2016 was a very successful year for our Rochester Falcons. Beginning with Beauty and Dot.ca successfully raising four young eyases to four successful fledges. We can’t forget our other pair, Billie and Seth, who also successfully raised young this year. It was a very good year!

Matilda, Aria, Lilac and Leo have all left Rochester to start their life journeys. We hope they all do well and that we hear about them in the future with mates and young of their own. That is the best news Rochester Falcon Watchers love to hear.

Speaking of that, as you all know, we have been recently reporting that Genesee, hatched in the nest box on top of the Times Square Bldg in 2015, was seen hanging out in the Charlotte/Summerville area. Watchers had reported seeing a female in the area a couple times while Genesee was there.

For the last few weeks, we had not seen Genesee or any other Peregrine Falcons. But, we are VERY happy to report that on January 1, 2017, a local birder, reported seeing two falcons on the Coast Guard Tower on the Summerville side of the Genesee River near Lake Ontario. Falcon fan Kris Genagon, who named Genesee along with another fan, contacted me to let me know that she had found a picture of the two falcons on the Coast Guard Tower! I tracked down the photographer who kindly gave me permission to post his wonderful picture on our website to share with all our fans. The bands on the smaller falcon were definitely those of our Genesee and he wasn’t alone. Genesee has a mate!

Here is the picture that photographer Richard Horsey shared with us.

Sorry to say we are unable to ID this gorgeous girl hanging out with Genesee. But Richard was able to see that she was banded and had red tape over her USFW band and a black/green NYS band. Hopefully someday we’ll be able to positively identify her.

Many thanks to Richard for sharing his picture with us! It is so nice to see that Genesee and his mate are doing well. We hope to see them raising young of their own someday!

Thank you all for helping to support the Rochester Falconcam! We all hope that 2017 will be a successful year for our Rochester Falcons!

Join us December 31st at 10 PM ET on streaming video Channels 1 and 2 to watch the fireworks over downtown Rochester from a bird’s eye view!

We’ll be meeting again later at the Forum Chat & Ustream Social Stream to ring in the New Year together!

And let’s not forget the Watcher’s Toast New Year’s Day at 11 AM, which will be covered live on Rfalconcam streaming video Channel 3!

Look forward to seeing everyone there!

The Rfalconcam 2017 calendar and 2016 ornaments are now available and ready for sale at our Zazzle store just in time for the holidays!

The images captured by our main camera this year were outstanding. So many to choose from.

Many thanks to this year’s contributors!

Check out these links to view the calendar & ornaments and please consider purchasing one for yourself to help support the Rochester Falconcam.

Link for New Calendar:

http://www.zazzle.com/2017_calendar_main_cam_collages-158772796372178857

Links for 2016 Ornaments:

Link to Aria Ornament:

http://www.zazzle.com/2016_aria_ornament-175404078140661808

Link to Lilac Ornament:

http://www.zazzle.com/2016_lilac_ornament-175293429581437537

Link to Matilda Ornament:

http://www.zazzle.com/2016_matilda_ornament-175342886145128550

Link to Leo Ornament:

http://www.zazzle.com/2016_leo_ornament-175554607519469721

Plus a bonus ornament for Genesee in his adult plummage!

http://www.zazzle.com/2016_genesee_ornament_in_adult_plumage-175993882696953920

Special thanks to Dana and Lou!

Thanks everyone!

Thanks to the generosity of our dedicated falcon supporters , we raised over $2,200 yesterday, including $1,000 in bonuses for outstanding teamwork by donors who stayed up late to make their pledges at just the right time. Well done, folks!

ROC the Day officials will send us a list of donors sometime in the next few weeks and a full financial statement in February, at which point we will know who to thank individually. Until then, thank you to everyone who donated. Your contributions will be used to fund Rfalconcam operations and improvements throughout 2017.

Just a reminder to join us tonight at midnight as we ROC Rfalconcam!

And, yes, we have a plan to win the $500 and $1,000 bonuses. You can read all about it at http://rfalconcam.com/forum/index.php?topic=16147.

The link to donate should be https://www.roctheday.org/event/rfalconcam (no confirmation yet).

ROC the Day is November 29!

Are you as ready to ROC as we are? Join us on Tuesday, November 29 starting at midnight to ROC the Day for Rfalconcam.

Don’t miss it. Sign up for a reminder at https://www.roctheday.org/Contact-Us/Pre-event-Contact-Us and get the latest news on ROC the Day activities at our Forum.

Let’s ROC the Day together!

Here are some additional pictures of Genesee provided by Rochester Falcon Watcher Dana Mulhern!

We wanted to share this good news with all our falcon fans. Especially those that watched our cameras in 2015. Remember Genesee? Well he’s been spotted north of Rochester on a cell tower. Rochester Falcon Watcher Dana first spotted him a week ago, but could not get a positive ID. He was back on Sunday and watchers Carol and Joyce joined her to try to get an ID.

Dana finally was able to get a picture showing his bands and Carol verified through her scope.

We are always happy to see one of our young ones doing so well a year after they fledge. Here is a picture showing Genesee as he took his first flight from the Times Square Bldg.

More pictures of Genesee from 2015!

If we get any more pictures of Genesee, we will post them here.

This morning, at approximately 10:30 am, our friends from the DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) arrived to band the four eyases in the nest box on top of the beautiful Times Square Building. All involved gathered in an office on the top floor. Assignments were handed out and it was soon time to collect the eyases.

The extraction went very well. Both Beauty and Dot.ca were flying overhead, back and forth.

All four eyases were put into separate buckets.

They were carried down to the room where all the banding equipment was set up.

Each eyas was given two bands, a silver USFW (US Fish and Wildlife) band and a New York State Band. Three of the silver USFW bands was covered with colored tape, red, blue and yellow. The fourth one was left uncovered by tape. This will help the Rochester Falcon Watchers to more easily identify the young falcons after they have fledged (taken their first flights).

They also received their new names. Please join us in welcoming this year’s newest Rochester Falcons.

Matilda (Female) – (Battle Maiden) of Gothic derivation, derived from words corresponding to Old High German “mahta” (meaning “might, strength”) and “hildr” (meaning “battle”)

This name was chosen by Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK (Margaret Kurtz)

Black 84 Over Green BA – Red Tape over USFW

Aria (Female) – Aria, which means wind and, in some meanings, bird.

This name was chosen by Rochester Falcon Watcher Jeanne Yamonaco

Black 85 Over Green BA – Blue Tape over USFW

Lilac (Female) – for Rochester’s signature flower. Rochester’s most beautiful flower is paired with Rochester’s most beautiful birds.

Name Submitted by Susan Stifter of Rochester; J.R. of Scottsville, NY; and Melissa Slaughter.

Black 86 Over Green BA – Yellow Tape over USFW

Leo (Male) – the lion. Fifth sign of the zodiac, personalities are strong and created to shine. Also a constellation.

Name chosen by Peggy Quinn’s 4th Grade Class at Pine Brook Elementary School, Greece, NY.

Black 22 Over Green BA – No Tape over USFW

After all the eyases were banded, they were quickly returned to the nest box and the care of their parents.

Both Beauty and Dot.ca continued to fly overhead as the eyases were returned.

Each year, the DEC will collect all the debris in the nest box. This will help them to determine what the falcons are eating.

The banding went very smoothly and we here at Rfalconcam and the Genesee Valley Audubon would like to give special thanks to the folks from the DEC. We so appreciate them for all they do! Thank you!

Our friends from the DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) will be coming to Rochester tomorrow morning to band Beauty and Dot.ca’s four eyases. Banding should happen at approximately 10:30 am. When they are banded, they will be given their chosen names!