So how did the Rochester Falconcam get started?

In 1998 a trio of enterprising Kodak employees-- Kenn Martinez, Brad Carney and Matt Bernius-- placed a video camera on the steeple of the tower, aimed it at the nest box, and connected it to the Internet. The stars of their new website- the Kodak Birdcam - were a pair of Peregrine falcons, the fastest animals on the planet. To honor their legacy as masters of the air, the falcons were given wind-themed names by the Kodak Birdcam team. Mariah, for the female, after Kodak founder George Eastman's mother and the 1951 Lerner and Lowe song "They Call The Wind Mariah". Cabot-Sirocco, the male, was hatched in Toronto and named Cabot by the folks at the Canadian Peregrine Foundation (in honor of the French explorer of the same name). Kodak named him Sirocco (a dry desert wind), and his US & Canadian names were combined as "Cabot-Sirocco". In 2002 a new male joined Mariah when Cabot-Sirocco failed to return that spring. A high resolution digital camera, installed only weeks before, revealed that this new tiercel, or male falcon, wore no identification bands on his legs, unlike Cabot-Sirocco. The new arrival was named Kaver, after a gentle breeze that blows in the Hebrides islands near Scotland. From its earliest days, Kodak and the Genesee Valley Audubon Society have worked together to make the Birdcam a success. Sponsored by GVAS, the annual Fledge Watch has provided a cadre of dedicated volunteers to monitor and report on the young falcons as they leave the safety of the nest box and take their first wobbly flights. Our Falcon Watch participants have documented the early lives of fledgling falcons on an unprecedented scale, and their diligence has paid off more than once. Over the years the GVAS Falcon Watch has rescued at least four of Mariah's fledglings. We've also partnered with the New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation and the Migration Research Foundation to expand our knowledge of the dispersal patterns of urban-raised peregrines.

In the summer of 2006, Kodak reached out to GVAS once more. Recognizing our long commitment to the Birdcam program and our many conservation efforts, the company agreed to migrate primary responsibility for the Birdcam program to the Genesee Valley Audubon Society. We're honored by Kodak's decision and delighted to bring the adventure of Rochester's own peregrine falcons to the rest of the world. From courtship to egg laying, hatching, maturation and fledging, the GVAS Rochester Falconcam will document the drama and dynamism of the peregrine falcon family minute by minute. Renaming the site ties the community to the falcons more closely and helps bring attention to this wonderful natural asset.