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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

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Thanks to Quest’s regularity, continuing gaps in the location data from her transmitter haven’t hindered our ability to follow her movements. As you’ll see from the latest map she continues her stay in the Tom Nevers neighborhood. In an unusual coincidence, Quest’s trip up the beach on 22 January found her in exactly the same location as she was on the 1^st of January, right down to 1/1000^th of a degree! The time stamps for the location data are different for each day, so this might indicate that she has a favored spot at that location.

Perhaps the most interesting data from the past week concerned the temperature. Quest’s satellite transmitter has a small temperature sensor built into it. This sensor measures the temperature of the transmitter unit, which is influenced by the temperature of Quest’s environment, and also her own body temperature. Provided that the signal strength is good, we usually receive a temperature reading along with each location. Often, the temperature readings aren’t much different than the ambient temperature at her location. This most likely means that Quest is in a relatively exposed location.

The interesting bit is that for the past week, while average daily temperatures in Nantucket have hovered between -1° and -4°C, Quest’s temperature sensor has been reading 20 to 25 degrees higher than that. In fact, the temperature reading on 26 January was 32.39°C, or 90.3°F. That’s a pretty high temperature for the middle of winter, and it may indicate that Quest is finding good shelter from the elements. It’s yet another positive sign that her survival instincts are developing well.

-Jess

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It’s been a few days since our last update, but Quest didn’t give us any surprises. She has continued to spend her time in the Tom Nevers neighborhood, her home for the past few weeks. She ventured northeast east to Sankaty Head on the 9^th but for the most part she seems content to stay within a relatively small area.

We can assume that the very frigid temperatures that descended on the United States last week kept her movements to a minimum. We’re happy to see that she weathered the arctic blast without undue difficulty. It’s yet another hopeful sign that Quest may go on to a long, fruitful life.

-Jess

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True to form, Quest continues to make the Tom Nevers neighborhood her home. All of the satellite data for the past several days places her in a pretty small area of less than one mile. It seems that she has a taste for the upscale homes and wooded lots.

When she’s not in Tom Nevers, she’s at the beach, hunting. With the help of Rochester Falconcam member Carol Phillips we were very fortunate to have received a note from Vernon Laux, who described his encounter with Quest only a couple of days ago.

Jan. 6, 2009
Quest Successful Hunt

The wind died here on Nantucket on the afternoon of Jan. 6, 2009, a most unusual occurrence. I headed out to Low Beach on the southeast corner of the island to witness the “gull show” -far and away the best on the eastern seaboard. While looking at some 120 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 85 Iceland Gulls, 3 thousand Bonaparte’s Gulls, a couple of adult Little Gulls as well as finding some 15 Dovekies sitting in the water and flying about all the small gulls flew off the water and gathered in a dense flock. This is a sure sign of a falcon on the hunt. It was 2:30 in the afternoon.

Scanning everywhere I finally picked out the falcon, ringing at a considerable height and already almost out of sight in binoculars heading due east. The falcon then stooped on something and missed. Switching to a spotting scope I lost the falcon out over the water, guessing she was a mile and a half away. I had barely seen the bird and could not tell if it was fitted with a transmitter.

Approximately 15 minutes later I spotted a falcon coming back to shore from way out east. It was heading right for me and I could tell by the labored flight that it was carrying prey. As the bird flew almost directly me over me I could tell that it was a Dovekie in her talons. She flew right in to where I was on the beach and came fairly close heading down the beach about a half mile further to sit on a piece of driftwood. I could see the antenna as she flew past.

I decided to give chase to attempt to get photos for the folks in Rochester as I was aware that Quest had been hanging out. While not delighted that she was hunting Dovekies, quite a rare bird here and no match at all for a falcon, it was a good use of the hapless Alcid. Dovekies are always a scarce bird in these parts but that is the way it is.

She proceeded to pluck the bird with feathers flying. Normally falcons decapitate their prey and when done leave the head, feet, bits of the sternum and intestines. Dovekies being basically neckless, Quest was not able to do this and went to work plucking and eating. She allowed me to approach within about 25 yards when she moved up the beach a little further. At any rate she seemed to be enjoying her meal so I left her in peace. She went to roost with a full crop as the weather was about to get much worse. She looks very healthy and the transmitter does not seem to be slowing her down at all. Walking back down the beach I found a freshly dead Thick-billed Murre. Best- E.Vernon Laux

Vern took some great pictures of Quest. Here they are!

We agree – Quest looks terrific! Vern sent a few more pictures of some of the birds that Quest is sharing the beach with, including a Dovekie, Quest’s hapless lunch in the pictures above, and a variety of gulls.

We can’t thank Vernon Laux enough for his very detailed description and the fantastic pictures of Quest that he’s provided. To see her looking so healthy is a real treat for all of her fans around the world!

-Jess