Real exciting news! 2 Of the Rochester juvies have fledged already! As expected Zephyr, the eldest male with the yellow band was the first to fledge late last evening and his big Sis SusanB followed him this afternoon. In the meantime, the second male with the red band Diamante has left the nestbox as well and hopped over in the playpen this morning.
Thinmgs are moving fast now.
The Rochester Falcon Blog has a Falcon Watch Fledge part for the first time this year. The fledgeteam reports about what they observe! What a great initiative.
They report that last night between 7-8 they saw the first one in the air which was indentified as Zephyr.
Quote:"Around 7:20 we saw a falcon again in the air looping in front of the tower. Dan and I both thought it was Mariah. However, the falcon went for a landing on the grey slate peaked roof, but missed and instead landed on the slate, where it promptly slid down the slate. Both Dan and I realized that this was an eyas on a fledge.
We watched the fledge take back to the air and make a loop to the north side where we lost sight. Let me say that the flying was graceful and aesthetic. We had no idea that is was a fledge struggling. Only the landing gave it away. Dan and I walked to the north but could not locate the fledge. Presumably it made it to the 20th floor and was behind the balustrades where we may not see it for quite some time. Dan and I returned to hq and joined up with Lisa M. The three girls were accounted for as was Mariah who was quite serene in her guardianship. We quickly spotted an eyas on the SE floodlight but inside the rail."
What great news, Zephyr is a born flyer!
This morning they saw a second juvie in the ait, a much bigger one. It has to be SusanB, the other 2 females are stil in the nestbox, only Diamante is missing and will be somewhere in the playpen. One of the fledglings was sitting on teh cam this afternoon and took off again.
Quote: "At some point, Zephyr took off from the letters and made a nice loop with some excellent flying and then executed a perfect landing on the rail of the southeast corner of the playpen. A picture-perfect landing. We were marveling at Zephyr’s aerobatic skill which looks quite good. It was certainly a much better landing than this morning’s landing on the slate roof.
Of course, later we caught sight of another peregrine in the air and as we focused our binoculars on it, the very distinctive tail markings of an eyas were visible. Too big to be Zephyr, we realized that we had a second fledge going on. She made some turns and headed for the letters, but the landing was poor. Off she went for more turns before eventually making it to the 19th floor ledge on the south side."
2 Of our juvies in the air. It will not be long before they will be joined by Diamante. And finally the 2 girls will make it and then the fun can really hit the road, or better the sky! Their will be a lot of squawking over Rochester again. Wish I could be there, just for once, to see the legendary Rochesters flying over the Gorge. It must be absolutely awesome!
Read all about the Rochesters on Imprints http://www.rfalconcam.com/falconwatch/
