It is with a very heavy heart and much sadness that we have to report the passing of our young tiercel, Genesee.

The Rochester Falcon Watchers have been watching him since his return to the Rochester area last year. He was mostly seen in the Charlotte/Summerville area, but there were reports from birders seeing him along the lake shore hunting as far east as Sodus. We were all very happy to recently learn that Genesee had found a mate.

Yesterday, 1/7/17, Rochester Falcon Watchers Dana Mulhern and Carol Phillips were out checking the lakeshore, hoping to find Genesee and his mate. When driving over the Irondequoit Bay Bridge they spotted a falcon down on the road. They contacted the DEC and Officer Snowden retrieved the falcon. He kindly let us know that it was in fact Genesee and it looked like he had been hit by a car. There was a dead Merganser nearby and he thought that may have been what caused Genesee to come down to the roadway.

Genesee made it thorough that very hard first year which a large majority of young falcons do not survive. He found a mate and we had high hopes that, with her, he would raise young of his own.

Fly Free Genesee. We will miss you.

2016 was a very successful year for our Rochester Falcons. Beginning with Beauty and Dot.ca successfully raising four young eyases to four successful fledges. We can’t forget our other pair, Billie and Seth, who also successfully raised young this year. It was a very good year!

Matilda, Aria, Lilac and Leo have all left Rochester to start their life journeys. We hope they all do well and that we hear about them in the future with mates and young of their own. That is the best news Rochester Falcon Watchers love to hear.

Speaking of that, as you all know, we have been recently reporting that Genesee, hatched in the nest box on top of the Times Square Bldg in 2015, was seen hanging out in the Charlotte/Summerville area. Watchers had reported seeing a female in the area a couple times while Genesee was there.

For the last few weeks, we had not seen Genesee or any other Peregrine Falcons. But, we are VERY happy to report that on January 1, 2017, a local birder, reported seeing two falcons on the Coast Guard Tower on the Summerville side of the Genesee River near Lake Ontario. Falcon fan Kris Genagon, who named Genesee along with another fan, contacted me to let me know that she had found a picture of the two falcons on the Coast Guard Tower! I tracked down the photographer who kindly gave me permission to post his wonderful picture on our website to share with all our fans. The bands on the smaller falcon were definitely those of our Genesee and he wasn’t alone. Genesee has a mate!

Here is the picture that photographer Richard Horsey shared with us.

Sorry to say we are unable to ID this gorgeous girl hanging out with Genesee. But Richard was able to see that she was banded and had red tape over her USFW band and a black/green NYS band. Hopefully someday we’ll be able to positively identify her.

Many thanks to Richard for sharing his picture with us! It is so nice to see that Genesee and his mate are doing well. We hope to see them raising young of their own someday!

Thank you all for helping to support the Rochester Falconcam! We all hope that 2017 will be a successful year for our Rochester Falcons!