Great news, everyone! The eyases will receive bands this year!

Our friends from the DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) will be coming to Rochester this morning to band Nova and Neander’s three eyases. Banding should happen at approximately 9:30 am. When they are banded, they will be given their chosen names!

You can watch the event on live streaming video, read commentary and view photos on our forum, or follow us on twitter @Rfalconcam and its chattier cousin @RfalconcamNow.

A big thank you to Rochester Falcon Watcher Dana for making these wonderful videos of Nova and Neander’s three hatches and for sharing them with us on her YouTube channel!

At 4:10 pm this afternoon our 3rd eyas broke out of its eggshell. Like the first two, Nova was there to help. Nova handles hatching differently than Beauty did. She will chew on the cracked egg and assist the eyas to break out. This is something we’re not used to seeing, but it’s not harming the eyases. We believe that Nova and Neander are first time parents, so they’re learning.

Once the eyas was free, she immediately tucked it under her. It was a couple hours, before we got a good look at the three eyases as Nova fed them. The first meal wasn’t enough to feed all three, so Nova went out for a larger meal while Neander came into the nest box to comfort the eyases. Nova soon returned with more food and made sure that each eyas was fed.

It’s now 9:30 pm, and Nova is in the nest box covering the eyases and the remaining egg, which we hope will hatch soon.

Every day, the eyases will grow bigger and stronger!

Since it was too dark to see much after Nova and Neander’s 2nd eyas hatched last night at 8:45 pm, we thought we’d share a few captures from our Rfalconcam cameras early this morning.

It looks like there may be a pip on one of the remaining two eggs. Stay tuned!

At approximately 8:45 pm, our second eyas broke free from its egg.

Welcome #2! The last two eggs should hopefully hatch soon.

Neander has been providing food to Nova throughout the day. At this time she will do the majority of the feedings.

We are so very happy to announce the arrival of our first eyas early this morning at 6:03 am. While most of us were sleeping, this little one was fighting to break free under the watchful eye of momma, Nova.

As you can see in the picture above, there is a pip in the egg next Nova. So it shouldn’t be long before the arrival of a second eyas.

We’re still waiting for Neander to get his first look.

Stay tuned for news of new arrivals!

We finally have closure for our loss of Dot.ca.

This morning we received an email from Neal, a Rochester Firefighter. While on a 911 call at the old Rochester Riverside Hotel (it was the Radisson Hotel before that), he and his partner found a deceased Peregrine Falcon.

Our contact at the DEC, Amy Mahar, was notified and she came to Rochester this afternoon. She was able to verify that the deceased falcon was Dot.ca, Black Band/13 over Y. It looked like he collided with the building and died instantly.

Dot.ca was an awesome dad. He loved his eyases and after a rocky start, became a devoted mate to Beauty. He did not abandon her.

Fly Free Dot.ca! We have no doubt that you and Beauty are together again watching the sunset.

Since our new pair arrived, we’ve been calling them UF for Unbanded Falcon (female) and UT for Unbanded Tiercel (male). Well, it’s about time they received their new names.

After a week of intense voting, our Rochester Falcon Fans have chosen their favorite names from a list of names submitted by the Rochester Falcon Watchers. We received 533 votes! Thank you!

UF will now be known as Nova and UT will now be called Neander. These names were chosen by Rochester Falcon Watcher Linda King. Congratulations Linda!

Please join us in welcoming Nova and Neander!

UF entered the nest box, chasing UT out. It was time to lay egg #4!

It didn’t take very long. UF stood with her tail into the corner, making it hard to see her deliver her 4th.

Mostly standing motionless, with just a few little shimmies, her new egg arrived at approx 12:08 pm.

Will there be a 5th? Stay tuned!

Please check out the previous Imprints for instructions on how to vote for UF’s and UT’s new names!

Finally! This is the moment you’ve all been waiting for. It’s time to name UF and UT!

The polls are open! From the many excellent suggestions that we solicited from our local bifocaled, bespectacled, balding, binoculared, and/or big-lensed bipedal bird watchers, we have selected 13 candidate name pairs. And now everyone gets a say on which pair of names will be given to Rochester’s fastest couple!

Voting is easy. Just click/tap on the link below. It will open the ballot form where you’ll start by filling in your name and email address. Then select your favorite pair of names and click/tap the Submit button. Be sure to read the brief description we’ve included with each name. It might help you make your decision. We’ll announce the winning names on Monday, May 2nd.

Use this link to vote:

https://forms.gle/o78dhfN5txdiMz6x6

Voting closes at 11:59 pm EDT on Sunday, May 1, 2022.

Good luck!