It is March 14 now and no sign of Kaver yet. Usually he returns in the first week of March, but he has not yet been seen in the skies over Rochester. However Mariah in the meantime has a new male who is courting her. A handsome young tiercel with the impressive name:Tybropa-Cree or just plain and simple TC. He is hacked by the Canadian Peregrine Foundation in 2007.
He came from the very same hackbox in Scarborough, Ontario that Linn, Mariah and Kaver’s daughter from 2007, had been staking out last year.
For the past several days TC has been in Rochester, hanging around with Mariah and exhibiting all of the typical courtship behaviors we know from peregrine falcons including mating.
If Kaver might return I'm afraid we're in for a serious territorial battle until one of the tiercels is driven out or killed.Mariah and TC have been observed at the Kodak Tower as could have been expected. Mariah will have a very hard time to change the habit of breeding at the Kodaktower to the Powers Building.
Carol Phillips took a lot of pictures:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=171aim5l.5j7v2rxl&x=0&y=-2yxckd&localeid=en_US
Frank at the Canadian Peregrine Foundation took the pics of TC as a youngster in the hackbox.
1 comment:
I am sorry to report that I discovered a peregrine falcon dead along the side of a six lane highway just outside Rochester, NY this week. It took me a couple of days to be able to navigate the heavy intersection traffic in order to reach him, but when I did, I brought him home and began the process of identifying him and notifying others of his demise - no doubt by being hit by a vehicle. The people in Laurel, MD (one of the leg band addresses) have been contacted and the dedicated Rochester falcon folks soon let me know that the Tercel was Tybropa-Cree (google his name for wonderful pictures and his history). Rochester peregrine watchers had been so hopeful that he would be Mariah's new mate, as Kaver has still not appeared and Tybropa-Cree and Mariah had begun their courtship. I did not know of Tybropa-Cree's history as I contemplated what to do with the body of this magnificent bird. He appeared to be in near pristine condition, with almost no visible injuries (although the impact had killed him). I decided his resting place should be high off the ground (and certainly not under it!), and as I live on the shore of Lake Ontario, he has been placed in a tree facing the lake, along with sage and sweet grass. Last night, upon learning that he had been fledged in Canada, I felt his final resting place on the northern border between Canada and the US was appropriate and hope you agree. The loss of any peregrine falcon is a tragedy, and to lose one so young and with such potential only deepens the sadness.
Thank you for hosting this site.
Donna
(for your interest - also a lawyer, a triple-Taurus (Sun, Moon, and Mercury). I had worked in Kodak's Legal Department for years, a few floor's below Mariah's nest box and was often thrilled by the fledglings that would land on the 13th floor ledge just outside my window).
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