Hi Everyone -

The 2024 raptor breeding season at Pinnacles National Park (PINN) is coming to an end, and I wanted to give everyone an update on how the season played out this year.

Prairie falcons (PRFA) and peregrine falcons (PEFA) have finished their breeding efforts for the year. We had a normal year for falcon occupancy and nesting with 8 PRFA pairs and 4 PEFA pairs, but nest success - with confirmed fledging of young - was low this year. Raptor advisories have been lifted as of the end of July and most climbing areas are open to visitors for the rest of the year. However, a few areas continue to have seasonal closures - Machete Ridge, Little Pinnacles / Yaks Wall, and Crowley Towers - to protect ongoing California condor nesting efforts. For more information, refer to the PINN raptor advisories page - and feel free to ask me for further clarifications.

For the 2024 season, PRFA and PEFA occupied eight and four territories respectively. For information on territory locations and rock formations, refer to Brad Young's climber's guidebook to Pinnacles.

PRFA and PEFA breeding efforts for 2024 are listed below:

• Goat Rock: PRFA pair, 4 fledglings
• Egg / Teapot Dome: PRFA pair, 5 fledglings
• South Balconies: PRFA pair, nest failed
• Crowley Towers: PRFA pair, 4 fledglings
• Willow Spring Slide: PRFA pair, non-nesting
• North Chalone Peak: PRFA pair, nest failed
• Drywall Slide: PRFA pair, non-nesting
• Gargoyle / Piedras Bonitas Cliffs: PRFA pair, 4 fledglings
• Little Pinnacles / Yaks Wall / The Hand: PEFA pair, 1 fledgling
• Hawkins Peak: PEFA pair, 2 fledglings
• General / North Balconies: PEFA pair, nest failed
• South Chalone Peak: PEFA pair, nest failed

Unfortunately, falcon productivity was poor this year. Four PRFA nests produced 17 fledglings and two PEFA nests produced 3 fledglings. Two PRFA nest failures and two PEFA nest failures occurred during the nestling-rearing periods, and two territorial PRFA pairs did not nest this year. The PRFA and PEFA nest failures during development of nestlings was likely due to either predation (by great horned owls or other nest predators) and/or indirectly due to timing and intensity of precipitation events (leading to high vegetation growth this year and more cover for raptor prey species).

In addition to PRFA and PEFA, other raptor species confirmed breeding in the park this year included American kestrels, red-tailed and red-shouldered hawks, great horned owls, long-eared owls, golden eagles, and Cooper's hawks.

Despite rather poor falcon productivity in 2024, there were still a number of successful nest efforts. Check the gallery below a few photo highlights from the season. (The PEFA photos are from my efforts assisting Zeka Glucs and the Predatory Bird Research Group at UCSC with peregrine falcon nest entries to keep track of PEFA productivity, dispersal, and population trends in the greater Bay Area.)

Raptor Photo Gallery

(all photos by Gavin Emmons - copyright ©2024)

2024 Raptor Monitoring Photos (click images to enlarge) - All photos by Gavin Emmons ©2024
Cooper's hawk fledgling, after recently flying for the first time from a stick nest on a live oak.	Peregrine falcon nestlings at cliff cavity nest. These young are around 25-27 days old.
Peregrine falcon female adult calling defensively from territorial perch.	Another shot of the Prairie falcon nestlings at a cliff cavity nest.
Prairie falcon female adult alarm-calling and flying defensively in her nesting territory.

This year several people have been assisting with raptor monitoring at Pinnacles - Mike Baird, Joseph Belli, Kaitlin Lopez, and Megan Gnekow. All of them have been working with the condor and / or raptor monitoring programs for years, and their assistance in confirming raptor status at the park is greatly appreciated!

Thank you to all the staff who have continued to provide me with raptor observations; every detail on raptor behavior helps to provide a more complete picture of raptor breeding at the park. If anyone on staff wishes to report raptor or other observations, I would greatly appreciate it if you please email details of observations including species, date, location, and times. Your reports help us comprehensively track raptor activity at the park over the years.

If you have any observations within the park to report, or any raptor-related questions, please contact me via email or extension 4279. Thanks!