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With the warmer weather we’ve had recently, Quest may be deciding to expand her orbit a bit. From the 5^th through the 12^th she repeated her familiar pattern in Nantucket, but on the 13^th she headed north. She didn’t go far though, stopping at Cape Cod where she’s been recorded in Chatham, Eastham, and Wellfleet harbor.

Could this be the beginning of a spring move, perhaps to scout out a possible territory? It’s still way to early to tell what she’s going to do, but keep watching for more updates!

From our friends in Port Colborne, Ontario, we hear that another season is under way. Doug sent this note to Falconcam team member Carol Phillips.

Hi Carol,

I guess the falcon season has begun. Freedom & Millie have been witnessed doing the “boogie”, so we’re hoping for some success here this year. I’m watching your Imprints (falconcam) & Quest reports & hope everything goes OK on both fronts. It must be amazing to follow a young falcon the way you are lucky enough to. I also think you may not be so surprised as Mariah adapts to her new environment. She is a “falcon factory” & moving her box will not slow her down!

By the way, Freedom is a rocket in the sky!!!!!!!!!!Doug

Amid all the uncertainty here in Rochester it’s good to know that the lives of these falcons continue to impress and enlighten us. We’re looking forward to hearing more about Freedom and Millie in the coming months!

You might think this is Kaver. It certainly looks a lot like him. But it isn’t. The fact is, Kaver hasn’t been seen since last fall, when he presumably left the area for his regular winter migration.

The tiercel in this picture appears to be Tybropa-Cree, a falcon that was fostered, or hacked by our friends at the Canadian Peregrine Foundation back in 2007. In an interesting coincidence he came from the same hack box in Scarborough, Ontario that Linn, Mariah and Kaver’s daughter from 2007, had been staking out last year. Tybropa-Cree– our watchers have nicknamed him “TC”– has a black ID band on his leg, which is how we found out who he was. Watcher Jill Church first photographed him in the town of Greece, east of Rochester, in late February.

Why mention him, you might be asking? Well, the answer is that for the past several days TC has been here in Rochester, hanging around with Mariah and exhibiting all of the typical courtship behaviors we’ve come to expect from Peregrines. A couple of days ago, Falconcam team member Carol Phillips found him under the pedestrian bridge near the Kodak tower. Here’s an album of her pictures. And if you look at the fourth picture in Carol’s album, you’ll see that TC and Mariah have even been observed mating!

So, what of Kaver? That will have to remain a mystery, unless he should fly back into town. It’s not too late for him to do that– he’s arrived as late as the 15^th in past years, but most recently he’s been returning early in the first week of March, so his absence this late in the month is atypical. If he does return, there would almost certainly be a battle between him and TC, with one of them being driven out of the territory, or perhaps even killed. If he doesn’t, then Mariah has fulfilled her biological imperative for reproduction by mating with this new tiercel.

Now that they have commenced mating, nest selection should begin soon. Both Mariah and TC have been spending lots of time on the Kodak Tower, despite the absence of a nest box. So far they haven’t taken much notice of either of the boxes installed on the Powers or Times Square Buildings. The next couple of weeks should see them choosing a nesting spot. You can keep tabs on the nest box at the Powers Building at the Rochester Falconcam’s Multicam page, and we hope to have the cameras at the Times Square box connected soon. Our watchers are keeping their eyes to the skies too, so we’ll be sure to keep you updated!

In the meantime, courtesy of Frank at the Canadian Peregrine Foundation, we’re happy to bring you some pictures of Tybropa-Cree when he was a youngster growing up in the hack box in Scarborough, Ontario.

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Again, not much to report from Quest. Aside from a trip north to a curious, spidery clump of interconnected roads and expensive looking buildings in the Polpis area she continues her normal pattern of movements in south-east Nantucket.

We’re happy to report that the winter storm that struck the northeast earlier in the week does not appear to have impacted Quest to any great extent. Her transmitter’s temperature sensor continues to read well above ambient air temperatures, going as high as 25°C and generally hovering between 18 and 20 degrees.

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There is not much to report regarding Quest’s movements over the past ten days. Indeed, with few exceptions she has settled into a fairly predictable pattern. Most early morning and late evening locations are in the Tom Nevers neighborhood. Most daytime readings show her along the coast, south of Low Beach Road.

From Nantucket birding authority Edie Ray, we learn that Quest continues to be seen at the beach. Edie emailed recently to say that “the Nantucket Marine Mammal Stranding Team were down on the beach near the Loran Station and Tom Never’s Pond (measuring a dead Pygmy Sperm Whale that had washed up) on 2/11 and 2/12 and saw Quest both times!”

Since she’s keeping to such a small area we think residents and visitors have a pretty good chance of spotting her at the shore on most days.

The New York Department of Environmental Conservation released their report on the state’s Peregrine population last week. It has some good information about the success of the repopulation program here in New York State.

Read the DEC’s press release

View the full report (in Adobe PDF format): Part 1 Part 2

We’re happy to announce that we’ve turned on the three cameras at the nest box that was installed at the historic Powers Building in downtown Rochester late last year. This is the nest box that used to be located on the Kodak tower. A second nest box has been installed about a block away from this one at the Times Square building.

