Clashing, Coupling, & Capturing A Band ID

Watchers spent a good part of the day staking out the area around the Midtown Plaza Tower checking on the activity of our two new resident Peregrines. With the recent news that the male has been identified as Archer, Mariah and Kaver's grandson by Freedom, it seems like interest in the downtown pair has been rekindled. Nearly a dozen local watchers showed up today, a good number given the early time of the season.

Our chosen locale was a mostly deserted parking lot at Broad and Chestnut. It provided a good view of the east and south sides of the Midtown tower as well as the fire escape on the Knights of Columbus building where the falcons are wont to hang out. In fact, upon my arrival a little after Noon I found Archer at the top of the steps, scratching and keeping an eye on his mate over on the plaza tower:
          

The first ten minutes were pretty quiet. I caught up with the morning's activity from Carol P, Kathy O and Dawn, who noted that in addition to mulitple witnessed mating episodes, the two falcons had been kept busy contesting with another falcon that wandered into the territory. Apparently this had happened more than once today. So I wasn't too surprised when Archer started kacking and his mate got into the air, pumping her wings with a will as she headed south past the Xerox tower:
          

Carol and Larry O'Heron alerted us to the presence of the third falcon at about the same time. The female ended up landing on top of Xerox while Archer pressed his attack against an adult female:


It took them some time, but working together our resident pair drove the intruder away to the southeast and out of sight. They both appeared after the pursuit, circling in the air:
     

The good weather made for some nice thermals. This kettle of hawks took full advantage:


A Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) that wandered too close to the tower incurred Archer's wrath as well:
     

     

He returned to the fire escape following the chase, giving us a good look at him as he passed by:
     

          

Meanwhile, the female had taken a short flight of her own and ended up at the top of the northeast corner of the Plaza tower:


After a few minutes she called to Archer, and being a good mate, he obediently flew over and the two of them mated for the umpteenth time:
          

Archer floated down on his approach, then lifted off vertically, like an AV-8B Harrier jump jet. I'd never seen him end a copulation session that way. Usually he just flies down and away, so this was an interesting change. Maybe he caught a gust of wind at just the right time. Larry counted off the seconds during the encounter (out loud, no less) which lasted a hair over eight seconds. That's short by the standards Archer has set in the past, but maybe it just means he and the missus are getting more comfortable with each other...

In any event, back he flew to the fire escape for more sunbathing:


Then, the moment we'd been waiting for-- the female flew over and landed right next to Archer on the fire escape!
          

          

Bingo! We'd been waiting for an opporunity to see her at close range in good light for a while. Could a band ID be far off? Joyce, Lou and I all had our Canon SLRs and 100-400mm lenses. In addition, I'd brought my spotting scope, and I hurried to set it up. We waited eagerly, and when she lifted her leg to do some preening shutters clicked in earnest:


I shot over 100 frames, hoping for a clear look at the band in one of them. My camera's small LCD screen doesn't have sufficient resolution to allow me to see fine details of the image, even when it's zoomed all the way in, so I knew I'd have to wait until I got the images on my computer at home. In the meantime, Joyce and I climbed the lower levels of the fire escape to get a little closer to the falcon. For the next half hour we scrutinized her every move, snapping shots with each change in her position:


When she started to nap, I decided I'd taken enough pictures and climbed down. I grabbed a couple of shots of the two falcons sitting together on the fire escape before I left, though:
     

So, what was the verdict? Believe it or not, none of my images of the female's band was tack sharp, and none showed the full ID number in its entirety. In my scope I thought I'd gotten a good read on the number in the black part of her band, but there was actually too much daylight to see the character in the green. At home I reviewed the dozens of images carefully, zooming in and out. I finally took my most educated guess and sent my findings off to Lou and Joyce via e-mail. Lou too had trouble getting a clear shot, but luckily Joyce ended up with a clean look at the entire band! We've searched the Midwest banding database for a match without success, but that database is far from complete. We've also sent the information to some of our contacts for further research. Black/Green bands are used in the US, east of the Mississippi River according to the Peregrine Falcon Banding Protocol for North America, so we're confident we have a US bird. Her band doesn't match any of the birds banded in Rochester. Now it's just a waiting game until our contacts (hopefully) fill in the history of our new resident female.

