After all the great news we’ve received in the past few weeks regarding Mariah’s offspring, we have the unfortunate task to report that Ranger and Hunter’s 2008 clutch of eggs has apparently failed. Mark Nash and Linda Woods latest report (brought to us by Rochester Falconcam team member Carol Phillips) states that the three eggs in their nest have disappeared. Here’s Mark’s report from the Canadian Peregrine Foundation’s Midtown Toronto page:

May 3 – We have sad news to report today, as it appears that the three eggs that Ranger and Hunter were incubating are gone. Linda and I conducted a site visit today at the request of the Four Season Hotel to take a look at the situation to give them an update on the status of the birds given all of the territorial squabbling that has been happening with two adult females that have been observed fighting at this nest site in recent days. The reports have been streaming in that there has been some squabbling with the resident adult female – (named Ranger) and another unidentified female here at the Four Season nest site. We can only speculate that increased stress as a result of these territorial battles between the two females has caused Ranger to destroy her eggs. While this is unusual for this particular pair given the long history that we have on this pair, we have documented this happening over the years at several other nest sites with other territorial nesting pairs with increased stress. Our fingers crossed that Ranger and Hunter will attempt to produce another clutch of eggs, as it is still early in the season for this to happen.

Here’s a recent picture of Ranger taken by Mark Nash. Hatched in 2001, she is the daughter of Mariah and Cabot-Sirocco. It was the last set of offspring before Kaver’s arrival, and Ranger is the only one of the 2001 clutch whose current status is known.

Since 2002 she and her mate Hunter (hatched in 2000, Columbus, Ohio USA) have nested in Toronto, Ontario Canada. Their first nest was on the Canadian Tire building (Yonge and Eglinton Streets), but earlier this year they relocated to a new nest on the Four Seasons Hotel at the corner of Bloor and Yonge Streets in midtown Toronto’s Yorkville district. Late last month CPF observers reported a second female Peregrine in the area and some indications of territorial disputes.

Sadly, Ranger and Hunter have never had a successful nest. Since 2003 Ranger has laid eggs at her nest every year– sometimes double-clutching— but none have ever hatched. The nest sites appear to be well chosen, so the reason for the repeated failure of her clutches is not clear, but Toronto is a busy site with a lot of Peregrines. Territorial struggles and the stress that accompanies them, infertility problems, or a combination of the two could be responsible.

Like Mark and our friends at CPF, we’re hopeful that she and Hunter will be able to lay another clutch of eggs this year. Thanks to everyone at CPF for keeping up with Ranger and Hunter, and thanks to Carol for reporting this news.

-Jess

For the second year, the Gallery at High Falls in partnership with the Genesee Valley Audubon Society is proud to present an exhibit of photographs and art celebrating Mariah, Kaver and the Rochester Peregrine falcons. Last year’s show was a great success, showcasing the outstanding work of area photographers and artists, many of them members of the Genesee Valley Audubon Society’s Fledge Watch.

The exhibit will run from June 28 through August 31, 2008, with a special grand opening gala on the weekend of June 27. Local artists and photographers are encouraged to submit their works featuring the Rochester Peregrines for inclusion in the exhibit. Details and an entry form are available by clicking either of the links below:

E-mail Entry Form (Microsoft Word file)

Mail-in Entry Form (Adobe PDF file)

We hope you’ll join us at the Gallery at High Falls this summer, either as a visitor to the exhibit, contributing artist, or both!

-Jess

As you know, the Rochester Falconcam is operated by the Genesee Valley Audubon Society, a not-for-profit organization as defined under section 501(c) 3 of the US Internal Revenue Service code. We operate on a limited budget and we depend upon the generosity of our fans for the majority of our funding. So you can imagine how happy we were to learn that a group of dedicated Fans of the Falconcam have pooled their talents and energies to raise money for the Rochester Falconcam!

Their imaginative program is called “Bricks for Chicks“, and here’s the story.

For as long as Peregrines have been nesting on the Kodak tower, adults and fledglings alike have used the three smokestacks at the RG&E BeeBee Station as convenient landing spots and hunting perches. On their early flights, these tall open cylinders can present hazards for the fledglings, and more than one has needed rescue over the years. Once they’ve learned to control their landings, the fledglings have found the smokestacks to be excellent places to eat, rest weary wings, or just hang out.

