As many of our readers may recall, a pair of Peregrine falcons became frequent guests at Seneca Towers last year. One was a banded female from Luzerne County, PA. The other was an unbanded male. Two naming contests were held, and the winning names were Luzerne and Veteran.

Sadly, Luzerne was found dead in July, but another female, Billie (formerly Billy) from Buffalo, was spotted with Veteran in August. The two remained together until September when Veteran disappeared, presumably migrating south for the winter. A 2nd tiercel was soon spotted with Billie. He was banded and still wore yellow tape on his USF&WS band indicating that he was fairly young. His other leg sported a black over green band with 99/BA printed on it. A bit of investigating uncovered his banding records, which showed that he was not given a name at that time.

Of course, not having a name didn’t stop our watchers from calling him something other than “banded tiercel with yellow tape on one leg and black over green on the other” (the 99/BA part wasn’t determined until later). He was temporarily referred to as Mr. Yellow Tape, but given that the tape could fall off at any moment rendering this name obsolete, another name was needed. We could have chosen to hold another naming contest, but that would have been a lot of effort for a falcon that may have just been passing through on migration. Another option was to call him Seth, the runner-up in the contest that named Veteran, but we did not want to “use up” that name on a visitor that could be leaving in a few days. So instead, he came to be known as 99, a good temporary name for a migrating falcon that surely would be leaving soon, or at least in early spring when Veteran returned.

Well, 99 didn’t leave. He stayed all winter and is now Billie’s mate, which raises the question of what to call him. Do we stick with 99, or should we change his name to Seth? Or should we run another naming contest? We decided to ask the falcon watching community for their opinion.

We created a poll on the Rfalconcam Forum and asked members to  choose one of the following:

• Keep the name 99
• Change his name to Seth
• Allow name submissions (start another naming contest)

The poll ran for two weeks, and today we are pleased to announce that the community has decided to change 99’s name to Seth.

Rfalconcam Forum Poll Results

Keep the name 99 38.9% Change his name to Seth 58.3% Allow name submissions 2.8%

By the way, the name Seth was originally submitted in honor of Seth Green, the namesake for the road that Seneca Towers is located on, and the nearby park. Seth was a well known fisherman in the Rochester area and instrumental in the fish hatching industry.

This afternoon at approximately 6:16 pm, Beauty laid her 4th egg in the nest box on top of the Times Square Bldg in Rochester, NY.

Here are a couple of images of the moment captured by our main camera.

Beauty laid her third egg today. It happened at approximately 9:19 am EDT, a few hours later than her fans’ predictions but well within the normal range .

Both Beauty and Dot.ca have been on the eggs most of the day. This could signal the start of “hard” incubation. If that’s the case, then we should be able to expect one more egg, for a total of four. Since Beauty’s eggs have come at a more-or-less typical peregrine pace, if she does lay another egg we should see it in the next 2 to 3 days.

We are happy to announce the arrival of Beauty and Dot.ca’s 2nd egg, which arrived at 10:47 pm!

At approximately 2:46 pm this afternoon, Beauty laid her first egg of 2015 in the nest box on top of the Times Square Bldg. in Rochester, NY.

Peregrines usually lay their eggs 48 to 72 hours apart, so sometime on Sunday or Monday we should see egg #2.

Last year Beauty laid a total of four eggs. We’re expecting about the same number this year, but who knows. There could be five! Dot.ca has proven himself to be an apt provider for his family so we have no doubt that if we get a clutch of 5 eyases, (falcon hatchlings), they’ll be well fed and taken care of.

So, if you want to keep an eye out for the next egg, here are some signs that Beauty may be getting ready to lay the next one. She’ll spend a lot of time in the nest box, sitting over the bowl-like scrape that she and Dot.ca have dug into the gravel. She may look tired and disheveled, and have a heavy, gravid appearance. She can be in that condition for as little as a couple of hours before laying, to as much as a day. Then, when she’s actually delivering the egg, she’ll be restless, changing her position frequently.

The actual moment at which the egg is deposited can be hard to spot, but thanks to our live video streams you should have an unparalleled opportunity to share in the excitement. And of course, we’ll keep our eyes open too, and announce the happy news as soon as it happens!

The Rfalconcam 2015 calendar is now available and ready for sale at our Zazzle store just in time for the holidays! There were some stunning images captured by our main camera this year. So many to choose from.

Many thanks to this year’s contributors; Annette, Ginny, Pat, Donna, Teresa, Kris, Ei (Dumpsterkitty), Kathy, Lisa, Dana and Carol.

Please consider purchasing one for yourself to help support the Rochester Falconcam.

Link for New Calendar:

http://www.zazzle.com/2015_calendar_main_cam_collages-158789746649432508

Special thanks to Merchandise Team Member Dana for putting this calendar together. All your hard work is much appreciated!

If you’ve been following the RFalconcam Falcon Watch Blog, you know that all four of the young falcons that hatched on top of the Times Square Building have fledged successfully. Nor’Easter, Tesh, Mercury and Nettie have left the area. We wish them well as they begin their journey and we hope to hear about them in the future.

We would like to thank all the folks that came out to help with the fledge watch this year. To keep an eye on the young Peregrine Falcons as they took their first flights and trained with their parents, Beauty and Dot.ca.

