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Mariah & a Tiercel! – 3/21/09

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.

12 Responses to “Mariah & a Tiercel! – 3/21/09”

  1. Ei Says:

    What wonderful news! Keeping my talons crossed! Thank you!

  2. Jennie Says:

    Oh this is exciting to say the least !!! I truly have my fingers crossed for these two. I have been ‘watching’ online now for the past 4 years, and each year, Mariah & family just amaze me. Nature is wonderful ! Thank you for the updates… and keep up the great work ! 🙂

  3. Terri Says:

    Awesome news!

  4. Jan Says:

    Thank you Carol for posting your watch report here. I haven’t been able to access the group page all day, and have been wondering how things were in Rochester Falconland. What great news! Jan

  5. B Says:

    YES!

  6. Alison in Austria Says:

    Hey, Mariah is a looker and she reigns over a very prolific territory. Any tiercel in his right mind, wanting to spread his genes all over the north east, would court her.
    Good report. Now if only this tiercel would show her the various nest boxes available we could be in business.

  7. Maureen in MA Says:

    What an exciting, hopeful update! Thank you, Carol!

  8. Kathy V Says:

    Thank you Carol, that was a great report. Sounds like Mariah is enjoying herself and “maybe”, she will have a new mate. Whatever, and whoever, I only want them to be safe and hopefully mate, choosing one of the nest boxes, here. Will keep checking in.

  9. Joan McC Says:

    We needed a ray of hope about now! Keep watching and reporting, Carol…

  10. Lu Ann in Rochester Says:

    Any chance at all that it could be Kaver?

  11. Carol P. Says:

    Lu Ann – I’m sorry to say that this Tiercel is not Kaver. He is a banded bird. It appears to be an all black band, which probably means he’s from Canada, like Trybropa-Cree. We’ll work really hard at getting an ID on him.

    The important thing is that Mariah seems very taken with him. 🙂

    Carol P.

  12. Nancy Wilson Says:

    I didn’t know who to report this to but I had a falcom land on my front walk twice on Saturday 3/21! I feed all the birds and squirrels as well as a ground hog, chipmunk etc. mainly as amusement for me and my cat. I have a full length glass outer door that we watch through and as the doves and pigeons and squirrels were feeding down swoops a falcon(I think it was after one of the pigeons), misses his/her prey lands briefly on my front walk and then takes off. Later that afternoon it came back sat on the front walk for a few min. looking around and then took off again. I wish I had been quicker, I would have grabbed my camera for a picture.


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