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.