Eleven Years Later, a Graceful Exit

Change is hard. On Monday I got to experience that lesson in person as Kenn Martinez and I supervised the removal of Mariah and Kaver's nest box. A special rigging crew hired by Kodak was on hand to handle the heavy lifting and to safely lower the box from its perch of eleven years on top of the Kodak tower. Jason, Drew and Tom from OIS did a fantastic job helping us to get the nest box and cameras uninstalled.

Bright morning sun and a cool breeze provided just the right conditions for doing the work. Of course, Mariah stopped by to supervise:


But she's a busy Peregrine, so seeing that we had things well in hand she took off and let the crew get back to work. Unbolting four angle brackets allowed the OIS crew to pull the box away from the cupola so Kenn could remove the cameras. I was surprised to see a lot of debris where the box had been, including bits of prey remains and several dessicated, regurgitated falcon pellets:
     

Once the cameras came out the riggers moved the nest box around to the north side of the catwalk for the next step-- lowering it to the 19^th floor:
     

The box is too big to remove it through the small elevator that provides access to the cupola. There's a spiral staircase up there too, but its even more crowded than the elevator, so going over the side was the only option for getting the box down intact. The rigging crew attached straps and rope to the box, then put it over the side and slid it down the roof of the Kodak tower, where Tom waited below to receive it:


Then it was over the side again for a short abseil to the 19^th floor lobby, where it was safely retrieved:


Back out front we got to work on the cameras. The heavy duty conduit pipe used to connect the cameras to the catwalk railing were in surprisingly good shape, having suffered through years of Rochester winters. I remember installing many of them, frozen to the core in the depths of Feburary winters, so removing them on a cool summer morning was a welcome change. Here's Kenn detaching the Rochester Falconcam's high resolution Main Camera from the mounting arm:


A couple of rusted bolts had to be broken free, and there was a lot of cabling that needed to be handled with care, but all in all I was surprised at the ease with which the equipment came down.

Then it was done. Maybe because it went so quickly and so smoothly, it was strangely anticlimactic. I guess I was expecting some drama, or at least a few challenges, but there were none. It's a testament to the quality of the work done by the Birdcam team over the years to install the cameras and nest box that the removal went as well as it did. In the end, it was like turning the calendar back to 1995:
     

Other than the detritus where the nest box had been and some falcon whitewash it was hard to tell that this cramped, windy loft had seen eleven generations of endangered Peregrines hatched, fed and raised in a simple wooden box, or that thousands of viewers around the globe had followed Mariah and her family through all their many successes, and a few heartbreaks too. Kodak played host to the most productive single-falcon nest in the country. It's a wonderful legacy, and every Kodak employee, visitor and customer ought rightly to feel proud.

It was not until the work was done that I suddenly realized what a great effort had been undertaken here, what great history had been made, what great service had been done in the effort to reintroduce Peregrines to the eastern United States. I admit that taking down the nest box left me feeling somber, but only for a little while. The DEC and GVAS will install replacement nest boxes on nearby buildings in the next few weeks. The Kodak box 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 I remain optimistic that we'll be watching her and Kaver raise their twelfth brood somewhere close by in 2009.

While Kenn and I were cleaning up and storing the equipment following its removal, I found that the construction work on the Kodak Tower has already begun:


This scaffolding will soon envelop the small covered walkway in the picture. It hasn't been used for decades, and it's due to be removed as the first step in the Tower restoration work. In the coming months the scaffolding will grow to surround the tower, and the work will commence in earnest. And with a little luck Mariah will get to watch the busy workers scurrying around the tower from her new nursery next spring.

Late In The Season, Some Flashy Flying

July is a bittersweet month, and never more so than this year. It features arguably the best flying from the juveniles, but it also marks the end of their short tenure with us. By the third week of July the fledglings have usually begun making longer flights that take them farther away from the gorge.

2008 will be the last year that Mariah's young will spring forth from their nest on the Kodak tower. Work has already begun on the restoration and repair of its facade; hard-hatted engineers have spent this week rappelling down the face, repeating the soundings they took last year to verify their findings, and preparing to get the repairs under way. On at least one occasion I saw a fledgling perched on another part of the tower while the engineers dangled from ropes and harnesses nearby.

