A very short visit:

 

Right now:

One, then both:

 

Thank you, Shaky! You're the best!

Great news out of Buffalo- "Note from DEC: " Dixie didn't turn out to be dead after all. The dead bird ended up being a big Cooper's hawk."
So our Dixie is alive!"

 

Wow, MAK! Such incredible news! Best news of the month. I thought the female looked a lot like Dixie, but really didn't dare to hope it would be her.

So happy for her and for Yankee. Sad for the Cooper's hawk.

[King Street]

King Street

I hadn't seen anyone on the ledge for a little while, but found Stormin and Erin bonding the other day:









Stormin left first, and then both were gone.

No bands visible:

After Yankee flew off over the open area, the female stayed. She is still at the nest. I have been watching too, and saved some pics. Will post some a little later.

For what it's worth, the Buffalo cams are back online. I wish this had happened some time ago, so that we could have seen Dixie and Yankee together at the nest. Now, with the tragic loss of Dixie, it is much too late.

It bothers me that for the last two years of her life, Dixie was deprived of raising chicks. In 2015, her chicks were taken from her due to renovations at the heating plant, and this year possible toxins from something used in that construction may perhaps have been the reason that none of her nine eggs hatched. 

No one was at the nest when I checked. This is one of the cam sites which only worked in IE (and just barely). I just tried it in IE and Firefox (version 50.1.0) and it worked in both.



http://www.buffalo.edu/falconcam.html

[Syracuse peregrine falcon pair will be home for Christmas on various buildings]

Just found this article on the Syracuse peregrines, dated today:

Syracuse peregrine falcon pair will be home for Christmas on various buildings

By David Figura

The two adult peregrine falcons that nest in downtown Syracuse will be home for Christmas - but not in their nesting box.

The birds, named George and Pigott by local bird watching enthusiasts, have taken advantage of a nesting box near the top of the State Tower Building at 109 Warren Street for the past four years.

The couple's situation was disturbed this year as Pioneer Cos., the building's new owner, began renovating the top 13 floors of the building into market-rate studio apartments and one- and two-bedroom apartments.

When Pioneer Cos. first announced their multi-million dollar construction plans to convert the top 13 floors into apartments and the bottom floors (1 to 9) into office space, the game plan was to start off working on the upper part of the building, according to Bonnie Parton, a DEC wildlife technician, who is monitoring the peregrines and has overseen banding efforts of their young in the past.

Parton said Pioneer Bros. agreed after being contacted by the DEC to start off on the lower part of the building and to leave the nest box in place during the birds' breeding season (Feb. 1 - July 31) and replacing the nest box as soon as possible following repairs, but no later than Nov. 1.

Melissa Zell, CEO for Pioneer Bros. said the nesting box area is currently inaccessible to the peregrines, because of work being done on the building.

"We're doing some major masonry work on the building, clear down to the steel in some cases," she said.

The peregrines remain in Syracuse throughout the winter, Zell and Parton said, hanging out on several buildings in the downtown area, feeding on pigeons and other birds. They only actually return to the nesting box full-time during the breeding season.

This time of year the peregrines "do some pair bonding rituals," Parton said. "Actually, they're not attached to the nesting box outside of breeding season. But they do keep an eye on it."

Zell said the refurbishment project on the building is experiencing some budgetary problems. She said her company remains committed to providing a nesting box for the peregrines, and would like to replace the one that's currently there - in addition, to adding extra features on the building, such as a grate over the chimney stack at the top of the 21-story building to prevent "the fledglings from falling in."

She said she hopes to contact the local peregrine watching group and others about a fund-raiser or applying for a grant to pay for a new nesting box and the other features that would help the peregrines.

In recent years, cameras have been set up to give interested bird watching enthusiasts and others a view of the nest. However, the camera malfunctioned for part of 2015 and was not operating during 2016.

Susan Wrisley, of Liverpool, of the Syracuse Peregrine Falcons, said she'd willing to help with any fundraising efforts. She said she'd like to see cameras up and operating again on the nesting box.

Members of Wrisley's group are bird lovers from throughout the greater Syracuse area. The group, which maintains a Facebook page, gave the two adults their names and each year monitors the nest and the young birds from the ground, making sure to keep them out of traffic and other hazards as they learn how to fly.

The owners of the State Tower Building have cooperated since 2004 with the state Department of Environmental Conservation by allowing peregrines to nest on the building. Peregrine falcons are currently listed as an endangered species in the state. See the DEC website for more on this.

"The State Tower Building has provided the vast majority of resources needed to make the building a successful and productive peregrine falcon nesting site and has contributed directly and significantly to the recovery of New York's peregrine falcon population," DEC said.

Zell has said the building renovations will include significant interior and exterior work, including the replacement of about 600 of the building's approximately 900 windows.

Opened in 1927 at 109 S. Warren St., the building stands 311 feet tall. The next tallest buildings in the city are the two AXA Towers, which stand 268 feet tall.

http://www.newyorkupstate.com/outdoors/2016/12/syracuse_peregrine_falcon_pair_will_be_home_for_christmas_on_various_buildings.html#incart_river_home

Two fluffy little eaglets:

NE17 has hatched! Welcome to the world, little one!

The little beauty:

Photo from the site.

Lady and Pappa have their very first chick!

And here it is! The confirmation of the first little chick / owlet for Pappa and Lady. Still another egg so fingers crossed that this one will hatch. Lady was on our closest neighbour's roof watching me as I took one step onto the balcony to peer around the tree in the pot. Nothing more than watching which shows that she's comfortable enough with me thus far. Will definitely not take any chances and risk getting hit on the head..again.

High-speed fibre cables are being put into our suburb. When this is complete, it will mean that our tiny area of the world, and in particular our balcony, may be able to stream live videos again. No cam up this year..workers are off now until January..but perhaps we can make a plan before the end of this breeding season.

Contratulations to Lady and Pappa on their brand new little owlet!