Offspring Update: Mariah’s Daughter in Michigan!
We’ve received some amazing, wonderful news! Rochester Falconcam team member Carol Phillips reports that another of Mariah’s offspring has been found! Ihteram, one of the females from the 2005 brood, is nesting at the beautiful and historic St. Joseph Catholic Church in Detroit, Michigan. Here’s some of the letter that Carol received from Kariann Anderson, SE Michigan Peregrine Falcon Coordinator for the Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources:
Volunteer Barbara was visiting St. Josephs Catholic Church ( Jay Street ) recently as part of her genealogy research and heard the call of not one but two Peregrine Falcons. Tuesday, April 8th we confirmed that the Peregrines have chosen this site and are attempting to nest. The bell tower is approximately 250 feet [high] and the pair spends most of their time perched on light poles that extend near the peak of the tower. We were having difficulty determining male or female (both birds seem comparable in size through our spotting scopes down below). Barb jokingly said “We need them to mate so we can determine who our female is.” Within the next 5-minutes we witnessed copulation! We have an unbanded male paired with a banded female (black over red with a sideways 2 on the black and an R on the red)… Prior to leaving the site, we noticed the pair enter a small hole in the screen over the windows near the top of the tower. Apparently if they have started to lay eggs it will be on the inside of the church tower.
We’ve been blessed with an abundance of good fortune regarding Mariah’s offspring lately. We now have confirmed sightings of five of the Peregrines that have fledged from the Kodak tower since 2000– Ranger, Freedom, Rhea Mae, Linn, and now Ihteram! 2008 is turning out to be a special year indeed. It will be interesting to see what happens with Ihteram and her mate. It doesn’t appear that the Macomb Audubon Society has any plan to install a webcam at the church, but they post updates on their website so we hope to be able to learn more about this new branch of the Rochester Peregrine family tree!
Here’s a picture of Ihteram published at the Macomb Audubon’s website:
Photo courtesy of Barb Baldinger, Macomb Audubon
Photographer Barb Baldinger looks like an accomplished digiscoper! Hopefully this won’t be the last picture of Ihteram that we get to see. Many thanks go to Carol and to Juanita Woods, who tracked down the ID band information reported by Kariann and tipped off Carol to Ihteram’s presence.
-Jess
April 14th, 2008 at 10:40 PM
What a wonderful report on Ihteram, successfully breeding so far away from home! Must mean Mariah and Kaver have really strong genes! Thank you to everyone for tracking down the information and passing it on to us in Rochester. The photo from the Macomb Audubon’s website is spectacular! Look forward to getting more of these updates.
April 14th, 2008 at 11:18 PM
I WAS SO GLAD TO HEAR OF ANOTHER OFFSPRING OF MARIAH’S. I DID NOT HAVE MY PC AT THE TIME, SO I DID NOT KNOW OF THIS ONE. I HOPE ALL TURNS OUT GOOD FOR HER AND HER MATE, AND LOOKING FORWARD TO MORE WORD ON THEIR NESTING.
April 15th, 2008 at 4:29 AM
I’m moved to tears and blown away that our Ihteram is alive and well and on a beautiful church tower. May she live long and thrive!
April 15th, 2008 at 11:54 AM
This is so amazing and she looks just like her daddy. She picked a beautiful spot to raise her kids.
April 15th, 2008 at 2:32 PM
This is such amazing news. Many thanks to Kariann from Detroit and to Juanita for contacting me. Ihteram is a wonderful combination of both her mom and dad’s good looks. Be safe little one! – Carol P.
April 15th, 2008 at 2:54 PM
How wonderful to have found one more of the many off spring of Mariah. As was said, we now know that they have amazing travel capacity. As more and more people are becoming interested in these fabulous birds, I am sure we will find even more successful migrations and off spring of off spring.
Thanks so much,
Paula Adwell
April 15th, 2008 at 4:31 PM
Thats great that we are finding out that Mariah’s offspring are finding mates,laying eggs,and have found a home! Im sure in a few years we will be saying that its so great that the offspring of 2008 have found homes,mates,and are laying eggs!!! LOL 🙂 😀 😉
April 15th, 2008 at 9:13 PM
Oh, isn’t she gorgeous! I am so pleased that this symbol of respect and understanding is still alive (beating the odds on surviving the first year) and doing well – and she has excellent taste in dwellings 🙂
April 16th, 2008 at 5:22 AM
Wonderful to hear the news about Mariahs and Kaver’s offspring doing so well. This is the fourth year that I have been watching the family’s activities.
In case any interested “falcon watchers” are interested – here is information about a falcon where I live.
I live in a country town in South Australia, which is inundated each year by a flock of about 2,000 Little Corella Cockatoos. The birds numbers have increased, because of human activity, but unfortunately they do destroy the trees they roost on in the centre of the town.
HOWEVER the latest ploy to discourage them is by using a tame PEREGRINE FALCON. The Queen Elizabeth Hospital situated in suburban Adelaide has had a pair of nesting falcons for several years, and the falcon being used to discourage the cockatoos, is one that fell from this nest, but was unable to be replaced. The bird is being used in a humane
attempt to discourage the birds from the centre of the town, and there is a treed area outside of the town, where food and water is left for the cockatoos. The falcon been trained not to kill the cockies, but to encourage them to leave.
