Thanks to the generosity of our dedicated falcon followers, we raised over $1800 yesterday, including a $500 bonus earned by carrying out our clever plan to donate en masse between midnight and 2 am in order to increase our chances of winning those 2 hourly drawings.

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 2014.

There are three new 2013 Rfalconcam Ornaments now available at our Zazzle store!

You can now add Baron, Rosetta and Voyager to your ornament collection.

Just click on the three links below to see them.

Thanks for your continued support of the Rochester Falconcam!

Baron

Baron
http://www.zazzle.com/2013_baron_ornament-175261927686554003

Rosetta
http://www.zazzle.com/2013_rosetta_ornament-175491215926601863

Voyager
http://www.zazzle.com/2013_voyager_ornament-175729423306912079

ROC the Day is only a a few hours away!

Join us tonight at midnight for the start of ROC the Day. Sadly this year there are no bonuses for the most number of ROCstar donors in a 2-hour time period. But that doesn’t meant there aren’t any bonuses to win. Every hour one lucky ROCstar (that’s you!) will be randomly chosen to give an extra $500 bonus to the non-profit of their choice. We are going to try to get that bonus during the first hour, and here is how we plan to do it.

We are asking all of our falcon watching ROCstars to make a donation just after midnight. This will be at a time when there are very few other people making donations. This should give us a numerical advantage when the first random drawing is made at 1 am. There is a good chance that one of you will be chosen, and then you can elect to have Rfalconcam receive the $500 bonus. Also, if you can stay up until after 1 am to make a 2nd donation, one of you might win the 2nd drawing at 2 am. (Please note that you do not have to stay up for the actual drawings. The ROC the Day folks will notify you by email if you are picked.)

So stay up a few extra hours or set your alarm clock for midnight and then make a donation. It doesn’t have to be a big one. In fact, if you make small donations throughout the day tomorrow, you will be eligible for each hourly drawing where you will have a slim but real chance of winning.

Be sure to stay tuned. You can get the latest news on our ROC the Day plans at our Forum or on our Facebook page. You can also follow us on Twitter.

By the way, the link to donate is http://www.roctheday.org/rfalconcam.

ROC the Day is only 5 days away!

Did you know that every hour one lucky ROCstar (that’s you!) will be randomly chosen to give an extra $500 bonus to the charity of their choice? There are 24 chances to win!

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!

We received word today that one of our young females hatched this year has been seen up in Canada at Long Point, Ontario.

Many thanks to our friend Patty Gale from Canada who posted on Face Book about an immature Peregrine Falcon being seen with band #’s Green 96 over Black BA. Rochester Falcon Watchers Margaret Kurtz (MAK) and Joyce Miller were able to immediately identify this young Falcon as our very own Rosetta!

We here at Rfalconcam would like to thank Mike Burrell for spotting Rosetta at Long Point, Ontario, Canada and for allowing us to share his beautiful pictures. Rosetta looks great and seems to be doing well since leaving Rochester. Happy Thanksgiving from all of us here at Rfalconcam!

The 2014 Rfalconcam Calendars are now available!

The Merchandise Team, with a lot of help from some friends, has completed the 2014 Rfalconcam Calendars. There are two versions this year; one with full page main camera shots and one made up of main camera collages.

What a great way to relive the 2013 Rochester Falcons season with pictures of Beauty, Dot.ca, Pigott (yes, Pigott visited the nest box early in the year), Rosetta, Voyager and Baron and to support the Rfalconcam cameras!

— Be sure to click on this picture to see the full version.

Both Calendars should be showing up in our Holiday & Calendars Category on Zazzle very shortly.

Thanks very much for your continued support!

Here are the two links to the new calendars on our Zazzle page.

Link For the Main Camera Full page picture calendar.

Link For the Main Camera Collage Calendar:

There’s a new falcon in town! For the last month or so, the Rochester Falcon Watchers have been keeping their eyes on a juvenile Peregrine Falcon that has been seen hunting off of buildings along the Genesee River north of downtown Rochester, NY. There have been many pictures taken, but until now, its identity had eluded us.

On Wednesday afternoon, October 9, 2013, Rochester Falcon Watcher Dana Mulhern was out checking the area around the Charlotte and Summerville piers, where the Genesee River empties into Lake Ontario. She spotted a juvenile Peregrine Falcon on top of the tall antenna at the Coast Guard Station on the Summerville side. Dana tweeted out that she had spotted the falcon and fellow Watcher Carol Phillips joined her. For close to three hours, they watched the falcon hunt from the antenna, stooping on ducks and gulls along the river and chasing pigeons. Their patience paid off. Dana was able to get a picture that clearly showed 77 Black over AX Green on the band. The picture was shared with our friends at the NYS DEC. Joyce Miller and Dana recognized the band #’s as ones possibly being used in Buffalo, NY. So Joyce also sent an email to Connie Adams from the Buffalo DEC. She got back to us today, and it was really good news!

