Raptor Romance a Welcome Sight

OK ...so it's not really romance-- Falcons of course, are much too busy to bother with affairs of the heart. Author's license aside though, every spring for the past few years one of my "must have" photo sequences has been to capture Mariah and Kaver in the act of mating. Not out of any prurient interest, but rather because because it's an affirmation of the promise of spring, a welcome harbinger of the season to come. Call me crazy, but I also find the dynamics of the act fascinating.

So yesterday I found myself outside at lunch time for what promised to be the best weather of the week. The forecast in Rochester is for snow, rain and clouds for the next few days, but today featured crisp a crisp azure sky and an abundance of bright sunlight.

Kaver sat near the nest box, resplendent in the sun. Mariah was nowhere to be found. During the first half of the hour that's how things stayed, and I began to think the only activity I was going to witness for the hour was the incremental progress on the construction of the new townhouses across from the Kodak tower.

My waiting was to be rewarded though as Mariah flew in from a her hidden perch somewhere on the east or north side of the cupola at the top of the tower:
     

When she landed tail up on the southwest corner of the playpen, I figured things were about to get more interesting:
     

Kaver didn't make me wait long. He swung out over the construction workers, oblivious to the activity above them, and headed for his rendezvous:


It was a pattern well known to those who've watched these two for a while, so I had no problem getting my camera ready for the landing and subsequent copulation:
          

My Canon chattered away at 6.5 frames per second and the bright conditions helped me grab a great many shots, a mere smattering of which I've included here. One thing I noticed is that for all the care that Kaver appears to take, there's a good deal of jostling going on up there:
          
Look closely and you'll see that Mariah has to work hard to hang on to the edge of the playpen. In a couple of frames I didn't include, she actually lost her footing!

In only a few seconds their brief congress ended:
          

Kaver headed for the High Falls smokestack where he made an effortless landing:
          

Mariah remained where she was for a while, then shook out her feathers and took off:


They both circled over the old Visitor parking lot, then Kaver headed for the communication tower:


I didn't follow Mariah's flight, but I imagine she went downtown because some time later she reappeared, flying in from the south. She landed on the perch rail of the nest box:


Kaver remained on one of the antennas, a sleek silhouette against the blue sky, and that's where I left them as the hour drew to a close.

Back in the office, I checked the images from the Rochester Falconcam's cameras. I'd hoped that the view from Camera 1 would capture Mariah on the corner of the playpen, and indeed there she was in the lower left corner:


Was fortune smiling on us? Did the camera perhaps capture the mating moment? Alas, no. All the action occurred in the minute between the image above and this one:


No big deal-- that's what fast firing D-SLR cameras and long lenses are for. In a bit of a post-script, as I was walking out to my car in the afternoon I witnessed another mating. Watchers are reporting multiple copulations each day. Egg laying should begin in about a week, so everything is on track for another great falcon-rearing season. Of course, the past couple of years have brought mystery and some real drama during egg laying. I wouldn't even hazard a guess as to what we'll see this year, but I'm looking forward to following all the action.

A Ballet in a Maelstrom-- Launching the Falconcam

Yesterday was a big day. After ten years' tenure in the capable hands of Eastman Kodak, responsiblity for hosting and producing the Birdcam website "migrated" to another home. Like so many of the falcons that have fledged from the Kodak tower, the program didn't travel far. The Genesee Valley Audubon Society, long a partner with Kodak in the Birdcam program, took up the challenge, and after a few busy months and a downright hectic final week, I'm glad to report that the Birdcam has been reborn as the Rochester Falconcam!

It wasn't easy, but the all the hard work put in by the RFC team has really paid off. One of our final tasks was to clean the cameras to make sure we'd be transmitting clear images for all the world to see. We couldn't have picked a worse day to do the work, though. Temperatures well below freezing get downright pesky when they're borne on whipping winds 230 feet (70 meters) up in the air. Add a couple of angry Peregrines protecting their turf and it makes for a challenging day.

Naturally, I brought my camera along. Despite gloomy skies and an approaching late winter storm, I figured I could get at least a couple of decent shots of the falcons. I'm happy to say that in this respect I was handsomely rewarded, apt recompense for the discomfort of numb fingers and frost-nipped noses.

