Caracaras and Falcons

American Kestrel

(formerly Sparrow Hawk)Falco sparverius
A small falcon with a rusty back kept close watch over a couple of acres of tangled grasses and brush in late winter of 1986. “Her patch of land was surrounded by snow-covered alfalfa and a winter wheat field,” Frank Dobson observed. “The kestrel kept a watchful eye on any movement that might lead to a rodent meal.” Or that might indicate another raptor was trying to infringe on her territory. When a Red-tailed Hawk, a stocky buteo at least twice as big, swooped in for a closer look, the kestrel did not hesitate. “Instantly, the little robin-sized falcon went barreling across the field. It was like David and Goliath. The red-tail had no sooner settled in the tree, when the kestrel made a talons-down pass. The falcon did a barrel roll and came in for a second, closer pass. Despite the size difference, the red-tail decided it was time to leave and it winged across the wheat field with the kestrel in hot pursuit.” (Birds, 9 March 1986) Unfortunately, opportunities to observe American Kestrels in our region have become increasingly scarce with a recent decline in this species’ occurrence here.
Background
This is our smallest, most numerous and widespread falcon, breeding in open areas of short vegetation from Alaska and Canada south throughout South America. It nests in abandoned woodpecker holes and other natural cavities, and readily uses man-made nest boxes that have recently been erected for it. The northernmost populations are most likely to migrate. The North American population in 1982 was estimated at more than 1.2 million pairs. This species undoubtedly benefited from widespread deforestation and increased pastureland during the 1800s, just as subsequent urban and suburban sprawl and reforestation have rendered many locations no longer suitable. There has been no significant change in its numbers continent-wide, but New York is among states showing significant declines. (BNA 602: 1-4, 22-24)
Local history
Eaton (1914) believed the proliferation of House Sparrows benefited our smallest falcon. “In portions of New York City, Poughkeepsie, Albany, Rochester, Buffalo, Canandaigua and Geneva where I have watched it day after day in midwinter it seemed evident that the presence of an abundant supply of sparrows was the determining factor which inhibited migration.” He listed it as a fairly common summer resident in Monroe and Livingston counties, uncommon in Wayne, and occasionally remaining as a year-round resident in Monroe. (Eaton II: 104, I: county charts) R. E. Horsey, in his listing of birds seen at Rochester and Monroe County from 1913 to 1936, indicated that one to two birds were the average count of this resident, with a maximum tally of 10.By the early 1950s it was the most commonly reported raptor in our area. For example, when Leo Tanghe examined the returns from 1,665 outings by Genesee Ornithological Society members within a 50-miles radius of Rochester from 1951-1954, he found this species reported 838 times, easily outdistancing Northern Harrier (633) and Red-tailed Hawk (513). (KB 5: 69: 2A-2B)That is no longer the case. Numbers have declined significantly during spring migration, and anecdotal evidence suggests is not nearly as numerous as a breeding species as it once was.
 Status
Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a fairly common permanent resident and a regular, common to very common spring transient.Livingston County, Fox (1998) considered this a fairly common permanent resident and a fairly common winter visitant.
Occurrence
Spring: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated peak dates from 22 March to 25 April.A cold front dropped temperatures rapidly on mid afternoon of 21 March 1976, and stopped the hawk migration in its tracks. “Late in the afternoon there seemed to be Kestrels roosting everywhere in the trees along the Lake Ontario State Parkway,” John Brown reported. (BA, 24 March 1976) “The Listmans counted 25 in the area west of Manitou Road between the lake and the pear orchard.”The annual spring count at Braddock Bay averaged 676 through 2004, but has fallen far short of that in recent years (through 2005), ranging from 114 in 1998 to 472 in 1997.

