18 February 2012
Peregrine falcons are jousting for territory now that nesting season is only a month away. On February 10 Rochester, New York falcon watchers reported that Beauty, the queen of the Times Square nest, was found injured on the ground near the Xerox Tower. She’d been in a fight.
Beauty was taken to a rehabber and is undergoing treatment. By now her wing no longer droops and the vet has confirmed that the vision in her injured eye is OK. She just needs time to heal.
Meanwhile, Rochester falcon watchers are trying to determine who won the site from Beauty. The new female is banded black-over-red with the same red “H” as Unity, a female who attempted to nest four miles away at Kodak Park.
If the new female is Unity, it would be a twist in the saga of Dorothy’s offspring. Beauty is Dorothy’s daughter, hatched at the Cathedral of Learning in 2007. Unity is Dorothy’s grand-daughter from Toledo, Ohio, making her Beauty’s niece. Both of them mated last spring with Archer, Rochester’s resident male peregrine, but neither nest was successful.
Eventually someone will identify the new female peregrine at the Times Square Building. Only then will we learn if this is another chapter in Peyton Place for Dorothy’s girls.
(photo of Beauty on Mercury’s fist by Carol Phillips, winter 2009-2010)
Rochester Fans sure do miss her perching on Mercury each day! I hope when she is released it is far enough away from Unity because Unity has been seen at the Times Square Nest. No more fights….we want eggs.
On another topic..
Kate, as I type, and this is the 3rd morning in a row, I have “visitors” to the wreath on my front door. At first I thought it was the air exchange unit outside, but then I looked carefully out the bedroom window. I have a male and a female finch enjoying each other’s company on my wreath. They pick the same time each morning between 6:30 and 7:00. The male has a pretty rosy colored head and markings and the female is brown.
They are as cute as can be.
Kathy, it sounds like you have house finches at your house. Very nice.
They are out there again. I think they might be taking my wreath apart for nesting material. It is made of twigs and sprigs, magnolia leaves and large artifical pears. Too funny.
The new female falcon was seen perching on Mercury today. Rochester Falcon Watchers have seen her bands and determined that this new bird is Unity –> Beauty’s niece. http://rfalconcam.com/falconwatching/?p=3859