Fly Free Genesee
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.
January 8th, 2017 at 9:30 AM
This is just heartbreaking news and quite frankly it sucks..there is no other way to put it. He was so beautiful and strong, look how far he came and to have it all end this way is just tragic and unfair.
Beautiful boy..I was so excited reading your reports of him and I’m so very sorry that it’s ended this way. It’s just such a loss 🙁
Thank you Carol and Dana for contacting the DEC and ensuring he was taken from the roadway and not left there in the cold.
January 8th, 2017 at 9:39 AM
I had a good cry over this! Just breaks my heart that he was just getting on with the second part of his life with a new mate. Things were looking up for this young tiercel until a tragic accident took it all away! I hate when they hang out on bridges knowing that some day 1 or more will get killed! Fly Free sweet Genesee! Thank you all who looked after him!
January 8th, 2017 at 9:40 AM
OMG Noooooooooooooooo !
January 8th, 2017 at 9:43 AM
I’m drinking out of my eyases cup this morning, tears in my eyes, thinking of our 2015 trio. Fly free Genesee. Fly with your brother Bronx. Soar high together. You brought joy to our lives in 2016, regularly at Charlotte/Summerville, even bringing your mate to the Coast Guard tower. You will be heartfelt missed.
January 8th, 2017 at 9:48 AM
NO! Have no words !!! Fly Free !!!
January 8th, 2017 at 9:51 AM
I am so very very sad to hear this, just last week when I was home coming over the bridge, I saw what I was sure was a falcon flying but I thought it might be one of the IBB pair but maybe it was him. I have seen falcons often in the area & always worry with all the traffic. Fly fee precious Genesee
January 8th, 2017 at 9:57 AM
Absolutely heartbreaking!
January 8th, 2017 at 10:12 AM
I can’t even see to type this I am crying so much. Poor sweet baby boy, just being a falcon and hunting and he is gone. I can’t believe this 🙁
January 8th, 2017 at 10:27 AM
Genesee was a real home body. I remember seeing him well into the fall last year-each time I saw him it would make shake my head and smile. He’d go away for a couple days then he’d show up begging mom and dad for food, then off again. And then he was seen at Sodus Point and finally Charlotte/Summerville. He definitely liked the Lake Ontario shoreline. So tragic and sad that he found himself a possible mate and now he’s gone. Thank you Dana and Carol for keeping track of him so well that he didn’t waste away on a bridge with no thought of his memory. This is a very hard one to make sense of in the falcon loving world. Rest in peace Sir Genesee, now you can fly high with brother, Bronx again! One last smile for you… 🙂
January 8th, 2017 at 10:38 AM
What unexpected and horrible news! I’m not feeling very grateful at the moment, but I am greatful that he was found by our watchers and not left abandoned on the highway. Rest in peace, Genessee.
January 8th, 2017 at 10:57 AM
So sad but glad you found him. Thanks for all you do. Fly free Genesee.
January 8th, 2017 at 1:02 PM
It was such a thrill to know that Genesee was in the area. It is such a sadness that he is gone. I am grateful to Carol and Dana for finding him. As hard as it must have been, at least he was found and retrieved rather than just being in the road. I know that this is the life and the peril of being a falcon but it sure is heartbreaking. Fly free, little guy. You are with your brother and you will always be in our hearts.
January 8th, 2017 at 1:38 PM
Thanks so much, Carol and Dana, for all the time you spent keeping track of Genesee this past year but most of all, for finding him yesterday and making sure he was off that road. Although short, he sure did live life to its fullest and I’m so thankful we got to see him again…he was a joy to watch. Fly free, beautiful Genesee..you’ll never be forgotten.
January 8th, 2017 at 2:06 PM
Omg! I am left speechless with tears in my eyes. I just now sat down at the computer and ding! A text from Joyce, a very short text through her tears I’m sure. Everyone has been so happy watching the sweet boy sticking around Rochester area! That was such a treat! I am glad for him that his dear friends Dana and Carol were there to find him so promptly but they are really saddened today by that find.
Fly free dear Genesee, with those who have gone before you.
January 8th, 2017 at 2:09 PM
I am an optimist, always looking for the positive side of even the most horrible news. I am the first to say that Nature can be as cruel as it is awesome.