There's no doubt that the juveniles are getting more scarce. I haven't been able to get out to the gorge for the last couple of mornings, but reports from those who have indicate that the fledglings are not as common a sight as they were only a week ago. I did find myself with a free lunch hour today so I headed for the bridge, shoved along by a strong wind out of the west. It went quite some way toward alleviating the humidity and scorching heat that has oppressed Rochester for the past several days. Larry O'Heron arrived a few minutes after I did, box lunch in hand. There were no falcons to be found anywhere in the vicinity-- not on the Kodak Tower, nor in the gorge, nor on any of the buildings downtown as far as I could see.

I wasn't surprised, since the falcons often spend the hottest hours of the day in some shady spot, away from prying eyes and binoculars and cameras. Larry and I made conversational noises until we noticed a pair of Turkey Vultures moving westward against the wind. After identifying them I dismissed them-- TV's are a common sight around here. The sudden presence of a juvenile Peregrine stirred my attention though. It flew in from the south somewhere, perhaps downtown:


Our first thought was that it might try to chase the Turkey Vultures, but as soon as it hit the cooler, turbulent currents in the gorge the fledgling turned to playing on the wind over the observation deck.

That, of course, was our cue to get closer. We started down the path toward the falls, but the fledgling met us along the way, zipping by at low altitude and ripping around the brewery buildings at head-spinning velocities:


I got out to the observation deck ahead of Larry, and got to watch as Seneca (I'd seen her silver band on my camera's LCD screen) skimmed the treetops along the gorge wall, then cut across the path only a few feet above his head! Larry later told me he saw her coming, and held still as she passed to avoid spooking her. She certainly didn't look startled, and as gimlet-eyed as Peregrines are, I'm sure she knew just what she was doing when she overflew him.

She wasn't done with the close flights though. Back over the gorge and the observation deck she streaked, checking us out as she passed by at almost point-blank range:
          

She seemed enamored of the treetops, and grabbed a bit of something in her talon that she flew away with, examining it as she went:
     

     

Riding the rough air, she swooped down low, almost brushing the ground as she raced along in the small park beside the gorge:
     

She also channeled Kaver, flying with her legs dangling, as he often does:

Maybe her sire's dark features aren't the only thing she inherited from him.

Seneca's flights were so close and so fast that it was a real challenge to keep her framed in my viewfinder. Often I was not equal to the task, but even some imperfect shots are worthwhile:
     

Her flight was random and chaotic in its course, but she was always in control. Watching her was an endeavor, but the rewards were many:
          

More low flying nearby made it hard to track her, especially when she darted behind the greenery:
     

Another grab at the treetops and she dove toward the river:
          

I was surprised to watch her land on the sun-bleached rocks near the water's edge:
     

I thought she might take a bath, but she stayed only a short stretch of seconds before rising again on those gorgeous brown wings of hers:


She startled a floating gull on her way to strafe an old beer bottle that seems to be anchored in the river:


Another turn and a flyby of the observation deck, and she landed on the shady side of the gorge next to the falls:
     

Not quite fifteen minutes had passed. Back on the bridge Marcia had arrived, camera in hand. I hope she was able to get some pictures of her own. For the time being Seneca decided to relax. I had a meeting to attend, so I left Larry and Marcia on the bridge.

I can't help feeling a little sad, knowing that our time with the fledglings is winding down. This year's group have been five outstanding fliers, and young Seneca, who was so circumspect when she left the nest, has blossomed into a compact little force of nature before our eyes. The privilege of watching these falcons go from clumsy flappers to graceful masters of the air never becomes banal for me. Every year I forget how short a time we have with them, but there's always the hope that one day we'll hear that one of our fledglings has found a home of it's own, carrying forward the rich heritage of the Rochester falcons for generations to come. I hope I haven't seen the last of them just yet, but if I have, then I count myself among the fortunate few who've had the joy of watching Seneca and all her siblings dance in the skies of Rochester.

Mostly Solo Seneca

Upon my arrival around 7:30 this morning, early shift watchers Danand Jeanne pointed out a pair of fledglings near the falls. Seeing Don already out on the observation deck working his camera I headed that way forthwith. Perched next to the watery cascade, Seneca made for the cable she'd spent yesterday morning perching on:

          

Perhaps a new favorite perch? Who can ponder the inscrutible depths of the Peregrine brain? Not I, certainly. I turned back to the remaining fledgling. I thought this was Susan B. It was not until I reviewed my pictures on my computer screen that I realized it was Quest sitting on the old building at the eastern edge of the falls:


She didn't seem particularly interested in flight. Seneca was not so reticent:
          

She treated us to some truly incredible solo aerobatics, skimming the water and even flipping upside down before curving into a sharp dive:
     

     

She made plenty of fly-overs before landing on a railing at the top of one of the Genesee Brewing Company's buildings:
          

Don and I walked back up the path toward the bridge for some closer pictures:


Seneca was off again before we got very close though:


Back into the gorge she went for more flying:
          

We had to shoot from the path because she was moving so fast. I grabbed one snapshot of Seneca being pursued by one of her sisters but by the time I got back up to the observation deck the other fledgling was nowhere to be seen.

