up neatly beneath his tail. As he passes off the pace behaviourally and will breed of a sudden squall of rain prompt me to the road, and 15 minutes later I’ve got back across the cliff, the female emerges. either very late or not at all this season. hasten my clumsy ascent of the rope. Opposite, below A clutch of three my measurements (three eggs) and I’m The restless surf on the rocks behind me We’ve had plenty of cold, wet weather Peregrine eggs on a cliff ledge in the on my way. drowns out all sounds from above, but this spring, which my study predicts central Peninsula mountain chain. she is surely calling and obviously eager will lower the proportion of pairs in the I8 revisitOctober three of the sites of the early- to feed after a long stint on the eggs. She population that try to breed and will breeding birds. At Red Cross Hospital the Early16 September this morning I completed the long flaps aggressively up towards him, out reduce breeding success overall. Exactly female is obviously sitting up and brood- walk out to the Paulsberg cliff-line on into the open blue sky, takes delivery how or why this happens is not yet clear, ing young, rather than lying flat and the east coast of the in mid-air, then skives off to have her but the high-mountain birds seem the incub­ating, so I decide not to disturb her FOLLOW THE ACTION section of the Table Mountain National meal to the south of the cliff, while he worst affected. further. At the other sites, both clutches Continue tracking the progress of these Park, and was in position below a long- drops directly to their nest ledge. I make are partially hatched. clutches in Part 2 of ‘Peregrine Diary’, in occupied Peregrine nest cliff just as the notes and sketches, marking the best With the arrival of young, activities at the April/May issue of Africa – Birds & rock on the upper lip of the central over- anchor point for a long abseil later in A28 long, September steep, early-morning bundu- the nests and my efforts to monitor them Birding. hang caught its first glimpse of the rising the season. bash gets me to the top of a coastal are about to get a lot more hectic. 

54 PEREGRINE FALCON AFRICA – BIRDS & BIRDING FEBRUARY/MARCH 2010 PEREGRINE FALCON 55