Falcon Watch – Saturday – 6/6/09
Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.
OK, all. It’s been a very interesting week, watching Mariah, Archer
and Beauty.
There have been no witnessed encounters between Mariah and Archer &
Beauty over the past 3 days. Things seem to have calmed down,
thankfully. Every day something new happens.
Mariah has been spending a lot of her time snoozing on the east side
gorge wall, between the observation deck and the High Falls. Today a very strange thing happened.
I arrived downtown at 10 am. After checking out the downtown area and only finding Archer on the Times Square Bldg, I drove over to the east end of the pedestrian bridge. Carla P had arrived just before me.
We spotted Mariah on the gorge wall, very close to where she was yesterday.
At 11 am, Archer flew into the gorge. He flew over us, heading north. He
didn’t go very far, turned around and flew low over our position. I was really concerned that he had come to do battle with Mariah, but he landed on the east side gorge wall about 20 feet from her. During the next 45 minutes, Archer and Mariah continued to sit calmly. Mariah even slept on and off. After 45 minutes Archer took off and landed just above Mariah’s position. Again no seeming concern from either of them and no vocalization. After about 5 minutes, Archer took off, dipped in front of Mariah and flew south towards downtown.
When he first flew in, I was very concerned that he was going to
attack Mariah, but he didn’t. The behavior of these three Falcons is really
different than anything we’ve seen before.
About 15 mintues after Archer left, Mariah left the gorge wall and flew towards the Kodak Tower. She looped around a few times before landing on the launch pad, north side.
A 1/2 hour later, she left the launch pad, and headed north, away from downtown. This seems to be a pattern for her lately. We believe that she is going north to do her hunting and then returning to either the Kodak Tower or the gorge, sometimes hours later.
Now for some more interesting news. 2 Falcons are spending a lot of
time on the Times Square Bldg. We believe that it is Beauty & Archer, but we can’t be sure of that without a scope. One of the Falcons was sitting on the nest box perch and later in the afternoon one was seen entering it.
So, it’s certainly a strange and interesting Falcon Watch right now.
We definitely learn something new every day.
Carol P.
June 6th, 2009 at 10:17 PM
Mariah is spending alot of time napping. Is this normal or could she be unwell?
I am so glad you are posting these falcon watches. I check everyday to see how our queen is doing.
June 7th, 2009 at 4:56 AM
Hopefully Mariah is only tired because she was out of the loop , so to speak, for a while. I hope she remains safe, and happy. Thank you for all the reports. Maybe some pictures will come..would love that.
I don’t know about everyone else, but this change going on, this year, is a bit unsettling. You (in general) are so use to things the way they had been for so many years, with M&K, that is takes some getting use to, that there are new kids in town and who knows where K is. Oh well, life does go on, new players and all. They are all gods creatures, and we enjoy having a part in their lives.
June 7th, 2009 at 6:56 AM
You mention the potential of Archer attacking Mariah but not why Mariah attacking an intruder within her sphere? With possible eggs being laid was Archer testing Mariahs aggression?
Have boundaries be agreed upon? With Mariah flying north away from the Times Square is she acquiescing to boundaries?
Any chance of bigamy?
re; Barbs inquiry, is Mariahs amount of napping unusual?
June 7th, 2009 at 7:09 AM
I’m sorry but I am completely lost — so many questions? I do know that Mariah was injured and is now back but I saw that Kevar had come back but I thought that he had not shown up and that Mariah was a lone bird. And what is with Beauty and Archer — are they not sitting on eggs or what is going on? It is very confusing. It is too late to begine the nesting process now, isn’t it?
Hopefully some of my questions can be answered by some of your watches.
Thanks,
Kathy
June 7th, 2009 at 7:22 AM
@Barb – I’m certainly not an expert, but I’m not too worried about Mariah. Since she doesn’t have eyases to take care of this year and she doesn’t have a mate, she only needs to care for herself. The days have been warm and sunny and she loves the coolness of the gorge wall near the High Falls. When we see her, she isn’t sleeping constantly. She always has a watchful eye on her surroundings.
@bluhawkk – All really good questions. This is all new to us, so I really don’t have any answers. I do believe that Mariah was attempting to push back into the downtown area and that Archer (and sometimes Beauty) was pushing her back. At least for now, Mariah still claims the Kodak Tower. Yesterday was the first time we saw Archer land on the gorge wall.
Bigamy is always a possibility. We know of one case with Wind, Mandy and Windwhistler in Toronto. Nothing like that has been seen here in Rochester.
Carol P.
June 7th, 2009 at 11:04 AM
Carol – There is also another possible case of “bigamy” in Scarborough this season. Ruben has been seen at both the Bell (our little Linn) and Yellow Pages (Lawrie) sites this year. Maybe he’s just trying to keep the peace in his little corner of the world by keeping two women happy lol.
June 7th, 2009 at 6:39 PM
do any one eat the quail that was put in the nest box??
June 7th, 2009 at 6:39 PM
did
June 7th, 2009 at 7:11 PM
We’re all watching to learn more about this beautiful species and this seems to have become an especially eventful year to be a WATCHER. I would assume that as a “recovering ” wounded bird Mariah would need more rest than usual !?? I DO wish there was more to WATCH; though I am grateful for all the reports and read them faithfully…
June 7th, 2009 at 7:34 PM
Lucy, I believe a crow did finally eat the quail.
June 7th, 2009 at 7:43 PM
Judy – You’re correct. Rueben was identified (by his band #) as the Tiercel wooing our Linn at Scarborough. When Kathy, Lisa, Linda W and I visited that site after the banding of Rhea Mae and Tiago’s eyases, we had no luck spotting either Linn or Rueben.
Lucy – Yep, Ei’s right. Crows were seen at the Powers Bldg nest box, eating what was left of the Quail.
June 7th, 2009 at 7:59 PM
Kathy O’Connor – I’ll try to answer some of your questions. Yes, Mariah was injured and returned to the wild after her rehab. She has now returned to Rochester (NY). Kaver did not return this year.
Archer and Beauty were (we believe) incubating eggs over on Midtown Plaza, but they seem to have stopped. We believe that the nest site at Midtown has failed for unknown reasons.
A&B are now hanging out around the Times Square Bldg, where one of the nest boxes is located. Mariah is still claiming the Kodak Tower and the gorge near High Falls.
Beauty has been seen on the platform in front of the Times Square nest box. No mating between A&B has been witnessed.
Hope this answers some of your questions. It is very confusing! 🙂
June 7th, 2009 at 9:30 PM
Wild animals sleep a lot when they have nothing else to do. Mariah hunts, feeds herself and sleeps. That is the extent of her duties right now and it looks odd to us. We are accustomed to seeing her very busy with mating, eggs and chicks, then teaching fledglings. We cyber-birders took less note of her over the winter when she was probably doing what she does now, snoozing in the sun after a hunt and a meal.
June 8th, 2009 at 6:28 AM
@Carol, re: “We believe that the nest site at Midtown has failed for unknown reasons.”, will there been an investigation to try to ascertain cause of failure?
Thanks for your time.
June 8th, 2009 at 7:12 AM
@bluhawkk – Good question. I’ll send an email to the DEC to see if that’s something they would consider doing.
June 8th, 2009 at 8:18 AM
Any chance that the nest box will ever be put back on the Kodak Tower (where it belongs!)…?
June 11th, 2009 at 10:11 AM
@Debbe – Can’t answer that one. 🙂