Seneca kept up the flying for another few minutes, then landed in almost exactly the same spot on the Brewery building:
     

What was I saying about favorite perches?

Anyway, Linda and Jeanne had joined us, and once again we made our way up the path. This time Seneca was more accommodating, sitting patiently, letting the cool morning breeze ruffle through her plumage:


As we crept closer, Seneca began working her bill as if to vocalize, only she wasn't making any sounds:
     

Then she dropped her head and really opened wide:


And then-- EEWWWWW! She regurgitated a sticky gray pellet! I didn't catch a shot of the actual incident, though I got to watch it through my viewfinder... We looked for the compact mass of injested feather and bones, but no one could see where it had hit the ground, so we figured it probably fell right below her onto the roof of the building. That definitely pegged the YUCK meter, but Seneca looked entirely nonplussed:


An 8:30 meeting meant that I had to leave earlier than I wanted to, but I don't think I could have topped that last scene anyway, so I said my good-byes and took off. I was back out at lunchtime but there was no flying in the noontime heat. I'll check out the action tomorrow morning provided the rain holds off.

Girls In The Gorge

Continuing their intriguing morning activity, the fledglings treated us to another hour of fun. Today, though, the girls had the gorge to themselves-- Zephyr and Diamante were nowhere to be seen.

Quest, who has shown herself to be an outstanding flier made an unlikely, and ultimately unsustainable landing on a branch that was much too small for her. I arrived on the bridge just in time to see her ill-fated attempt:
     

Yep, that's her clinging upside down by a single talon to the little wisp of a branch. She made a couple of attempts to right herself, but gave up the enterprise when it's hopelessness became apparent. A couple of minutes later Seneca flapped her way out to the large power cable strung over the river:


Since the flying had already begun fellow shutterbug Don and I made our way to the observation deck where, despite the shadows that plagued our photography, we had a front-row seat for the morning's action. Susan B took center stage with a variety of fly-bys, fly-overs and passes in front of the falls:
     

That's not to say that the others were absent; Redeeming her earlier clumsiness, Quest joined her sister in the gorge:


After a brief round of chasing little Suzie surprised us by landing among the grass below the observation deck! Of course, we took full advantage of our good fortune to get some shots:
     

Quest had other ideas, charging up the river to bother a group of Mallards in the shallows above the falls:
          

Susan B must have decided she'd had enough standing around because she left the gorge wall and engaged Quest in some chasing and tag:
          

     

After a minute of fun Quest headed for the Kodak tower. Susan B landed on some algae covered rocks at the other side of the falls...
     

...then left two minutes later to harass Seneca:
     

Seneca resented the intrusion and shooed sister Suzie away. If she was offended, Susan B didn't show it. Instead, she flew up and down the gorge, letting us get a good look at her:
          

          

Her tour of the gorge ended on top of the Gorsline building:


Seneca took that as her cue to get moving:


We expected her to make a circuit of the gorge, but she surprised us, making a direct run at the gorge wall and landing right beneath us!
     

She stayed for only a minute; more than enough time to get some nice pictures:
     

Then she was off again. In the distance to the west we found three fledglings chasing each other and being pursued by a Kestrel They were too far away for pictures, but it was comical to watch the Peregrines alternating between mock attacks amongst themselves and diving at the Kestrel. At least one of the boys must have been in the group because Seneca stayed relatively close while the others headed toward the Kodak tower:
     

I had to leave soon thereafter for a meeting. I continue to be mightily impressed, if not plain amazed, with these morning flights. I find myself looking forward to these hours of action, and I'll be sorry to see them end.

Another Exemplary Morning

Can there be better flying than the best I've seen in eight years? You'll recall that's how I characterized the flying I witnessed a few days ago. You may also remember that I said I'd be getting out again the next day. Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans... Anyway, Monday has kind of a built-in impetus to get down to the Pont de Rennes, since it's the first day of work, and that's exactly where I found myself this morning. So can there be any better than the best flying? Maybe so.

I pulled up to the east end of the pedestrian bridge around 7:30AM. The early morning crew-- Jeanne, Carol, Dan and Larry-- were already there. They reported seeing all five juveniles earlier, and had four in sight; two in the gorge and another pair on the Clarion Hotel nearby.

