February is nearly here, which means the 2008 Rochester Falconcam season is only a few weeks away! Last Friday, team members “Fal-Kenn” Martinez and Jim Pisello braved bitter cold, whipping winds, and the wrath of Mariah– as seen in the dramatic photo above– to check out the cameras and get them ready for their appointed task of bringing the Rochester Falconcam to fans the world over.

The work was far from straightforward. The team had to fight the weather while diagnosing a nagging problem that kept Camera 1 from getting power. Not only that, during their survey Kenn and Jim discovered that last year’s eyases had nibbled at one of the network cables which needed to have its insulation replaced. Another challenge was that over the months since last summer the wind had actually twisted Camera 1 around it’s mounting arm. It took some delicate tapping with a long piece of wood to get it back into place.

And then there was Mariah. She took turns circling and diving, and both Kenn and Jim had to keep ducking every time she passed by. Luckily she took a couple of breaks, which gave the two men some time to work without having to worry about getting bonked on the head! They both brought their cameras and they took a few moments to grab some pictures of Mariah as she flew close by.

It took some doing, but with a little ingenuity, a lot of duct tape, and a couple hours’ work, the cameras sprang to life! Kenn and Jim gathered their tools and retreated to the warmth of the Kodak Tower after a job well done.

The cameras will need a final cleaning before the season begins around the middle of March, but that will have to wait for better weather. In the meantime the Rochester Falconcam team will be hard at work to make sure that 2008 will be a season to remember!

-Jess

Photos used by kind permission of the Canadian Peregrine Foundation

Mark Nash has sent us some new pictures of the hack box that the CPF erected on the roof of the Scarborough Bell building. It is this box, converted to a spacious artificial scrape, that Linn has taken to defending over the past couple of weeks. The CPF has high hopes that Linn will settle there permanently, as he explains in his most recent note.

We have been given permission to keep the hack box up on the roof for just this very purpose – (in an effort to
attract either Lawrie and Ruben back to the site), or another interested Pefa [shorthand for Peregrine falcon] looking for a good location.

This picture gives a good idea of the Bell building’s height and surroundings. It looks like it should make a good nesting location, and the lack of other tall buildings nearby ought to make it easier for watchers to keep an eye on Linn if she takes up permanent residence.

I have attached some photos of the hack box that we built for the orphaned Pefa chicks that we hacked out this past summer from the Bell building.

I have removed the bars from the hack box, added more pea gravel, and we cleaned the old debris out of the box. While it was designed to be a “hack box”, it appears that Linn is most interested in it, as she has been observed on both the porch and upper roof of the box on several occasions over the past two weeks. She has been protecting the site with some intensity!

Fingers crossed!!

Sincerely
Mark Nash
Director
The Canadian Peregrine Foundation
www.peregrine-foundation.ca

So, it looks like Linn may be the recipient of a converted nursery. We can’t think of a better use for this prime piece of raptor real estate! Like Mark, we’re keeping our fingers crossed here at the Rochester Falconcam.

-Jess

Photos courtesy of Jim Pisello

Our friends at the Canadian Peregrine Foundation have delivered some terrific news. Linn, last of the 2007 offspring to fledge, has been identified by her leg band defending a possible nesting site in Scarborough, Ontario Canada! Here’s the information we just received from Mark Nash of the CPF:

Hello All,
We have finally been able to get a positive identification on one of the two Pefa’s that have been calling this neck of the woods home for the past months. On Dec. 31st/2007, one of the CPF volunteers – Bruce Massey’s efforts paid off, and he was able to positively confirm the band number of the Pefa now calling the Bell building at Pharmacy and Eglinton her turf. This is the same building that we used for this past summers hack of four orphaned peregrine chicks that came to us from Quebec.

It is confirmed that we have a juvenile female – 91 over V – holding (and protecting) this territory, and its Linn from Rochester 2007!! She still [has] her red tape over the Silver USFW band.

Linn has been exhibiting very territorial behavior – (as she has been observed defending the Bell building on three different occasions over the past two weeks) while chasing off the local red-tails as they fly over and around of the Bell building.

She can be seen regularly roosting on the Bell building, – next to the hack box, and seems to be calling the building her own – (at least for the time being). She is no longer is being observed on the Water storage tank at Warden and Eglinton, as we pass both these places daily as we go into the CPF head office.

Sadly, we have not seen the adult male that was hanging around with her when she was roosting on the Water storage tank.

Sincerely,

Mark Nash

Director

The Canadian Peregrine Foundation

When last we saw Linn, she was on the move west of Rochester at the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge. It looks like she was just waiting to make a right hand turn for a northerly flight over Lake Ontario. We’re grateful to Mark and all the dedicated staff at CPF for their work, and we’re looking forward to hearing more about Linn in the coming months!

-Jess