A Busy Half Hour With The Midtown Falcons

So far spring has been kind to those of us in Rochester, providing plenty of sun and clear skies. I arrived downtown a little before Noon, my camera turned on and ready to go this time. There were no falcons streaking up the street though, and my initial scan of the west, south and east faces of the Midtown Plaza tower came to naught.

Soon enough, though, 'Nubo' poked his head up over the edge of the lower ledge:


This position, a few meters away from the southeast corner along the east side of the tower, could be a scrape location. When the falcons are on the building, it's most likely you'll find them there. Unfortunately there's no good way to get a look at the gutter area behind the ledge, so it's hard to say whether the female has laid any eggs, but they sure do seem to like that spot.

I looked around for the female, but didn't find her, though I did hear ee-chupping vocalizations. I couldn't tell whether they came from one or two falcons though. In true Nubo fashion, the tiercel didn't stand still, but lept off the ledge and into the air:
          

He zipped over my head, too close and fast to catch in my lens as he passed. By the time I got him in my viewfinder he was headed away to the northeast:


Now, those who've never tried following a fast moving falcon in a high-powered zoom lens may not know this, but you don't really see much. Most of your attention is focused on just keeping the falcon more or less centered in the viewfinder. So the bird's destination is often a bit of a surprise. I was not only surprised, but elated when I saw where the tiercel was headed:
          

Woo hoo! Some 'afternoon delight' for the new falcons! I held down the Canon 40D's shutter button and the camera stuttered out 6.5 frames/second. 70 frames later the camera's memory buffer was full, but the falcons weren't finished with their copulation. Here are some selected frames:
          

          

The mating episode lasted more than 20 seconds, an impressive interval for this young pair. The male flew back to the plaza tower and the female followed a moment later, but she landed back on the fire escape after a circuit around the tower. You can really see how much darker and heavily barred she is than the male:


It was about that time that I started kicking myself-- figuratively of course. How long had she been sitting there before the mating? The fire escape on this building is only seven stories up, close enough to read a leg band if she chose to show it. I hurried across Chestnut Street, hampered by lunchtime traffic and thwarted by crosswalk lights. In the parking I hurried to get closer for a shot, but a trio of passers by engaged me in conversation about her, and before I could get close enough, she flew again! She passed right over my head at pretty close range, but unfortunately the symbols on her black/green leg band are obscured:


I'm confident that a steady shot with a 400mm lens will reveal the ID on that band, if she chooses to show her left leg while perched up there. It's just a matter of time until one of the local watchers with a long lens or a spotting scope will see it.

The female flew behind one of the buildings between me and the plaza tower, and I wasn't able to locate her when I got back to the bus station. I heard more vocalizing though, so it's possible she was simply out of sight behind the ledge on the building. The next falcon I saw was Nubo, who leapt on top of the ledge and promptly got airborne:


Interestingly, he landed right where the female had been, on top of the fire escape. I hurried back to the parking lot, hoping I'd have better luck with the tiercel's leg band:


He had other ideas though. He spent the next five minutes preening and fluffing out his feathers, but kept his leg bands well hidden:
          

My time was running out so I left, grabbing a long shot of him still perched on the building's fire escape:


There's no doubt that these two peregrines have established a strong pair bond. Their behavior may even indicate that egg laying has begun. It'll require careful observation to make a better determination. The past two days I've flown solo on my lunchtime watches, but I know my fellow watchers have been out at different times of the day. Together I hope we'll be able to pool our observations to see if we can draw any conclusions with some degree of confidence.

