At approximately 2:46 pm this afternoon, Beauty laid her first egg of 2015 in the nest box on top of the Times Square Bldg. in Rochester, NY.

Peregrines usually lay their eggs 48 to 72 hours apart, so sometime on Sunday or Monday we should see egg #2.

Last year Beauty laid a total of four eggs. We’re expecting about the same number this year, but who knows. There could be five! Dot.ca has proven himself to be an apt provider for his family so we have no doubt that if we get a clutch of 5 eyases, (falcon hatchlings), they’ll be well fed and taken care of.

So, if you want to keep an eye out for the next egg, here are some signs that Beauty may be getting ready to lay the next one. She’ll spend a lot of time in the nest box, sitting over the bowl-like scrape that she and Dot.ca have dug into the gravel. She may look tired and disheveled, and have a heavy, gravid appearance. She can be in that condition for as little as a couple of hours before laying, to as much as a day. Then, when she’s actually delivering the egg, she’ll be restless, changing her position frequently.

The actual moment at which the egg is deposited can be hard to spot, but thanks to our live video streams you should have an unparalleled opportunity to share in the excitement. And of course, we’ll keep our eyes open too, and announce the happy news as soon as it happens!

Well, you know we love to hear news about our Rochester falcons, especially when awesome pictures are available!

Jerry Anderson posted a picture of a Peregrine Falcon he had watched hunting at Gallagher Beach (Buffalo, NY) on the Buffalo-Niagara Rare Bird Alert. He reported the following:

“This is one of the Peregrine Falcons I regularly photograph at Gallagher beach. There is usually a pair.”

Gallagher Beach is not that far from Central Terminal, where Diamante and Gleig nest. It would be interesting to know if Gleig is the 2nd falcon that Jerry has been seeing.

Jerry kindly gave us permission to post his pictures of Diamante. We knew you would all love to see him!

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 12 noon, which will be covered live on Rfalconcam streaming video Channel 3!

Look forward to seeing everyone there!

We have received some very good news from our friends at the Canadian Peregrine Foundation. Quest no longer has her transmitter. Rfalconcam Forum member Donna Cook was able to capture some pictures of Quest taken by the Harlequin falcon cameras. She immediately noticed that something was missing. The transmitter antenna we were so used to seeing on her back was gone. She shared the pictures with other members of the forum and members of the Canadian Peregrine Foundation (CPF).

– Picture of Quest from the Harlequin Falconcam

Many thanks to Donna and CPF Member, Bruce Massey, who positively identified that it was Quest at the Don Mills nest site and that she no longer had her transmitter! Here is Bruce’s report.

Quest Has Shed Her Transmitter and On Site with a Potential New Suitor
December 21, 2014 – Toronto – Don Mills

Posted on December 21, 2014 10:53 pm

Here are some images of a young Quest with her transmitter in 2008. She did a lot of wandering her first year and made lots of friends, especially in Nantucket and Cape Cod.

For the holidays, we are offering four new Rfalconcam ornaments. Each ornament features two images of our young falcons hatched this year in 2014; Nettie, Tesh, Mercury and Nor’easter.

We hope that you enjoy these ornaments. As always, we thank you for your support of Rfalconcam.

Here are the links for all four ornaments.

Nettie:
http://www.zazzle.com/2014_nettie_ornament-175645792723121663

Tesh:
http://www.zazzle.com/2014_tesh_ornament-175122884672431314

Mercury:
http://www.zazzle.com/2014_mercury_ornament-175940804421380264

Nor’easter:
http://www.zazzle.com/2014_noreaster_ornament-175092420510225340

Thanks once again to the generosity of our dedicated falcon followers, we raised nearly $2,500 yesterday, including two bonuses totaling $1,500 that were earned by carrying out our time-honored plan to donate en masse between midnight and 1 am in order to increase our chances of winning.

ROC the Day officials will send us a list of donors sometime next week 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 2015.

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=13907.0.

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

ROC the Day is December 2!

Are you as ready to ROC as we are? Join us on Tuesday, December 2 starting at midnight to ROC the Day for Rfalconcam.

Did you know that every odd hour (1 AM, 3 AM, etc.) one lucky ROCstar (that’s you!) will be randomly chosen to give an extra $500 bonus to the charity of their choice? There are 12 chances to win!

And did you also know that on the even hours, the organization with the highest number of donors for the preceding two-hour period will get an extra $1,000?

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

Let’s ROC the Day together!

The Rfalconcam 2015 calendar is now available and ready for sale at our Zazzle store just in time for the holidays! There were some stunning images captured by our main camera this year. So many to choose from.

Many thanks to this year’s contributors; Annette, Ginny, Pat, Donna, Teresa, Kris, Ei (Dumpsterkitty), Kathy, Lisa, Dana and Carol.

Please consider purchasing one for yourself to help support the Rochester Falconcam.

Link for New Calendar:

http://www.zazzle.com/2015_calendar_main_cam_collages-158789746649432508

Special thanks to Merchandise Team Member Dana for putting this calendar together. All your hard work is much appreciated!

If you’ve been following the RFalconcam Falcon Watch Blog, you know that all four of the young falcons that hatched on top of the Times Square Building have fledged successfully. Nor’Easter, Tesh, Mercury and Nettie have left the area. We wish them well as they begin their journey and we hope to hear about them in the future.

We would like to thank all the folks that came out to help with the fledge watch this year. To keep an eye on the young Peregrine Falcons as they took their first flights and trained with their parents, Beauty and Dot.ca.

There were a few anxious moments, including a premature fledge when a strong gust of wind swept Tesh off of the wall near the nest box. She ended up on a low awning above the sidewalk on the corner of Main St and Exchange. The Rochester Falcon Watchers gathered to surround the area and keep her safe until she was strong enough to fly again. When she did take off, she gained altitude and landed on top of a taller building where she remained for the evening. The next morning Tesh was off and flying well, eventually making her way back to the nest box and her family.

We had more good news, this time from Syracuse, NY. Pigott, who had been hanging out for the last few years on a building south of downtown Rochester, was positively ID’d as the new female at the Syracuse nest site. She left Rochester in March and it didn’t take her long to find a new territory and mate. We were thrilled to hear that she successfully raised a daughter.

2014 was a very successful year for the Rochester Falcons!

The following is from June Summers.

Thank you to the Falcon Watchers for putting in thousands of hours tracking the Peregrine Falcons, fledglings and those falcons just passing through. It’s amazing to learn the number of falcons that pass through Rochester on migration that our Falcon Watchers find and often identify by the band numbers. The Falcon Watchers are great ambassadors to the public for the falcons and GVAS. They are frequently asked what they are watching with binoculars. Their reply is always, “Peregrine Falcons.”

June Summers
President