Hi Everyone -

The 2025 raptor breeding season at Pinnacles National Park (PINN) is finishing up, 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 9 PRFA pairs and 4 PEFA pairs, but nest success - with confirmed fledging of young - was on the low end this year. Raptor advisories / climbing closures have been lifted as of early July and climbing areas are open to visitors for the rest of the year. For more information, refer to the PINN raptor advisories page - and feel free to ask me for further clarifications.

For the 2025 season, PRFA and PEFA occupied nine 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 2025 are listed below:

• Goat Rock / Scout Peak: PRFA pair, did not nest
• Egg / Teapot Dome: PRFA pair, 4 fledglings
• South Balconies: PRFA pair, 4 fledglings
• Crowley Towers: PRFA pair, 5 fledglings
• Willow Spring Slide: PRFA pair, 1 fledgling
• North Chalone Peak / NE Section 15: PRFA pair, nest failed
• South Chalone Peak: PRFA pair, nest failed
• Drywall Slide: PRFA pair, nest failed
• Gargoyle / Piedras Bonitas Cliffs: PRFA pair, nest failed
• Little Pinnacles / Yaks Wall / The Hand: PEFA pair, 1 fledgling
• Hawkins Peak: PEFA pair, 3 fledglings
• General / North Balconies: PEFA pair, nest failed
• South Chalone Peak / North Chalone Peak: PEFA pair, 3 fledglings

Falcon productivity was mixed this year. Four PRFA nests produced 14 fledglings and three PEFA nests produced 7 fledglings. Four PRFA nest failures and one PEFA nest failure occurred during the egg incubation and nestling-rearing periods, and one territorial PRFA pair did not nest this year. The PRFA and PEFA nest failures were likely due to predation (by great horned owls or other nest predators) and possibly inexperience of younger falcon pairs (in the case of at least 2 PRFA nest efforts).

As PEFA breeding pairs and efforts continue to increase annually at PINN, it's also interesting to see how PRFA and PEFA interact and compete for limited cliff cavity nest resources, which both species rely on for breeding. A PEFA pair has been nesting at South Chalone Peak for the last several years, and midway through 2025 the PEFA pair shifted to North Chalone Peak and decided to nest there instead, pushing out a PRFA pair that has historically nested at North Chalone Peak for many years. The displaced PRFA pair attempted to nest at rock formations just to the north but ultimately failed, possibly due to the late attempt at beginning egg incubation.

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, Cooper's hawks, and the first nesting pair of white-tailed kites we have documented at the park in a number of years.

Despite rather mixed results for falcon productivity in 2025, there were still a number of successful nest efforts. I have put a few photo highlights from the season in the gallery below.

Raptor Photo Gallery

(all photos by Gavin Emmons - copyright ©2025)

2025 Raptor Monitoring Photos (click images to enlarge) - All photos by Gavin Emmons ©2025
Prairie falcon female adult calling and perching defensively at her cliff cavity nest, with young nestlings huddled together just behind her to the right.	Prairie falcon female adult calling and soaring through her nesting territory.
Peregrine falcon nestlings at cliff cavity nest. These young are less than a week old... Note the yellow-white knob on the tip of their beaks - this is an "egg tooth" that the young use to help tap at the inside of an egg to assist them with hatching. The "egg tooth" disappears after the first week of nestling development.	Peregrine falcon nestlings at cliff cavity nest - these are the same young pictured in the previous photo, but now around 21-23 days old. Peregrine and prairie falcon young usually fly from the nest for the first time at around 42 days old.
Peregrine falcon female adult scold-calling in flight near active nest site. Note that this female is brownish overall, with newer blue-gray flight feathers showing in molt on both wings. This is likely a young female adult nesting for the first time this year.	A different peregrine falcon female calling in flight (also with evidence of some different feather ages indicating multiple years of molt).
Here is a photo of our smallest falcon species at PINN - an American kestrel male, eating a shrew it caught. I've never observed a kestrel eating a shrew before, so this was a nice highlight!	Long-eared owl adult perched in nesting territory. These owls are California species of concern - it's always a treat to see them nesting successfully at the park.
Long-eared owl fledgling - note the residual, fluffy nestling down on its chest and belly. We confirmed two long-eared owl nests that successfully fledged young this year.	Cooper's hawk female adult. We confirmed three Cooper's hawk nests at PINN this year, and all successfully fledged young from their nest sites.
White-tailed kite adult flying with California vole prey. A nesting pair of white-tailed kites was a big highlight at the park this year*.	Another view of a white-tailed kite adult with California vole prey - they are very striking birds!
White-tailed kite fledgling, hopping and flapping on branches near a nest site. The white-tailed kite nest at PINN this year produced four fledglings. This one was still figuring out how to make use of its wings!	White-tailed kite fledgling in flight. Note the rufous coloration on the breast and back of head, very characteristic for recently fledged kites.

 *A nesting pair of white-tailed kites was a big highlight at the park this year. White-tailed kites are specialist hunters, and in our region they primarily eat California voles. Populations of California voles fluctuate a lot, and in recent years the lack of voles has meant a lack of kites nesting at PINN. However, this year we have experienced an irruption of California voles at the park - they have been quite active and observable throughout the park, and are likely the reason that the white-tailed kites nested again at PINN this year.

This year several people have been assisting with raptor monitoring at Pinnacles - Mike Baird, Joseph Belli, Kaitlin Lopez, Emmy Elsner, 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!