RFalconCam - Times Square Building - Rochester, NY
Posted by: sagefemme
N 43° 09.280 W 077° 36.737
18T E 287607 N 4781303
Follow Archer and Beauty on the RFalconCam. Beauty generally lays in April, hatching in late May and fledging in mid-June.
Waymark Code: WMDMP0
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 02/01/2012
Views: 7
History of the Peregrin Falcon in Rochester
In 1994 the Rochester Peregrin Falcon Project was founded, and Kodak was approached (and gave permission) for the installation of the first nest in 1995 atop the Kodak Office Tower. It did not attract any wild falcons until 1998, with Cabot-Sirocco and Mariah's first clutch. This pair continues to produce through 2001, producing a total of 14 hatchlings.
In 2002, Cabot-Sirocco seems to have been replaced by Kaver. They continue as a nesting pair until 2008, producing 29 offspring. Mariah's total offspring: 43.
In 2008, the Kodak nest was relocated to the Powers Building so that the Kodak Tower could undergo repairs. The next spring, Kaver failed to return from migration, and Mariah's territory is challenged by a new pair. Archer and Beauty attempt to nest atop the Midtown Plaza tower, but no hatching occurred. Both are banded birds: Beauty can be traced as a 2007 hatchling from the Pittsburgh Cathederal of Learning nest in Pittsburgh, PA, and Archer is a 2006 hatchling from the ADM plant in Port Colbourne, Ontario, CA nest. "Archer ID'ed as the son of Freedom and Purity, is Mariah's grandson! Archer and Beauty abandon the Midtown Plaza tower site and move to Times Square. Courtship is observed on cameras but no mating or egg laying. Mariah moves to the northern part of the city and the suburb of Irondequoit. She is last sighted in October although a falcon with her characteristic split wing tip is sighted twice in late November. Archer leaves Rochester in the fall." (
visit link)
The Times Square nest is first used in 2010. Archer and Beauty produce two offspring (from four eggs) that year, and Beauty laid three more eggs in 2011, but none hatched.
The family tree gets more complicated as the Falcon Project grows to include more sites here and elsewhere in the Northeast. For example Unity (Beauty's niece from Toledo Ohio) sets up housekeeping at the Eastman Business Park nest. Archer courts her in 2011 as well, but neither of her two eggs hatch.