Cliff sites were accessed by foot to a point as close as possible to provide a clear view of the cliff face from a view point, such as nearby ridge, rocky outcrop, or natural clearing. It was then that a spotting scope was used to study the cliff for whitewash, parent birds or possible eyries.
There were times where full view of the cliff face was not possible. Most cliffs have ledges and overhangs, which restrict viewing of its face. Therefore it was difficult to ascertain whether the cliff was being used by peregrine falcons. In these cases, as an alternative, the bottom of the cliff face was accessed in order to find prey remains, casts (oblong pellets containing indigestible food ejected by the falcon), faeces, and down from young on the ground below. This gives an indication of the presence of peregrines and/or an eyrie. Where these were found, the cliff was then accessed by abseiling down the face to identify if an eyrie existed and whether any eggs and/or young were present.
A number of conditions exist which made accessing cliffs by foot difficult. Due to the topography of KNP, walking to cliff sites can be strenuous. Long distances as well as dense vegetation often made accessing cliffs time consuming and taxing. River and creek levels are generally still high in October which makes fording on foot difficult. It was found that westerly facing ridges tended to be clearer, whilst the south facing slopes were avoided, as they tended to be slippery and have thicker vegetation.
In some instances, cliffs were observed from an aircraft. They were then inspected for whitewash and/or the presence of falcons.
The use of the ultra-light aircraft proved to be an efficient way of checking for potential peregrine sites as well as existing locations. It was difficult to actually see what was on the ledge due to the constant forward movement and vibration of the machine. However, by following up on the ground, use of an aircraft seemed very efficient compared to walking into an area with no prior knowledge, thereby wasting valuable time.
Using the ultra light is the preferred method for accessing cliffs. The ultra light is preferred over the helicopter due to the different responses from the nesting birds. With the helicopter they were slow to flush and once flushed seemed very stressed. This may be just because of the noise of the machine. Whereas with the ultra-light, the birds would readily flush from the nest seemingly more agitated at the machine. This may be due to the fact the ultra-light looks like a large bird. Most peregrines simply circled the ultra light and returned to the eyrie. If aircraft are to be used, it would be more effective for the survey to be carried out during the period of incubation. This way the peregrines are flushed from the nest which makes locating them easier.
If the peregrines were to have young, they may not be on the ledge at the time of approach.
3.3 Collecting Data
