Rochester: nestbox transition

Pics are courtesy of Jim Pisello


We all knew it would happen and on August 18 it did. The famous and legendary nestbox and the Kodak falconcams were removed.
The construction work on the Kodak Tower had already begun. Work that has to be done, because the building was starting to become dangerous.
It will take a long time before the work will be finished, so it was best to remove the nestbox now. So Mariah and Kaver can pick a new nursery before breedingseason 2009 begins.
The DEC and GVAS will install replacement nest boxes on nearby buildings in the next few weeks. The Kodak nestbox may even find a new home if it passes inspection by the DEC and is found to be a good match for another location. And Mariah's an adaptable, successful falcon without question. Of course there's no certainty with nature, but Jim Pisello remains optimistic that we'll be watching Mariah and Kaver raise their twelfth brood somewhere close by in 2009.

Jim Pisello who has been part of the Rochester Kodak Falcon cams team since 2003 played an important role in the transition. Read his report and watch the pics on his beautiful Blog.

http://marchlords.com/birdblog/2008/08/eleven-years-later-graceful-exit.html

Rochester: farewell

Some wonderful pics of Jim Pisello of the past days. Starring mostly Seneca, who has become a multiskilled flyer. From catching branches from trees she flies by to startling ducks and gulls, she sure is a mistress of the sky our Seneca, lady of Rochester. She is a true daughter from her legendary father Kaver: not only did she inherite his dark features, she flies with her legs dangling like he does. She must be great to watch readjusting a tailfeather here and a wingfeather there, making smooth turns and beautiful tumbles.
Not only Seneca is a great flyer, all 2008 Rochester youngsters are: Zephyr and Diamante the 2 tiercels and SusanB, Quest and Seneca the 3 young falcons. How special they are!

Soon they will leave for longer flights away from Rochester until they will leave on their migration. Each one will go and leave Mariah and Kaver and find her or his way into their own future. After the winter they will go through their first molt into the adult dark grey and white plumage. Each will try to find a territory and a partner in order to mate in the year after. To carry forward the rich heritage of the Rochester peregrine falcons, of Mariah and Kaver, for next generations to come.

we will be able to follow Quest on her migration, because she has a transmitter on her back. Imprints will make a special page on which we can see where she is and where her Quest goes...

Each year it is hard to say goodbye to these exceptional creatures.
We have seen how the eggs have been laid, how they have hatched. We have all been overjoyed with the 5 little fluffy sweet little eyases, who have grown into beautiful strong juveniles.
Now the time has come to wish them farewell.
May the great Spirit protect and guide you all on your Path of life.
Fly free and soar high......


Read the reports and watch the pics on Peregrinations, the Blog of Jim Pisello:

http://marchlords.com/birdblog/2008/07/mostly-solo-seneca.html


And for Imprints:

http://www.cafepress.com/rfalconcam

Rochester

Diamante


SusanB





Zephyr and Seneca


SusanB


SusanB


Seneca


Seneca and SusanB


Seneca


SusanB


SusanB


SusanB




Wonderful pics of Jim Pisello of the Rochester youngsters is the Gorge. Read the reports of Jim Pisello and enjoy his amazing pictures on Peregrinations:


http://marchlords.com/birdblog/2008/07/shunning-gorge-fledglings-keep-flying.html


Read the fledge watch reports on Imprints:

http://rfalconcam.com/imprints/

Rochester

A beautiful series of Jim Pisello, featuring the legendary Mariah of Rochester, Zephyr, Quest, SusanB and Kaver.

It has been one great day for the Fledge Watchers at Rochester HQ. Reports of them make the whole day play like a movie on the inside of your eyelids. As if we all are there. Thank you all for being our eyes. Your doing a great job!!

Jill C. - Fledge Watch - June 28th (8-11AM)
June 28th, 2008

The morning started off kind of wet but when I arrived, there were so many watchers – it was awesome! A little before 8AM, Mariah arrived with some food (a pigeon) that she gave to Quest, Diamante and Zephyr on the SE ledge of floor 13. Susan B was on the ledge of building 9 (facing the parking lot) and Seneca was on the metal peak of the tower. Kaver was hanging out on the communications tower behind us but only stayed there for a short while. Seneca took off on a small flight towards the smoke stack – she went around it and then came back towards the tower trying to land on the metal peak but just couldn’t quite hit the landing…so she continued flying and ended up sticking the landing onto the 19th floor SW ball.