There was little to see for the first half hour except for a gull that stood on the bridge's safety rail, waiting for Carol to serve up breakfast-- bits of her Egg McMuffin. Then the top of the hour rolled around, and you'd have been forgiven for thinking that someone had tripped a switch somewhere, because there were suddenly three juveniles in the air over the observation deck. They started with a harrassment run on the local crows, but turned quickly to chasing after each other.

Dan and Larry had left shortly before the flying started-- their loss! Carol and I knew where we had to be so we started down the path toward the falls, while Jeanne elected to stay on the bridge. Out on the observation deck we were treated to just about a solid half hour of flying, with only brief breaks in the action. Most of the chases were in pairs, starting with these two, who set the tone with some spirited tag:
          

          

It turned out to be Susan B and Zephyr! They took a rest on the chain link fence near the falls, but not for long:


Little Suzie was nowhere to be found on my last outing. Today she seemed to be everywhere, flying close and low. Once she flew in over our shoulders and dove into the gorge:


Then it was back to tagging with the Z-man, with a display that rivaled any that I've ever seen:
          

They both made plenty of fly-bys-- above, below and right at us:
          

When he wasn't buzzing the observation deck Zephyr made sport out of grabbing at the tree-tops:


Susan B let him have a little time to himself before resuming their game:
     

They both popped up out of the gorge, Susan B passing right overhead, while Zephyr made a low-level pass up the path that leads from the bridge to the observation deck:
          

          

Then the Z-man got really close!
     

He swung through the gorge again, then returned to attacking the trees:
     

Diamante must have decided that he wanted to get in on the action. Where he came from is anyone's guess, but he made his presence known with an extended talon to ward off his oncoming sister, whose wing you can just see at the bottom edge of this picture:


As I was following him with my camera, one of the other falcons flew between us. It's one of the more unusual shots I've taken:


They continued to circle, with Susan B coming up behind him:


Diamante nosed over into the gorge, giving me a good look at his red leg band:


Meanwhile, little Suzie made a pass so close and so fast that my camera's auto-focus faltered. The result was kind of interesting though:


I got better results when she flew against the blue sky:


Another new arrival, Seneca, landed on the concrete wall next to the falls, but left just as quickly:
     

With three fliers in the air almost all the time, it was nearly impossible to keep them in all in view. We'd follow one at a time, or a pair of them if they were talon tagging. They'd pass overhead faster than we could follow, or disappear beneath the lip of the gorge, and we'd immediately turn to scanning for another. The flying was fast and furious, and we got a real workout trying to follow all the action.

A welcome break came when Susan B decided to alight on the concrete outcropping just below the observation deck:
     

She stayed a few minutes, providing ample opportunities for pictures before taking off again:
          

Once we thought we had four fledglings in the air, but a closer look revealed a special guest-- Mariah!
     

She actually swooped in quite close to Carol and me, maybe to let us know she thought we might be just a little to close to her daughter. We expected her to have food, but she'd come to play, egging on her children who chased her through the gorge:
     

They coursed back and forth, some fledglings playing with Mariah, some with each other. Back at the pedestrian bridge Jeanne got a good look at two fledglings headed her way:


Up closer to the falls Susan B pursued her mother:
          

We'd seen four out of the five fledglings, and we weren't a bit surprised when Quest decided to show up:


She drew immediate attention from a sibling-- one of the boys, I think:


She made plenty of her own passes, up high and down low:
     

When she wasn't after one of her siblings she terrorized the local gull population:


Her chasing partner turned out to be young Diamante, his red band just barely visible behind his wing:


The pair went back and forth to our delight:
     

Susan B provided some real drama. All day she'd been flying low through the small park adjacent to the observation deck-- sometimes only a couple of feet high.
     

A groundhog there had caught her attention and she went back repeatedly to strafe it. Unfortunately, falcons don't understand traffic. She crossed St. Paul Street a couple of times, much too low for her health. Fortunately there were no cars passing by at the time, but her propensity for low flying is a cause for concern. I only hope that she'll grow out of it. Eventually she gave up on the groundhog and gained some altitude before dropping back into the gorge to chase Quest:
     

I'd frankly not expected to see much flying today. Mid July has traditionally signalled the end of the fledglings' time in the gorge, as they begin spending more time downtown. This year's brood have defied our conventional wisdom though, scrambling the "training schedule" we're used to-- Tower to smokestacks to gorge to downtown.

