Monday Evening Falcon Watch – No Egg for Beauty Yet & UT Returns – 4/15/13
By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.
After rushing downtown last night, along with many other Rochester Falcon Watchers, I didn’t know what to expect this evening. Viewers of the live streaming video were surprised by the appearance of an unbanded tiercel in the nest box last night. I was one of those people watching. Needless to say I and other watchers made there way downtown to see what was going on. We were in for an evening of a lot of flying by this very speedy tiercel. He put on quite the display for Beauty. Dot.ca was seen with Pigott out at the BS location, but he never came downtown. So it looks like UT, the unbanded tiercel that was with Beauty before Dot.ca’s return from migration was back. Or was he ever gone? When Dot.ca returned, there were no witnessed battles between him and UT. UT was just gone. Now he’s back.
The Rochester Watchers that answered the call of an unbanded tiercel in the nest box were Dan, MAK, Joyce, Kathy O, Lisa McK, Dana, Lou and myself. Thanks everyone!
Today I arrived downtown at around 6 pm. I could not find any falcons at first. But, finally from the BSB, I spotted a peregrine on the jail communication tower. I was pretty sure it was Beauty. When Joyce and Brian arrived, they went over for a closer look and verified that it was her.
Oh, and a big thank you to Kathy O, NCAFalcon and Ei for letting me know that Beauty was not in the nest box. 🙂
Joyce and Brian left after being out all day and I remained on the Broad St Bridge (BSB) with the full sun in my eyes as it lowered.
At 7:05 pm, Beauty took off and headed north towards the Times Square Bldg (TSB). She flew past it and then landed on the north end of the Cross Rds Bldg, but not for long. She was off again, making wide, graceful looping circles just north of the TSB. I drove closer to the building and found Beauty on the ledge directly above the nest box. In fact, camera watchers would be able to see her on Camera #4.
Kathy O and Joyce reported from the BS location that they could hear chupping from the cubby area, but could not see any falcons.
At 7:15 pm, a tiercel flew in and landed on the northeast wing ledge on top of the TSB. Beauty took off and entered the nest box. Joyce texted that they had seen Dot.ca take off from the BS location and head towards downtown. So, this was probably Dot.ca, but at the time, we couldn’t be sure.
Lisa McK joined me just as the tiercel flew in. At 7:25 pm, I texted that all was quiet and that we were ending our watch. But, Kathy O joined us and both the tiercel and Beauty became quite active, so we decided to stay a little longer.
The tiercel took off and landed on the same ledge above the nest box that Beauty had been on. Again, camera viewers would have been able to see him on Camera #4. At that time, there was no way of knowing if it was Dot.ca or UT (unbanded tiercel).
By 8:00 pm, it was getting dark and two ducks (mallards) flew from the direction of the river towards the TSB. When they got too close, the tiercel launched himself from the ledge and the chase was on. We watched him chase the two ducks east, back towards the river. He flew back towards the TSB and veered to the south, flying over the Blue Cross Arena (aka War Memorial). We thought maybe this was Dot.ca and he was going to return to the BS location.
We were wrong. He went on a hunt and within 10 minutes, the tiercel returned clutching small prey. He flew up to the nest box and gave the small offering to Beauty who took it and flew out of the nest box. She landed on the base of Mercury to enjoy her evening meal. The tiercel flew into the nest box and finally we received word from RFalconcam Forum member Ei that it was Dot.ca.
Dot.ca flew out of the nest box and landed on the Mercury statue’s money bag hand. He watched Beauty eating below him, watching over her. After awhile, Beauty took what remained of her meal and flew southwest with it. We did not see where she went. Dot.ca remained on the Mercury statue.
It was dark by this time, so it was time for us to end our evening falcon watch. All was peaceful. When I arrived home, Beauty had returned to the nest box.
We’ll definitely be keeping an eye on things and reporting what we see! Goodnight everyone!
April 16th, 2013 at 7:24 AM
Beauty was in the nest box this morning at 7:10, getting my hopes up.
I would like Beauty to make a decision and send Dot.ca back to BS to live happily ever after with Pigott, while she keeps UT with her at the nest box. But things being how they are in the falcon world, Dot.ca is the bigger of the tiercels and not especially deferential to females, so my wish will not be fulfilled, much to the detriment of reproduction rates.
April 16th, 2013 at 1:46 PM
Wondering what Beauty’s egg situation may be, what with mating with two different tiercels. I remember reading that the latest mating produces the egg — is that correct?
April 16th, 2013 at 2:50 PM
Not necessarily. The falcon can save and release sperm as she feels ready to produce an egg. This means to me that the egg we just saw may or may not be from the diligent Dot.ca. But, you know, it really does not matter. The falcon pair will take the same amount of care for every eyas hatched.
April 16th, 2013 at 5:39 PM
At 2:19 pm Beauty laid her first egg!
April 24th, 2013 at 1:52 PM
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