Summer/breeding status: Our smallest falcon can be found nesting in open areas, even airports, golf courses, and city parks. Along with Red-tailed Hawk, it shares “the distinction of being the only New York breeding hawks that apparently did not suffer serious population declines during the first half of (the 20th) century . . .its ability to tolerate a wide range of breeding habitats, including heavily modified sites, has largely spared it from the negative effects of habitat alteration,” Gerald Smith wrote in 1988. (Andrle, p. 118) However, a different story appears to be unfolding.Jerry Czech of Webster reported a population decline beginning about 1970. “While he used to be able to trap and band 50 a year without any trouble, he now finds it difficult to capture more than 25 or 30,” John Brown related in 1973. (BA, 30 August 1973) Possible reasons could have been a rainy nesting season the previous year and a scarcity of grasshoppers – an important food source for young kestrels – in 1973.However, an ongoing trend toward “clean farming” – large fields of row crops planted fence to fence without traditional tree lines, hedgerows or brushy areas has hurt this species, depriving it of nesting cavities and prey. (BNA 602: 24)Indeed, one of the key limiting factors on the Kestrel population, Czech believed, was the “lack of secure, safe nesting holes.”  He had erected numerous nesting boxes, deep and sturdy enough to keep out marauding raccoons “which are apparently among the worst enemies of hawks of all kinds.” (BA, 25 June 1970) Nest box programs continue to be undertaken to bolster its numbers. One problem, however is finding volunteers willing to visit these boxes and maintain them.The BBA projects indicate an erosion in this species’ breeding presence, not so much in the overall number of blocks with evidence of breeding, but in the tell-tale gaps that are now appearing in Monroe County where there are contiguous blocks without any evidence of breeding.

Maxima: 12 on 21 June 1970 (Genesee Ornithological Society hike) at Avon. (GNR) 17-22 from 3 to 10 December 1981 (Symonds) from Hamlin to Point Breeze. (LG, January 1982) 14 on 13 December 1981 (RBA trip) at Conesus Lake. (LG, January 1982) 19 on 30 December 1975 (R. and K. Ballard) from Hamlin to Point Breeze. (LG, January 1976). 30 on 2 January 1982 Conesus and Nations Road. (Fox, p. 40) 18, 19 on 5, 8 January 1991 (Griffith, Marcotte, Oswald) west lakeshore. (GOS, March 1991) 11 on 23 January 1969 (Stiles) at Newark. (GNR)
Misc. This bird sometimes hovers like a kingfisher over highway medians, waiting to pounce on insects or small rodents. Frank Dobson was surprised to find a dozen or more feeding at a single field at Doran and Town Line roads near Lima during the summer of 1995. “They came charging out of a hedgerow and lined up on a lengthy stretch of utility wires crossing the field,” Dobson related. “A mix of young and adult birds, the small falcons looked like they were taking part in a training session. Adults were showing the young how to snatch grasshoppers. Three or four at a time would make sweeps across the weed tops, drop swiftly and come up carrying fat hoppers in the talons. One by one they would return to a wire or pole crossarm to savor the catch while other falcons took their turns. It was a fascinating sight to watch.” (Birds, 27 August 1995)Equally intriguing was a quite different foraging tactic observed by Mary Mattei and Dave Miller during the Letchworth-Silver Lakes CBC on 16 December 1978. Their attention was drawn to a flock of sparrows flitting in and out of large globe-shaped yews around a house. “Suddenly in view of my binoculars a larger bird appeared and I watched it hop along on the grass towards the yews. Soon the large bird was directly under the yew and, with its wings and brown and white checkerboard tail spread, it hopped up into the yew. Nearly as quickly as it went up into the yew, down and out of the yew it came with a sparrow clutched in its beak. With a thrust it flapped up and away into a distant tree.” It was a kestrel, and the two birders stood silently as they assessed what they had just witnessed. “The same shrub that provided the sparrows with shelter moments before had turned into a snare that made escape from this predator difficult for the ill-fated sparrow.” (LG, January 1979)Banded birds: Kestrels banded here by Jerry Czech turned up dead in Maplewood, N.J., Mason, Tenn., and Quebec. “Indications are that Sparrow hawks have a tendency in autumn to migrate southwest,” John Brown noted. “They then may drift east during the winter and come up along the coast in the spring.” (BA, 25 June 1970)Another banded near Warren, Pennsylvania on 21 June 1986 as a fledgling was retrapped along Redman Road in Hamlin on 16 January 1988. Warren is about 112 miles SSW of Hamlin. (LG, February 1989)

Merlin

(formerly Pigeon Hawk)Falco columbarius Early on the morning of 14 April 2006, Laurie Kapuscinski ran “like a five-year-old” back to her house in Rochester’s 19th Ward, breathless with excitement. She woke up her husband Tim Tatakis and told him she had found the nest of the mysterious raptors that had been frequenting the city neighborhood. It was high atop a conifer in Bob and Diane Larter’s yard. But what exactly were they? Were they really the birds these very observant “nonbirders” suspected? Six weeks later, veteran birder Bob Spahn heard a bird screaming while he ran a Breeding Bird Survey route near Honeoye Lake. He instantly recognized the bird from its call, and knew that a nest was probably near. But where exactly? From two such different starting points were Merlin nests documented in our region for the first time since at least 1939, part of a broader expansion of this species’ breeding range that appears to encompass much of the Northeast.
