As we continue to keep our eye on Mariah and her new mate, we are happy to have a new pair to watch.  It’s wonderful to know that one of our young males has returned to Rochester.  We’re very hopeful that  he and the female hanging out in nearby Brighton will choose to stick around to raise a family of their own.

A few of us braved the rain on Sunday afternoon to get a good look at this new pair.

The following is a video I took.  The female had just landed on a lower building on the west side of the complex.  She started vocalizing, loudly, while Zephyr flew around above her.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb1BeZknkew

Not to worry.  We’re definitely keeping a close eye on Mariah and her Tiercel, who continue to hang out at Midtown Plaza.  Although we did see them both in the gorge  and flying around the Kodak Tower on Saturday.  So, where will they choose to nest?  We’ll keep Watching and report what we see.

Carol P.

More news on one of our Rochester falcons…

One of our 2008 fledglings has been spotted on a tall abandoned building in Brighton, south of downtown Rochester.  Marcia L and Joyce watched as Zephyr and an adult female perched on and flew around there. 

Here are Marcia’s photos and report

Amendment – Joyce’s album

Mariah and her new mate have taken over the Rochester city skies.  They are very active flying around downtown, especially around Xerox, Bausch & Lomb, Midtown, and HSBC (which are all in close proximity as the falcon flies).  They are frequently seen landing on Midtown.  There are no occupants in this building anymore.   You can often hear the pair e-chupping to one another.  One has to wonder if Mariah and her mate plan on taking up residency and raising a family there. 

Here are two watch albums of Mariah and her new tiercel from last weekend – Saturday and Sunday afternoon.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=tq6stye.c6m1yufq&x=0&y=-abvoil&localeid=en_US

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=tq6stye.70aczjrq&x=0&y=fbvhee&localeid=en_US

Good news – on Thursday 3/26, one of the local falcon watchers who works downtown, witnessed Mariah and the tiercel mating on top of HSBC (across the street from Midtown).

 Joyce

I was thrilled to get downtown this afternoon for some good looks at the new tiercel who’s flown into town.  On the downside, this is definitely not Kaver.  The tiercel is banded.  Despite our best efforts, two spotting scopes and lots of long zoom lenses he’s being coy, not giving us a good look at the ID number on that band yet.  He’s been perching low enough that we may be able to get a read on the band, if he’ll cooperate and stick his leg out where we can see it!

In any event, enjoy the pictures and my report of today’s activity:
http://marchlords.com/birdblog/2009/03/mariahs-neuveau-beau.html

I had been downtown since 11:00 am, watching Mariah on Midtown Plaza. Dawn  joined me and we watched Mariah fly around Midtown to the north side. I thought she landed there, but when we checked, she was gone.

It was going on 1:00 pm, so we decided to drive over to the Andrew St. Bridge to try to find Mariah. A quick look at the east end of the pedestrian bridge showed that others had come out to watch Falcons. Every one of them had their binoculars pointed at the sky above. A quick look showed two raptors high above. One was Mariah and one was (we believe) a Red-Shouldered Hawk. Mariah was just soaring with the hawk. I never saw any aggression. Strange. They both flew off towards the east.

Dawn and I joined Larry O, Dan S, Brian H, Suzanne, Don, Jeanne, Lynda and Carol (another Carol) on the bridge. During the next hour or so, we kept seeing Mariah on the NE corner of Midtown. At one point, she flew off and stooped on what appeared to be a Crow, but we can’t be 100% sure. We were quite a distance away.

Around 3:30 pm, I left Larry O, Brian H, Kathy O, Dawn & Joyce on the bridge.
On my way home, I decided to take one more trip around downtown. Just as I arrived at Midtown, my phone rang. I heard Kathy O tell me in an excited voice that there were TWO Falcons flying around the Kodak Tower and that there was no aggression at all between them.

I tried to get back to the tower ASAP, but I caught every red light. Talk about
frustrating! By the time I got there, they were gone. I drove back over to the
east end of the bridge. Everyone there was talking excitedly about seeing Mariah and a Tiercel flying around the tower and I missed it!

Larry left and I stayed for awhile longer. I’m really glad I did.

Two Falcons came flying in from the south. Mariah in the lead the Tiercel
behind her. They both flew back to the Kodak Tower and around it. I quickly jumped in my car and drove over to the KTower.

Mariah had landed on the SE corner of the launchpad and the Tiercel was doing all kinds of fancy flying in front her. I really expected them to mate or
copulate, but it never happened.

There was glorious ee-chupping filling the air!

The Tiercel flew by Mariah, heading north and Mariah was off in a flash. They
both did a U-turn, heading back towards me. Both Mariah and the Tiercel flew over me, low, and at a great rate of speed. I just watched and enjoyed the show.

They took off heading south.

I joined the remaining Watchers and we waited to see if the Falcons would
return. When they didn’t, I said my goodbyes around 4:30 pm.

Kathy O called to tell me that both Mariah and the Tiercel returned to the Kodak Tower after I left.

It was a wonderful day for Watching Falcons and it gives me hope that all will be well with Mariah.

Carol P.

So much has been happening, including a new pair that has been spotted south of downtown Rochester.  So let me catch-up.

I’m sorry to say that as of this weekend, we have been seeing Mariah and the new banded Tiercel.  No Kaver sightings, yet.  The Falcon Watchers have seen them mating on the High Falls Smoke Stack near the Kodak Tower and the Bausch and Lomb Building, downtown.

We are not yet giving up on Kaver returning.  We’ll still keep Watching for his possible return.  But, if he doesn’t return (and believe me, we’ll all be very sad if he doesn’t), we’re very happy that Mariah will have a new mate and will hopefully choose a nest site soon.

The Tiercel has been seen on the Powers building twice that I know of.  No one has seen Mariah or the Tiercel on the Times Square Bldg.

We have seen them on the Kodak Tower and all over the downtown area.  If they’ve chosen a nest site, it’s not obvious yet.

Here are some KGallery Albums that I’ve put together from the last few days.

http://www.kodakgallery.com:80/ShareLanding.action?c=171aim5l.5iyo5erd&x=1&y=-tfljtn&localeid=en_US

http://www.kodakgallery.com:80/ShareLanding.action?c=171aim5l.74499s6x&x=1&y=-8g90yr&localeid=en_US

http://www.kodakgallery.com:80/ShareLanding.action?c=171aim5l.1ejds7ux&x=1&y=8rqxkq&localeid=en_US

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=171aim5l.548x4p3d&x=1&y=-8yv9hi&localeid=en_US

As Jim stated, this is all new territory for us here in Rochester.  We’ll keep Watching.

Carol P.