Winter Falcon Watch – The Winter Visitors Find the Powers Bldg – 1/15/09
No sightings of Mariah and Kaver yet. But, the Winter visitors are keeping the Watchers busy. They’ve been all over downtown Rochester and the Kodak Tower still seems to be a favorite perch for this pair.
On Monday, January 12th, Dana and I spotted both the male and the female sitting on top of the Powers Building, where the nest box from Kodak Tower had been relocated to. The male was finishing the meal that the female had brought in earlier.
No ID on the female yet. We keep trying, but she’s very elusive.
Carol P.
January 16th, 2009 at 7:48 AM
Thanks for the update, Carol! Do falcons get territorial over nest boxes, i.e., when Mariah and Kaver come back into town, will they want to claim that box as their own from these new two having used it before?
January 16th, 2009 at 9:35 AM
How wonderful to have an update. I was on the verge of asking for one even if it were only one to say, we just do not know…
Maureen, I doubt that Mariah and Kaver will actually recognize the box itself, but rather view it as a practical place for a scrape, a kind they were accustomed to, in a good location (in their territory), but not specifically as “theirs”.
If there is a battle it will probably be less over the box itself than over the whole downtown area.
January 16th, 2009 at 6:38 PM
You mentioned before that the female that is hanging around has a green and black band, I was wondering since it knows about the kodak tower if it can be susan B with a mate.
January 17th, 2009 at 7:03 AM
You’re both welcome! There really hasn’t been much to report lately, although the Winter visitors are keeping us busy. They are so different from M&K in many ways, but so alike in others. It’s been very interesting studying their behavior.
Here are some pics from our Watch on Monday (1/12/09).
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=171aim5l.bu45jewp&x=1&y=9xuyfg&localeid=en_US
or tinyurl:
http://tinyurl.com/7yxcaa
Carol P.
January 18th, 2009 at 6:52 AM
Hello Maryann – Susan B (2008) would be too young to be the female Falcon we’ve been seeing. She would still have her brown juvenile feathers. This female has her adult plumage, steel gray and white. I’m not giving up hope that it may be one of Mariah and Kaver’s young from a past year. Some black/green possibilities: Aconcagua-2005 (who we’re pretty sure was a female eventhough she was banded as a male due to her large size.); Aura-2007; Ananta-2007; Sacajawea-2007 & Grace-2007. Linn from 2007 has been spotted up near Toronto, very close to her sisters Rhea Mae and Ranger. Of course the chances that it may be one of our girls is high. We’ll keep trying to ID her! – Carol P.
January 18th, 2009 at 10:56 AM
Thank you for the reply, Alison!
January 23rd, 2009 at 11:59 PM
I happened to see one of our feathered friends Friday morning swoop in and perch on a billboard on the corner od North and Lindhurst St. A beautiful way to start the day.