Thanks for a great time!  Between the amazing hospitality of the local Watchers, the great city of Rochester, and the falcons, all three of us had a wonderful time.  Fireworks, breakfast, companionship, and falcons -- that's all one really needs.

I've got about a half hour of videotape to process.  That;s going to take a while.  I also have a few still pictures of Beauty and Archer on the Old Changing Scenes restaurant that I can post now.  There is much mention on rfalconcam of the "I-beams" on Changing Scenes.  Our room at the Radisson was a great place to view Changing Scenes, so here are the I-beams, complete with falcons.
 
I also added a shot of the nestbox from our room.  This is what the falcons see as they fly to the box.  After this weekend, I have a much better feel for the world of the Rochester Peregrines.  I hope that my edited videos will help people who were unable to attend to get a similar understanding.

A big, "Thank You" to all the Watchers-- both local out-of-town -- who made this weekend so special.

Paul

Archer is perched comfortably to right of the elevators shaft on the first I-beam from the top.  Mary,Catherine,and I are enjoying cool drinks while watching him from our room at the Radisson.  We just noticed that Beauty is on the same level of OCS, but far over on the left side of the building.

Paul

Carol and Frank,

Unless there has been a recent nest turnover, the female has a black and red band.  I think that it  looks all black in the video because she is lit by greenish light from the river below her.  Because the falcons perch up high on bridge girders, the bands are usually hidden.  The local Fish and Wildlife biologist, Craig Koppie, says that the female is from New York and the male from Pennsylvania.  I've emailed him asking for more precise hatching locations, but I have not heard from him.  My fellow falconwatcher, Ricardo, has a 60 power spotting scope and has been trying to get a good view.

Paul

page won't load for me

Sorry

It's fixed now.
http://www.blip.tv/file/3882300

Thanks for the feedbabk,

Paul

As promised, here is a video from two weeks ago.  These were taken with a heat index of about 100.  Notice how the falcons respond to the exterme heat by holding their wings away from their bodies.  According to my fellow fledgewatcher, all three eyasses successfully fledged.  Since the three never seem to be all together, he figured this out by looking at the field marks in his notebook.  He is kind of the Chilean equivalent of Brian -- a falcon expert without a computer.  

I remember that day well.  After spending the morning on the banks of the Potomac, I came home to spend the afternoon watching the fledges on rfalconcam.  I'm not addicted or anything.

You can view the film in either Flash or Quick Time.  If you have a fast computer and connection, you can watch the Flash version in full screen.  Please let me know how the two versions play for you.

Enjoy,

Paul

Three more out-of-town people.
We will be arriving Friday night and would like to go to the breakfast, wherever and whenever it is.

Paul
Mary
Catherine

We will be at the Radisson.

Paul

All three eyasses at the Cabin John, MD, site have fledged successfully.  We found at least two of them today.  According to my friend's field notes on the facial and tail markings, these were the first to fledge (male) and the second to fledge (female).

Both the male and the female adults continue to guard the nestbox area and use it as a place to feed the juveniles, who are increasingly spending their time at a hunting area to the south.  We have no idea where their hunting area is, but suspect it may be near Chain Bridge, a few miles down the Potomac.

I shot mostly video, but took a few stills. Lots of good flying today, some of which got filmed.

Paul

We had another great weekend on Ocracoke Island.  Unfortunately, I can't show you the most amazing part, which was the night sky -- utterly dark, with stars that were almost painfully bright, and the entire Milky Way meandering like a huge river.  I taught Catherine several new constellations, carrying on a tradition as old as humanity of star lore being passed from parent to child.  From Ocracoke, the sky is as dark and splendid as it was 10,000 years ago.

I also saw something for the first time.  It was a type of mirage called a Fata Morgana, named for Morgan Le Fay, to whom it was attributed.  It is the result of layers of warm and cold air forming a huge distorting lens.  Distant objects, often too far away to normally see, appear to be close, but twisted into strange shapes. 

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Enjoy,

Paul

The place in Syracuse did a good job of getting Mariah back in condition for flying and hunting last year.  She left the transfer box "like her tail was on fire" and arrived back in Rochester within a few days.

http://rfalconcam.com/imprinting/?p=732

Another big "thank you" to everyone who had a role in both rescues!

Paul

I'd hoped it was only a sprain and Jemison would be back in the sky in a week or too.  Alas, it was not to be.

The good news is that the survival rate of injured and rehabilitated juvenile falcons is about the same as that of uninjured ones, according to this paper:
http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/jrr/v031n04/p00347-p00352.pdf

The birds often require falconry training in order to learn to hunt.    However, the parents of one individual remained on terrirory until the fall, making it possible to return the youngster to their care instead.  When did Archer migrate last year?

Paul

Just another awed "thank ypu" to the watchers, vet, Wild Wings, police, Animal Control, and anyone else involved. It shows a uniquely American way of working creatively together that's more moving to me this holiday than the best fireworks, display.

Paul

(picking this out on a handheld on a small, remote island)

... the original falcons from the Kodak Tower were massive.  They stood about 3 feet tall and had a HUGE wing span and their heads went back and forth like a cobra.

Carol and Joyce, this image has been with me all day.  Thanks!

A few years ago, I overheard a couple who seemed to be headed home from one of Rochester's nightspots.  It must have been a good experience, because it was about 8 AM and the sun was high.  The woman pointed to one of the juveniles yelling from atop a nearby building and explained to her companion that, "that's a Parakeet Falcon over there."  I was delighted with the idea of a talking raptor ("Want pigeon!!"), but this one clearly tops it.

Paul

I agree, Dale.  Back at Kodak, the birds had a day or so walking and flapping in the playpen and then it was time to dive off into the abyss.  In contrast, Jemison seemed really well prepared for today's fledge -- she even made a decent landing upon return.  

This morning, as I looked out through Cam 1, I was struck by how the Times Square site is surrounded by large, flat-roofed buildings.  That's much better than a smokestack and some low buildings.  It looked like a very inviting place for a first flight.  Evidently, Jem thought the same.

Paul

While we are all trying to deal with the suspense as the time approaches for the first fledge in Rochester, here is the promised video from last Sunday morning.  One of the juvies had just fledged and the remaining two seemed to be at about the same stage as Jemision and Callidora right now.  This site, like the Rochester one has a lot of opportunities for ledging prior to flight.  As at Rochester, there was a lot of wing flapping and many "hop flights."  This film also shows how the parents always have their offspring in sight.  Maybe by watching it you can anticipate the behavior of Archer, Beauty, Callidora, and Jemison.

This clip shows what it is like in the strange, noisy world beneath the American Legion Bridge near Cabin John, MD.  You can imagine how loud it must be at the nest box, given the sound levels far away where I was filming.  Early tomorrow, I'll make another trek to the Land of the Falcons to see how the fledge is progressing.  The other watcher has been there every day with his swim trunks, ready to make a rescue.

Clicj the word "here" in the first paragraph. This film is in QuickTime.  If you don't like QT, Blip TV also provides a Flash version via the pulldown menu.  If your computer is good with Flash, you can even watch a fullscreen video.

Regards,

Paul

After her morning adventures, Jemison has reverted to full pancake mode:


It's amazing, at this age, how quickly they can turn from falcon to amorphous blob.  The splayed out leg and foot is a particularly nice touch.

Paul