Background
Even hawk enthusiasts acknowledge this bird’s feisty temperament. It often goes out of its way to harass other raptors near its nest or during migration. (Dunne, pp. 85-87) This “small, dashing” falcon breeds throughout the northern forests and prairies of Alaska, most of Canada, parts of northern and western U.S. and in Europe and Asia, laying its eggs in abandoned nests of crows or hawks, and feeding predominately on small birds taken on the wing. It favorite prey are Horned Lark, House Sparrow, Bohemian Waxwing and, on its wintering grounds, various shorebirds. Though it winters throughout the western U.S., in the east it is found primarily in Atlantic and Gulf coastal areas, with most eastern birds wintering in the Caribbean. A steady decrease was noted in numbers of fall migrants at Cape May, N.J. from the mid 1980s-1992; however, it has increased in recent years as a breeder in urban centers in the northern Great Plains. (BNA 44: 1-3, 6, 13) It is now expanding its range in the Northeast as well. Interestingly, Kent McFarland and Roz Renfrew, writing in the Burlington, Vt., Free Press on 21 July 2006, noted: “Bird sightings last week included a number of reports of vociferous merlin pairs. These small falcons have been found nesting in increasing numbers in Vermont recently. Most pairs have been found in urban to suburban areas with tall evergreen trees.”Just like the pair in the 19th Ward.
Local history
Eaton (1910) listed this as an uncommon transient in Monroe and Wayne counties, also occurring in Livingston. (Eaton I: county charts)R. E. Horsey, in his listing of birds seen at Rochester and Monroe County from 1913 to 1936, indicated only single birds had been seen, only in spring, on dates ranging from 1 April to 6 June. Indeed, one seen in April 1933 was noteworthy since, as Edson reported, “it has not been recorded in the vicinity of Rochester for several years.” (“Myrtle Warbler Beats Own Record for Early Arrival,” D&C, 24 April 1933)Even in the early 1950s it was the least reported of our regular falcons. When Leo Tanghe examined the returns from 1,665 outings by Genesee Ornithological Society members within a 50-miles radius of Rochester from 1951-1954, he found this species reported only 25 times, compared to 38 for Peregrine Falcon and 838 for American Kestrel. (KB 5: 69: 2A-2B)Beardslee and Mitchell (1965) considered this “a rare bird in western New York, and any record outside its normal migration periods is very exceptional.” (B&M, pp. 180-1)
Status
Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a regular rare spring transient and an occasional, rare fall transient. Now also appearing as a summer resident and a regular winter visitor.Livingston County, Fox (1998) considered this an occasional rare winter visitant, a (presumably irregular) rare spring transient, a sporadic rare summer visitant and an irregular rare fall transient.
Occurrence
Spring: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 1 March to 5 May, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 26 March to 20 April. In most years had departed by 17 May, with a late departure date of 6 June. Was an immature on 28 February 1985 (Bouton, Hollenbeck) at Greece record early or overwintering? (LG, April 1985)This is one of the more rarely seen raptors during the spring migrations at Braddock Bay. The annual hawkwatch since 1977 has averaged twenty a year, though 115 were recorded during the record flight of 1996, when 32 were tallied on 10 May. (KB46: 233)

Other spring maxima:     7 on 22 April 1951 (Bieber, Listman) Manitou. (GOS, April/June 1951)    10 on 27 April 2007 (D. Tetlow) Braddock Bay. (LG, June 2007)     6 on 11 May 1984 (Symonds, C. Taylor) at Braddock Bay. (LG, June 1984)     6 on 16 May 1943 (Guelf) Sandy Creek north of Brockport. (B&M, p. 181)
Summer/ breeding status: Prior to 2006, there had been no recent breeding records in our region. A nest was reported atop a dead stub near the Genesee River at Scottsville in June 1939. (B&M, p. 181) Bull may have been referring to this record when he wrote that he was skeptical of a reported nesting by this species in the top of a dead stub, saying it “sounds suspiciously like an American Kestrel.” (Bull, p. 200) Eaton (1914) cited a report of breeding at Naples but was frankly relieved that this “intrepid little falcon” was not more common, so fearlessly would it prey upon flickers, doves and quail. (Eaton II:102)The story of the merlins breeding in the 19th Ward actually began the preceding summer when Tatakis, chairman of the biology department at Monroe Community College, noticed three falcon-like birds hanging around his Trafalgar Street neighborhood. When he checked a field book, it appeared the birds were Merlins. But according to the range maps, Merlins weren’t supposed to be here in summer, so he quite understandably concluded they must be something else, perhaps immature peregrines from the pair nesting in downtown Rochester. The mystery continued the following spring when a pair of the birds reappeared. Laurie and Tim were not the only people in the neighborhood keeping track of these newcomers. Elise Carter and her husband Hal, an attorney, “first became aware of the Merlins in late April or early May due to their distinctive call, which was new to us,” Elise recalled. “It sounded like a sort of whinnying cackle that began with three slower notes on the upscale, followed by usually 5 rapid notes that rose for one note and then descended. . . . They sometimes called when perched in a tree, but more often when flying. The calling went on all day and was hard to ignore, reminding us of jungle