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No she’s not joining a convent, but it does look like Quest has established a regular cycle of activity for herself. All of the November data thus far places her near Monomoy Island during the day, and at Nickerson State Park in the evening and at night. It seems the pineland in the park is providing a sheltered spot where she can rest. And of course, she’s likely taking advantage of the bird buffet at Monomoy during the day.

Here’s a satellite image of the Monomoy Island with the refuge outlined in red. It provides a good view of the areas Quest has been frequenting, and it really shows the tidal flats that aren’t as apparent in the map view above. We’re thankful to Stephanie Koch and Michael Brady, both of the US Fish and Wildlife Service for providing this image and for the interest they’ve shown in Quest’s presence at the Monomoy refuge.

It’s shaping up to be a good life for Quest. She doesn’t appear to be in any hurry to leave the Cape, so this might be the pattern we can expect from her throughout the winter. Quest might have other plans though, so keep checking back every few days to catch up on her latest movements!

-Jess

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The first six days of November yielded more good positional data on Quest. She’s still spending her time out around Monomoy Island, but we also found her at Nickerson State Park which is on the inside of the elbow of the Cape, just north of State Route 6.

The best data for the 5^th and 6^th place her on opposite sides of North Monomoy Island at the south end. 9:23PM on the 5^th found Quest on the tidal flats on the western side of the island. Exactly six hours later she was on the east shore. Both of these positions are about 2 miles (3.3km) from the mainland. It’s possible there was some light available from the coastal buildings, but if the skies were clear she likely had the benefit of the waxing crescent Moon to help light her way.

-Jess

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The latest data from Quest’s PTT (Platform Transmitter Terminal) are nearly all clustered in an area of less than a mile, just off the beach at the northern end of Monomoy Island (click the Sat button in the upper right of the map for a better look at the beach & tidal flats surrounding the island). The data points are remarkably consistent from early morning to late evening. Without eyewitness accounts it’s hard to be certain what’s there, but we’re hard pressed to come up with an explanation other than that she’s following the prey.

We can only get data from Quest’s transmitter when a satellite passes by. With gaps of several hours between passes and variable signal reception, we aren’t able to see where she’s going at all times of the day. But the data points we do have are so similar that we can confidently say she’s spending pretty much all of her waking hours there.

-Jess

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Staying true to form, Quest is still spending her days just off the Cape Cod coast. Most of her daylight activity is centered on the Monomoy NWR, though she returned to Wellfleet Bay on the 25^th. Interestingly, data from her her transmitter has placed her off shore as early as 2:00AM. This may indicate that she’s doing some nighttime hunting, perhaps taking advantage of prey that are migrating during that time. Peregrines are known to hunt at night, though it usually occurs in well-lit urban areas. Maybe she’s taking her predatory cues from Kaver. We’ve often seen him bring in prey for his hungry eyases at all hours of the day and night.

-Jess

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In line with her recent behavior, we find Quest continuing to spend her days at the Monomoy National Wildlife refuge. The data over the past few days places her on the north end of the barrier island. She got an early start there on the 16^th, appearing over Morris Island at 5:19AM, well before sunrise. Otherwise, her night-time locations continue to be in the area around Chatham and Brewster.

The past few days have also given us some mid-day readings as well as early morning and late evening data. Accurate mid-day data are harder to get because the weak signal from the transmitter isn’t as easy to receive during the day, when there is a lot of radio-frequency interference. Since each transmitted message lasts less than one second, it is more likely that the Argos satellites will receive a weak or garbled signal, or won’t receive one at all. So we’re happy that we’ve been getting some pretty accurate data in the daylight hours over recent days.

-Jess

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Hanging out at the “elbow” of the Cape, Quest has been establishing a clear pattern of behavior. She’s spending the early mornings, and presumably her overnights, in the area around Chatham and Brewster. In a neat coincidence, data for her perch the morning of October 13 placed her at Hawksnest State Park. As we noted in our last update, it looks like she’s occupying her days with jaunts out to Monomoy Island.

Noted as one of the best birding sites in the eastern United States, Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge is a haven for migrating shorebirds, as well as a number of endangered species including the Piping Plover and Roseate Tern. We can only hope that Quest is feeding on the more numerous resident gulls and other migrants, and leaving the rarer residents alone.

Melissa Lowe, Education Coordinator for the Massachusetts Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary wrote recently to let us know that Quest has been spotted at Monomoy.

“One of our volunteers, Don Manchester who conducts a spring hawk watch for us, counts migrant raptors in the fall down in Chatham at Morris Island for the USFWS Monomoy NWR. I just learned he has seen Quest on several occasions He has watched her chase and try to catch a flicker ([she] was joined by another falcon in the pursuit).”

Melissa went on to say that Don thought that Quest was “looking quite thin”, but the satellite location data continues to show that she’s moving around daily, so it appears that she’s getting enough food to keep her active. We’re grateful to Melissa and Don for this latest report, and glad to know that Quest is still out there practicing her predator skills!

