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(Zoom in or out on the map by clicking the small “+” & “-” signs. Move it around by clicking your mouse button and dragging the map in the desired direction. Click the falcon icons for more information about each location.)

Quest continued her eastward trek in August, reaching the Massachusetts coast in the first week. She looks like she’s taking a little vacation, visiting tony Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket and Cape Cod. We’ve omitted some data points with signals that weren’t as strong (keep reading for an explanation), but the majority of data indicate that she’s having a great time exploring the far eastern reaches of the US. Most of Mariah’s offspring whose locations are known– and all that previously had transmitters– went north or west. So Quest’s eastern movement is an unexpected surprise.

By the way, it looks like our earlier announcement that she’d flown north to Maine and Quebec may not have been accurate (sorry about that!). The data placing her there is included in her August travels, but its reliability is questionable, based on the transmitter’s signal strength at the time those data were received. It’s possible that she headed north, but since all the rest of the data for the month so far puts her firmly in the Nantucket/Cape Cod area, we’re skeptical of our earlier announcement.

WARNING!!! Technical Content Ahead!
Quest’s satellite transmitter has a small battery that is recharged by a solar panel mounted on top of the transmitter body (here’s a picture). The battery supplies power for the radio-frequency transmitter that sends its signal to a bunch of satellites orbiting the Earth. To save power, the transmitter only sends data for a few hours at a time. Then it shuts down for many more hours. This “transmit and rest” process is called a Duty Cycle. Its timing was programmed into the transmitter before Quest received it.

The power of the transmitter is pretty low– about 100mW– so the signals that get up to the satellites may not always be very strong. The variability in the signals, differences in terrain, even local weather and time of day can create uncertainty about the accuracy of the data. So each time the satellites receive data from the transmitter, they assign a confidence value to the location based on the strength of the signal and other factors. The data we receive includes the location information, and also the confidence value assigned to each piece of data. We try to post the data with the highest confidence levels, but sometimes the only data we get in a duty cycle is of questionable accuracy.

So, it looks like Quest really can’t go much farther east, unless she hitches a ride on a fishing boat or a cargo ship! It’ll be interesting to see what move she makes next.

-Jess

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(Zoom in or out on the map by clicking the small “+” & “-” signs. Move it around by clicking your mouse button and dragging the map in the desired direction. Click the falcon icons for more information about each location.)

We’re happy to offer the first of what we hope will be twice-weekly updates on Quest’s travels. Since we have some older data we thought we’d show you where she’s been, then work our way forward. So our first map plots her July journey.

As you can see, Quest spent most of her time hanging out in Rochester. In fact, for the first four weeks the strongest data we received placed her in and around the downtown and High Falls areas.

Then, at the end of the month she decided to head east. In just a few days she made it all the way to Duanesburg, just east of New York’s fabled Leatherstocking region. That’s what we at the Rochester Falconcam like to call good flying!

Check back soon for more updates.

-Jess

Carol Phillips sent this picture of Susan B, who cast a quizzical look at her admirers from the grassy edge of the gorge wall near the High Falls. Carol took this picture from the observation deck just to the east of the falls. It gives the watchers a great look at the fledglings as they fly along the river. And if they land on the edge of the gorge it’s a great spot to take pictures of the young falcons too!

-Jess

Joyce Miller sends this passing shot of Seneca that she took on the morning of July 19. She tells us…

“The skies were gray that morning and I thought… ‘Not a good day for picture-taking.’ Storms were threatening, and little did I know that Seneca would give me one of the clearest fly-by shots I’ve ever taken. She was having fun flying along the gorge wall and grabbing leaves off the tops of trees.”

What a stroke of good fortune for Joyce and for us that Seneca made such a great pass before the rain set in!

-Jess

First time falcon watcher Jill Church proves she’s no slouch behind the camera with this colorful shot of Quest flying in front of the High Falls, taken on July 5th. Jill says that Quest was flying around the gorge playing talon tag with one of her siblings. She noticed that, similar to Mariah, Quest has a split in her primary flight feathers, though on the opposite wing. As Jill says, “Like mother, like daughter – she’s a beauty!”

We agree 100% Jill!

Here’s Diamante, doing a little preening while sitting on a tree branch near the pedestrian bridge. Falcon watcher and Rochester Falconcam team member Jim Pisello got this shot while he was waiting to catch an action shot of Diamante taking off. Jim notes that he watched Diamante in the tree for almost half an hour. He never did get that takeoff shot, but he tells us that he thinks this is a more interesting photo because of Diamante’s odd pose.

