We fretted too soon. And then we did it again. Details and pictures to come.

The female and her boy companion had given us absolutely regular observations for months on end. Failing to observe them for a few days seemed like a good indication that they had moved on, but it might not be so.

Yesterday, we spotted the male perching on the water tower, though he disappeared before either of us could snap a picture. It was good to know Alcatraz still had a rad new apex predator to observe, even if we were hoping for a pair.

A few of the raptor experts from the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory have very generously shared their considerable knowledge and insights with us. Based on what they've told us, the falcons may both leave or our cougar female may fly north to mate, leaving her immature ally to brave Alcatraz all on his own. It may also be possible for him to mate with her just where she is. Nesting season will tell.

If she has left, it would explain why the falcons have become far less visible of late, especially as she was always much easier to observe than he was. The vast majority of Alcatraz falcon photos in the MAGANRORD archive feature her but it's been at least a week since we've seen her hopping around in her preferred cypress tree.

But she may not be gone yet.

Today, we had more birders from GGRO visiting us and they made some curious observations. Most importantly, they observed two falcons perching on the water tower, vocalizing to each other and then engaging in aerobatic falcon flirting, in which the male and female take to the air to dive, dart and fly in tight spirals in close proximity with each other and at great speeds.

Oddly, they reported that both birds displayed juvenile plumage. This Alcatraz falcon does not.

Now we're forced to consider a set of strange scenarios. Perhaps the adult female has moved on and a juvenile has joined him. It would explain the observations of the visiting GGRO birders and it would explain why the falcons have become so much harder to observe over the last week or so.

A less demanding explanation might just be that a trick of light or an unfortunately placed shadow interfered with the ability of our visiting birders to see the female clearly. Through the unfortunate light/shadow/haze/lack of contrast, her slate blue features may have appeared brown.

At any rate, I didn't see the female today. But I did see this guy:

Brown. Very heavily marked chest. More pictures of him in all sizes are up on my flickr.

More investigation is required here. We'll post anything we find.

The ravens have been especially visible over the last couple of days as they soared all over the island. I saw them over and over again on every single outing.

Here's Lucky the WEGU, incurring more adult gull wrath with her begging.

She's still going strong.

Also, MAGANRORD is in clear danger of becoming a falcon blog. As such, you can expect some posts on our raven pair in the near future. We're interested in who they are, how they go about their lives on Alcatraz and we'll even be taking a quick look at the park's policy of attempting to oil (destroy) the ravens' eggs each season.

Where are our falcons?

I would very much like to see the peregrines establish themselves permanently on Alcatraz but recent observations leave me worried that any raptor pair making a home on a small island populated seasonally by two thousand western gulls faces an arduous task; I hope that our falcon pair hasn't failed already. More on that in a moment.

There is the aforementioned tendency of the gulls to take to the sky in alarm whenever the falcons soar over their roosts. In one such instance, I saw several gulls actually attacking one of the falcons in midair.

There is also a certain reckless aggression practiced by the pair and especially by the male. The ravens are certainly enemies of the gulls but they trespass on the gulls very selectively and very, very carefully. The ravens may harm the gulls by occasionally taking their eggs and young but they are deft enough to avoid being mobbed in large groups.

On the other hand, the male falcon thought that it might be wise to nearly take the head off the female raven as she was soaring by. Far from doing anything to provoke him, she seemed not to notice him until she suddenly dove to evade the attack.

On that same occasion (Monday, March 1st 3:45-4:45pm) I saw the female falcon on the railing of the water tower, stationary, apparently watching the male's antics. He would fly up, join her on her perch, hop around and then take to the sky for a few more laps of ill advised adventure.

As he aggressively darted in, around and through a cloud of angry gulls over the recreation yard and the new industries building on the west side of the island, the female only watched his maneuvers. After one energetic run, he failed to rejoin her. The gulls quieted down and their numbers in the air fell to just a few.

Ten minutes later, I spotted a dead bird on the roof of the new industries building. I reported it to our wildlife biologist and I'm at least 95% sure that it's a western gull but even with binoculars it's difficult to be sure. Tomorrow, I'll have the right hardware to make a final determination. Stay tuned.

Yesterday, in all of my outings, I saw only the female and only for a small part of the day. Today, we saw neither falcon. It's the first time in many weeks that I haven't seen either bird. They are so habit driven and preferential to the same few haunts (the water tower, the power plant, a couple of cypress trees) that it's worrisome not to have made a single sighting on any of our outings.

I know with only one falcon-free day that it's far too early to fret, but the recent conflicts with the gulls and the ravens have left me with the sad expectation that these birds won't succeed in establishing themselves. The gulls have become more numerous since the falcons arrived in November and they have become more assertive. I wouldn't be shocked if one of the falcons fell in a bloody adventure, or if they decided Alcatraz and its thousands of large gulls wasn't friendly to their reproductive prospects.

Here's to pleasant surprises of all kinds.

I got my camera back today. Expect visual media. Uh, lots.

I checked in on Lucky the WEGU today, and (s)he is alive and well, chasing adult gulls and begging for food, as is his/her pattern.

We observed a group of four crows on the island today, marauding around, soaring and executing a number of funny diving maneuvers. BourbonHawk can tell a crow from a raven at great distances and if she can't see the birds, she can tell from their calls. I, on the other hand, have some work to do.

That's it for today.

More soon.