But today, I am having a very hard time with Genesee’s passing, and am having difficulty finding words to express either optimism or comfort.
What comes to mind is Pat’s description of Genesee in the fall of 2015 – the juvenile delinquent kid who refuses to leave home, lives in the basement, pays no rent, eats all the food… We all knew exactly what she meant, and knew with what love she said it.
Pat was right – Genesee never left home. What delight he brought to the Falcon Watchers who loved him.
Thank you, Carol and Dana.
Fly high and free, beautiful Genesee.
January 8th, 2017 at 2:48 PM
I was just over at Charlotte yesterday, looking for Genesee and his mate, whom I’m calling Ms. Red Tape. And perhaps any snowy I might find. I looked on the Coast Guard Tower for Ms. Red Tape again today, thinking how much can change in the blink of an eye. Genesee was my neighbor. He was a friend to all of us, and yes, he was the kid who never left home. My sympathies to all, especially to Kris G., who submitted his name in the naming contest. We’ll miss him very much.
January 8th, 2017 at 2:49 PM
Dear Friends,
All of the comments, so beautifully expressed, cover my own range of thoughts and emotions about the loss of Genesee.
MAK, thank you for preparing me for this news, as it seems that I have also lost another of my wild bird “friends.”
So many of “our” Falcons go off into the world, never to be heard from again, leaving us hopeful that they’ve survived and thrived. I like to think that Genesee gave us the rare privilege of allowing us to follow him after he fledged. As mentioned above, his life was short, but full. He was a success story, doing everything that Falcons are supposed to.
I can’t even imagine what Carol and Dana went through yesterday after finding a downed Falcon, and the anxiety that followed waiting for the I.D. I’m grateful that he was treated with dignity and respect. Thank you both, as well as all the others who kept us in the loop with reports on Genesee. My heart goes out to all of you.
Rest in Peace, Genesee.
January 8th, 2017 at 4:22 PM
My heart hurts. It’s so hard to understand why these powerful birds succumb to careless people. I would have probably caused an accident to avoid hitting him
January 8th, 2017 at 6:26 PM
Such a sad post to see 🙁 It’s so hard to lose one of these precious falcons. Fly free Genesee!
January 8th, 2017 at 8:26 PM
My heart breaks with all of yours – tho I’m not in Rochester anymore, my thoughts are with you all.
Fly Free Genesee <3
January 8th, 2017 at 9:19 PM
So very sorry to hear of the loss of Genesee, having come this far and finding a mate. What a beautiful falcon. I don’t know if anyone happened to notice, but seeing the female with Genesee in the photo, I couldn’t help but think could she possibly be a sibling? The facial features and breast coloring seemed so strikingly similar. I hope she will be seen again. They both looked so beautiful . . .
Thank you for gracing our skies, Genesee. . .
January 9th, 2017 at 7:00 AM
Christiane – The female has red tape over her USFW band and a black over green NYS band. She is not from the downtown Rochester nest box. We hope to identify her someday.
January 9th, 2017 at 1:15 PM
Thanks, Carol–guess I missed that entirely. . .sorry. Anyway it’s always nice to hear of another falcon
taking up residence here.
January 9th, 2017 at 3:18 PM
So sorry about the loss of Genesee. He was a special boy and I loved all the reports about him. This is such a loss. My sympathies to all the watchers.
January 9th, 2017 at 8:56 PM
So sorry to read this. We hope so much that the offspring of the falcons we watch (or read about) year ’round will prosper and reproduce. Genesee had already successfully passed the most dangerous time in a young falcon’s life, but, danger lurks everywhere for birds in the wild, even those high up on the food chain.
It would be nice if Ms Red Tape sticks around and a tiercel passing through takes a shine to her and the neighborhood.
January 9th, 2017 at 9:31 PM
I, like all of you, am just heartbroken. The ONLY consolation I have in this, is that he was found, and taken care of. Carol, I just cannot imagine what it was like for you and Dana.
January 12th, 2017 at 8:01 AM
I want to thank all those that cared for and loved Genesee. He was a very special Tiercel that we will all miss dearly. It was very hard for Dana and I to find him down on the bridge with his mate watching from above. After the DEC retrieved him, his mate remained on watch for about a half hour before heading north. Dana and I stayed to see if she would return. She did not. It was because of her we found Genesee. <3