As soon as we stepped out onto the catwalk we were greeted in typical Peregrine style-- kacking and stooping. Only, to my surprise, it was Kaver taking the initiative:
     

Mariah wasn't far behind though, and unlike her mate, she wasn't afraid to get in close. Her inverted attack dives are spectacular:
          

Ducking is de rigeur in situations like this, hard hats notwithstanding. Sometimes though, Mariah would just stare at us, kiting on the swift currents swirling around the steeple of the tower:
     

She provided excellent views of her split-winged flight style as well as her injured foot. It appears to have healed very well, with no trace of the lameness we observed last year. She was remarkably silent for the most part, issuing her war cry only a couple of times during the hour or so that we invaded her domain.

Meanwhile, Kaver circled, never getting too close, but letting us know he was around nonetheless:
     

As ever, Mariah was the principal aggressor. She didn't make contact, but then we weren't terribly threatening, and other than an empty nestbox, she had nothing to defend. I'm confident that come banding day she'll be right back to her usual modus operandi -- hard hat thumping and t-shirt shredding. She and Kaver did engage in a brief bit of tag-team:
     

He took a break after a time, leaving the field to Mariah, who showed no signs of fading:
     

     

Shooting the Peregrines against a blue sky is a joy. Even a lifeless gray one makes a worthy canvas, but I think some of my favorites shots are those that add some context, placing the falcons within their urban environment. They're challenging too-- there's a lot of competition for my camera's autofocus algorithms. It takes steady panning, a technique I'm still developing, and a bit of good fortune to make the shot, but when everything comes together the result can be oh so rewarding:


I'll end as I began, with Kaver:


We did some work while we were up there as well, but that's the boring stuff. Like me, I suspect you're here for the birds. It was a ballet in a maelstrom: The glorious ferocity of the Peregrine on a bitter winter day. Magnificence on ice, and, for all its discomfort, a thing never to be missed.

Sure Signs of Spring

After weeks of brutal cold and a season's worth of snow packed into 1 1/2 months, the weather has started to warm, and along with it, inklings of good things to come. The late autumn and winter were marked by Mariah's sustained absence, something unusual for many of the Rochester falcon watchers who have always seen, or at least thought they were seeing Mariah on a regular, if infrequent basis throughout the winter months. Now, in any such discussion about identifying individual birds, one is obliged to hedge one's bets, so to speak. During winter Mariah hasn't typically been seen in the nest box, it being well outside of nesting season, and therefore the Kodak Birdcam cameras weren't able to give us defininitive views of her. The use of very capable D-SLR cameras and high quality spotting scopes is a fairly recent innovation for the local watchers, and while we might stand outside clutching a pair of binoculars in hands wracked with chilblains, dragging out the expensive gear is quite another thing entirely. Therefore, while we think we're seeing Mariah in the winter, we really can't be sure. In such circumstances a falcon's unique field marks may not always be seen, and so we fall back on behavioral cues. For instance, when it past winters we've spotted an adult female PEFA perched atop the High Falls smokestack, or on the wrought iron railing near the nestbox we're inclined to identify that falcon as Mariah, since those are typical perches for her. We were alerted to the presence of a new falcon in the area through most of this winter by her choice of non-typical perches. It was only several weeks after her arrival that we were able to get a decent view of her through a spotting scope and verify that her head shape, bill color and other field marks differed from Mariah's.

So it was with some delight that our watchers observed Mariah's return a few weeks ago on the 22^nd of February. Her characteristic split primary flight feathers on her right wing and her choice of "Mariah-like" perches let us know immediately that she had returned. Kaver too appeared a few days later, and I'm happy to report that our favorite falcon family is back in town, just in time for another season of Peregrine-watching. As for the other falcon, she hung around for a few days before leaving the area after a couple of non-terribly-violent aerial confrontations with Mariah.

Lately the weather has mirrored our good fortune to the extent that we finally have some blue skies and sunlight, a boon for photography. Mariah and Kaver are in full courtship/mating mode these days. Here's Kaver winging his way toward a Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) that had wandered into the territory this past weekend:


Mariah followed, but Kaver did all the work, diving repeatedly upon the hawk until it quit the area upon furious wingbeats. When she returned to the tower I got a couple of shots:
          

Reports from watchers indicate frequent mating by the two Peregrines, so I wasn't surprise that within an hour of my arrival I was able to witness an episode for myself:
     

          

          

Following their interlude Kaver landed on the nest box:


Earlier this week I went up to the roof of Kodak's Building 9 in the hope of getting some closer flight or mating shots. No such luck, though. Kaver spent the entire hour sitting on the nest box's perch rail:


In fact, the monotony of the lunchtime watch broke only briefly when Kaver did a bit of scratching:
     

     

Yesterday we were treated to a marvelous (and unusual) flying display as Mariah harassed a Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) that flew too close. Much of the action took place only 20 or 30 feet over State Street, though unfortunately she was well north of the watchers' "perch" at the corner of State and Platt streets, and my photographs of the brief incident suffered from my lack of practice over the winter. Regardless, we all agreed that Mariah is in fine form, and for a bird that's probably older than twelve years, she looks as aggressive and competent as ever.