The Rochester Falconcam team is still working on getting cameras up and running there, and there are some technical tweaks still to be made at the Powers Building. Mariah hasn’t yet put in an appearance before the cameras, but we invite you to take an early look while we wait for the 2009 “falcon season” to move into high gear. Check out the Rochester Falconcam’s Multicam page to see if you’re the first to spot Mariah. And be sure to read the Falconwatch blog for all the latest news from our on-site watchers!

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It appears that Quest has found a good place to rest in the area around Wood Hollow Road and Chuck Hollow Road amid the woodlands and expansive houses just south of the Siasconset Golf Course. Morning and evening readings form a tight cluster of locations within about ½ mile. Her daytime locations are farther south near the shore in keeping with many of the eyewitness accounts we’ve received over the past months. Data from the transmitter’s temperature sensor continues to show that Quest is keeping warm, with temperatures from 18-25°C being recorded. So as we head toward the latter part of winter Quest is keeping a routine that ought to make it relatively easy for her many fans on Nantucket to keep track of her.

-Jess

The birding populace on Nantucket certainly seem to have taken Quest into their hearts. The latest sighting comes from Edie Ray, who had a close encounter with Quest on the 25^th of January. She sent along some pictures to go with her engaging story too. You can view the pictures by clicking the pictures and highlighted links below. Edie writes:

Late in the afternoon on [January 25, 2009] I pulled into the parking area at Low Beach in ‘Sconset on the Eastern edge of Nantucket Island, Ma. As I exited my car and began pulling on numerous layers of clothing (it was COLD), I noticed a woman with several dogs walking up the trail from the beach. Just beyond her and seemingly undisturbed by this activity I observed a Peregrine Falcon sitting on a sign on the beach. “Must be Quest”, I thought to myself.

I asked the dog-walker as she hurried past if she had seen the Peregrine and would she like a closer look using my binos. She replied that she had indeed seen the bird and had wondered what “that funny stick was on it’s back”. Aha, Quest for sure…

Now on a quest for Quest I headed to the beach and managed a pic or two of her sitting on the sand. As I watched I could see her looking at a flock of Bufflehead ducks feeding just offshore. All of a sudden she took flight and headed out over the startled ducks. I then lost sight of her over the water.

Turning my attention to gulls I amused myself for about forty minutes counting and admiring the many Iceland and Lesser Black-backed Gulls feeding just North along the beach from Quest’s take off point. As I left the gulls and began to head back along the beach to the path I once again saw Quest. She now was sitting on a “shipwreck” looking piece of flotsam and jetsam and looking very photogenic indeed.

     

     

Not wanting to disturb her I approached slowly, pausing at times to let her get accustomed to my presence. At one point she lifted her tail and produced a “nice poop”, good evidence of her success in hunting I think! With her “consent” and a telephoto lens I was then able to get a number of nice shots of her basking in the late afternoon sun.

Leaving Quest I headed up the path to my car. While greeting some arriving birders in the parking lot one of them (Vern Laux) yelled “Peregrines!” I turned just in time to grab my camera and get a pic or two of Quest embarking on an aerial dogfight with a smaller Peregrine right over the beach. Even at a distance we could her vocalizing!

After watching this amazing display until both birds were out of sight I headed for home having had a most memorable encounter with a true master of flight. All in all an afternoon I won’t soon forget!

We’re so grateful to Edie and all of Quest’s fans on Nantucket for keeping us informed about her, and especially for sending along all of the terrific pictures! Quest looks great, and she sure seems to be having a good time on her island winter home.

-Jess

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No new real news about Quest, who has stayed close to Tom Nevers for the past week. Most of the stong transmissions came in the early morning hours when Quest is presumably sleeping, so perhaps we aren’t seeing the full scope of her wanderings. What is clear is that she’s returning to the same small area day in and day out, and most likely not venturing very far from it. In fact, on the 28^th of January and February 2^nd, Quest was in exactly the same spot, a wooded area adjacent to the residence at 68 Tom Nevers Road. Since these data points occurred in the early morning and late evening hours, it’s likely this is a sleeping spot for her. If anyone currently resides at that address, they might have a good opportunity to see her.

Other interesting plots for Quest occurred on the 29^th of January, and again on February 1^st. These place her in the vicinity of the Coast Guard radio tower at Siasconset. This is probably the highest point on the island, and if she’s perching at the top of the tower, Quest doubtless has an unobstructed view of much of Nantucket.

If you’ve been following the reports from our on-scene watchers at the FalconWatch Blog, you’ve already heard the good news. If you haven’t, why not??? Anyway, we’re happy to announce that Mariah flew back into Rochester a few days ago! A non-resident falcon (female) and tiercel (male) had been making themselves at home at many of the perching spots familiar to our volunteers for the past couple of months, but they both left the area as soon as Mariah returned. Some research suggests that migrating Peregrines may have nearly as much affinity for a particular wintering site as they have for their home territories. Interestingly, these winter migrants aren’t often interested in taking over a territory, just in having a place to roost and hunt during the winter. When the regular residents return, the migrants often leave without engaging in territory battles or other disputes, to head back to their own “home” territories. Perhaps that’s the case with our winter visitors this year. In any event, we’re glad that Mariah has returned to Rochester for an astounding 14^th year!

She’s been spending a lot of time on the Kodak tower, so there’s still some uncertainty as to whether she’ll find and move into one of the two nest boxes that have been placed downtown for her. Our dedicated watchers will be braving the mid-winter freeze here in town to keep an eye on her, so keep checking back for more reports!

-Jess