The eyases are getting more mobile as you can see from this picture of Grace and Linn. If you’ve been reading the reports from our fledge watchers you know that they’re spending a lot of time moving around the “playpen”, the catwalk area below the nest box.

Late this evening we received word that the first of the four eyases has fledged! We’ll leave all the details to our fledge watcher’s official report, which will be coming soon, so stay tuned!

By the way, be sure to read down the list a bit. Some of the watchers’ reports are posted several hours after their shifts, and we’re publishing them in chronological order, so the most recently submitted posts might not always appear at the top of the list. They’re all well worth reading!

-Jess

We’ve posted information for those of you who might be interested in joining the Fledge Watch. Read it here.

This morning Sacajawea took the plunge, hopping from the nest box to one of the cameras before joining Ananta and Grace in the “playpen” beneath the nest box. Little Linn got a visit from Mariah who brought breakfast, but hopefully she’ll join her sisters before long as well. First flights should come any day now, so keep watching!

UPDATE: 11:30AM It looks like Linn has left the nest box! She’s sitting on the ledge to the left of the box. Things are likely to start moving very quickly now, so stay tuned for more reports from our on-scene watchers!

-Jess

Ananta and Grace have both made the hop down onto the catwalk “playpen” below the nest box. They’ll most likely wander around there for a few days until they’re ready to fledge. Sacajawea has been making hops out to the perch rail, and she’ll probably join her sisters in the playpen soon. Linn, the youngest of the eyases, may take a few more days before she’s ready to hop out of the nest box.

-Jess

The girls are taking their first steps out of the nest box. Beginning this morning, first Grace (on the left in the picture above), and then Anata made the short hop onto the perch rail just in front of the scrape. Though she wasn’t the first to leave, Ananta has proven to be the more adventurous sister, spending nearly all day out of the scrape even and venturing onto the ledge to the right of the box. So far, Sacajawea and Linn have approached the edge, but haven’t yet followed their siblings out of the nest.

     

In the wild these journeys away from the scrape are called “branching”, because they often involve the eyases moving onto branches of nearby trees. Since there are no branches on the Kodak tower, regular falcon watchers here in Rochester have coined the term “ledging”, for obvious reasons. The first photo above gives a good indication of the girls’ size. They’re pretty much fully grown now, every bit as big as Mariah, who has just dropped off some late breakfast. All that’s left to do now is for them to build up their flight muscles and endurance. If Ananta sticks to her venturesome ways she may hop down to the catwalk soon. The others will follow at their own pace. These falcons have different personalities, and some are more daring than others. Linn, who was most likely the last to hatch, will probably be the last out of the scrape, but that’s by no means certain. Now’s the time to dust off our unofficial Imprints motto, Specto Subitus— Expect the Unexpected!

Once out of the nest box, it’s anyone’s guess as to whether the eyases will return or not. In past years we’ve seen them stay outside in all kinds of weather, including heavy rains and high temperatures. There’s no need to be overly concerned about that, though. These falcons are well protected against the elements, and Mariah and Kaver will drop food to the eayses as needed to ensure that they stay fed.

For those who wanted to attend the Fledge Watch orientation meeting yesterday but were unable to, all is not lost! You still have an opportunity to sign up for the fledge watch. We’ll be posting the schedule of available watching timeslots just as soon as we get it compiled. Even if a shift is already filled, feel free to show up then. More eyes are always helpful when the juveniles start flying. We’ll also be posting some helpful instructions for a successful fledge watch, including some downloadable quick reference documents. Meanwhile, keep your eyes on the eyases!

The eyases are about seven to ten days from fledging, or taking their first flights. Nearly full grown, they’re getting more independent and daring. Soon they’ll take their first steps outside of the nest box. The perch rail in front of the box is likely to be their first stop, but it won’t be long before they take short hops up to the roof and to the small ledges on either side of the scrape. From there, they’ll venture down to the catwalk a few feet below the nest box. The catwalk goes all the way around the steeple at the top of the Kodak Tower, and the eyases may spend several days there before making their first flights. Even after they fledge, they’ll return to it for several days. Camera 1 comes into its own when they make the move to the catwalk, which longtime falcon watchers have dubbed the falcons’ “playpen”. The camera’s ability to pan, tilt and zoom allows us to cover most of the south and east sides of the catwalk to keep tabs on the adventurous eyases.

