On Easter Sunday, 23 March, some of our dedicated falcon watchers witnessed a territory battle at the nest box. When a non-resident female Peregrine flew into the area she was intercepted by Kaver. Long-time watcher and Rochester Falconcam team members Lisa McKeown and Carol Phillips observed several attacks by both Mariah and Kaver as they attempted to drive the intruder away.

Here is some of Carol’s reporting from the scene on Sunday:

…Kaver flew off of the tower, heading south. I watched him with my binoculars, until he met up with a bird past the communication tower. This bird was larger than Kaver and it was a PEREGRINE FALCON!

They both turned and started heading north towards the Kodak Tower! No matter how Kaver tried to push “The Intruder” away, she kept coming towards the tower. They were high above me. That’s when I spotted a 3rd Falcon, higher than the two battling above me! I quickly looked back at the tower and Mariah was up on the southeast corner of the launchpad, still sounding the alarm. I lost track of the 4th Falcon, but Kaver and the female (who has a large gap in her tail feathers) were coming closer and closer to the tower.

As you can read from Carol’s report, it appears there were a pair of intruding falcons, but the third one she mentioned never joined the territory fight and seems to have flown away. Mariah joined the attack and drove the female away from the tower toward downtown Rochester. She returned to the nest box and everything was quiet for a while, but the calm didn’t last. Again, Carol reports:

Alarm Kaking [sic] came from the tower. I quickly looked around, not spotting anything. Both Mariah and Kaver took off heading south. The Intruder was again heading in towards the tower. This time [they] were able to turn her around.

Unfortunately the intruding falcon came back for a third attempt. This time, the battle at the nest box lasted nearly an hour.

[Near 2:00 PM], all *#@%* broke loose. Again alarm Kaking [sic] from the tower. Again, [Mariah and Kaver] took off from the tower, speeding towards downtown! They were really far out before I was able to see their target. Both attacked in tandem, but the female was bound and determined to get to the tower. This time she would be successful!

In this picture you can see the intruder crouched in the south-east corner of the catwalk while Kaver watches alertly from the top of Camera 1. Shortly after this, Carol reported that Mariah actually climbed inside the iron bars of the catwalk and fought with the intruder. There was a lot of furious wing flapping and aggressive vocalizations before the intruding falcon finally decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and flew away. Here’s the final installment of Carol’s report:

I watched… as Mariah and Kaver followed behind the Intruder as she sped towards the tower. They passed over me, screaming. The Intruder landed on the east side playpen railing, I could just make her out. Kaver landed near the nest box and Mariah went inside the nest box. All was quiet for a moment.

Mariah came out of the nest box and flew around the tower. She was searching for the Intruder. It didn’t take her long to spot her. For a very long time (it seemed forever) both Mariah and Kaver took turns stooping on the playpen, where the Intruder had hunkered down… Finally Kaver settled on Camera #1 while Mariah continued the
attack.

Barb and Lisa had arrived during this attack and then Kathy O. We watched Mariah land on the south east corner of the playpen railing (base). At first it looked like she was resting. As we watched, Mariah spread her wings, like one of the fledglings mantling food.

We couldn’t see what had Mariah’s attention, but as we watched Mariah went through the bars and into the playpen. We
could hear horrible sounds of fighting inside the playpen. It seemed to last forever. Kaver watched from above on Camera #1. FINALLY, Mariah chased the Intruder out of the playpen and both she and Kaver chased her around the tower heading north this time. We all spread out in different directions, but none of us were able to see where they went. Thankfully it wasn’t long before first Mariah and then Kaver returned to the nest box area. Whew!

With Peregrine populations increasing thanks to successful reintroduction programs, territory battles are becoming more common. It’s an uncomfortable fact of life that there are more Peregrines than available nest sites, and as we’ve noted here before, the nest on the Kodak tower is an ideal site.

Mariah should begin laying her eggs any day now, according to her “normal” yearly schedule, but if she’s under stress or threat, she may delay laying them. If the threat is potent enough, she might not lay eggs at all. Since the intruding falcon hasn’t been seen since Sunday afternoon we’re hopeful that she has left the area for good, and that Mariah and Kaver will return to their normal routine. Everyone at the Rochester Falconcam will remain alert for further trouble and update you as soon as we know anything. Our sincere thanks go to Carol, Lisa, and all of the others who gave up their Easter Sunday afternoon to observe and report on the scuffle over the skies of Rochester.

-Jess

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 at 7:59 PM and is filed under Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.