New Falcons Settle In At Midtown Plaza

Mariah is out of the picture for the foreseeable future, but there's still falcon watching to do. From all reports, the new pair in town are socializing, even mating, so a nesting attempt seems likely soon. With that in mind I took my lunch hour downtown in the hope of learning more about our new resident Peregrines.

Hardly had I emerged from the Court Street parking garage when I found the new tiercel winging his way up Broad Street toward the Midtown Plaza Tower. I brought my camera up to take a shot, only to realize that I hadn't yet turned it on! By the time I flipped the switch he was gone, out of sight on the east side of the plaza. Luckily for me, the female flew in only a couple of seconds behind him, providing a good opportunity for some passing shots:
     

One thing I noticed right away was the dark pattern of her under-wing plumage. It seems a lot darker than Mariah's. She also exhibited the slightest split-wing flying style-- not as noticeable as Mariah's, but it might provide a means for us to distinguish her from the tiercel in flight.

By the time I got around to the east side of the tower they'd both disappeared behind behind the lower ledge. The only evidence of their presence were the ee-chups bouncing off the sides of the nearby buildings. On previous occasions I've noticed that the tiercel is a little frenetic-- he doesn't like to stay in one place for long. So it was no surprise when he poked his head up over the ledge after a few seconds dropped off the side and promptly disappeared toward the north. The female stayed out of sight, so I scanned the sky, hoping to catch the male's return.

When he did reappear five minutes later, he came with full talons!


He'd caught himself a male Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis), and he paraded around the sky before landing back on the lower tower ledge:
          

Right behind him came the female, filling the air with vociferous calls. Her green and black leg band was clearly visible, though she was too far away to read the characters on it:
     

For whatever reason she nearly touched down, then thought better of it and took off again, circling for another landing a few seconds later:
     

     

There followed quite a bit more ee-chupping before the tiercel emerged and flew away, clutching his meal:
          

He ended up on the north side of the tower while the female flew away toward downtown:
     

For the next five minutes the male denuded his feathered catch and ate, before taking up the prey once again:
          

He was gone for several minutes, but eventually reappeared, landing on the east side of the tower with the prey. As soon as he landed he began calling to the female:
          

Her return was just as dramatic as her first landing:


This time the tiercel gave up the remainder of his morsel to her. She took it in her bill, then flew away, disappearing as the male had, for a little more than seven minutes.
     

She reappeared on a nearby building and commenced to eat:


Well, all that eating was making me hungry, so I grabbed an italian sausage sandwich from a nearby lunch cart vendor across the street (with sauteed peppers, onions, provolone cheese, mushrooms and hot sauce-- YUM!). He and his partner had been watching the falcons on and off, and I told them about Mariah's misfortune while I awaited my lunch.

I glanced at my watch and found that my hour of free parking at the Court Street garage was nearly up. Besides, it was getting late and I needed to head back to the office. On the way back to the parking garage I grabbed a shot of the female facing into the sun after finishing her meal:


She's definitely darker than he is, and when they're both in the air their size difference is apparent, though he's larger than Kaver was. They're both quite acrobatic. Maybe that's just a symptom of the fact that I'm watching them fly around the relative confines of the buildings downtown, though. It's a far different experience from the open vistas of the High Falls. Photography is a little more challenging, since they appear and disapper behind buildings so quickly. Even though I miss Mariah and Kaver, I'm looking forward to following this pair. It's a whole new ballgame for the Rochester falcons, and those of us privileged enough to watch them. I'll be interesting to re-write what we know about observing falcons here.

Was Thursday the End of Mariah's Reign?

Just a few hours after I took the pictures in my post from the 10^th, everything changed. Mariah was injured in a territory battle sometime on Friday, and nearly killed when the battle resumed on Easter Sunday. Yep. Nearly killed. That's what I said. It's been a hectic few days, but it looks like we have a pretty good idea of of what happened, so here's the story as we know it.