The nestlings are now old enough to feed themselves by grasping prey with their feet and tearing at it with their bills. Voracious as always, they jump on food as soon as it’s delivered. Mariah and Kaver have stopped going into the nest to feed the eyases. Instead, they land on the perch rail outside the nest box and transfer the prey to the nearest eyas. The girls aren’t bashful about getting their fair share either, as the picture at the left demonstrates.

The eyases are always hungry, and now they’re mobile enough to be on the lookout for Mariah or Kaver bringing food. Whenever one of them appears in the sky, whether they have food or not, the nestlings are likely to begin wailing. When they wail for food they’re loud enough to be heard all the way down onto the street below, sometimes even over the traffic noise!

All that food is being used to build up their flight muscles. They’ll soon need them– fledging is expected to begin somewhere around the 20^th of June. To get in shape for fledging, the eyases have already begun exercising their wings with furious flapping and stretching.

A few of our viewers have written comments indicating that one or another of the eyases has already flown. It’s still a little early for that, and none of the nestlings have left the scrape yet. It can be hard to see them in the nest box, especially when they crouch behind each other. Fledging is as important as hatching, and you can rest assured that we’ll let everyone know when the young falcons take their first flights. In the meantime they’re being fed regularly and the girls are growing stronger every day. Keep watching and maybe you’ll see one of them take their steps beyond the nest box!

On Saturday, June 16 at 9:00 AM the Genesee Valley Audubon Society and the Rochester Falconcam will host the annual Peregrine Falcon Fledge Watch orientation meeting. Each year volunteers take turns watching the fledglings in their early weeks of flight. The Fledge Watch helps to ensure the safety of the young falcons by monitoring their flights and even rescuing them if they get into trouble. Fledge Watch volunteers have rescued a number of fledglings over the years including MaryAnn (2000), Alkyonis & Grissom (2004), and Skye (2005).

Fledging is an exciting time for the falcons, but it’s a dangerous time for them too. Untried flight and landing skills, lack of endurance, and a host of natural and man-made hazards await them when they leave the safety of the nest box on the Kodak tower.

Volunteering for the Fledge Watch is a great way to learn about falcon behavior in person, not to mention an excellent opportunity to enjoy some time in the great outdoors and make new friends. As a Fledge Watch volunteer you’ll receive training in how to rescue a downed falcon, and you’ll have the ability to post your observations on Imprints! You’ll also have a front row seat for some of the climactic experiences of the falcon ‘season’ as the juveniles learn to perfect their flying and hunting skills.

The orientation meeting will be held at the Gallery in the Center at High Falls, 60 Browns Race, Rochester, NY 14614 at 9:00AM on Saturday, June 16. We hope you’ll join us there!

-Jess

Many thanks to everyone who entered the Rochester Falconcam’s Eyas naming contest. We received over 300 entries from as far away as Australia! There were so many great names it was difficult even to whittle down the list, to say nothing of actually choosing the final names. This year with four female eyases, our male name finalists were unfortunately out of the running by default, but it’s just another of life’s little surprises.

Banding began around 10:00 AM, a little later than the team had planned. We were just getting ready to get the eyases from the nest box when Mariah arrived with food. Anyway, we had to wait for her to finish feeding the eyases their third breakfast of the morning(!), and we were obliged to operate on falcon time instead of our own schedule.

Mariah is well known as an aggressive falcon, especially in defense of her territory and her eyases. This year was no different. She launched attack after attack at the wildlife technicians from the New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation as they removed the eyases. In the picture at the left you can see how we used lawn rakes to protect the backs of the workers. The rakes were held like shields. Mariah dove at them and peeled away at the last moment. In this way we kept the workers safe, and also minimized the chance that Mariah might get injured in a collision with a member of the banding team.

     

The best way to ensure her safety was to retrieve the eyases as quickly as possible, and that’s just what we did. Inside, Barbara Loucks and Mike Allen of the New York DEC took each eyas in turn and applied aluminum identification bands to each of the birds’ legs. These ID bands will help scientists and others to identify the falcons after they leave the area later this summer. Each eyas also received a quick health check. You’ll be happy to know that all were found to be in good condition and, not surprisingly, well fed too!

As each eyas received its band, its name was announced to a group of school children and others watching the banding through a live video feed in Kodak’s lobby. If you missed the names, you can find them at our Banding Day page. We even took a couple of the newly banded eyases down to the lobby so the children could see the young falcons up close. The Rochester Falconcam is dedicated to educating the community about the Peregrine falcon. Our outreach efforts with local schools help to involve upcoming generations in protecting our natural environment. Journalists from the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle were on hand too. Read their story and watch a video of the banding.