-Jess

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Quest hasn’t taken any more surprise trips. She’s continuing to stay close to the southeast corner of Cape Cod, making brief forays over the water. It seems she’s taken a liking to Sequetucket Harbor and Monomoy Island as a daytime destination. Many data points from early in the morning show her near South Brewster. It’s possible she’s found an overnight perch there.

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This past Friday, October 10, representatives from the New York DEC and the Rochester Falconcam were on hand for the installation of a nest box on the Powers Building. The Powers Building is at the corner of Main and State Streets, about ½ mile from the Kodak tower. Local falcon fans gathered on the nearby Andrews Street bridge, which provides an unobstructed view of the box. The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle newspaper published this article describing the event.

           

Rochester Falconcam team member Carol Phillips was on hand for the unveiling of the nest box at its new location, and she brought us these pictures. The view looking north from the observation deck on top of the Powers Building provides an unobstructed line of sight back to the Kodak tower. The nest box will face this way. The DEC believes that will make it easy for Mariah to see the box if she’s perching on the Kodak building, something she likes to do in the fall. The box will also look out onto the Genesee river, and it’s actually closer to the river on the Powers Building than it was on Kodak.

The other two pictures from Carol illustrate the box being installed. The engineering firm of Clough Harbour & Associates LLP, located on the eight^th floor of the Powers Building, designed a sturdy platform for the nest box, and the building’s maintenance team installed it. An interesting new feature of the platform is a ramp that will allow the pre-fledge eyases to climb back into the nest box if necessary.

We want to extend our warmest gratitude to Mark Stevens and everyone at S. B. Ashley Management Corporation, as well as Tom Wolanski and his team at Clough Harbour & Associates, and Rob and the guys on the maintenance crew. Their enthusiastic embrace of this program is greatly appreciated by all of Mariah and Kaver’s fans around the world.

A second nest box is planned to be installed on the Times Square building. The exact date hasn’t yet been worked out by the DEC, but as soon as it happens we’ll let you know!

-Jess

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As Quest continues her stay in the southeast corner of Cape Cod, she’s taking some trips out into the ocean. We’ve been fortunate to get some positional data in daylight hours over the past few days. Our experience to date has been that most of the usable satellite data come in the hours on either side of midnight, so having some daytime data is a nice treat. It allows us to see that Quest been doing some flying out over the ocean. She seems to be staying pretty close to the shore, so it’s likely that she is hunting either shore birds like terns and gulls, or possibly that she’s preying on other species migrating along the coast. Now that Autumn is in full swing here in the Northeaster United States, it will be interesting to see how long she stays in Massachusetts before heading for warmer climes.

-Jess

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Quest has returned to her summering spot in the southeast corner of Massachusetts. She began where we left her at Chatham Port, after her brief trip into New Jersey and Long Island last week. During our most recent tracking period, Quest stayed within a fairly small area, venturing no more than 10 miles (16 km) or so on any single day.

Many of Quest’s fans may be aware that hurricane Kyle marched up the Atlantic coast of the US, eventually making landfall in Canada. It subjected the New England states, including Massachusetts, to a few days of wind and rain. None of this appears to have fazed Quest, to judge by her daily movements. Based on the data we continue to receive from her transmitter, it looks like Quest came through the bad weather in good shape.

-Jess

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Before we get to the latest satellite data, we’re happy to share another Quest sighting with you!
From September 13^th comes a report courtesy of Kathy Doyen and Ian Davies, who spotted Quest at Coast Guard Beach on Cape Cod. Ian is an accomplished photographer, and he netted some Quest shots which he has kindly shared with us. Thanks Ian and Kathy for giving Quest’s fans another look at her!

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Just in time for the end of summer, it looks like Quest may be ready to do some more wandering. She began in Chatham Port where we last left her, but on the 19^th she said good-by to the Cape and winged her way nearly 300 miles (483 km) to Washington, New Jersey, near the Pennsylvania border! For a Peregrine at normal cruising speed of about 50 mph/80 kph, that’s a good six hours of solid flying. Prevailing weather patterns during that time indicate that she’d have had a nice tailwind for much of the trip, as she flew out just behind a cold front. Many thanks to Falconcam fans Paul Hamilton and Larry O’Heron for providing some additional weather-related data to our analysis!

But she wasn’t done stretching her wings. The next two days found her seaside again, but this time on Shelter Island, one of the small islands on the eastern edge of Long Island, New York. Then it was back to the Cape on the 22^nd, where her transmitter puts her in the vicinity of the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge, just off the coast from Chatham. It’s a stopping point for migrating birds, and it’s not far from where she started on the 18^th. So not only is Quest proving to be a great distance flyer, she’s a hotshot navigator as well!

-Jess