sounds in nature documentaries.” The birds began using trees in the neighborhood as perches. “They seemed to use the tree over our back fence for eating their prey, with fur or feathers – couldn’t tell which – flying off in the breeze as they picked at the carcass,” Elise said. They also perched in a walnut tree. When Laurie noticed they kept flying in the same direction after plucking their prey, she suspected they were nesting. That’s why she made sure to take along a pair of binoculars the morning of 14 April. Sure enough, she spotted the adults flying in to feed the as-yet hidden young in a nest near the top of a conifer in a nearby backyard. And still the mystery: What were they? Another neighbor told the Carters that someone had been observing them and had identified the birds as Merlins. Again the dilemma. “We subsequently looked up Merlins in our Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds, and did more lengthy research on the Internet, all of which pretty much ruled out the other possibilities such as Cooper's Hawk, Kestrel, Sharp-Shinned Hawk, etc., based on the call, size, shape, and coloring,” Elise noted. “The only part that didn't fit well was the unusual location in Rochester.” As far as the Carters were concerned, all doubts were erased when two friends – skilled birders who volunteered with Braddock Bay Raptor Research – dropped by for a look and stayed for dinner on the Carter’s front porch – in full view of the nest across the street and two houses down. “The babies obliged us by sitting lined up on the TV antenna atop the roof of the (neighbor’s) house. . . . They sat there for a long time, not flying at all during the time we observed, all scruffy and ruffled up, with feathers sticking out at odd angles, looking like they had ‘bed feathers.’ They were very cute.” The adults made only one brief flyover. However, when the friends played a CD of bird calls, “there was no doubt the Merlin call was the one we had been hearing all Spring!”In the meantime, a discovery of equal importance was about to be made. Bob Spahn calls it the “dumb luck element” of birding. He was running his Breeding Bird Survey route on 25 May along Honeoye Lake, just starting one of his stops, when a Merlin “goes over screaming.” True, there was an element of luck in all this; he had intended to run the route on an earlier date but was deterred by rain, and almost called it off again for the same reason. Moreover, BBS observers stop only for three minutes before moving on. Clearly Spahn happened to be in the right place at just the right time. However, it is to Spahn’s credit that he not only recognized the call, but also decided to pursue the possibility that this species was nesting here. Four days later he was back with Doug Daniels, “looking for pine trees along the lake.” Finally, they heard one calling at a bunch of big pines near a cottage. They pulled off the road, and spotted a male carrying food. Then a female flew over to a perch on the right, plucked its prey and then carried it straight to nest. The nest, probably one abandoned by crows, was in the top of a white pine in row of pines and spruce, about 60 feet up. Subsequent observations revealed three nestlings. At first they looked like “little fluff balls, like ping pongs on a bobble head.” Spahn said. By July 13, they were jumping all over the nest, ready to fledge. Only time will tell to what extent Merlins will establish a permanent breeding niche in our region. Some indication of this species’ recent range expansion can be gleaned from a comparison of the two BBA projects. During the first project, no evidence of breeding was found in New York State. Twenty years later, during the second project, Merlins were confirmed breeding in at least three dozen blocks in the Adirondacks and adjoining areas of the north country, and were also confirmed breeding in at least seven blocks in the Southern Tier, Finger Lakes and Western New York regions. In the meantime, this observer, tipped off by an e-mail from Elise Carter, enjoyed a sight in July 2006 he had never seen before: Four merlins sitting side by side on top of Wilson Magnet School, one block east of the Wellington Avenue nest. He watched through his scope, absolutely enthralled, as the birds lounged, ever watchful, bobbing their heads, emitting a plaintive “kew kew kew kew kew” from time to time, and occasionally stretching their legs straight out and spreading their talons wide. One of them instinctively ducked when a large insect buzzed by.     Fall: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 29 August to 17 October, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 12 September to 3 October. Subsequently, one on 5 August 2002 (Symonds, R. Spahn) at Hamlin Beach SP was an even earlier “first of fall.” (GNR)The annotated list gave a late departure date of 27 November. However, see winter records below.Now regular and increasing in late summer and fall. Fall 2005 brought 8 sightings in September, 18 in October and six in November. (KB 56:68)Fourteen were reported during September 2007. (LG, November 2007)
Fall maxima:     10 on 18 September 1958 (Listman) at Round Pond. (GNR)
Winter: “Always a very rare winter resident,’ the Kingbird observed in 1961 after Listman found one at Livonia on 2 January. (KB 11:45) That, too, is changing. By the winter of 1985-86 there were a half dozen sightings. (KB 36: 90) There were four reports in January of 1995 (GNR), six during January 1996 (GNR) and seven during February 2006. (KB 56: 151) Dave Tetlow reported finding 17 along the west lakeshore during December 2007. (LG, February 2008)    Misc.