It is unfortunate that the bird was not able to be re-nested with its parents, but it is a much better outcome for the cockies than when they were being culled.
April 16th, 2008 at 2:43 PM
If anyone is checking out the site today 4/16, look at camera 2, does that look like an egg that Mariah has stopped trying to hatch? It’s bigger than the other stones in the scrape, and looks similiar in size and color to the eggs that she laid. I noticed it yesterday afternoon. Any thoughts?
April 16th, 2008 at 3:29 PM
Erin – That looks like the “egg stone” noted in a previous entry. Look back for the “Scrape Excavation and a Linn Update” entry and see if you agree.
April 16th, 2008 at 7:15 PM
There is a picture of all 5 eggs and they seem to be fine. I think there is a really large stone toward the left back of the scrape that looks almost egg like. In some of the later pictures, it looks more stone like
April 17th, 2008 at 11:59 AM
I’m so excited to hear of the successes of the Rochester offspring, but am curious as to why everyone refers to them as “Mariah’s”. I do believe Kaver had quite a bit to do with each of them and worked his little feathers off raising them along side Mariah. Kudos to both Mariah AND Kaver for their strong genes and successful offspring! 🙂
April 17th, 2008 at 12:59 PM
I have the same concern as Erin O. I could not see it yesterday but this morning at 7:50 I noticed what looks like an egg to the left side (on the main camera) behind Kaver. Is it an egg?
April 17th, 2008 at 3:52 PM
Jennifer & Erin O. –
I know it’s easy to worry, but please don’t…it is absolutely a stone and not an egg. On 4/16 at 13:21 on the main cam there was a clear view during a shift change of all 5 eggs together and a pale roundish stone to the left rear of the eggs.
Ei
April 17th, 2008 at 6:31 PM
Is the stone/egg Orville?
April 17th, 2008 at 11:13 PM
I think its just a stone.
April 18th, 2008 at 3:45 AM
Isn’t she majestic perching atop her church tower. What a beautiful shot. She has chosen a lovely piece of architecture to call home. Quite a testament to our Rochester Falcons, they are creating an amazing legacy!! I can’t wait to see what this year’s clutch produces.
April 18th, 2008 at 3:47 AM
She does look like her Daddy! This is just wonderful news. Oh…I love this time of year. Thank you all.
April 18th, 2008 at 3:11 PM
Thanks for the replies. Looking forward to seeing 5 eyeas.
April 18th, 2008 at 4:24 PM
Is Mariah okay this morning? She’s had her mouth open for awhile and her right shoulder feathers look ruffled. Thanks for your wonderful website, your dedicated volunteers, and for keeping us posted.
April 21st, 2008 at 7:19 PM
my students and i have been wondering how do you identify the falcons with the bands? is there a registry somewhere that people can check?
we have really enjoyed watching! can’t wait for them to hatch!
April 21st, 2008 at 10:25 PM
Whatever happened to the family tree that had been posted on the kfalcon website? The last one I saw left off with the 5 chicks from 2004. Also, it might be very interesting to see on a chart the known status of the offspring (i.e., known deceased, unknown whereabouts, location seen, and/or seen nesting or with current mate.) I don’t mean to expect more work from the volunteers. I appreciate all you’ve done to maintain a website for a natural wonder. I only mean that a family tree would make it all the more interesting now that there’s a more extensive history. Thanks for all the work you’ve done.
April 21st, 2008 at 10:35 PM
Sorry – I found the family tree thru 2007, but what do the colors mean?
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:11 AM
Ginnie in SC – It has been unseasonably warm here in Rochester, NY this past week. I believe that is why Mariah had her beak open that day. It was hot, hot, hot! – Carol P.
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:00 AM
The peregrine falcons have returned to Topeka, Kansas! Their history is spotty, as the male is agressive and breaks eggs, but the female keeps on trying and last year they finally raised one offspring. Here are some links.
This link is to an announcement from Westar Energy about the history of the falcons in Topeka, and their 2008 return.
Click here for more about the Westar Falcons, a link to the live video cam, and pictures from last year of the first successful raising of a chick in several years. It was really cool to watch the live video, see their feathers rustling and so on.
April 22nd, 2008 at 7:02 PM
@RBuc- The colored background on the falcon names in the Family Tree refer to the colored tape that the DEC technicians place over the US Fish and Wildlife bands. This bright colored tape makes it easier for falcon watchers to identify the fledglings while they’re zooming around downtown Rochester!
September 22nd, 2008 at 8:31 PM
Does anyone know if there are new pictures of Ihteram and her mate than those which are posted above?
September 2nd, 2010 at 7:53 PM
[…] County, Michigan for more information. You may recall that Barb was the one who took the picture of Ihteram that we posted back in 2008. Barb wrote back, but since the ID numbers on the EBP falcon’s band aren’t […]