If you’ve been keeping an eye on the Rochester Falconcam’s cameras, the FalconWatch blog or our recently enhanced Forums (all easily available thanks to our new and improved menu bar at the top of the page), you’d know that while Beauty has been spotted throughout the winter, we’d had no sign of Archer. A few weeks ago Beauty was seen at the nest box in the company of another male, but he left the area after only a short stay, and the best guess from our volunteer watchers is that the tiercel was probably one half of a pair that was just passing through town.

Truth be told, we were all starting to wonder how 2010 was going to shake out. It’s getting pretty late, and in years gone by we’d have expected courtship and even mating activity to be well under way. So I’m sure you’ll be able to appreciate the excitement we’re all feeling here at the Rochester Falconcam to see that on this inuaugural day of Spring, Archer has returned home!

The picture at the top of the page was captured by our super high-resolution Main Camera, another brand new feature that we’re happy to bring you. That’s Beauty in the middle, bowing. And on the left is Archer, his 25/V ID band clearly visible.

His return is fantastic news! We’re hopeful that this year will prove to be more bountiful than Beauty and Archer’s rookie season in 2009. Of course nothing is certain (Specto Subitus, as we like to say), but seeing Rochester’s resident Peregrines back together is a wonderful way to welcome Spring back to Western New York!

We have watchers on the ground today so keep your eyes on the FalconWatch Blog for all the latest updates.

Beauty’s been spotted around the downtown area all winter, but today is the first time this year that we’ve seen her on the Rochester Falconcam’s cameras. As expected, our new Main Camera got a great picture of her. This is about the time of year we’d expect to see the falcons begin to make their return to the nest box, so everything seems to be on track. Or does it?

Beauty had a friend with her today. Here’s a shot of him at the left, next to the Main Cam, munching on some prey. Beauty is looking on from the perch of the nest box on the right.

Looks like Archer right? Only, it’s not. This guy doesn’t have any leg bands! In this picture you can see his left leg, and there’s clearly no band. Archer had bands on both legs, so this can’t be him.

Beauty seemed comfortable with this newcomer. Our Falconcam Archive Viewer (new for 2010!) shows her waiting patiently while the tiercel devoured his brunch. They both left the nest box shortly afterward. So, as the 2010 Falconcam season gets under way, we may have a new drama brewing here in Rochester. Where’s Archer? Is he just late returning home, or is this new tiercel going to be Beauty’s new mate? We usually get a healthy dose of drama at the Rochester Falconcam, and it looks like 2010 is not going to disappoint in that department!

If you’ve been following us all year you remember that first Mariah and Archer, then Beauty and Archer, appeared to be making a nest site on the north side of the Midtown Plaza tower.  All of the human tenants are out of the tower and a large-scale asbestos removal project is under way now.

After the territory battle that displaced Mariah it appeared to our volunteer watchers that Archer and Beauty had settled into this location to start a nest.  Then, after a few weeks they abandoned the site and moved to the prepared nest box at the Times Square building.  We never went up to the presumed nest site at the Midtown Plaza tower because we didn’t want to stress the new pair if they were nesting, and because the building had been largely shut down.

Recently, Rochester Falconcam members Carol Phillips and Susan Conway were able to secure access to the ledge site one day before the asbestos abatement work got going.  Carol took some pictures of the ledge (view her KodakGallery album) and reported on what they found.

We were able to get up to the same floor as the failed nest site.  There were no windows from inside to view the gutter, so we walked out onto the top of the lower section of the building.  The same level as the nest site gutter.  We were able to view the gutter from the NE corner of the building looking south.  The gutter is too narrow to walk out onto.

There is no drainage from this gutter.  In fact, there are pipes that are pointed down into this gutter to drain water from the tower above.  During our torrential rain storms, this gutter would have filled with water.  In my opinion, this nest would never have never [been] successful.

The gutter itself is about 12-15 inches wide and 7-8 inches deep.

Susan and I looked for evidence of broken eggs or anything else from a Peregrine nest, but couldn’t find anything.

So, it looks like Archer and Beauty may never have laid eggs at Midtown.  If they did, the nest apparently failed and any trace of it has since been washed away.  The site doesn’t look ideal for a nest in any case, since as Carol noted there’s not much drainage, and in fact the gutter might have collected rainwater from other parts of the building.

It’s not unusual for the nest of a new Peregrine pair to fail.  We’ve also seen many cases in which Peregrines have made poor choices for nest sites.  We’re glad that Archer and Beauty availed themselves of the artificial nest box at Times Square.  It will provide an excellent nest, protected from too much wind, rain and sun.  We’re hopeful that next year we’ll see them lay their first clutch of eggs in Rochester.