Mike Lanzone, operating a banding station south of Payne Beach on 27 April 1994 reported that a female Merlin approached and made several passes at the traps, then perched in a nearby tree. After about 10 minutes, it flew low along a creek heading east. An hour or so later, a female Merlin flew back up the creek and perched on a dead tree to consume its prey.One of Lanzone’s friends, watching through binoculars, concluded the Merlin was eating a frog.Lanzone knew this was unusual, and later checked around the tree, finding nothing. “I then decided to climb the tree and examine the branch . . . the remains of a partially eaten leopard frog (were) found. The parts of the frog that were apparently eaten were its leg muscles and most of the area around the head and neck.” (The Raptor Researcher 9:15)

Gyrfalcon

Falco rusticolus
Of all the hundreds of thousands of raptors observed at the Braddock Bay hawkwatch by the spring of 1993, not one had been a Gyrfalcon, rarest of all the falcons that appear in our region. However, given the presence of at least two gyrfalcons in western New York that spring, expectations were high this might finally be the year for one to turn up. 9 March did seem particularly promising, though. Only 32 degrees to start the morning, with a strong west wind, observer Brett Ewald wrote (The Raptor Researcher 7:1, p. 8). And then, at about 1 p.m., the gulls and ducks on the bay suddenly took to the air. Looking through this “mass of moving birds,” Ewald spotted a bird that was “uniform chocolate brown . . . on its backside” and on its relatively pointed wings. “It flowed through a series of aerial maneuvers, a short tail-chase of a Ring-billed Gull (a close equal in size) or a quick, aborted dive at one of the steadfast ducks that showed its alertness by promptly diving below the surface . . . The bird passed out of the cloud of possible prey and skimmed its way towards the ‘island woods’ . . . at the juncture of the bay and the cattail marsh. Upon reaching the nearest tree, it flared upward and perched near the top.”Gyrfalcon! Briefly it dropped down atop a carcass on the ice that the gulls had been picking at earlier. Then it flew back up into the tree line.Ewald wanted a closer look and, lugging his spotting scope, walked half a mile across ice and through cattails to within about 300 feet. “Surprisingly, it flew to the southwest over the marsh and down into the cattails, suddenly to emerge directly behind a Northern Harrier. The Harrier was carrying what appeared to be the remains of a rabbit in its talons. The Gyrfalcon pursued the Harrier and forced it to drop the remains into the marsh by diving at it. The Gyrfalcon hovered over the remains for a short time and then returned to the trees.”It chased the gulls and ducks one more time, returned to the trees, and then was gone.