“Thanks for this information!! Yes, I would agree with you, the photos are 77/AX and that would be Billy from Central Terminal. Always good to see they have learned to become successful predators.” – Connie

Billy, is a 2013 female hatched at Central Terminal in Buffalo, NY. So, why are the Rochester Falcon Watchers so excited? Billy’s parents are Gleig and Diamante. Diamante hatched on top of the Kodak Tower in 2008. He is the son of Mariah and Kaver. So Billy is Mariah and Kaver’s granddaughter! Also, she is Pigott’s niece, since Gleig and Pigott are sisters. What a small Peregrine world we live in!

We here at Rfalconcam would like to thank all the Rochester Falcon Watchers who are out every day and reporting what they see and to Dana for getting the picture that allowed us to be able to ID this young falcon. Also a big thank you to Connie Adams of the NYS DEC. It is always good to see a juvenile doing so well.

We have lots of pictures to share thanks to Rochester Falcon Watchers Dana & Joyce.

Pictures of Billy at Summerville, NY on 10/9/13 by Dana Mulhern

Pictures of Billy at Central Terminal in Buffalo, NY at the nest site before she Fledged by Dana Mulhern

Joyce Miller sent us these pictures: 1 – Billy (left) with her brother Edward, 2 – Diamante in Flight, and 3 – Gleig in Flight

For the last couple weeks, the Rochester Falcon Watchers have spent many hours on the streets below the nest box on top of the Times Square Bldg. Why were they there? To keep an eye on the three young eyases who spread their wings and took their first flights. We are happy to report that all three fledged successfully!

They are now flying high above downtown Rochester, NY. It will be awhile before they go out on their own. There are many skills they will learn from their parents Beauty and Dot.ca during the next few weeks.

Baron, Rosetta and Voyager are learning what they need to know to become successful Peregrine Falcons in the future.

To read about their adventures, be sure to check out the Falcon Watch Blog.

Many thanks to the dedicated group of Rochester Falcon Watchers. You are all so much appreciated. We would also like to thank the many falcon fans from around the world who watched the cams and tweeted out what they were seeing to the local Watchers. Your help was invaluable. Thank you all!

Today was banding day for the three young eyases (young falcons) in the nest box high on top of the Times Square Building located in downtown Rochester, NY.

Our friends from the Department of Environmental Conservation were there to band them. At the same time they are banded, they were given names chosen by Rochester Falcon Fans and Watchers.

The extraction of the eyases went very smoothly. Both parents, Beauty and Dot.ca were there and they showed their displeasure when their young were taken.

The young Peregrine Falcons were brought into the building where they were banded. First their gender is determined by measuring the circumference of the leg. Females are larger than the males.

The first eyas was a female and she was given the name Rosetta. Rochester Falcons Fans were asked to submit names for one of the eyases. Then the names were voted for by the members of the Rfalconcam Forum. The winning submission was sent in by Eileen Karle of Kerhonkson, NY.

ROSETTA (Female) Name submitted by Eileen Karle & Chosen by the RFalconcam Forum Members
Rosetta McClain Garden is a park on the Scarborough Bluffs above the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto, ON. It is the home of a raptor watch founded by Frank Butson. Big Frank is no longer with us, but his legacy of caring for raptors of all kinds lives on in our eyases…he rescued Dot.ca soon after he fledged.
NYS Band: 96 Black/BA Green; USFW Band: 1947-21532 – With White Stripe on Blue Tape

The second eyas is also a female. Her name is Voyager, chosen by long time Falcon Watcher Larry O’Heron.

VOYAGER (Female) – Named by Larry O’Heron
The twin Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft continue exploring where nothing from Earth has flown before. In the 33rd year after their 1977 launches, they each are much farther away from Earth and the Sun than Pluto. Both spacecraft are still sending scientific information about their surroundings through the Deep Space Network (DSN). The primary mission was exploration. After making a string of discoveries, the mission was extended. The adventurers’ current mission, the Voyager Interstellar Mission (VIM), will explore the outermost edge of the Sun’s domain. And beyond.
NYS Band: 95 Black/BA Green; USFW Band: 1947-21533 – With Red Stripe on Yellow Tape

The 3rd eyas banded was smaller. This little male was named Baron, named by another long time Rochester Falcon Watcher, Lou Capuano.

BARON (Male) – Named by Lou Capuano
The word ‘Baron’ means warrior or nobleman. It’s associated with individuals who possess great power or influence in some field of activity. An example is the ‘Red Baron’, perhaps the most widely known flying ace in history due to his prowess in the air.
NYS Band: 19 Black/BA Green; USFW Band: 2206-75402 – With Green Stripe on Yellow Tape (6/27 – green tape came off)

The banding of the eyases was over quickly and they were returned to the nest box where Beauty joined them, sitting on the Rfalconcam main camera. Things are back to normal in the nest box. Be sure to check out our cameras and live streaming video to see what is happening with Beauty, Dot.ca, Rosetta, Voyager and Baron.

Here are some more pictures from banding day.

Banding will take place this afternoon at approximately 2 pm. There will not be live camera coverage of the actual banding. However, we plan to keep our nest box cameras running and post updates to our Forum, Facebook, and Twitter throughout the event.