     

After all the eyases had been banded and named it was time to return them to the nest box. Once again the team ventured out to face the wrath of Mariah and Kaver. As before, once the eyases were safely returned to the nest box, we human invaders retreated. Mariah landed in the nest box almost immediately to check on her eyases. Before long, they were being fed again.

2007 marks the tenth year that the falcon chicks in Rochester have been banded. We’re grateful to everyone at Kodak and the NYS DEC for their support, and to our many fans around the world for tuning in to watch all of the excitement! The next few weeks will see the eyases continuing to grow. Their white downy feathers are already being replaced by dark brown and tan juvenile plumage. Before we know it, they’ll begin exploring the area outside of the nest box, and by the third week of June they should begin to take their first flights. I’ll talk more about fledging, and what you can do to help ensure the safety of these eyases in an upcoming article.

We hope you’ll join us on Thursday, 31 May, starting at about 9:45AM Eastern time (that’s TOMORROW!) for special coverage of the 2007 Banding Day event. Be sure to watch the action on the Rochester Falconcam cameras (use the Mulitview page), and go to our 2007 Banding Day page on Imprints where we’ll reveal the winners of our eyas naming contest! The Banding Day page will be active tomorrow, and we’ll include a link to it in the News Flash on our home page.

The hatchlings have hit that pesky stage of their development where they’re starting to move around the nest box. Sometimes they can be pretty lively. This one in the (upper left corner of the nest box) has decided to play Magellan, to see what’s at the edge of the world…

Actually, it’s more likely the eyas just wants to sleep in the sun, but it does look like it’s exploring, doesn’t it?

You can expect the eyases to be more active now. Their downy feathers are thick enough that they don’t need Mariah or Kaver to provide warmth for them, and as long as the weather is good they won’t need to huddle together very much either. At the same time their legs are getting stronger, and even though they’re still crawling, they’ll be up and walking around before you know it.

     

As you can imagine, feeding time is a great motivator to get the eyases to move around. The two images at the left were taken only one minute apart, while Mariah was feeding the eyases. They’re a good illustration of the hatchlings’ mobility. The point is, you shouldn’t be surprised to see the nestlings spreading out in the nest box.

Don’t worry about them getting close to the edge of the box, either. Remember, thousands of years of evolution have prepared them for a life lived on the edges of cliffs. If one should take a tumble, there’s a catwalk just about 3 feet (1 meter) below the scrape, so any overly BASE-jumping eyases won’t get very far. We’ve never had an eyas fall out of our nest box, at least not at this early stage, so there’s likely no cause for concern with this year’s brood.

It’s getting pretty messy in the nest box. Too bad Mariah can’t get the nestlings to do a little cleaning, now that they’re getting more mobile!

Each year, wildlife technicians from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS-DEC) come to Rochester in order to place identification bands on the eyases’ legs. The bands have a unique combination of numbers and letters on colored backgrounds that can be used to identify the banded falcon at a later time. The NYS-DEC has been banding eyases at the Kodak tower since 1998.

It takes fast, gentle hands and sharp eyes to band the falcons. First, the eyases need to be removed from the nest box. When they’re between 3 and 4 weeks old, DEC wildlife technicians accompany a small group of Kodak employees and others on the journey up to the nest box, 210 feet above the street below. There, they carefully move the eyases into plastic buckets so that they can be taken inside. All the while, Mariah harrasses the invaders, diving and screeching. She can be very aggressive, and it’s not uncommon for her to thump the banders’ hard hats as she passes close by. In fact, those who don’t duck quite fast enough have had their shirts ripped by Mariah’s sharp talons!

Banding Day has become a festival of sorts for fans of the Rochester falcons. In past years the cameras have been modified to allow pictures of the banding activity to be displayed on the website, and the action was posted as it happened on various discussion forums such as the Kodak Birdcam Discussion Board. Local media and groups of school children are often invited to witness the event. We’re in the final stages of planning for this year’s event, and we’ll be sure to let you in on all the fun as soon as we’re finished.

The highlight of each Banding Day comes when the eyases are given names. Over the years names have been chosen by a variety of means, but this year we’d like to involve the entire Rochester Falconcam community by inviting you to submit a name for one of the eyases! Everyone is welcome to participate. You can find complete rules on our Eyas Naming Contest page. We can’t wait to see what you come up with!

UPDATE 22 MAY
I’ve added some of the names given to eyases in past years to the contest page, so if you don’t remember all of them (even we at the Rochester Falconcam have trouble sometimes!) you can refresh your memory.

-Jess