The recent renovations at the BeeBee Station will leave only one smoke stack standing. In commemoration of the role these industrial relics have played, our friends in the Bricks for Chicks program have obtained a limited supply of the original masonry from the center and northern smokestacks that are being demolished.

Now you too can own a little piece of Rochester Falcon history, and support the Rochester Falconcam program at the same time! Click the Bricks for Chicks link above, or click the button at the right to get your brick, and other fine commemortive photos of the Rochester Falcons. (you’ll need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the document. If you don’t have it, you can CLICK HERE to get it). Help keep the Rochester Falconcam running. Visit Bricks for Chicks!

We’re really excited about this community-centered effort, and the Rochester Falconcam extends our gratitude and heatfelt thanks to the folks at Bricks for Chicks, and to you, our generous fans, for your continuing support!

-Jess

While we wait for Mariah’s five eggs to hatch, we’d like everyone to know that we have restored the family tree to the Rochester Falconcam website for this year. Long time fans will recall that Kodak kept Mariah’s family tree updated through 2006 on the Kodak Birdcam. When the Genesee Valley Audubon Society took over the website, we missed adding the family tree, so we’re happy to be able to return it again for 2008.

You can get to the family tree by clicking the History link on the left side of the screen, then clicking Family Tree. Click the small picture to display a larger version. We’ve added some new information to the family tree, including Cabot-Sirocco’s parents, Toronto’s own Victoria and Pounce-Kingsley. We have also added color to some of the eyas’s names. These colors refer to the colored tape that covers the US Fish and Wildlife Service ID band on each falcon’s right leg. The colored tape makes it easy for our volunteer Fledge Watchers to identify each fledgling from a distance. It’s easy to spot the colored tape through binoculars even when the ID band numbers can’t be read, so the tape is a real benefit for our watchers.

We have also been working on a history of Mariah’s family, including updates on their current locations and status when that information is available to us. We’re working to add that information to the family tree too, so look for it soon!

CLICK HERE to open Mariah’s Family Tree

-Jess

Our good friend Doug in Port Colborne reports that Freedom and his new mate Millie are busy brooding three eggs. Though Millie is only a year old Doug reports that she’s tending the eggs just like an experienced mom. We here at the Rochester Falconcam are all very excited to see how Freedom and Millie do with their offspring this year. We’re hoping for three healthy eyases!

Doug sent along a fantastic picture that he took of Freedom on one of his typical perches. The picture was taken just a few days ago, on the 19^th of April. What an impressive Peregrine he is!

Photo courtesy of Doug Garbutt

Thanks to Rochester Falconcam team member Carol Phillips for bringing us Doug’s latest report and picture!

-Jess

We’ve received some amazing, wonderful news! Rochester Falconcam team member Carol Phillips reports that another of Mariah’s offspring has been found! Ihteram, one of the females from the 2005 brood, is nesting at the beautiful and historic St. Joseph Catholic Church in Detroit, Michigan. Here’s some of the letter that Carol received from Kariann Anderson, SE Michigan Peregrine Falcon Coordinator for the Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources:

Volunteer Barbara was visiting St. Josephs Catholic Church ( Jay Street ) recently as part of her genealogy research and heard the call of not one but two Peregrine Falcons. Tuesday, April 8th we confirmed that the Peregrines have chosen this site and are attempting to nest. The bell tower is approximately 250 feet [high] and the pair spends most of their time perched on light poles that extend near the peak of the tower. We were having difficulty determining male or female (both birds seem comparable in size through our spotting scopes down below). Barb jokingly said “We need them to mate so we can determine who our female is.” Within the next 5-minutes we witnessed copulation! We have an unbanded male paired with a banded female (black over red with a sideways 2 on the black and an R on the red)… Prior to leaving the site, we noticed the pair enter a small hole in the screen over the windows near the top of the tower. Apparently if they have started to lay eggs it will be on the inside of the church tower.

We’ve been blessed with an abundance of good fortune regarding Mariah’s offspring lately. We now have confirmed sightings of five of the Peregrines that have fledged from the Kodak tower since 2000– Ranger, Freedom, Rhea Mae, Linn, and now Ihteram! 2008 is turning out to be a special year indeed. It will be interesting to see what happens with Ihteram and her mate. It doesn’t appear that the Macomb Audubon Society has any plan to install a webcam at the church, but they post updates on their website so we hope to be able to learn more about this new branch of the Rochester Peregrine family tree!

