Thanks once again to the generosity of our dedicated falcon supporters, we raised over $1,800 yesterday, including a $500 bonus for the outstanding teamwork demonstrated by those who stayed up late to make their pledges at just the right time. Well done, folks!
ROC the Day officials will send us a financial statement and donor list sometime in the next few weeks, at which point we will know who to thank individually. Until then, thank you to everyone who donated. Your contributions will be used to fund Rfalconcam operations and improvements throughout 2026.
Wow! It’s that time of year again when you’re wondering, “What, oh what can I get to remind me of the wonderful adventures of the 2025 Rochester Falcon Family?” The Rfalconcam 2025 season was a success! Zephyrus, Anders and Denali have started their journeys and we wish them the best of luck! We lost Neander, but gained Corazon, who along with Nova did an awesome job raising Nova and Neander’s three young ones. Thanks Nova and Corazon for a job well done! We miss you Neander. Fly Free!
Our first offering is the 2026 Rfalconcam Calendar. It’s full of pictures showing the 2025 season, from eggs to eyases to fledglings and everything inbetween! Please click on the following link to see the 2026 Calendar in our Zazzle site.
We are also offering an assortment of 2025 Rfalconcam ornaments. Who doesn’t want Anders, Denali and Zephyrus hanging from their holiday tree! We’ve even added a Corazon ornament for your collection!
2025 Rfalconcam Ornaments
Please click on the following links to see our 2025 Rfalconcam ornaments at our Zazzle site.
Every year, we usually request that our falcon fans submit their favorite pictures to be included in our calendar. Sadly, this year we were unable to do that. Hopefully next year we’ll be able to ask for submissions again.
Many thanks to Rfalconcam Team member Dana Mulhern for putting this wonderful calendar and ornaments together in time for the holiday season. You are so appreciated for all your hard work, as always!
It is with a very heavy heart that I have to share that Brian, a long time Rochester Falcon Watcher, has passed away. Many of you may remember that it was Brian and I who rescued our beloved Mariah on a long ago Easter Sunday morning.
He was our dear friend and we will miss him very much.
I know you are with Mariah, Kaver, Isaura, a young female juvie you called Princess and all our lost falcons.
It’s time that our new tiercel has a proper name. He has been doing such an awesome job helping Nova raise Zephyrus, Anders and Denali. No more New Guy!
The Rochester Falcon Watchers submitted names and voted for their favorite. There were so many awesome names to choose from. But, we decided that New Guy would now be called Corazon!
Corazon was submitted by Watcher Dana Mulhern.
“I would love to name him Corazon, which is Spanish for heart. Because of all the love he has shown to Nova and Neander’s boys, and also because of the hearts on his cheeks. ♥️
We will never forget Neander with his white Feather. He will forever be in our heart. Miss you Neander!
But life for our Rochester Peregrine Family must move on and Corazon will hopefully be a part of that for many years to come as Nova’s mate.
I know that many of you have questioned why our new male hasn’t been given a new name yet. The reason is that the Rochester Falcon Watchers wanted to wait for our three boys to successfully fledge. Which has now happened.
NG has done an incredible job helping Nova raise her and Neander’s sons. We couldn’t have asked for a better partner for our Nova. She seems to have accepted him and we’ve witnessed them bonding. Zephyrus, Anders and Denali know him as dad.
For all the hard work the Rochester Falcon Watchers do, they will be given the honor of choosing a name for our new dad.
We’ll let you know when we’ve decided. Stay tuned!
All of our young falcons have now fledged. Their first flights were successful! Now the Rochester Falcon Watchers are going to be very busy. We’ll be out looking for them and attempting to ID them to make sure they are all accounted for and remain safe.
Denali fledged early Saturday morning and he’s been flying well. Both Anders and Zephyrus fledged almost at the same time this afternoon.
Earlier this afternoon, Denali returned to the nest box. All three boys spent the afternoon napping and preening on top of the nest box. For now the nest box is empty, but hopefully they’ll return now and then for a visit.
As time allows, we’ll post updates to let you know how they’re doing. Be sure to follow Rfalconcam and the watchers on Bluesky to receive the live watcher reports.
In case you didn’t know, we have started posting Rfalconcam news to Bluesky! It is ad-free and free to use. Have you set up your account yet?
As we approach fledge watching, you may want to follow individual watchers on Bluesky for updates in real time! This is the primary method our on-the-ground watchers will use to communicate with each other.
We have created a Bluesky Starter pack of these watchers’ accounts. Go to https://go.bsky.app/QajAmL4 and select all the watchers or choose individuals you want to follow.
Bluesky does not currently offer direct post notifications. If you want Bluesky notifications of watcher posts we suggest the BlueNotify app. Once you download and log into BlueNotify, click on Edit Notifications and select the accounts from there.
While Bluesky is now our primary method for posting fledge-watch news, you will still see posts on X from our main Rfalconcam account while individual watchers have the option to post on X if they wish, but you may miss some posts when things are happening quickly. Dropping X as the primary method is the result of X raising the price of its API, which we use to cross-post to our website. We can no longer justify the expense. Bluesky’s API, on the other hand, is free.
The Rochester Falcons eyases received their bands on Wednesday, May 21st, thanks to our friends at the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).
Introducing our Class of 2025!
Zephyrus (Male)
Zephyrus
Zephyrus received band 27 Black over R Green, with red tape over his USFW band.
Name chosen by Elizabeth Simons’ students at Greece Olympia High School in Greece, NY.
“We offer the name Zephyrus to honor our Greece Schools and because it means ‘west wind’ symbolizing speed and agility.”
Anders (Male)
Anders
Anders received band 28 Black over R Green, with blue tape over his USFW band.
Name chosen by our naming contest winner, Lori Zurick of Hilton, NY.
Anders was chosen in honor of Neander and his guardian spirit, strength and bravery. His soul will live on in one of his new falcons so that he will never be forgotten to all who loved him and watched him be a loyal partner to Nova.
Thank you Lori and all that chose this name in memory of our beloved Neander. ♥️
Denali (Male)
Denali
Denali received band 29 Black over R Green, with yellow tape over his USFW band.
Named by Susan Kraftschik of Tucson, AZ.
Susan was a longtime Rochester Falcon Watcher. She chose the name Denali for the highest mountain, not only in the US, but in all of North America. It is also the tallest mountain in the world from base to peak on land. Mountains always remind me of falcons, not only for the cliffs that they nest on but for the height, strength and power that mountains represent.
Zephyrus AndersDenali
We want to thank our friends at the DEC, Elizabeth Simons’ students at Greece Olympia, Lori Zurick, Susan Kraftschik, all those that watch the Rfalconcam and the Rochester Falcon Watchers, who were watching Nova and New Guy’s reaction from below! Also, a big thanks to the Rfalconcam Team who keep the cameras going, so we have this wonderful view into the world of a Peregrine Falcon family! The true stars are Nova, Neander, Zephyrus, Anders, Denali and New Guy who is learning to take care of this little family.
We all miss Neander. Since no territorial battle was ever witnessed, we’ll probably never know what happened to him. Fly Free Neander. We Miss You!