In any event, it was another fantastic morning of flying. 8:00 appears to be the magic hour. I'm hoping to get out again tomorrow to see if I'll get lucky for a third time.

Juveniles Tear Up The Gorge

I try to avoid hyperbole when reporting on the activities of the falcons. I think they're amazing all on their own and I see little need for overstatement so I hope that'll give you some idea of how really incredible was the flying that took place this morning. It's no exaggeration for me to say that I've never seen better in my eight years of falcon watching.

The morning began on a decidedly boring note. When I arrived around 7:30 Carol, Jeanne and Larry told me there'd been four fledglings in the air earlier, chasing each other up and down the gorge. Now though, there was little to be seen other than a fledgling very far away on the 17^th floor ledge of the Kodak tower and another in one of the trees along the gorge wall. The weather was terrific-- sunny, breezy and cool-- a welcome counterpoint to the oppressive heat and cloudy, hazy skies of recent days. The only haze today came from the spray kicked up by the Genesee as it cascaded over the High Falls to the rocky riverbed below.

Carol pointed out where one of the falcons had landed after their earlier flying, and Jeanne spotted the juvenile on a little spit of rock to the right of the falls. After some careful searching the rest of us found her too:


I went out to the observation deck to see if I could get a better look at her, and the other one in the tree. Instead, I heard Carol's voice crackle over my radio that there was flying at the Kodak tower. I flipped my camera lens westward to catch the action:


Unfortunately the fledlgings didn't venture beyond the tower, and indeed they all disappeared after just a few moments. So there I stood on the observation deck bathed in morning sun and river spray, thinking what a perfect day it was for flying, when Quest decided to get things started with a trip out to the gorge:


When she makes an entrance, she does it with real panache. Quest flew in close enough for me to feel like I could have reached out and touched her as she passed by:
     

After she buzzed me, she locked her sights on the gulls in the river, forcing a pair of them into crash dives as she approached:


Then she returned to the east side for more back and forth:
     

She swung out over the falls and flew upriver for a moment. It was the perfect opportunity to frame a shot of the quintessential urban Peregrine:


There followed a brief break in the flying, and Carol joined me on the observation deck. Her timing was good, as a new falcon decided to get in on the fun:
          

It was Diamante! He did some flying with his sister, but they were so fast together that most of the shots I took were blurry, or too dark against the bright sky to be useful. He ended up landing on a dead tree near the bridge. Carol headed back there straightaway. I waited on the observation deck for another minute, hoping that he might fly again. When he stayed put I followed her back to the north. Just before reaching the bridge we were able to get a good look at him through a gap in the foliage:


Of course, being the sharp-eyed tiercel that he is, Diamante saw us too. After a couple of seconds he took off northward. I sprinted back to the observation deck, thinking that he might make a turn and head back toward the falls. Carol stayed near the bridge, but joined me again on the deck after a moment. Both of us scanned up and down the gorge, but he seemed to have vanished. It took us a good minute more of searching before Carol exclaimed that he'd landed on the "Portrait Tree". With a tacit "D'oh!" we were off, back to the bridge, where Diamante sat and let us take our time photographing him. Here he is with a bit of a wing stretch:


A Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) caught his attention when it began complaining:
     

For a solid half hour Carol and I stood on the bridge, aiming our cameras at Diamante, waiting for him to make a move in the otherwise quiet gorge. But Diamante had other ideas. He yawned, took a cat nap, and watched little birds and insects fly around, but he seemed content to stay right where he was:
          

Then we saw more falcons near the falls-- first one, then another, and finally three!


Still Diamante kept his perch, so I jogged back up the path to the observation deck, with Carol close behind. What we witnessed next is hard to describe, as the three falcons played and zoomed all over the gorge. They began with some mutual chasing and talon tag:
          

Quest peeled away, leaving Seneca and Zephyr to pursue their game with some of the most dazzling flying I've ever seen:
          

Quest wasn't far off though. She got our attention with a low flight right over our heads on her way back to join the fray:
     

The three of them alternated chasing and tagging, often with Zephyr jumping in to ambush his sisters while they tore after each other:
          


          

Seneca dropped by, darting in front of the observation deck, chasing after the Z-man:
     

As Zephyr raced along the shadowy gorge he popped up into the sun, resulting in this dramatic bit of serendipity:


Then he hit the deck, going low over the water, terrorizing the gulls:


Quest got on his tail again and chased Zephyr up into the air where he gave us a nice close look:
          

She chased him in front of the falls, then down past the lip of the gorge, while she skimmed just over the edge:
     

Seneca let us know she was still out there with a nice pass of her own:


After almost ten minutes of nearly uninterrupted flight, Zephyr took a rest, landing on the side of the gorge:


Seneca and Quest took a short break too, but got back in the air pretty quickly, Seneca going vertical in pursuit of her bigger sister. They were both so close that it was almost impossible to follow their game:
     

Almost, but not quite impossible!
          


