Kodak Falcon Watch 0331, 11:50-12:40

Fellow falcon watcher Larry O'Heron provided an excellent account of Kaver's heroic defense of the breeding territory around the Kodak Office complex on the Birdcam Discussion Board today, and as with any heroic deed, he was rewarded with the attention of his mate Mariah. OK, so heroism had pretty much nothing to do with it, but there sure was a lot of mating going on. Now that Mariah's in egg-laying mode, I don't know what role this repeated mating behavior plays in the formation of additional eggs. My opinion, for what it's worth, is that this has more to do with maintaining the pair bond than with procreation. Were I to indulge in a bit of anthropomorphization, I might even think that Kaver was feeling right proud of himself for driving off that hawk in such a convincing manner, and he got his just reward. But, of course, I don't know what goes on in those little avian brains of theirs, so any such thoughts should be considered only the merest uninformed speculation. The prose writer in me likes the idea; the citizen-scientist eschews such personifications.

The only thing good about the weather today was the temperature, which hovered around 60°F/15°C. The meteorological predictions of rain were fortunately inaccurate, but that didn't stop the clouds from rolling in, driven by a gusty wind that made steady photography an exercise in futility. The flat light and gray clouds were similarly unhelpful, unless one was interested in sillhouettes of the birds. Even shooting at f8.0 with a slower shutter couldn't rescue my shots from hopeless mediocrity, so I'll spare you most of them. There's plenty of time yet for brilliant photography before this season's falcon watching is done. All that's needed is a little cooperation from Mother Nature in the form of sunlit skies...

In the parking lot, I found Kaver on the southeast corner of the playpen, with Mariah up on the tower's steeple. She flew off, floating amongst the high winds, and joined Kaver, engaging him with loud protests. The tiercel, it seemed, had food, and Mariah wanted it. Kaver had other plans, though. He took off, prey clutched in his talons, and landed on the east side of the "launch pad". Feathers scattered in the coarse breeze while he ate. Mariah took off after several minutes. She circled the tower once or twice, swooped in on the wind, and landed near her mate. Kaver left his perch, and what remained of his meal, for some airborne antics of his own. I took some pictures, but I could tell the results weren't likely to be satisfactory, so on a whim I switched to video mode. I focused on Kaver just as it seemed he was coming in to land, but I was about to be surprised. He didn't land, so much, as make a floating approach, and ended up mating with Mariah! Here's the video:
(1.0MB Quicktime video)

Unfortunately, the wind buffetted me while I was filming, so the video jumps a lot, but you should be able to get a sense of the activity.

After mating, Kaver flew to the nest box perch rail, while Mariah finished eating:

Photo courtesy of Eastman Kodak Co.

Mariah headed into the skies again, riding the gusts of wind with all the aplomb of an Olympic mogul skier. She alit on the Birdcam's Main Camera housing:

Photo courtesy of Eastman Kodak Co.

Kaver flew again, and surprised Larry and me by mating with Mariah a second time! Here you see his approach...


...and here, the moment of coupling:


Larry and I were gobsmacked-- three mating episodes in less than 30 minutes!

Near the bottom of the hour Larry had to return to work, and I thought about heading up to the roof of Building 9 on the assumption that Mariah and Kaver might repeat their coital behavior again before the hour was up. At the corner of State Street and Morrie Silver Way I met up with Carol P and Grannywood. I related the events I'd witnessed, and we all returned to the visitor lot for more watching. The action seemed to have passed, though; the remainder of my stay was uneventful. I went to get some lunch and return to my work 10 minutes later, leaving Carol and Grannywood to carry on the watch.