On Thursday afternoon, fellow watcher Carol Phillips and I were downtown checking out the new guy, trying to get a read on his ID band. Unfortunately I didn't have my scope, and he stayed up pretty high on the building:

          

Mariah flew in after a while and they both sat on Midtown, moving around occasionally and vocalizing to each other:
          

Things were pretty quiet, when Carol suddenly pointed out a falcon flying along Court Street, pretty high up:


Almost immediately Mariah and the tiercel began kacking in alarm:


Mariah was the more agitated, and after a quick look around she got airborne, chasing after the intruder:
     

It appeared that she had driven off the interloper, but I suspect now that this may have been the opening move in a territory battle that spanned the long Easter weekend. On Friday we saw Mariah and 'Nubo' again, and all appeared well, as I noted in my last post.

After I left though, it seems that things took a more dangerous turn. Mariah got into a territory battle with the intruder, who, it seems, is the same female that had been located in the nearby town of Brighton. I don't have any confirmation of this, but fellow watcher Joyce Miller (who has the same camera setup that I do) has been observing the Brighton female for several weeks. Apparently she has some distinctive markings that Joyce was able to identify on Sunday following the second and final battle between Mariah and the newcomer.

Chronologically, here's what we believe happened. On Friday afternoon or evening the first attack occurred. At that time, Mariah suffered an injury to her back. It is likely that she retreated after this encounter. On Saturday, both Carol and Joyce, along with other local watchers, observed 'Nubo' and a female (Mariah they thought at the time) socializing on Midtown. However, both Joyce and Carol noted that the female appeared to be darker than Mariah. In hindsight, this was almost certainly the intruder. 'Nubo' and the female were observed exchanging food and exhibiting other social behaviors. This is normal, expected behavior if Mariah had been the loser in a territory fight; the victorious female, having won the territory would begin courtship with the resident male. 'Nubo', seeing the victorious female as the stronger and more capable mate, would do the same.

On Sunday morning Carol and watcher Brian H arrived downtown early, just in time to see a falcon being attacked near the Midtown Plaza tower by two others. The fight was by all accounts vicious, with one falcon (later found to be Mariah) being repeatedly dived upon and even driven into the wall of a nearby building before she fell to the ground. She went up again, keeping up the fight but was quickly brought to ground again under an intense attack. At that point, fearing for the life of the downed falcon, Brian and Carol interceded, covering the falcon in a jacket and removing it from further harm. It took some time to secure care for her, but eventually they were directed to a local wildlife rehabilitator, where Mariah was taken.

She was examined by a vet on Sunday and found to have sustained multiple injuries. The most serious was a deep puncture wound to her chest which fortunately didn't damage any internal organs. She also had a wound to her back that the vet said was a couple of days old. It is this wound that leads us to believe that Mariah's first encounter with the intruder was on Friday afternoon. In addition she had a lacerated wing and some vision problems that may have been symptomatic of a concussion from her collision with the building.

Over at Imprints they've been posting updates on Mariah's condition, and you can go there to get all the latest news. This morning Mariah was moved to a vet in Syracuse at the direction of the DEC. She'll probably need surgery, and the DEC has apparently used this vet in the past for work with injured falcons and eagles. We've been assured that they'll keep us updated on her progress.

So what does all this mean? It's obviously a blow to Mariah's many fans. For a dozen years she commanded the skies in Rochester. The city won't be the same without her. She became a true legend, fledging more offspring from this single nest than any other single Peregrine in the US, as far as we can determine.

The best case scenario would have her make a full recovery. The DEC has expressed an interest in releasing her to the wild if she's able. That's only right and proper; a mistress of the air should have her freedom. On the other hand, given her great affinity for Rochester she'd probably return here, and perhaps face another territory battle against a young, strong female against whom she has already fallen. So releasing her, while the right thing to do, is not a zero-risk affair.