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On the home front, our new cat Sophie has grown, both in size and comfort. She and Quest have reached a sort of detente, though he still takes every opportunity to chase her if she ventures down to floor level. Fortunately, he's not much for climbing on furniture, or we'd have a real problem on our hands. Sophie seems to get into every nook and cranny around the house. Sometimes I think we should have given her an explorer's name-- only I can't think of any that would really fit her. Here she is checking out the view from the top of our television:
     

Her active period starts about the time we go to bed-- not unusual for a cat, surely, but we haven't had a young feline in the house for several years, so all the nocturnal running, climbing and pouncing is taking its toll on our sleep.

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Finally, I hope you will all join me on the Rochester Falconcam. For 2007, Kodak and the Genesee Valley Audubon Society are joining forces to bring Mariah and Kaver's adventure to the world, and for the first time the website will be hosted and produced outside of Kodak. GVAS brings many years of experience with the Birdcam program to the table, along with enthusiasm and a commitment to wildlife conservation and education. They've organized the annual Fledge Watch since the Birdcam program began ten years ago, and with the changing business conditions at Kodak it's great to know that there is a capable local group ready to step in and continue the bold tradition and reputation for excellence established by the Kodak Birdcam.

Sabrina Sat and Preened...

... and did little else for the hour I spent outside at noon today. It was windy, gray and cold-- hardly the halcyon mild weather that had been forecast. Perhaps for that reason Sabrina kept to the ledge on the northeast corner of the 19^th floor. Here are a few shots:
          

The adult female we saw yesterday was a no-show, though it's easy to imagine that Sabrina's frequent looks to the east were in expectation of it's arrival. It's more likely that Sabrina was just engaging in the Peregrine's typical wariness.

Despite the inhospitable weather I'd have stayed out longer to see if the other falcon decided to make a visit, but a meeting at 1:00 forced me indoors. With Sabrina and our mystery falcon engaging in what could be construed as courting behavior and the continued absence of Mariah and Kaver I'm keen to see what might develop. Perhaps 2007 will be a year of change for the Kodak falcons. For now I'm reserving judgement and hoping for more opportunities to observe both Sabrina and the newcomer interacting. We'll see what Thursday brings.

New Year, New Falcon?

Having heard the reports of Sabrina flying with a newly arrived adult Peregrine of undetermined identity, I brought my camera to work with me today in the hope of seeing the two of them in the air together. There was no sign of Sabrina, but the adult did show up. Carol P, Lisa McKeown and I were out on the Pont de Rennes bridge, scanning the sky when I spotted it late into the lunch hour. The falcon was flying just south of the Kodak tower, making a good show of harrassing a gull. I'm in my sixth year of watching the Kodak falcons and in all that time I've never seen Mariah or Kaver even pay much attention to a gull, much less harrass one, so it would seem that we have a new arrival. The bird was pretty far away even as it chased the gull out over the river. When it turned back toward the tower I started shooting:
     

     

Despite my attempts to sharpen and otherwise enhance my images, I couldn't make out the presence of a band, though it appears that the falcon has something white on one of its feet (possibly white feathers?). It landed on the south side of the cupola atop the Kodak Tower and we followed for a closer look:
     

The sharp cold wind made steady shooting a challenge, so the pictures are less clear than I would have liked. The bird's wing shape doesn't look like Mariah's. There was no sign of her typical split primary flying style. To me the body also looks different. Reports of Sabrina's flying with a new, possibly banded adult falcon make me suspect that today's visitor is that same bird, especially since it flew right back to the cupola as did the adult falcon yesterday. This one was about the same size as the gull it chased, leading me to believe it is a female. If so, and if the pair flying yesterday was a courtship display (as I'm beginning to suspect), then we may have yet another indication (beyond her small size in relation to other known females) that Sabrina is actually a tiercel . It will be interesting to see if Sabrina joins this adult for more flights in the coming days. Tomorrow promises warmer weather, so I'll be on the lookout.