Thanks to the generosity of our dedicated falcon followers, we raised over $1800 yesterday, including a $500 bonus earned by carrying out our clever plan to donate en masse between midnight and 2 am in order to increase our chances of winning those 2 hourly drawings.

ROC the Day officials will send us a list of donors sometime next week and a full financial statement in February, at which point we will know who to thank individually. Until then, thank you to everyone who donated. Your contributions will be used to fund Rfalconcam operations and improvements throughout 2014.

ROC the Day is only a a few hours away!

Join us tonight at midnight for the start of ROC the Day. Sadly this year there are no bonuses for the most number of ROCstar donors in a 2-hour time period. But that doesn’t meant there aren’t any bonuses to win. Every hour one lucky ROCstar (that’s you!) will be randomly chosen to give an extra $500 bonus to the non-profit of their choice. We are going to try to get that bonus during the first hour, and here is how we plan to do it.

We are asking all of our falcon watching ROCstars to make a donation just after midnight. This will be at a time when there are very few other people making donations. This should give us a numerical advantage when the first random drawing is made at 1 am. There is a good chance that one of you will be chosen, and then you can elect to have Rfalconcam receive the $500 bonus. Also, if you can stay up until after 1 am to make a 2nd donation, one of you might win the 2nd drawing at 2 am. (Please note that you do not have to stay up for the actual drawings. The ROC the Day folks will notify you by email if you are picked.)

So stay up a few extra hours or set your alarm clock for midnight and then make a donation. It doesn’t have to be a big one. In fact, if you make small donations throughout the day tomorrow, you will be eligible for each hourly drawing where you will have a slim but real chance of winning.

Be sure to stay tuned. You can get the latest news on our ROC the Day plans at our Forum or on our Facebook page. You can also follow us on Twitter.

By the way, the link to donate is http://www.roctheday.org/rfalconcam.

ROC the Day is only 5 days away!

Did you know that every hour one lucky ROCstar (that’s you!) will be randomly chosen to give an extra $500 bonus to the charity of their choice? There are 24 chances to win!

Don’t miss it. Sign up for a reminder at http://www.roctheday.org/ and get the latest news on ROC the Day activities at our Forum.

Let’s ROC the Day together!

The 2014 Rfalconcam Calendars are now available!

The Merchandise Team, with a lot of help from some friends, has completed the 2014 Rfalconcam Calendars. There are two versions this year; one with full page main camera shots and one made up of main camera collages.

What a great way to relive the 2013 Rochester Falcons season with pictures of Beauty, Dot.ca, Pigott (yes, Pigott visited the nest box early in the year), Rosetta, Voyager and Baron and to support the Rfalconcam cameras!

— Be sure to click on this picture to see the full version.

Both Calendars should be showing up in our Holiday & Calendars Category on Zazzle very shortly.

Thanks very much for your continued support!

Here are the two links to the new calendars on our Zazzle page.

Link For the Main Camera Full page picture calendar.

Link For the Main Camera Collage Calendar:

Spring is almost upon us and I would like to wish you all an enjoyable peregrine breeding season. In the past few years funding and personnel cuts have been made at the DEC, due to budget cuts. Hence, the DEC will not have as much time in the future to find injured and dead falcons as they have in the past.

GVAS volunteers are only allowed to search, rescue and recover injured or dead peregrines only on the ground. We then work with the DEC to get the peregrine to a veterinarian or rehabilitator. We will have to give them all the time they need to get the task completed.

Please remember we will do our best to take care of situations when they arise but, these are wild animals that naturally have conflicts with territorial intruders. Sometimes these conflicts end in injury or death. Please try to remain calm during these times or remove yourself from the situation for the day. Emotional responses from a few people make these events even more unpleasant for the rest of us. Let us observe and help each other learn the life cycle and behavior of peregrine falcons.

Thank you.

June Summers, President, Genesee Valley Audubon Society

May all our wandering falcons return safely to their mates. May there be no arguments over territories. May many small eyases fill all the nest sites. May all the fledglings be successful. May all those that watch the falcons have a prosperous 2013!

Thank you for your continued support.

The Rfalconcam family wishes you and your families a very Happy New Year!

Join us tonight at 10 PM ET on streaming video Channels 1 and 2 to watch the fireworks over downtown Rochester from a bird’s eye view!

We’ll be meeting again later at the Forum Chat & Ustream Social Stream to ring in the New Year together!

And let’s not forget the Watcher’s Toast New Year’s Day at 1 PM!

Look forward to seeing everyone there!

The merchandise Team has been working really hard to be able to offer new items in time for the holiday season.

There are many new items in our “Beauty Years” and “Rfalconcam Logo” collections.

We have also added a new category called the “B. Weaver Orion Collection”. Barb has very kindly given us permission to use her water color image of Orion. You might even see a small, familiar yellowish rock nearby. Thank you Barb!

Lastly, we are offering a very unique and beautiful candy jar which includes Barb’s image of Orion and our other contributing artist, Dale Pesmen’s image of an eyas & a blue jay feather, along with the Rfalconcam logo. Both Dale and Barb have allowed us to use these pictures and we thank them both. It can currently be seen under the “B. Weaver Orion Collection”.

Did you know that if you would like a specific design on a different style shirt or a different color than being shown, all you have to do is click on “See all Styles” under the “Color & Style Options”? There are many to choose from. Check it out!

Just click on this link to check out the RFalconcam Zazzle Store for these new items, offered just in time for the holidays and thank you for supporting the Rochester Falconcam!

http://www.zazzle.com/rfalconcam/gifts

The Rochester Falconcam Merchandise Team has been working really hard to bring you new items in time for the holiday season. We have items with Beauty, Dot.ca, Orion, Pigott, Archer, Unity and Mariah & Kaver!

Be sure to check out the collection of 2012 Christmas Ornaments!

More items will be available soon. So keep checking!

Thank you for supporting the Rochester Falconcam!

Just click on this link to see what’s new at the RFalconcam Store!

http://www.zazzle.com/rfalconcam/gifts

ROC the Day returns this year on 12/12/12. After such great success last year (thanks to our generous supporters!) Rfalconcam will be participating once again. We’ll be sure to keep you posted as more information become available.

Let’s ROC the Day together!