-Jess

Fledge Watcher and Rochester Falconcam team member Carol Phillips kicks off our 2008 Gallery at Imprints with a terrific shot of Seneca adding some roughage to her diet after consuming a pigeon earlier this week. She wasn’t really going vegan on us– Peregrines are pretty strict carnivores– but it’s a fun image don’t you think?

The breakfast left-overs are visible in the lower right corner of the image– don’t look there if you’re squeamish!

-Jess

Once again we’d like to invite our local fledge watchers to submit pictures they’ve taken of Mariah, Kaver or this year’s great group of fledglings, to the 2008 Gallery at Imprints! Every few days we’ll host a new picture on the Rochester Falconcam’s home page, and we’ll provide details about the photo and the photographer here. And just like last year, we’ll feature the gallery images in the 2009 Rochester Falconcam Calendar.

To get started, just review our Submission Guidelines!

The Rochester Falconcam wants to thank the many talented photographers whose images help bring the wonder and excitement of the Rochester peregrines to our viewers around the world.

-Jess

Hopefully everyone has been following the fledglings’ antics at our FalconWatch blog. Our on-site team of watchers have provided over fifty updates so far. There are still a couple of weeks to go before the young Peregrines start moving away from the Rochester area, so keep checking the FalconWatch blog for more news in the coming days.

Our falcon relocation experts, the DEC’s Mike Allen and Barbara Loucks believe that our chances for a successful relocation are quite high, provided that we install a nest box in a location that’s within a few blocks of the current site, and that the location is one that is already familiar to the falcons. Interestingly, it doesn’t appear that we’ll need to install a lot of nest boxes– one or two boxes should be sufficient. A few Falconcam fans have made some independent inquiries and they’ve received the same information.

The Rochester Falconcam’s Nest Box Relocation Team has identified a few sites where we can place nest boxes. Led by Barbara Loucks, head biologist and manager of the statewide avian programs at the New York DEC’s Endangered Species Unit, the plan is now to install a small number of nest boxes at locations that appear to be well-suited as potential nesting sites. We’re currently working with property owners in the area to obtain the permission needed to install the nest boxes (and hopefully the Rochester Falconcam cameras too!).

Though we’ve turned off the Rochester Falconcam’s cameras, work has not yet begun on the repairs at the Kodak tower, and the nest box is still in place. We plan to remove this nest box and re-install it at the site that is likely to be accepted by Mariah and Kaver. Other nest boxes will be placed in a locations that also meets the requirements of the DEC. As the work progresses we’ll keep you updated.

-Jess

The opening night Gala for the Rochester Falcons art show at the High Falls Art Gallery was a terrific success! Our many guests included fans of Mariah and Kaver from around the country, as well as New York State Senator Joe Robach. We also had a couple of very special guests– Falconer and raptor artist Al Jordan joined us with Kai, his Harris Hawk!

After a wonderful 2008 nesting season we’ve seen all five of this year’s eyases– Seneca, Diamante, Quest, Zephyr and Susan B– take to the skies of Rochester and fledge successfully. Our computer servers have captured and stored many thousands of images, and space is getting short. Since the falcons have largely left the nest box, and we are preparing to transition the camera equipment and nest box, we’ll be turning off the Rochester Falconcam’s cameras on Monday, July 7^th. We’ll continue to bring you information from our on-scene volunteer watchers at the FalconWatch Blog throughout the summer. And of course, we’ll keep you up to date on all the news here at Imprints.

The Falconcam site will remain active throughout the year so that we can bring you news of Quest’s travels via her solar-powered backpack transmitter. We’ve been informed by the satellite monitoring agency that her signals are being received, and we’re preparing the website so that we can show you where she goes. We’ll begin posting updates for Quest in a few weeks, as soon as she leaves the area. Look for updates to occur at intervals of roughly a week.

Our nest box relocation committee is already hard at work, contacting local property owners and making initial surveys for possible nest sites. We’ll be working with the project leaders for the renovations at the Kodak tower on the actual date that we’ll take down the nest box. We plan to reinstall the “Kodak” box at one of the relocation sites, and to install several others as well. We’ll keep everyone updated on the progress of this important work throughout the coming months.

We’re very excited about some new Rochester Falconcam merchandise that we’ll be showcasing at our new online store. Look for more news about that soon. We’ll also be announcing some upcoming opportunities for our viewers and fans to contribute to the story of Mariah and Kaver so stay tuned!

-Jess