My friend Wes Mudge has passed along a piece of happy news. He often hikes along the cliffs above Blacks Beach, and he reports that peregrine falcons, which disappeared from there back in the 60s due to the harmful effects of DDT, are coming back. The first pair re-appeared in 2006, according to local falcon fans who dubbed the duo Sid and Zina. Then a new female moved into Torrey Pines, and Sid was able to keep both her and Zina happy. The next year both had chicks, and each year since, they’ve produced more. At least eight of the birds now live on the cliffs between Torrey Pines Park and La Jolla Cove.
The photos (taken by Wes’s son-in-law Jason Khoury and his friend Charles Smith) depict some of the parents, caught feeding their offspring in Torrey Pines Park. Explains Wes, “The baby grabs the kill from mom and that’s lunch — red legs tartare.”
These are amazing photos. I hadn’t realized how big the birds are.