Buffalo Falcons 2009

[huddiecat]

Hey Joyce,

What's going on with the Buffalo Falcons?  Have you had any time to check them out lately?? 

Suzanne

[Joyce]

Suzanne - I haven't had the time to check them out, but I should try to check them out. According to Buffalo watcher Sage, she spotted the UB peregrines (Smoky and BB) yesterday.  She posted a photo of BB at http://pefas.blogspot.com/

I don't have any status updates on the falcons at the Statler, or the Central Terminal.  If Birdmusic takes a trip into downtown Buffalo, maybe she can let us know.

Joyce

[jeanne]

Buffalo audubon is looking into getting cameras but I am not sure what nestbox/site

[Donna]

Buffalo audubon is looking into getting cameras but I am not sure what nestbox/site

Yay...what's one more cam   sweet

[birdmusic]

I don't have any status updates on the falcons at the Statler, or the Central Terminal.  If Birdmusic takes a trip into downtown Buffalo, maybe she can let us know.

Joyce

Sorry, I very rarely go into downtown Buffalo.  I'm actually in downtown Rochester more often than Buffalo.  Whatever happened to kimmarie?  She drove near downtown quite often and reported seeing them, but we haven't heard from her in a long time.

I did drive by UB yesterday, but didn't see anyone flying.

[huddiecat]

Thanks for checking on them, Joyce!  I have fond memories of running around in traffic in downtown Buffalo looking for the juvies and adults from the Statler nest site.

 Maybe Don and I will take a road trip to Buffalo this winter, he's a big Sabres fan!
Suzanne

[Joyce]

Buffalo audubon is looking into getting cameras but I am not sure what nestbox/site

That would be the UB Peregrines.  The area around that nest site is conducive to cameras, but not like the ones we have.

[huddiecat]

Joyce, I take it if we go to Buffalo the UB spot is not a "sit down on the bench and watch for the falcons" area like the bridge, etc?
Suzanne

[Joyce]

Joyce, I take it if we go to Buffalo the UB spot is not a "sit down on the bench and watch for the falcons" area like the bridge, etc?
Suzanne

Sorry, no one has installed benches yet.  But, if you have chairs, there are a couple places you can watch from.  The closest view is in the maintenance parking lot.

[imkakkingmad1]

OK, so the title of this thread caught my eye... I could just picture big, brown falcons with horns. (Guess I've been reading too much Native American info lately. And, well - I do love buffalos and falcons).

 

Helen P.

[Donna]

OK, so the title of this thread caught my eye... I could just picture big, brown falcons with horns. (Guess I've been reading too much Native American info lately. And, well - I do love buffalos and falcons).

 

Helen P.

  That was good Helen

[Joyce]

I stopped by the University of Buffalo south campus and then headed to the abandoned Central Terminal on my way to work this morning.  Got skunked again!  No falcon fixes in Buffalo. 

I couldn't find Smoky & BB at UB, and no Stash & Stella at CT (appropriate ethnic names since the old train station is on Paderewski Drive).  However, I did see the newly installed nestbox at the Central Terminal.

The nestbox was installed on Wednesday November 18.  Here is a link to Sage's (aka Vicki) Buffalo Central Terminal Nestbox Installation Album:  http://picasaweb.google.com/Sage836/PeregrinesBuffaloCentralTerminalNestbox#

Latest update from Sage: 
"There was a lot of mating activity this spring from Stash and Stella but she was still young.  She's now in full adult plumage, and yes, both were there...watching the activity!  And circling the tower.  So cool!  Neither bird is banded so it's a mystery.
 
BB and Smoky are staying in town this winter.  Maybe because after they saw their kids off to the corridor they came back to discover intruders had taken over the tower.  That alien female was very large and at the time, BB had become pretty scrawny herself, keeping her four growing kids fed.  Fights ensued, witnessed by the MacKay guys, but she and Smoky regained control of their tower and box.  She has had a chance now to recover her old weight and more, and is much bigger after her summer rest.  The guys at UB love to watch them!  One of the guys said yesterday that they found a mostly devoured Wood Duck (!) under the tower and a lot more ducks!  He also said the lovely Barn Swallows seem to have disappeared but hopefully they just migrated!
 
We had lunch with Connie [Adams, DEC] and others after the nestbox installation yesterday and I told her how BB loves to eat her prey in the nestbox now, to the point that I refer to the box as her "lunchbox"!  She was a bit dismayed as she realized they'd have to climb up and clean the box before nesting time because BB has no housekeeping skills yet!  The box was overpoweringly raunchy when the DEC went up to clean it this summer!
 
The Statler birds haven't been spotted lately but they must be somewhere - I think this pair did stay in town last winter."

[Carol P.]

A Wood Duck!     Oh, oh!  Hope Dana doesn't see this.