          

Of course, good light and an outstanding camera helps capture those gorgeous talon tag shots!
     

After their two minute game Seneca flew to a building across the gorge and landed near some security cameras:
     

That left the gorge to Quest, and she made the most of her solo opportunity:


Zephyr though, couldn't resist giving chase one more time:
     

I love how they fan their tails and stretch their wings to brake and turn!

Star of the morning though she was, eventually even Quest decided she needed a rest. She landed on the deck of the Pont de Rennes pedestrian bridge, a good opportunity for a close shot if I could get back there in time. It was after 9:00 and I was already late for work, so I was off again, up the path for a final couple of shots while Carol kept an eye out for more action from the observation deck:


Quest watched me with a wary eye, and after a few minutes she dropped into the gorge for more flying:
          

I checked the portrait tree, and sure enough, there was Diamante, content as ever:


What a rare, extraordinary treat! Ten minute talon tag, portraits galore, and wind-whistling fly-bys. Had I seen a tenth of the action this morning I'd have counted myself lucky. I was so excited returning to my car that I was nearly breathless. We have one more day of good weather tomorrow before it gets ugly again for the weekend. I can't dare to hope for anything as good as the flying from today, but I'll be there bright and early, camera in hand, ready to capture whatever fun the falcons have in store for me.

Hazy and Humid Doesn't Quite Ground Fledlings

The past two days have brought the first real withering heat of the year. Temperatures in the 90's and high humidity have been typical of past years. So far in 2008 we'd escaped the "dog days of summer", but this week seems to have ushered it in.

Usually the eyases find a nice shady spot on the Kodak tower during the worst of the mid-day heat. Armed with that knowledge, and needing to stick close to Kodak on Monday (I was on duty with the Medical Emergency Response Team), I walked up onto the roof of Building 10.

It's a great place to view the north side of the Kodak tower, and it didn't take me long to locate a couple of the fledglings. On the 16^th floor, tucked into the corner by the Philadelphia tower (an internal fire escape-- one of the first in the country when it was installed by Kodak founder George Eastman) sat Seneca:


Nearby on an external fire escape sat Diamante:


And one floor down, this Mourning Dove(Zenaida macroura) tempted fate:


When the dove took off, so did he! He missed the bird, but passed low over Kodak's Building 15 heading south, then swung around the Kodak tower and rose high into the air over the river:
     

Other than watching Diamante soar higher and higher, there wasn't much to do other than swelter in the hot sticky air. That's just what I did for the next fifteen minutes, until Seneca decided to start moving around:


After a bit of stalking back and forth on the ledge, she too got into the heavy air:
     

I watched her follow her brother's lead, circling on the hot air, rising until she was out of sight. Then I went back into the cool Kodak office to finish my work for the afternoon.

I wasn't able to get out again on Monday, but Tuesday morning I stopped by the bridge before going into the office. I found no falcons, but this Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) was fishing in the river:


Just before 8:00AM I got what I'd come for as a falcon flew into the gorge, north of the pedestrian bridge:
          

The falcon dove right into a cloud of pigeons and made a spirited chase. We identified Zephyr only when he came in to land on a railing on the High Falls Brewery:
     

While he perched a number of Purple Finches (Carpodacus purpureus) landed on the rail nearby:


Maybe he was bored, or maybe the Z-man just didn't like sharing his rail with the passerines because he was off after only a short rest, tearing up and down the gorge over our heads:
          

He landed on another brewery building, or at least we thought he did, because he disappeared for a time. Carol and I walked down the path toward the observation deck for a better view of the building's roof, but we came up empty until Zephyr decided to show himself one more time:


After a quick flight over the brewery he flipped on his back and dove into the gorge. In the shadows and morning haze, no one saw where he went. I watched for a while longer, but then had to leave to begin work.

No matter. All of the fledglings are being accounted by the watchers on pretty much a daily basis. By now there's no doubt that all are proficient fliers. They've all begun making their first dives and stoops, sometimes getting very close to their targets. I expect it won't be long before someone reports seeing the first successful hunt from one of this year's wonderful brood.

