Here's a summary of what happened in 2006. This is what I remember. Isn't looking up Rochester Falcon History fun?
2006 M&K - The Bad Year
2006 started out as a very good year for the Rochester Falcons Mariah & Kaver. Kaver returned on time from his migration. He and Mariah immediately started to renew their bonds. After four very successful seasons with this beautiful pair, all of us were looking forward to another year of watching young eyases grow and fledge and learn to be Peregrines.
Everything was going well. In fact, things were going fantastically. Mariah had laid six eggs! SIX EGGS! WOOHOO! In past years she had laid, at most, five eggs. The Kodak forum was alive with excitement!
As the expected hatch day approached, all eyes were glued to the Kodak Birdcam. Mariah and Kaver shared brooding duties. A couple of the forum members tracked the times that each of them spent on the eggs. Mariah did most of the work, but Kaver so enjoyed sitting on “his” eggs that Mariah and he sometimes would get into “stand-offs”. Mariah would enter the nest box and hover above Kaver, getting closer and closer and Kaver looking everywhere but at Mariah. It was very humorous to all that would watch. Pictures would be posted minute by minute, catching every movement. Most times Kaver would stand, stretch his wings and tentatively step over the eggs he so adored. But every now and then, Mariah would just stand next to him, just touching. They would remain that way for hours, content. Those were the classic stand-offs. Those were the moments we loved to watch.
Hatch day came. Kaver was on the eggs. I was watching intently along with everyone else. I started to sense something was wrong. Where was Mariah? I hadn’t seen her on the eggs for a very long time. That was so unlike her, especially when hatching was so close. Kaver remained on the eggs, looking a little antsy. He kept fidgeting, standing up and checking out the eggs, then sitting back down. To my shock, he stood up again and pulled out a piece of egg shell. No way! Mariah NEVER missed a hatch. Where was she? I was really starting to worry. That was the first time that an eyas had hatched under Kaver and he just looked so lost.
Finally, Mariah showed up in the nest box, but something was very wrong. Kaver left and Mariah attempted to cover the newborn eyas. In those days, we didn’t have streaming video to watch, so it was just static pictures every couple minutes. She seemed to be using her wing for support and you could see that something was wrong with her foot or leg. Something was desperately wrong. I immediately called Kenn Martinez. He was in control of the cameras back then and was able to see the streaming video. He was able to capture some video snippets, showing Mariah’s movements and her curled up foot. They were sent to the DEC and our friends at the Canadian Peregrine Foundation who shared them with Peregrine specialists up in Canada. Everyone was worried.
The eggs continued to hatch. Four young eyases made it into the world under a struggling Mariah and the watchful eye of Kaver. One of them died in front of us as Mariah tried so hard to cover her four young ones. The 5th eyas attempted to hatch, but did not make it and the 6th egg did not hatch at all. Many tears were shed. We had never before witnessed the death of an eyas. As much as we all loved viewing these wild creatures year after year, that year we cried for their loss.
The experts had varying opinions, but it was obvious to all that Mariah had injured her foot somehow. We would never know how. All said she would either heal or she wouldn’t. We all watched hoping that she and her three surviving eyases would be ok.
That year, Kaver became a super dad. He did all the hunting, bringing in food continuously to Mariah and the eyases. Just after Mariah showed up with her injury, I was on the phone with Kenn when Kaver came in with food. Mariah was standing the best she could, leaning on her good foot & wing with the eyases in front of her. She was unable to grab the food from Kaver like she usually would. She couldn’t hold it down and tear off small pieces of meat to feed her fluffy white eyases. Kenn was watching the streaming video. I could only see one picture at a time, refreshing as frequently as I could. All of sudden Kenn went silent and I heard him say “Oh My God…” I said, What! What’s wrong! I feared the worse. He said, “He’s feeding her.” I started to cry. They said this would not happen. Again this incredible pair proved everyone wrong. Kenn was able to save this snippet of film to send to the experts. It showed Kaver biting off small chunks of meat and passing them to Mariah. She would then lower her beak to the eyases, feeding them one by one. Every now and then, she would take one of the morsels for herself. I believe there was one picture captured of Kaver placing a piece into her beak.
Mariah got stronger and stronger. She was finally able to put some weight on her injured foot. Not relying on her wing as much for balance. Just after her injury, I took flight shots of her with her leg dangling below her, not tucked in as usual. Once I watched her fly up to Kaver and grab prey from him with her good foot. She struggled to hang onto it, landing on the catwalk of the High Falls smoke stack. She missed the landing on the railing and fell onto the floor of the catwalk. She pulled herself up and hopped, dragging the prey with her to the edge of the catwalk. She steadied herself and started to pluck feathers. By mid summer, her foot was much better. She was able to hunt on her own, but Kaver still did more than his share of hunting and feeding his eyases.
2006 began with joy, then sorrow, then hope, then joy. That year many folks were privileged to watch this pairs’ struggle to raise their young. That year three young eyases fledged from the nest box on top of the Kodak Tower. Three strong fledglings named Rhea Mae, Aura and Sabrina. The Rochester Watchers gathered on the pedestrian bridge above the Genesee River Gorge, with the beautiful High Falls in the background. They watched three young fledglings learn to be Peregrines under the watchful eyes of their parents, Mariah & Kaver.
I had the honor that year of naming one of them. Her name is Rhea Mae. She and her brother Sabrina aka Valliant now have mates and are raising young of their own. Rhea Mae is nesting on top of the Sheraton Hotel in Toronto with Tiago and Valliant is nesting with his mate on the Ogdensburg Bridge in NY. Of Aura, we have no word. She was the beautiful Golden Aura that year, very light in color in contrast to darker Rhea Mae. We all hope she is doing well.
