I began watching in 2007 I think. A friend referred me to a falconcam in downtown San Francisco, watching a pair named George and Gracie raising their brood at a monitored nest box. This was atop a skyscraper among many in the financial district referred to as "the canyon" because of all the tall buildings lining the streets. I was only watching the cam and not yet part of their forum when one day I saw . . . a man picking up the eyasses one by one in the nest box! I was shocked and frightened. It was at that moment I began searching online for a way to find out what was happening, joined their forum and learned what banding was, and also discovered there were other falconcams around the world.
This led me to the Kodak falcons, Mariah and Kaver. I joined the Rochester forum, and began watching every day. I also don't post often here, but I read every post every day. It's wonderful to feel like part of a community, especially from so far away! I live in the high mountain desert in Reno, which is in a valley at the base of Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada mountains, about 4200' elevation. Watching the Rochester and San Francisco falcons got me excited to get involved, and I did. I traveled the 200 miles to San Francisco that year to their fledge watch party with my sister, and met the falcon watchers there. Also attending was a lady from San Jose, who told us they had a pair of falcons hanging out at their brand new City Hall. We got excited hearing that, and arranged to visit her in San Jose with my other sister as well on the July 4th holiday.
The City of San Jose got involved with the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group and their biologist, Glenn Stewart, who was the man I had seen on the San Francisco cam doing the banding. An agreement was reached, a falconcam installed, and the rest is history. This will be the 9th season for our falcon Clara. She and her third year mate Fernando are already doing their bonding behaviors, and have been regularly mating, so we expect early egg laying again this year. My sisters and I go to San Jose for fledge watch every year. We have made valuable friendships with our fellow watchers there. One sister retired last year and the other is not working at present. I will be retiring this spring, so I plan to have more time for falcon watching!
We have reports of a peregrine in a local city park, and I will be there this weekend trying to locate it. Sorry to mention this to our winter-weary friends in the northeast, but the west coast is suffering from our fourth year of extreme drought, and an extremely mild winter. Today will see a high of 72. But we have no mountain snowpack, our source of water for the coming year. But I digress.
I plan to participate in the great backyard bird count this weekend, and hope to be able to report that peregrine! In my front yard I have an enormous holly bush next to the house, and it is still loaded with red berries. I think I have a robin nest in there. We had an active nest there two years ago. I have birch trees in the front yard, so naturally have a bajillion goldfinches. In the back yard I regularly feed house finches, sparrows and western scrub jays, similar to your blue jay. I also put up suet feeders, so I have downy woodpeckers and northern flickers. And I live within a mile of downtown! Once in a while I will find an American kestrel sitting on a phone pole surveying the neighborhood. Around town I see lots of red tailed hawks, and a few Coopers hawks. At a local park with a small lake we have a family of black crowned night herons.
Hope I haven't expounded too much; probably feeling the need to catch up from not posting! I post on the bay area forum about the happenings in Rochester, and refer people to this forum and falconcam all the time. It's great to feel always welcomed here!
Oh yes, Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow too!
Debbie
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It is a warm, lovely day in Reno. Lots of heartfelt wishes are coming in from friends and family, and friends are taking me to out lunch and dinner too.
(boo), but I can wait til the weekend. 