Background
This largest of all falcons is the most northern dirnal raptor, inhabiting arctic and subarctic regions from Alaska, across northern Canada to Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia, Russia and Siberia. It nests on cliffs above the three line, but some individuals do not breed every year if prey – especially ptarmigan – is scarce. In winter, some birds vacate breeding areas to move farther south into northern temperate zones, giving bird watches there a “rare glimpse” of this predator. Its plumages range from nearly pure white to an almost uniform dark gray-brown, with intermediate “gray” plumaged birds most commonly seen in North America. Males weigh only about 65 percent as much as females. There may be only 15,000 to 17,000 pairs worldwide. (BNA 114: 1-2, 19)
Local history   Eaton (1914) listed a single record for our region: a dark phase, or “black” gyrfalcon shot near Lake Ontario in Monroe County in October 1890, “mounted at Ward’s Natural Science Establishment, and now in the State Museum at Albany.” (Eaton II: 97) William B. Marshall of the museum, in notes published in the Auk in 1892, described it as a “rather immature” female. “This is the only specimen of Black Gyrfalcon that I have ever had an opportunity to examine. Its color is very dark.” (Auk 9:203) Another gyrfalcon, “practically fearless as far as man was concerned, flew close to me repeatedly as well as around a man and team drawing fodder from the lot,” E. H. Short wrote of an encounter near Chili Center on 21 January 1936. “I could have shot it with an ordinary shotgun several times had I cared to do so.”This was his only record of the species in a half century of observing birds (B&M, p. 179).That would be no surprise to John Bull, who in 1974 considered this “certainly one of the rarest of winter visitants in New York state. . . Indeed, 20 or more years will pass in a given region without a single record . . .” (Bull, p. 193).
Status    Monroe County annotated list (1985) considered this powerful raptor, which many believe capable of even faster flight than the legendary Peregrine, to be an “occasional, very rare” visitant.
Occurrence       Fewer than two dozen records for our region, primarily October through March. Dates range from 9 September to 3 April. Note periodic “bunches” of sightings, e.g. three within a year’s span 1977-78, three November 1987 to December 1988 and five more October 1992 to February 1994 (as many as three may have been present along the west lakeshore during March 1993 – LG April 1993).
   1.One dark or “black” morph October 1890 shot near Lake Ontario in Monroe County. (Eaton II:97)   2. One white morph on 21 January 1936 (Short) near Chili Center. Short observed it at close range, while standing in 12 inches of snow, while the “splendid male white Gyrfalcon” was “harrying the field for mice and moles that were moving from one unhusked corn shock to another.” (B&M, p. 179)   3. A white morph on 7 March 1965 (Benning) perched on a telephone pole two miles north of Clyde came during a winter when three or more individuals were sighted in the state, Bull noted. (Bull, p. 194; BA, 18 March 1965)    4. A dark morph on 24 December 1974 (Czech) at Webster. (GOS, February 1975)   5. A white morph on 23 March 1975 (J. Skelly) at Summerville (KB 25:95) “apparently following a flock of Canada Geese off the lake although making no effort to catch one.”   6. A gray morph on 22 December 1977 at Honeoye Falls that flew through Joe Taylor’s yard as he walked along his driveway after fetching his newspaper. (KB 28:106; BA, 28 Dec 1977)   7. A gray morph on 9 September 1978 (R. Spahn, R. Dobson) at Northrup Creek that executed “a graceful barrel roll” to drive off a harassing crow. (KB 29:37; BA, 13 September 1978) Not accepted by NYSARC. (KB 30:204)   8. A white morph on 24 November 1978 in Hamlin that Roger Clark pursued in his car along Redman Road. (KB 29:37; BA 29 November 1978)   9. A dark morph on 5 October 1981 (J. Foster) “flying over Brown Street in Lima.” (KB 32:40; Fox, p. 42)   10.A gray morph on 9 November 1983 (Czech) at Webster. (KB 34:42) See Misc. below.   11.A dark morph on 22 November 1987 (D. Tetlow, Sherony) at Webster. (KB 38: 33) Accepted by NYSARC. (KB 38:229)   12.A white morph on 14 January 1988 (B. and J. Kesselring) at Parma. (KB 38:123)   13.A juvenile gray morph on 31 December 1988 (Bouton, Dodge, Griffith, Mather, Oswald) on Chase Road south of Lima. (KB 39: 110) “The bird was first spotted in a field and was observed in a scope for over 30 minutes before it flew off,” Fox noted. (Fox p. 42) “It was relocated on a utility pole, where it was photographed and studied again. After one more period of observation in a tree, the bird flew off and was not relocated again.”   14.One on 24 October 1992 (Marcotte) in Hamlin. (KB 43:44) Accepted by NYSARC. (KB 45:76)   15.One gray immature on 9 March 1993 (Ewald) Braddock Bay. (KB 43:222) Accepted by NYSARC. (KB 45:72)   16.One gray adult on 25 March – 5 April 1993 (mob) Hamlin. (KB 43:222) Accepted by NYSARC. (KB 45:72)   17.One gray morph on 1 January 1994 (J. Skelly) “perched in a tree in Lakeville near the US 20A onramp to I-390.” (Fox, p. 42; KB 44:121)   18.One white phase 12 February 1994 (Czech) Webster. (GOS, April 1994; KB 44:121) Not accepted by NYSARC. (KB 46:229)   19.One adult female gray phase 20 February- 7 March 2004 (M. Tetlow, mob) Sodus Bay (LG April 2004), a banded bird, was retrapped and released. First noted in the wild in northern New York in 2003, it had been illegally caught. In the fall it was recovered by authorities, checked out, banded and released in November in Jefferson County before showing up at Sodus Bay. (GOS, July 2004)    20.One gray phase 30 March 2004 (R. Spahn, Smart, C. Cass) Braddock Bay. (GOS, July 2004)   21.One dark phase 21 January 2006 (Davids, D. Tetlow) Savannah (LG March 2006) “hunting water fowl.”
