More good news! Beauty, the peregrine falcon nesting with her mate Dot.ca in a nest box on top of the Times Square Bldg, downtown Rochester, NY, has laid her 2nd egg at approximately 7:40 pm this evening.

Over the next few days, Beauty may lay more eggs. Be sure to check out Rfalconcam cameras at:

http://rfalconcam.com/rfc-main/cameras.php

We Here at Rfalconcam Are Very Happy to Announce that Beauty Has Laid An Egg!

At approximately 2:19 pm, some very excited Rfalconcam camera watchers reported that she laid an egg. She had been spending most of her time at or near the nest box the last couple days, so there were many Rfalconcam fans watching, anticipating the arrival of an egg.

Stay Tuned and keep watching!

Thanks to Rochester Falcon Watcher Joyce Miller, we have this wonderful news to share with everyone. Diamante has been positively ID’d and is the current tiercel (male) at the Central Terminal in Buffalo, NY! Here are a couple pics that Joyce took while visiting this nest site on Thursday, October 25th.

There will be more current pictures of Diamante shared as soon as we receive them.

Diamante’s band is 21/R black/green. He was named by Ms. Dawson’s Class, School 28, in Rochester, NY.

This year (2012), there was a change at Central Terminal in Buffalo, NY. Stash and Stella were gone and there was a new pair in town. The Buffalo and Rochester Falcon Watchers teamed up to attempt to get ID’s on this new pair. The female was ID’d fairly quickly. She is Gleig, hatched in 2009 at the Hamilton Sheraton Hotel nest site. The male continued to elude identification by the Watchers, until now!

We are very happy to announce that the new tiercel (male) at Central Terminal in Buffalo, NY this year is none other than our very own Diamante from 2008. He is the son of Mariah and Kaver and brother of Quest, Linn & Rhea Mae. He hatched the same year as Quest. Here are some pictures of a very young Diamante and his brothers & sisters.

Diamante and Susan B were the last to hatch in 2008, but they very quickly caught up with their siblings Quest, Seneca, & Zephyr. Here are a couple of pics from 2008. The first one is Diamante peaking through the tree branches on the gorge wall. The second picture is of Diamante and Quest in a game of talon tag above the Genesee River.

In 2012, two young females hatched on at the nest box at Central Terminal, Alfreda & Wagner. The Mariah & Kaver Legacy continues!

and you are NEVER going to guess who it is!

DIAMANTE!

More information and pictures coming very soon!

So much happened this year, some good, and some bad. But, in the end we all cheered as a very small eyas broke out of his egg under his dad in the nest box on top of the Times Square Bldg. After all the sadness of this year, this young falcon made his way into our hearts.

At his banding day, our friends at the NYS DEC determined that this young, feisty falcon was a male and he was given the name Orion, suggested and chosen by the members of the Rochester Falcon Forum.

His parents, Beauty and Dot.ca, after finally settling their differences, got down to the business of caring for their young son, who wanted for nothing. Both of them would bring in food and feed him. His crop was always full and he grew up to be a very handsome young falcon.

Orion was very entertaining and gained many fans from around the world. His antics in the nest box were amusing and he formed a strange bond with a rock named Orville, who “fledged” just after Orion did.

Orion fledged on August 2nd. The GVAS/Rochester Falcon Fledge Watch was in full swing and many Watchers were there to witness his first flight. From the beginning he was a superb flyer. There were a few rough landings and a couple of bounces off of buildings. But, he learned quickly from his mistakes and was soon chasing his parents around the skies of downtown Rochester, much to the delight of his Watchers. The Rochester Falcon Forum members were buzzing, sharing pictures and reports of his exploits. He was a late hatch, so many folks from other falcon nest locations joined us once their own young left. Then one day he was gone.

Saturday morning, September 8th, was the last time we saw him. Watchers on the Broad St Bridge were thrilled to have both Beauty and Orion on the front of the Rochester Library. Beauty had hunted successfully and was enjoying her early morning meal. Orion waited patiently a few feet to her right. After she ate her full, she brought the remainder over to Orion. Beauty returned to the corner of the library to keep guard over her young son while he ate. Beauty took off and flew to the nest box. Eventually Orion followed her. He grabbed the remainder of the food and flew towards the Times Square Bldg. He landed on a lower, nearby building and left the remains of his meal on that roof before taking off again. That is the last time there was a confirmed sighting of Orion by any of the Rochester Watchers.

The folks who had been watching Orion daily since he fledged were not concerned. Before he left, he had been seen successfully hunting and honing his skills with his parents. He was flying incredibly well. It was his time to leave us, to go on his life journey to become an adult Peregrine Falcon, to find a mate and raise young of his own. We wish him fair winds on his travels. Stay safe Orion. We hope to see you again.

This year started with sadness & turmoil, but it had a very happy ending. His name is Orion!

