Let’s take time to remember our 2019 Rochester Falcon Season as we patiently, or not so patiently, wait for our 2020 season to begin.

It was a year full of happiness and sadness.

Four beautiful eyases arrived and were banded on May 31st.

All four grew strong under the watchful eyes of their parents Beauty and Dot.ca. Their faithful watchers witnessed all four successfully fledge.

Soon after fledging, on June 23rd, we lost our only female, Donna. She was found, deceased, on the road near Cornhill Landing. She was very close to home.

The three boys continued to thrive after the loss of their sister. For the next two months, the Rochester Falcon Watchers continued to keep an eye on them.

On August 4th, Jupiter was found injured on the ground near Kodak Office. He was taken to a local rehabber and vet. The X-rays showed that he had a broken coracoid bone in his shoulder and possible soft tissue damage on the other side. His prognosis was good. After a successful rehab, he was released on November 6th. Jupiter was seen once in Rochester after his release. He has not been seen since.

On August 24, we were notified that a third Rochester juvenile was found injured. Phoenix was found on the ground in Brockport. He was transported to the Cornell Wildlife Veterinary Clinic by the DEC and a rehabber. They did everything they could to save his life, but he did not survive his injuries. It was determined that he had hit a window on a building at a high rate of speed. He was probably hunting. It is so important that windows be marked so that the birds are able to see them.

Lakota was seen a few times downtown with Beauty, looking for food. There have been no sightings since then. We all hope that he and Jupiter are doing well.

Now we wait. Both Beauty and Dot.ca have been seen frequently in the new nest box on the Times Square Bldg. They are both very busy working on digging scrapes that will hold their eggs.

As I’m typing this report, I have received word that a Rochester Falcon Watcher has just witnessed Beauty and Dot.ca copulating on the base of the Mercury statue! Let the 2020 season begin!!!

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 7th, 2020 at 10:35 AM and is filed under Rochester Falcons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.