Misc.
“It was like 10 goshawk chases all wrapped up in one,” Jerry Czech reported after witnessing something that many birders go an entire lifetime without seeing in our area. A Gyrfalcon. Up close. In this case, pursuing one of the pigeons that Czech deliberately maintained at his home on Whiting Road, Webster, to attract raptors. It all began about 7:45 a.m. on 9 November 1983 when one of these large falcons “made a pass” at the pigeons around Czech’s barn, John Brown related (BA, 17 November 1983). “It singled out one bird, and, with long, steady wingbeats, pursued it, rising to great heights and following its desperate escape dives close the ground.” The pursuit continued fully 10 minutes, “the most thrilling chase I’ve ever watched,” Czech told Brown. With a final burst of energy, the pigeon flew through a window of the barn; the gyrfalcon then “soared upward and briefly harassed a flock of flying pigeons before taking off and disappearing to the east.” Czech had often witnessed other such pursuits by raptors, but nothing to match this. “Goshawks, Cooper’s hawks and sharp-shinned hawks seem to have to rest and recuperate after a short, unsuccessful chase, but the gyrfalcon just kept going.”

Peregrine Falcon*

(formerly Duck Hawk)Falco peregrinus
A young Peregrine Falcon “coursed in and made a pass at some ‘peep’ sandpipers” while Walt Listman and Leo Tanghe watched at Salmon Creek in back of Braddock Bay on 18 September 1959. The sandpipers quickly scattered, “but the falcon wheeled and selected one bird as its quarry. (The sandpiper) was not only a strong little flyer, however, but a smart one,” John Brown reported. “Every time the Duck hawk climbed to get altitude for a ‘stoop’ on its prey, the sandpiper climbed, too. Tanghe and Listman watched until the birds went out of sight. The sandpiper was still holding its own.” (BA, 24 September 1959)A different outcome was noted on 29 September 1993 when Eldon Remy, one of a team of observers at the Hamlin Beach lakewatch, asked out loud “What is going on out there?” When Brett Ewald focused on the same area, he was momentarily at a loss for words. “It was about half of a mile out over the lake, just above the water’s surface, and appeared to be moving towards us. Closer inspection revealed that it was indeed a bird . . . however, this specimen had an extra, smaller pair (of wings) that seemed to be moving in an unorthodox manner. Was it a bi-wing? I had never heard of such a thing.” Continued scrutiny soon solved the mystery. The “bi-wing” was an immature Peregrine Falcon carrying an American Kestrel toward the shore. “The incredible thing was that the Kestrel, although in the talons of the Peregrine, was very much alive, and struggling against its captor.” The Peregrine landed about 100 yards away and began subduing its prey. “The sudden jerking backward of the Peregrine’s head indicated that the Kestrel wasn’t giving up easily,” Ewald related. Eventually the Peregrine flew a ways along the beach and landed, out of sight, to finish the job. When observers later wandered over, the Peregrine flew off with the remains; on the ground was a scattering of Kestrel feathers. (The Raptor Researcher 7/2:14)Fortunately, observations of this legendary predator are no longer hit-and-miss occurrences of extreme rarity in our region. The Peregrine’s phoenix-like resurrection from virtual extirpation east of the Mississippi has included its introduction as a regular breeding bird atop, of all places, the Kodak office building in downtown Rochester.