Seneca Serves Up Sunday Fun

Young Seneca, last of the 2008 brood to fledge, is showing herself to be an enthusiastic, prolific flier. This morning she was all over the gorge, offering terrific opportunities for watchers-- regulars, as well as local and out-of-town visitors-- to admire her aerial skills.

As is so often the case, the star didn't make the first appearance. Indeed, the first bird of note that I saw wasn't even a falcon, but rather this Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) on the hunt beneath the Pont de Rennes bridge:


I arrived at about 7:30 this morning and found myself alone. I thought it a bit unusual given the propensity for flying that we're used to on early July mornings. The juveniles have been covering a lot of ground this year so I imagined other watchers were probably out looking for them. Scanning the bridge and the gorge area for falcons turned out to be fruitless, but when I turned by binoculars westward I spied two Peregrines; one on the guy wire supporting a light post at Frontier Field (where Zephyr sat a couple of days ago) and another on top of an air conditioning unit on Kodak's building 9 south of the tower. I found two more on the Frontier Communication tower. Then I saw the falcon on the Frontier Field guy wire launch itself into the air where it met two of its siblings and darted out of southward out of sight.

At the west end of the bridge I met up with Kris and Bill who were visiting from the town of Byron. We walked back toward the east end of the gorge just in time to catch the first good flying of the day:
          

Susan B coursed through the gorge for the next couple of minutes, buzzing the vegetation and eventually landing in a tree on the gorge wall that the regular watchers have dubbed the "Falcon Sucking Tree", because of its attractiveness to the juveniles, who like to perch amongst its shaded boughs.

It was nearly 30 minutes later when she decided to do more flying. We'd been joined by a local family who were armed with a formidable array of Canon cameras and long lenses (kindred spirits to be sure!) and "regular" watcher Kelly W. Susan B left her shade and dove low, driving a gull into the river before heading west and disappearing beneath the bridge:
     

     

Another half hour passed before she emerged, landing on a chain link fence on an old building adjacent to the High Falls. We walked out to the observation deck for a closer look:
          

A few minutes before 9:00 the star of the show arrived. Seneca treated us to a nice flight near the falls. She had a bit of something clutched in her bill, but I couldn't identify it. Her flight took her right to where Susan B sat. It looked like she was trying to tempt little Suzie into flight, but she was unsuccessful:
     

     

No matter. Seneca put on a one-falcon show, ranging up and down the gorge between the falls and the bridge. Especially spectacular were her passes through the rainbows cast by the spray of the cataract, and her fly-bys near the observation deck:
     

     

Her flight ended with a landing on the rocks below the deck. We moved around for a better look:


She didn't stay long before flying back over to Susan B for another try:
     

Still Susan B demurred, so Seneca did some more solo flying:
     

     

That finally did the trick, and Susan B joined Seneca for some tandem flying:


They both landed on one of the bridge's piers and for a time all was quiet. Eventually Susan B got airborne again, flying over the river and coming to rest on the same spit of rock below the observation deck that Seneca had occupied:
     

          

After sitting for a portrait session with the assembled watchers she took off, pursing a pigeon:


Meanwhile, Seneca took a flight of her own, and I was surprised to see that she'd been joined by the Z-man! They both alighted in the falcon sucking tree, but paused only an instant before heading toward the falls:
          

They both landed near the falls, Zephyr on the chain link fence, and Seneca nearby. She walked around a corner of the old building next to the falls for a little sisterly communion with Susan B, who'd landed there as well:


A few minutes later Seneca landed near the observation deck:


She hardly tarried before making another aerial circuit and landing even closer, on a rusted old pipe that juts out from the gorge wall immediately below the observation deck! She was very patient, spending a good three minutes there while Dana, Lou and I grabbed pictures at our leisure:
          

Then she flew off toward the falls once more:



Watchers Carol and Joyce showed up as well. They'd all been out before my arrival, and they let me know that all five fledglings had been spotted in the vicinity of the Frontier Field baseball field that morning. After getting caught up on the morning's events we watched Zephyr do some more flying. He landed on another observation deck at the west side of the falls:
          

Then it was Seneca's turn again. She treated us to two solid minutes of flying:
          

After she settled down we turned our attention to the deer family that was wandering in the gorge. We all had a good laugh as mom led her fawns in a potty training session:


One of the fawns showed his frisky side too, cavorting in the shallow water under his mother's watchful gaze:
          

Then it was time for me to leave. I headed back to my car, catching the Kingfisher still hunting from his cable beneath the bridge:


Another great morning, happily passed watching these amazing falcons. The weather forecast is favorable for the next few days, and even though I have to go back to work, I anticipate more mornings of fledgling flying and photographs to come.