Quest ended up eating most of the pigeon for a good 20 minutes or so until Mariah decided to steal it off of the ledge. This got the three juvies into the air for some flying. Mariah ended up dropping the carcass near the construction site and she flew back to the tower where she landed on the SE ledge of the 17th floor. Quest figured she had enough food and stayed on the ledge of 13, Zephyr landed on the corner of the Rochester Plumbing Supply building (which was where the food had landed!) and Diamante went to the ledge of building 9 (facing State St.). A few of us walked over to find where the carcass had landed and we found it in the road. Jim P. tried to throw it up onto a rooftop for Zephyr but he took off and landed on the antennae of the old Empire Brewing Company building.

At 10:30, Diamante decided to take a quick flight and after a short walk, we found him - he had landed on a satellite dish next to his brother on the antennae.Zephyr decided to give us all a scare with some low flying - he flew down in front of the watchers and landed for a quick second on the sidewalk and then took off flying low over the street until he got up to the SW corner of building 9 and landed. Phew!

Around 9:15AM, Seneca flew off of the SW ball and went up to the playpen on the W side where she eventually made her way to the SE floodlight. We were also treated to a Great Blue Heron flying over us with a fish in its mouth – he flew off towards the gorge.

Things went quiet and we enjoyed a doggie parade around 9:40AM until Mariah quickly took chase of a crow around the High Falls parking garage. She wasn’t gone long and she rested back up on the NE ledge of 19. There was a lot of kak-ing when she returned, but no food!

At 11AM, things started picking up as Kaver dropped off some food for Susan B on the corner of building 9. Diamante and Zephyr quickly came over to steal it away. Susan B was able to get some before Diamante took it and went behind building 9 being chased by Quest. The two of them ended up on a lower building roof behind building 10.

When I left, all were accounted for! Another awesome watch!!


Read more about all the other Fledge Watch reports on the Rochester Kodak Fakcon Cam Blog Imprints:

http://www.rfalconcam.com/falconwatch/


And do visit the wonderful Blog Peregrinations of mr. Jim Pisello. Read his exciting amd amusing reports and watch his awesome photo's.

http://marchlords.com/birdblog/2008/06/morning-fun-for-fledglings.html

Rochester: Seneca has fledged!

Mr. Z also known as Zephyr, master of flight!














Breaking news: our last juvie has fledged! This morning at 08:00 when Lisa arrived for her fledge watch at the Rochester Kodak Tower Seneca was out of the playpen perched between the Kodak Letters; Way to go little girl! What wonderful news.



Little Seneca
Photo courtesy by Lisa

Lisa reports on Imprint Falcon Watch:

Seneca was still on the column between the “K” and the “O” on the 20th floor. She kept running, and hopping and flapping her wings, trying to get Kaver’s attention.





Both Mariah and Kaver took turns flying around the tower, coaxing their young into flight. Which they did 3 of them, but it was warm so they all settled down.





Kaver brought in food. That woke up some of them. Mariah took off from the tower and attempted to take the food from Kaver. Kaver had other ideas. He kept the food and landed on the southeast corner of the 17th floor. After about a minute of preparation, I saw one of the fledglings come around the tower, walk up to Kaver and snatch the prey. This is why Mariah wants the food. She has better control of which fledglings receive the food. Kaver just gives it over to whichever one takes it. Mariah is the boss!





Next Quest had appeared just below Seneca on the 19th floor, southwest corner. That’s all it took to get Seneca flapping again. As we watched, Seneca took off and headed towards the High Falls Smoke Stack. She was coming in too low, so she turned and headed back to the tower. Seneca attempted to land on top of the peaked metal roof, east of the playpen. We watched as she clung to the edge and flapped, trying to pull herself up to the peak. No such luck. She let go, slid down the metal roof, spread her wings and took flight, again heading for the stacks. Still low, she turned and headed back to the tower, missed a landing on 17 and flew around to the north side of the tower, where we couldn’t see her land. It ain't easy girl, a first flight, but you'll get there!





Quest took off and fly around to the northside in search of her sister. By the time I arrived at the north side, I spotted Seneca sitting up on the 19th floor. Quest was on the 18th floor, top of the Philadelphia Tower. They were very close to each other. It always amazes me when the fledglings seem to support each other.




All photo's are courtesy of Jim Pisello, unless stated otherwise

Now that all eyases are airborne the show can begin!!

Read all reports:

http://www.rfalconcam.com/falconwatch/

Read the great reports of Jim Pisello with all his excellent photo's of the juvies on his Blog Peregrinations:

http://marchlords.com/birdblog/2008/06/mischief-and-mistakes.html