Mariah's fierce spirit and wild majesty will be sorely missed, but in the meantime we have a vibrant new pair in town. From a species standpoint this is a good news story. Only a few years ago the population was too small to allow for these kind of territory disputes. The fact that there are young, strong challengers around means that we've got a good chance of having more strong fledglings here in Rochester. As with any change this one will take some getting used to, but I'm sure that before long these falcons will wend their way into our hearts just as Mariah and Kaver did.

     

New Home For Falcons at Midtown Tower?

Thanks to the Good Friday and Easter holiday, I've been able to spend time downtown observing Mariah and 'Nubo' for the past two days. They both spend so much time at the Midtown plaza tower that there is very little doubt in my mind that this location is going to be the locus of their new territory. And why not? It's tall-- almost 20 stories. The view isn't as commanding as that from the Kodak tower but it's quite good nonetheless:


It was bright but a little on the cool side when I arrived downtown shortly after 10:30 today. There are enough tall buildings nearby to cast a lot of shadows and vector the wind into breezes that chill even in the sun. I must have looked quite a sight, festooned as I was with optical gear. Yesterday Nubo had been sitting pretty low and he'd flashed his band at me more than once, but I didn't have my Kowa scope with me. Today I slung it across my back then grabbed my Canon 40D, Panasonic TZ-3 and Nikon Monarch bins. I stood around for some time before my first sighting, Mariah and the tiercel making a tandem landing on the east side of Midtown tower:


Below the tower is a Trailways bus station, yet another obstacle to be navigated:

I hurried to set up my scope as I listened to the loud ee-chupping from the two falcons. I was hoping to glimpse the male's ID band, but no sooner had I got my first look than he dropped off the edge of the building and flew away:
     

He didn't stay out long, returning to land on the far (northeast) corner of the tower's lower roof:


After more vocalizing Mariah left, heading around the corner of the building beside which I was standing. A minute later the male took off in the same direction. Leaving my scope for a moment I followed Nubo, just in time to catch the two of them copulating on the corner of a brick building:
     

     

I've included only four frames out of literally dozens I shot. I checked the timestamps on my pictures and I was amazed to see that the actual mating took over 25 seconds! I suppose that could be a sign of inexperience on the part of the male; I don't know enough about Peregrine copulation to say for sure, but it was far and away the longest mating I've seen yet.

After that there was little to see, other than Mariah sunning herself on the corner of the tower's lower ledge:


Nubo returned near 11:00, and he brought lunch!
          

He called to Mariah as he came in and she flew over my head, executing some tight turns and dives before they both returned to the tower:
     

They both disappeared behind the lip of the ledge, and there was a lot more vocalizing. It seems that Nubo presented the prey to Mariah, because he flew off and when she emerged, she had remains of the prey on her bill, though it's not all that easy to see in this picture:

This is another good indication of their solid pair bond. Watchers had reported only seeing the tiercel hunt successfully a couple of times so it was nice to see him return with prey. Hopefullly this is a good indicator of his potential to provide for a family.

Carol P joined me a little after noon. Mariah and the tiercel spent the next ninety minutes alternately flying around the area and landing back on the tower:
     

          

Along the way, they made great sport of terrorizing the local pigeon population, repeatedly strafing the tops of nearby buildings, scattering the Rock Doves as they wheeled and dove among them. The action was much too fast to follow with our cameras; Carol and I had to settle for photographing the return flights:
          

          

The multiple attempts were all unsuccessful, probably because there isn't a great height difference between the tower from which the falcons launched their attacks, and the rooftops where their prey perched in big clusters.

Around 1:30PM I left, grabbing a final shot of Mariah at the very top of the plaza tower:


So, we know they can feed themselves and other than the bowing behavior, we've witnessed all of the expected courtship and pair-bonding behaviors that we would expect from Peregrines about to start a family.

They spend a lot of time on the lower ledge, behind which is a wide gutter. It lacks gravel or any other substrate that could be used for a scrape. Access to that ledge is also exceedingly difficult (so I'm told), and anyone venturing out there would need to wear a safety harness at a minimum, so I hope they don't decide to lay eggs there.

