Kaver with his 2008 chicklets
On October 9 we became a message of Jess on the Rochester Board that they have been contacted by the DEC's Mike Allen, with news that he had recovered the body of an unbanded adult male Peregrine near the University of Rochester campus.
It was apparently in good condition, and they've asked Mike to send some pictures so that it could be attempetd to ID the tiercel.
Of course everybody was very afraid it would turn out to be Kaver. But since there are a lot of migrants passing through the area since the migration season has started, it could very well be a migrant. Watchers reported that Kaver was last seen in the area over the weekend, but a lack of a recent sightings could be pure coincidence.
So we were all anxious to know more.
Fortunately we got the good news from Jess yesterday that the dead tiercel is definitively not Kaver:
After reviewing the photographs that Carol took of the dead falcon, we
were fairly certain. There were just too many differences, especially
in the color and shading of the falcon's bill. But the breakthrough
came after some additional sleuthing by Carol, Mike Allen and Kathy O.
It turns out that the report of the dead falcon came into the
University's maintenance department at 4:57 PM on Saturday. Well, as
it turned out, Kathy observed Kaver and Mariah together on the chase
tower, where he stayed until 5:30! Proof positive came from Kathy's
cell phone camera. She took a picture of Mariah and Kaver, and sure
enough, the timestamp was 5:30PM. Just to be extra sure, Kathy took
another picture tonight to confirm that the timestamp was accurate.
You gotta love technology!
Thank goodness for that. Of course the dead of a falcon is a very very sad event, and I'm so sorry for this beautiful tiercel. May he fly high and soar free.
Our Kaver is still very alive and kicking and hopefully checking out the new nestbox on Powers Building!
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