Egg #3 for Beauty, and a Mate for Quest?
Beauty laid her third egg today. We’re not exactly sure when, because she spent a lot of time in the nest box and she didn’t let us see what was going on. Both Beauty and Archer have been on the eggs most of the day. That might be due to the cooler weather, or it could signal the start of “hard” incubation. If that’s the case, then we should be able to expect one more egg, for a total of four. Since the most recent pair of eggs have come at a more-or-less typical peregrine pace, if Beauty does lay another egg we should see it in the next 2 to 3 days.
In other news, the recent location data from Quest’s satellite transmitter has been nearly stationary for the past several days. Some observers began to speculate that perhaps her transmitter had finally fallen off. But earlier today our friends at the Canadian Peregrine Foundation posted that two falcons, one outfitted with a transmitter, had been spotted on a commercial building in the city of York, Ontario Canada, just east of Toronto. The address for the sighting matched exactly to the location data we’ve been getting from Quest, and Bruce Massey, one of the CPF volunteers, was able to confirm her ID band numbers! It turns out that Quest has been hanging out with a handsome tiercel. Read the full account from CPF watcher Tracy Simpson HERE. Needless to say we’re thrilled to learn that Quest may finally have found a place to settle down, and that she could be starting a family of her own. We’ll keep a close watch on this story, and bring all of the details to you as we learn more!
April 13th, 2011 at 6:38 PM
Wowee, lots of exciting news to come home to after a busy day at work! Things have been very busy in the Rochester falcon world too! 😀 Awesome news! Thank you for the great post, and thanks to the CPF watchers for keeping us posted too on Quest. It’s greatly appreciated!! Perhaps we will hear of eggs one day soon from Quest territory! 🙂
April 13th, 2011 at 8:24 PM
Great news about Quest!
April 14th, 2011 at 10:49 AM
I have followed Quest’s story from the start and always hope for a mate for her. I hope things continue to go in a positive direction for her, she deserves a family!
April 15th, 2011 at 3:49 PM
Quest’s mate has been identified as Kendal, a Canadian peregrine. Go to the website in the post and look under recent news.
Yay Kendal and Quest! Marvelous news!
April 15th, 2011 at 6:48 PM
That’s awesome!
April 18th, 2011 at 10:01 AM
Hi there. Thought you might like to see the photo I took of Quest and Kendal across from my office! It’s on my Flickr stream at the following address:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tryhank/5625304316
April 19th, 2011 at 3:47 PM
According to the CPF link as of today, it states that QUEST HAS LAID AN EGG!!!!!!!! Apparently someone is able to view the area that they have chosen to nest in.
My question to the great folks at FalconCam; is there ANY way we could get a photo, at least once she is done laying and incubating her eggs? We all love seeing current pictures of these birds that many of us
follow for years. Anything would be great. 🙂
April 19th, 2011 at 4:55 PM
The Harlequin folks are just across the street from Quest and Kendal’s scrape. They have a wonderful view and were witness to Quest’s first egg. I’ve been in touch with them and we’re hoping to have a picture of the egg soon. 🙂
April 20th, 2011 at 12:54 PM
What wonderful news. I lost my computer to a virus Monday night, ando. just logged on to see the great picture of Quest’s egg. Thrilling news. Is there a chance the CPF can install a nest ledge with pebbles now that the egg is there? Hope so.
April 20th, 2011 at 2:15 PM
Such great news!! 😀
April 20th, 2011 at 2:21 PM
The scrape will not be disturbed by CPF. When there are eggs it is extremely unusual for humans who mean the falcons well to go anywhere near the scrape.
How wonderful, a grandchick (maybe more than one as the days go by) for the fondly remembered Mariah and Kaver.