Finally, Fledglings Find the Gorge

After a week of wondering whether this year's fledglings were going to make the move to the High Falls Gorge, the question was answered yesterday. And how!

All five kept us running much of the day. There was too much action to provide a minute by minute account-- I'll just stick to the highlights. To give you some idea of how much action we witnessed, I filled 3 2gb memory cards between 7 and 10AM, and took about 1400 pictures, thanks to my Canon 40D's burst mode and extended battery pack. Most of those turned out to be unusable, but that's the great advantage of shooting digtital.

Kaver was the first falcon I spotted, hanging out on the catwalk of the High Falls smokestack:


We found fledglings on the BeeBee station buildings, and watcher Dan Stiehler reported seeing all five earlier in the morning, though we only had two in sight when I showed up. Fortunately it wasn't long before there was some flying to occupy our attention. Here's Diamante, flying with Kaver:


He actually landed on the hand rail of the Pedestrian bridge, but was harassed by an American Robin and some House Sparrows almost immediately. He took their abuse for a minute or so, then left the rail, landing on a ducted vent at the power station:


We began searching the area, and someone spotted a falcon on the array of antennae atop the old Bru building. Carol P and I decided to try to identify it. As we rounded the corner onto State Street, we had a close encounter with another fledgling:


I wasn't able to identify this one at the time because her colored tape band didn't show up very well in the shadows, but with the benefit of a computer monitor it was easy to see Susan B's green band. Unfortunately the falcon on the Bru antennae wasn't as cooperative:


By size we were pretty sure it was a male. Zephyr was a good bet since we'd left Diamante back at the BeeBee station, and this happened to be one of his favorite perches. The pair of them didn't stick around very long before flying off to the west. We spotted them again on the awning over Frontier Field.

It looked as if the fledglings were going to keep us on the move. Carol and I crossed the Kodak parking lot and found three fledglings at the ball field! Zephyr was definitely one of them. We found him on a guy wire that stabilized one of the field's light posts:


Of the other two, we ID'ed Quest by her transmitter antenna. The other was mostly hidden from our view, but since both Z-man and little Suzie had flown to the west, we were fairly sure of her identity as well.

While Zephyr relaxed on the steel cable the girls put on a nice demonstration of flying, chasing and talon tag for Carol and me. They ranged in front of the Carestream building (old Kodak bldg 20) before wheeling around the corner and disappearing to the north:
     

     

With the falcons either out of sight or relaxing, we headed back to the bridge. Atop one of the light posts this Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) was busy calling:


Diamante did some more flying and ended up on the railing of the High Falls Brewing Co. north of the bridge:


The first real excitement came near 8:00 when Mariah flew low overhead. She was working hard, and it was easy to see why. Clutched in her talons was a plump gray pigeon:


As she flew west over the bridge a fledgling caught up to her and after one false start, Mariah made a nice food transfer:
          

Then Quest really got things going, darting into the gorge and tearing up and down its length.


When she landed on the rocks near the High Falls Observation deck, fellow photographer Don and I walked out for a closer look. We got a couple of shots on the way out, but that was nothing compared to the views she gave us when she decided to start flying again:
     

     

Seneca joined her sister for more chasing:
     

Back at the bridge, Susan B made the 2008 inaugural landing on the Portrait Tree, a bough that projects from the east side of the gorge wall near the bridge:


Diamante joined in the chasing too. Here he is having fun with sister Seneca:
     

He surprised us by landing on the bridge railing for a second time! He stayed long enough for us to get plenty of pictures before flying away again:
          

He joined his sisters for more gorge flying, then landed on the High Falls Brewery again:
     

Meanwhile, Seneca took her turn in the Portrait Tree:


Susan B made some nice close passes...
          

...While Seneca entertained near the falls:


Right below the observation deck, this groundhog decided to see what all the commotion was about:


Having nearly exhausted the storage on my three memory cards I left the observation deck and went back to the bridge. There was still flying to be done, though. I managed to catch this shot of Diamante chasing a hapless pigeon under the bridge:


I went home to offload my pictures and do some gardening, but came back in the afternoon to see if I'd be as lucky as I had been in the morning. The light wasn't as good and the fledglings stayed out of the gorge for the most part, but there was still plenty to see. Zephyr and Quest did some chasing:
     

So did Susan B and Quest...