We spoke with a DEC biologist after the banding. A preliminary report ruled out avian flu. The cause of death was related to egg laying, but Beauty was not egg bound.

If we learn anything else, we’ll report it.

Today was a special day for our young eyases. It was Banding Day!

At 10 am this morning, the folks from the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) arrived in the lobby of the Times Square Bldg, along with members of the Rfalconcam Team. Many of the Rochester Falcon Watchers were outside to witness how Nova and Neander would react to their babies being taken from the nest box. We got our answer, they immediately started alarm kakking and diving on the DEC extraction team.

The eyases were quickly brought into the building where they were banded.

Now let’s introduce our 2022 Rochester Falcon eyases.

Blaze, our only male, was named in honor of Rochester Firefighters Neal Ludwig and John Mauer, Rochester Fire Department, Truck 10. It was because of them that we found out what happened to Dot.ca. They gave us closure and we thank them for that!

Bands: Silver USFW Band has no tape, NYS Band 33 Black over BA Green.

Zara, a female, was named by longtime Rochester/Buffalo Falcon Watcher, Carol Lukaszewski, aka Lukka, from Tonawanda, NY.

Zara was chosen as Rochester is known as the Flower City. Zara has Arabic roots and is a variation of Zahrah, which means blooming flower and radiance.

Bands: Silver USFW Band covered with red tape tape, NYS Band 34 Black over BW Green.

Kanfai Malachim, another female. Pronounced: Con-fe mal-a-keem. Her name is the Hebrew phrase for Angel’s Wings. Named by Mrs. Rebecca Swanton’s 5th/6th Grade Class, Derech Hatorah School in Greece, NY.

The boys chose the name because in the Hebrew religion they believe Angels are messengers of God in physical form. By seeing nature physically, we can relate to God better. The birds are the messengers.

Bands: Silver USFW Band covered with blue tape, NYS Band 35 Black over BW Green.

This is the egg that never hatched. We thought it would be interesting to show you how big a Peregrine Falcon egg is. About the size of a chicken egg. The DEC collected the unhatched egg and a bag of leftovers from the nest box to take back with them.

Many thanks to the NYDEC for banding the Rochester eyases. We really appreciate that we will have a chance to follow their wanderings in the future. Who knows, we may see Blaze, Zara or Kanfai Malachim raise a family of their own someday!

Hope you enjoy this Banding Day YouTube Video sent in by Rochester Falcon Watcher Dana!

Presenting the 2022-06-21 Rfalconcam Banding Day Stream plus pics and vid from Auntiewood…

https://t.co/glMljHRNGW

Great news, everyone! The eyases will receive bands this year!

Our friends from the DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) will be coming to Rochester this morning to band Nova and Neander’s three eyases. Banding should happen at approximately 9:30 am. When they are banded, they will be given their chosen names!

You can watch the event on live streaming video, read commentary and view photos on our forum, or follow us on twitter @Rfalconcam and its chattier cousin @RfalconcamNow.

A big thank you to Rochester Falcon Watcher Dana for making these wonderful videos of Nova and Neander’s three hatches and for sharing them with us on her YouTube channel!