Here’s a picture of Ihteram published at the Macomb Audubon’s website:

Photographer Barb Baldinger looks like an accomplished digiscoper! Hopefully this won’t be the last picture of Ihteram that we get to see. Many thanks go to Carol and to Juanita Woods, who tracked down the ID band information reported by Kariann and tipped off Carol to Ihteram’s presence.

-Jess

Courtesy of Rochester Falconcam team member Carol Phillips comes this dispatch from Doug, one of Freedom’s “caretakers” at his nest site in Port Colborne, Ontario Canada:

I just thought you would like to know that Freedom & his new mate [Millie] have 2 eggs in the scrape! They were laid on the 7th & 9th as best we can tell. We have our fingers crossed that they will in fact be viable. Mom & Dad are tending nicely to the eggs…..Doug

You may recall that we recently reported the news of a new mate for Freedom. It is unusual, though not impossible, for a first year female to lay viable eggs, so we’ll be eagerly awaiting further news from the Port Colborne nest site.

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Meanwhile, Linda Woods of the Canadian Peregrine Foundation sends this fantastic image of Rhea Mae as she settles down to brood her four eggs.

Thanks to Carol, Linda and Doug for the updates!

-Jess

Brooding appears to be well under way now. Since April 5, Mariah and Kaver have been sitting on the eggs almost full time. Unless Mariah has another “106 hour egg” waiting in the wings it seems that we have another 5-egg clutch. Based on what we’re seeing, we think hatching should take place sometime around Mother’s Day, a most appropriate time!

Last year we talked about incubation, so now is probably a good time to go back and read that article if you’ve forgotten about the process. In that article we mentioned the fact that Mariah and Kaver have to turn the eggs so that they get evenly heated. This is very important for proper development of the growing eyas. The pictures at the left demonstrate how the falcons turn the eggs. It’s a delicate process that Mariah and Kaver approach with a gentleness and dexterity that can be surprising to witness.

Sometimes we hear from viewers who think they’ve seen an egg with a crack in it. The mottled pattern of the eggs, tricks of light in the nest box, and the image quality from the cameras can all contribute to what look like cracked eggs sometimes. Here are a couple of things to keep in mind if you think you see a crack in the egg. First, Mariah and Kaver have never accidentally cracked an egg as far as we know, so while it’s possible, they’re usually pretty good about protecting the eggs as they turn and brood them. Second, hatching begins with a hole being poked in the egg by the emerging eyas. The inside of a falcon’s egg is white, so if you think you see a crack in the egg, look for white behind it. Of course we’ll keep a sharp eye on the eggs and the falcons, and we’ll bring you any news as soon as we learn of it.

-Jess

We suspected that Mariah had laid a fifth egg earlier today, but she and Kaver have been keeping the eggs covered pretty much non-stop, so here’s one of the first views of all five eggs! The last couple of days have seen Mariah and Kaver spending most of their time on the eggs, so it’s reasonable to assume that egg laying may be over and brooding has commenced! Of course, Mariah likes to surprise us so remember to expect the unexpected!

It looks like Mariah laid her fifth egg between 10:53 and 10:55AM. That makes it just a hair over 57 hours since egg#4. In this picture (click for a bigger image) the egg at the left looks darker than the others. That’s usually an indication of a newly laid egg. From looking at the camera images, it appears that she spent a little time rearranging them, then covered them up again without ever giving us a clear look at all five until this afternoon.

-Jess

Rhea Mae, daughter of Mariah and Kaver from 2006, has now laid a total of 3 eggs at her nest site on the Sheraton hotel in downtown Toronto, Ontario Canada. Her third came over the weekend. For more information about Rhea Mae and Tiago, visit the Canadian Peregrine Foundation’s webpage.

UPDATE! (April 8)- Rhea Mae has laid her fourth egg! We received word just this morning from some of our fans who keep an eye on her nest. This is excellent news to be sure. We’re looking forward to following Rhea Mae and her mate Tiago as they raise their first family together this year.

-Jess