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.

The past few days have found Quest continuing her westward move. She spent a couple of days in Port Colborne, in pretty close proximity to the Archer Daniels Midland mill where Freedom had been the resident male until 2009. Then yesterday he headed north to the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton.

Of course, Hamilton has a resident Peregrine pair, Madame X and Surge. According to Hamilton resident and Falconcam fan David Bevan, Madame X is very territorial. Hopefully Quest won’t get herself into any trouble while she’s touring along the west end of Lake Ontario!

Within the past few days Quest has expanded her travel range, heading north on the 6^th into Ontario’s countryside near Clyde Forks and the Lanark Highlands. On the 8^th it was back to Prince Edward Point, only to journey west following Highway 401 into Toronto. The evening of the 9^th showed her at what appears to be a large retail building in the 1100 block of Leslie Street, just north of Eglinton Ave East, and adjacent to the well wooded Willet Creek Park.

Maybe she’s just there for a visit, or it could be that she’s looking for a stylish new car. After all, Parkview BMW is just down the street…

Continuing her trend from the end of February, Quest has been spending her days moving between Prince Edward Point and southeastern Ontario. The early days of March provided clear weather with a lot of data points. The information from the transmitter’s temperature sensor shows that Quest is having no trouble keeping warm. And with the end of winter coming, it will be interesting to see whether she stays at PEPBO, moves back to Lennox, or strikes out in a new direction. She’s also fully adult now, so she ought to be looking for a mate as well. Sitting on a major migration route as she is, it seems likely that she’ll attract the attention of a Peregrine tiercel before too long.

Quest continues her stay at the Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory, with a couple of side trips northeast to the mainland. Location data have been a little spotty. Sometimes we only get one reading in a day, and that one may not be very good, so you’ll see a couple of gaps. On the positive side, the temperature sensor on her transmitter shows that she’s keeping warm as we move into the heart of winter.

The satellite images around the bird observatory are not extremely detailed, but it seems like there must be some high structure in the area (maybe a cell phone or radio tower?) It looks like there’s some kind of artificial structure nearby, but whether it provides a hunting perch for Quest is anyone’s guess. If anyone has visited the Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory, drop us a line! We’d love to get more infomation about the lay of the land.

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!

Quest has been spending so much of her time in a very small area of Prince Edward Point that it’s sometimes easy to think that her transmitter might have fallen off, or worse, that she’s met with an untimely end. Fortunately, every few days she wanders away from PEP and we get some good location data to put our minds at rest. So it has been this past week, when Quest made a day trip back to the Lennox Power station. After that she went right back to her new hunting ground though. Maybe she was just stretching her wings a little?

View Quest Travels January 2010 in a larger map

We weren’t surprised to find that Quest ended January at the Prince Edward Point Wildlife Refuge. The heavy concentration of data from her transmitter shows that she hasn’t visited the Lennox Power station since the beginning of the month, preferring to spend her time among the prey-rich wetlands to the southwest. Five of the last seven days place her at the Point, and the other two (purple and black icons on the map) look like they could just be day trips.

We’re still hoping that someone at the Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory will spy Quest and send us an eyewitness report, or even some pictures. But whether we hear anything from humans at the site or not, it’s pretty clear that Quest has found herself a nice place to stay for the winter.

The latest batch of locations from Quest’s transmitter leaves little doubt that she’s found a new dining spot. Some of the interday data points place her back at the Lennox power station but she has been consistently heading to the wildlife refuge at PEP for most of the month. It seems likely that the winter bird migrations which flow past the point are attracting her to what is sure to be a bountiful supply of prey. We’ve sent emails to the folks at the Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory and asked them to keep their eyes peeled for their special visitor!

Rochester Falconcam team members Kenn Martinez and Jim Pisello installed a new Main camera at the Times Square nest box. It has more resolution (14 megapixels maximum) and a greater zoom range than the old camera. A more stable camera mount and improved software are a couple of other features. You can read all about the work and a couple of special visitors at Jim’s Peregrinations blog.

We’re all looking forward to a season of great pictures from the new camera!