There were a few anxious moments, including a premature fledge when a strong gust of wind swept Tesh off of the wall near the nest box. She ended up on a low awning above the sidewalk on the corner of Main St and Exchange. The Rochester Falcon Watchers gathered to surround the area and keep her safe until she was strong enough to fly again. When she did take off, she gained altitude and landed on top of a taller building where she remained for the evening. The next morning Tesh was off and flying well, eventually making her way back to the nest box and her family.

We had more good news, this time from Syracuse, NY. Pigott, who had been hanging out for the last few years on a building south of downtown Rochester, was positively ID’d as the new female at the Syracuse nest site. She left Rochester in March and it didn’t take her long to find a new territory and mate. We were thrilled to hear that she successfully raised a daughter.

2014 was a very successful year for the Rochester Falcons!

The following is from June Summers.

Thank you to the Falcon Watchers for putting in thousands of hours tracking the Peregrine Falcons, fledglings and those falcons just passing through. It’s amazing to learn the number of falcons that pass through Rochester on migration that our Falcon Watchers find and often identify by the band numbers. The Falcon Watchers are great ambassadors to the public for the falcons and GVAS. They are frequently asked what they are watching with binoculars. Their reply is always, “Peregrine Falcons.”

June Summers
President

Today at 10 a.m., the NYSDEC (New York State Department of Environmental Conservation) came into Rochester to band the four eyases in the nest box at the top of the Times Square Bldg. They all received two bands each, the USFWS band and the NY band. Colored tape was placed over the silver USFWS band to make it easier for the Rochester Falcon Watchers to keep track of the young falcons when they fledge, taking their first flights.

First banded was a male named Mercury. Mercury was the Roman god of commerce and was carried by the north wind as messenger of the gods. He is depicted on a Rochester landmark, the statue atop the Aqueduct Building, upon which our falcons love to watch, eat and mate. Submitted by Erin Aumick of Caledonia, NY; Linda Barker or Watervliet, NY; and Patricia Cary of Rochester, NY.

Second banded was a female given the name Nettie. In honor of our friends at Netsville for providing five years of free internet access for Rfalconcam’s cameras at the Times Square Building in Rochester, NY.

The third, a male eyas, was named Nor’easter. Nor’easter is a powerful storm that affects the East Coast of the United States and Atlantic Canada. It is named Nor’easter because the storm travels to the Northeast while the winds come from the Northeast of the coastal areas of the United States and the Atlantic Canada. Nor’easter causes flooding and erosion of the coastal areas, hurricane winds and heavy snow. Submitted by Dana Mulhern.

The last and forth eyas banded was a female. She was given the name Tesh. In honor of Qetesh, a peregrine falcon and the first feathered member of the educational team of our friends at the Canadian Peregrine Foundation. She came to CPF in March of 1999 and has since passed away. The Canadian Peregrine Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting the recovery of the Peregrine Falcon and other raptors at risk. Submitted by Kathy Olney.

The eyases were quickly returned to the nest box. For awhile, the eyases did not move or make a sound. One, Tesh, was lying on her back. Finally, about 30 minutes later, Beauty (the mom) returned to the nest box and all was well. The eyases all moved towards her, including Tesh!

Here are a few more pictures from the 2014 Rochester Falcons Banding Day.

It’s time to vote for your favorite names for one of Beauty and Dot.ca’s Eyases!

The polls are open! We received 60 terrific name suggestions. The Rfalconcam’s Naming Committee evaluated all submissions and pared them down to 7 names in each of the three categories: male, female, and gender-neutral. (The committee had planned to narrow them down to 5 in each category, but there were just too many great suggestions!) Thank you to everyone who submitted names.

Three polls have been created for members of the Rfalconcam Forum to vote for their favorite in each category. One of the four eyases will be given the winning name from either the appropriate gender-specific poll or the gender-neutral poll, depending on which winning name receives the most votes.

You must be a member of the forum to be able to vote for a name. Join the forum now if you’d like to participate! Use this link to register:

http://rfalconcam.com/forum/index.php?action=register

A questionnaire will be sent to the email address you supply during registration. You must reply to this email in order to have your membership approved.

If you are already a Forum member but don’t remember your password, use this link to reset it:

http://rfalconcam.com/forum/index.php?action=reminder

Once you have logged in  to the Forum, use these links to vote:

Male Names: http://rfalconcam.com/forum/index.php?topic=12962.0

Female Names: http://rfalconcam.com/forum/index.php?topic=12963.0

Gender-Neutral Names: http://rfalconcam.com/forum/index.php?topic=12964.0

The polls close at 10 am (EDT) on Monday, June 9, 2014.

Genesee Valley Audubon Society invites the public to connect with the Peregrine Falcons and other wildlife downtown through an extraordinary experience.  We are asking for volunteers to help watch the young Peregrine Falcons and help keep them safe when they start learning to fly.  Their nest box is on top of the Time Square Building, which is a long leap for a young bird to take. Volunteers are needed to keep these young birds out of harm’s way should they come to the ground.

The public is invited to a meeting scheduled for June 14, 2014 at 10:00 am in the Rundell Auditorium on the third floor of the Rochester Rundell Library (the original library on the southwest corner of South Ave. and Broad St.).  At this meeting we will explain the responsibilities and commitments of a fledge watcher as well as give instructions on the finer points of falcon watching and on how to interact with the general public.

This will be a fun and informative experience, so please consider attending. Come early and join us on the patio located on the Broad St. side of the library to view the young falcons still confined to the relative safety of their nest box platform. We will be there at 9:30 am.

For more information, call (585) 865-6047.