We don't know where exactly the scrape will be, but they spend a great deal of time at or near the southeast corner at the very top of the tower, just below the covered roof:


On top of the roof are a number of small shed-like protrusions (probably part of the building's mechanical infrastructure) that are topped with pea gravel. These would be perfect spots for an open air scrape. Since we have no cameras on the roof (and it's unclear whether we could get any installed), we'll have to depend on our watcher community to report on the Peregrine's activity, and try to infer whether eggs are being laid. It's possible they already have been; copulation will continue throughout the egg-laying process. So when we no longer observe mating behaviour that might indicate that the last eggs have been laid. To be really sure what's happening we'll need to work with the DEC and the city of Rochester (which owns the tower property).

The good news is we've already started building those contacts. The staff at the bus station and nearby buildings are already getting used to seeing strange folks with cameras and binoculars and spotting scopes in their driveway and on their sidewalks. I'm happy to report that everyone has been pretty positive about having Peregrines in the heart of downtown. Foot traffic is a lot busier there than it was on the bridge. We get frequent inquiries about our activities, and it's a great opportunity to point out the marvel of nature that's playing out right over the heads of Rochester's residents. Mounting a fledge watch this year will be a challenge, but probably more important than ever since we'll be dealing with four busy city streets instead of one, and lots of possible landing spots for young fledglings. But the fact that we can think about needing a fledge watch is a pleasing development, given the difficult start we've had in 2009.

What's Going On With Rochester's Falcons?

Here's a rare (for me) post without pictures. Since there's really no action on the Falconcam cameras I thought I'd take a few minutes to post the latest news.

Unfortunately, between bad weather and interference from the rest of my life I haven't had many opportunities to do much falcon watching. I am however, happy to report that Mariah and her new tiercel are cementing their relationship nicely. Though no one has yet gotten a clear look at his leg band, local watchers have nicknamed him "Nubo", a shortened form of "Nouveau Beau", the term I coined for the new tiercel in Mariah's life in my previous post. I suppose it's as good a name as any, at least until we learn if he was named when he was banded.

Anyway, Mariah and Nubo have been observed copulating on multiple occasions and at various sites in the downtown area, including the Kodak tower, the Midtown Plaza tower and the HSBC building. June Summers, president of the Genesee Valley Audubon Society, is working with the City to gain access to the Midtown tower so we can see if Mariah and her new partner are building a nest there. Frankly, we're not used to being blind like this. It's a little disconcerting to not know what's happening.

One thing we do know is that they aren't using either of the nest boxes we set up last year. It just goes to show that, as much as the experts know, the falcons get the last word.

It's not for lack of trying though. Last week DEC Wildlife Technician Mike Allen came out and "seeded" both boxes with fresh quail in an attempt to lure the falcons to either of the sites. Our cameras on the Powers Building caught all the action as, day after day, the pieces of squab sat there, drying in the sun, untouched by Peregrines (or any other avian epicure for that matter). So it seems like our best efforts are being rebuffed by Mariah and Nubo. This is one of those situations in which we just have to wait and watch, and follow their lead. Mariah's a successful Peregrine and I'm confident she'll find a good spot to establish a nest.

On another front, falcon watcherrs recently found a second pair of Peregrines that have taken residence in the Rochester area. As if that weren't good enough news on its own, we were able to identify the male as our very own "Z-man", Zephyr from Mariah and Kaver's 2008 clutch! He hasn't yet shed his juvenile plumage but he looks great and the fact that he already appears to have a mate should bode well for him. He and the female (she's a banded adult, but no one has been able to read her ID number yet) are hanging out in the town of Brighton, a suburb of Rochester that's a few miles south of Mariah's downtown territory. The distance is great enough to avoid any squabbles. Zephyr is probably too young to successfully reproduce-- Peregrines don't usually reach sexual maturity until their second year-- but first year matings have been known to produce offspring. We'll be keeping an eye on Zephyr and his mate to see if they establish a nest as well.