Quest banding and more 6-4-12
By Rochester falcon watcher MAK
Watchers KathyO,Joyce,CarolP,Tim,Lynda and myself made a trek to Canada to watch Quest and Kendals babies get banded. We left Rochester about 5:30 am so we could make a couple other stops along the way. We first checked out a slew of cormorants,gulls and Black-crowned Night Herons nesting near the Burlington Bridge area. We made our way to the bridge itself to visit Cirrus,MacKenzie and their 3 boys-Jimmy,Port Hope and Carrey. We were treated to a team effort when MacKenzie flushed some pigeons out from the bridge to over the open water where Cirrus stooped quickly on one and caught it. I enjoy this site very much each time I come!
Next stop was the Mississauga site where we found one adult and the juvie Janet. We didn’t stay for long as we didn’t know how traffic would be and didn’t want to miss a minute of the banding at Harlequin so off we went to the site at Don Mills where we found Kendal on the Harlequin building and Quest on a column near the nest box where their 3 babies were sleeping in a pile together at the back of the nest box.
Just before it was time to extract the kids so they could get their special bling Quest decided to feed them. As the trio of kidnappers made their way up to the nest box she was still feeding them and quickly vacated the nest box when they arrived in front of her.
There were 2 girls named Amora and Mira and a boy named Blaze. All 3 were very feisty, so much so that Cathy from the CPF staff who took them from the nest box sustained some abrasions from them on her hand and wrist area. In the pic below she is explaining her ordeal!
CarolP was chosen to hold one of the babies as it got banded and was told that Mira, the female she was to handle was named after Mariah. How cool is that? And so with another Canadian banding day in the books we all came home with smiles on our faces. 🙂
Click on the links below for lots more pics and a few short videos from the days events
http://pix.kg/p/918098695213%3A1912395511/scl
June 5th, 2012 at 2:31 PM
Very cool that Mira was named in honor of Mariah! Very cool indeed!! 🙂
June 5th, 2012 at 2:32 PM
p.s. Thanks for the great post, pix, and videos!!
June 5th, 2012 at 4:56 PM
sound like you are having a great trip!! I wish I could go too. life is so busy this summer.. Freda
June 5th, 2012 at 7:42 PM
Such fun! You are truly blessed to witness this. Those babies are adorable!
The pics and videos are great!
THANK YOU MAK!!! 🙂
June 5th, 2012 at 7:49 PM
I am blessed Ginny! These falcons have given me a purpose and I’ve made so many good friends because of them. I do love sharing my adventures with all of you too! 🙂
June 5th, 2012 at 8:01 PM
…and we love reading about your adventures, MAK. You are having too much fun! Keep on enjoying it.
Great pictures and report. I look forward to hearing more. I, too, love the fact that Mira was named for Mariah. Such an honor. And that the Toledo falcon was named in honor of Unity! It is wonderful.
June 6th, 2012 at 7:50 PM
What a great report with your awesome photos & videos! That must have been a really fun trip. Hats off to you great spotters for your dedication and hard work!
I thought it very touching that a chick was named after Mariah the very prolific matriarch of Rochester’s falcons. I hope Mira does very well also!
Thanks again for the great information! Falcons Forever!!!
June 6th, 2012 at 9:48 PM
You’re welcome Margaret and John! Falcons forever for sure!!! 🙂