Over the past few weeks, the Rochester Falcon Watchers have been very busy. They have been out on the streets surrounding the Times Square Bldg, where the Rochester Falcon nest box is located, from dawn to dusk and past. Early morning on Thursday, August 2nd, Orion spread his wings and flapped & flapped & flapped and he was off! It was a short flight across the front of the building to the ledge on the south side, but, it was a great accomplishment for this young Peregrine. His next flight thrilled the Watchers below. He again took off from the building heading south over the Gannett Bldg, turned back and flew past the front of the building heading north. He made another incredible turn and headed back to the Times Square Building, this time gaining altitude! Orion made a very solid landing on the ledge above the nest box. The Watchers were ecstatic to see him do so well on his first flights. Ever since that day, he has been unstoppable.

To date, he has been seen on most of the downtown buildings, including the Kodak Office Bldg that used to be home to Mariah and Kaver and their 43 young. The Frontier Communication Tower seems to be a favorite spot. The first time he made it there, he was following Beauty. He landed on the steel framework above her and just stood there for a moment. Then, he started to hop, flap and run his way around the different levels of the tower, claiming it as his very own jungle gym. The Watchers watched in amusement as he “played” above them.

Orion has done very well since his first flight. His parents Beauty & Dot.ca have been substitutes for the siblings he does not have. They have been witnessed flying together, stooping, talon tagging, chasing and it has been reported that Orion and Beauty have successfully performed food exchanges. This is a maneuver between two Peregrines, where one brings in food clutched in their talons and the 2nd Peregrine flies up to them, flips over and grabs the food. Orion has been seen flying up to meet Beauty above the Genesee River. Beauty was clutching prey in her talons and Orion flew up beneath her, flipped upside down and grabbed the food from her.

Even though the Fledge Watch has ended, the Falcon Watchers will continue to watch Orion, knowing that he will be learning much from his parents over the next month. Beauty and Dot.ca will continue to care for him, teaching him the skills he will need to survive when he goes out on his own. Our hope is that one day we will hear that Orion has been seen with a family of his own. We hope that for all our Rochester Falcons.

GVAS (Genesee Valley Audubon) and the Rochester Falconcam folks would like to thank ALL the volunteers that helped out with this year’s fledge watch. This includes not only those that live here in Rochester, but all of those from around the country that attended the 2012 Falcon Watch Weekend including the Buffalo Falcon Watch Team. Your help with the fledge watch was very much appreciated. THANK YOU!

We sent this current picture of Beauty’s foot to Barbara Louck’s of the NYS DEC. It did seem that the injury was looking much better, but we wanted the opinion of an expert.

We received this most welcome message back from Barbara.

Dr. Becker agrees : much improved! … that confirms that it was inflammation or infection.

As we wait for Orion to fledge, this is very good news indeed!

2012 Falcon Watch Weekend – August 4th & 5th 2012

Every year that we’ve had young falcons here in Rochester, we’ve had a Falcon Watch Weekend. It usually takes place in the beginning of July, but this year is different. Due to all the turmoil this year, we had a very late hatch.

We chose August 4th and 5th for this year’s gathering. In the past, falcon fans from all over the world have attended the Falcon Watch Weekend. We hope this year will be no different.

So, if you’re free that weekend and you would like to meet other Rochester Falcon Fans, please join us! There will be more up-to-date information on the RFalconcam Forum under “Events”. If you haven’t already joined the forum, please consider doing so. But, you don’t have to join to read the information.

Hope to see you all there!

The final results of the voting are in!

The top female names are Faith and Nyla, each with 19 votes.
Unfortunately, neither will be used for our male eyas.

The top male name is Orion with 36 votes.

The top gender-neutral name is Solstice with 30 votes.

Since the male name, Orion, received the most votes, it will be the name
given to the eyas.

Orion is the constellation of “The Hunter” who watches over Rochester’s
winter skies and is one of the most recognizable constellations.

The name was submitted by Kristen Weick.

Congratulations Kristen! Orion is a wonderful name for our eyas!

It’s a boy!

This morning, July 13, 2012, Beauty and Dot.ca’s eyas, a young Peregrine Falcon, was removed for banding. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation biologist removed the young bird for a short time while certain measurements were made. The leg measurement indicated this eyas is a male. His health inspection showed a clear mouth, eyes and throat. Numbered metal bands were placed on both legs so the bird can be recognized and tracked in the future.

Banding has allowed us to track a number of the falcons that were raised in the Rochester (NY) nest boxes. Rhea Mae (2006), Linn (2007) & Quest (2008) were all hatched in Rochester and are now nesting in and around Toronto, Canada. Zeus, released here in 1994, 18 years ago, is still in Omaha, NE, where he and his mate raised young this year.

A poll has been started on the Rochester Falconcam Forum to choose a name for the eyas. We hope that we will be able to track this eyas by his band numbers in the future.

Many thanks to the management of the Time-Square Building for supporting the rfalconcam.com and for helping to making this banding possible today.

*Update*

Additional Banding Information:
Band colors on left leg: Black 25 Over Green R
USFW Band on right leg: 220642306