Background
The distribution of this raptor across most of the globe is impressive: It occurs “from the tundra to the Tropics, from wetlands to deserts, from maritime islands to continental forests, and from featureless plains to mountain crags,” notes the profile of this species in The Birds of North America series. “This depth and breadth of habitat reflects a prodigiously catholic diet that includes many hundreds of species of birds, some bats and a few rodents…” Indeed, the “often –held image of the Peregrine as a symbol of wilderness diminishes when one sees this falcon breeding on metropolitan bridges and urban skyscrapers” – or when wintering birds from the tundra chase bats along traffic jammed boulevards at streetlight height in Rio de Janeiro or Buenos Aires. This species became a “cause célèbre of the environmental awakening of the 1970s,” after DDT had virtually extirpated it as a breeding species east of the Rockies and greatly reduced numbers elsewhere. Recovery was aided by release of captive-bred birds. By 1996 “even though somewhat clumped and spottily distributed, most of (its) historical range (had been) reoccupied.” Although most Peregrines nested on cliffs in the past, they have adapted to skyscrapers during the last two decades, and also increasingly use old raven nests on electric pylons, and osprey and cormorant nests on channel buoys. Before DDT use, number of territories was estimated at 7,000 to 10,000 in North America. By 2000, an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 pairs were nesting in North America and numbers were still increasing. (BNA 660: 1-2, 4, 31, 33)
Local history
The sight of a Peregrine Falcon “hurtling through the tall skyscrapers of Manhattan chasing a pigeon” inspired Dennis Money in 1993 to embark on a dramatic, and highly successful project to introduce these magnificent predators to downtown Rochester. (Marcotte, p. 45) About a century earlier, Eaton, too, was awed by the “astonishing rapidity” with which this “noble falcon” pursued its prey. “I once saw a Duck hawk come like a descending rocket and snatch a gold finch in the air so suddenly that the poor finch apparently was not aware of its enemy or, if so, had no time to change its course to an appreciable degree.” (Eaton II: 100)  Unlike Money, however, early birders had no desire to see this species prosper. “The Duck hawk has been seen twice along the lake shore,” Horsey and Edson reported in their weekly bird column in April 1931. (“Hermit Thrush Stops Over On Its Way to Mountains,” D&C, 20 April 1931) “The nearest nesting place known for this falcon is at Taughannock Falls, for which one may be duly thankful, for he is altogether too destructive to bird life to make him a good neighbor.”Eaton believed it “surely occurs regularly, though sparingly, in all parts of the State,” but listed it as only a rare transient in Monroe and Wayne counties, and showed no record of occurrence in Livingston. (Eaton II: 100, I: county charts)R. E. Horsey, in his listing of birds seen at Rochester and Monroe County from 1913 to 1936, indicated records of only single birds, with spring sightings from 31 March to 29 April, and fall records from 4 September to 14 October. When Leo Tanghe examined the returns from 1,665 outings by Genesee Ornithological Society members from 1951-1954 within a 50-mile radius of Rochester, Peregrine Falcon was reported 38 times, with 23 of the records in September and October. On average only one to two were seen at a time. (KB 5: 69: 2A-2B) Prior to the 1950s there were at least 40 eyries in the state, Bull (1974) noted. (Bull, p. 195) The nearest pre-WWII nesting location to Rochester, apparently, was at Taughannock Falls north of Ithaca, where Eaton had seen it nesting in 1909 and where Edson said “the eggs and young are safe from molestation as the shale walls are unsafe for climbing.” (WBR, 26 September 1938) Beardslee and Mitchell were convinced it also nested at Letchworth SP in the 1930s, but lacked positive corroboration. (B&M, p. 179) In any event, by the early 1960s it had disappeared as a breeding bird in New York. (Andrle, p. 120) Its “rapid decline and total extirpation” was the “most dramatic event” of recent times among the state’s breeding bird population, Bull (1974) noted.  “Egging, falconry, molestation by pigeon fanciers, men and boys with firearms, picnicking above or near nesting cliff ledges, road construction, and finally pesticides – especially the last (editor’s note: and especially DDT) – were all contributing factors,” he wrote. (Bull, p. 195)  By 1965, “only the occasional bird of passage, nesting much farther north, is reported from the Rochester study area once or twice during the spring and fall migrations,” Kemnitzer noted. (WBR, 20 September 1965) There was only a single record for all of 1966. (KB17:31)Ten during spring 1970 was the best tally in years. (KB 20:128) One of them provided the “spectacle of the day” on 17 May 1970 – spring Census Day – when “one of very few surviving birds of this species in the East . . . captured a migrating Bluejay and proceeded to consume it in full view of several observers in Island Cottage Woods,” John Brown noted. (BA, 21 May 1970)This species has rebounded dramatically, thanks to intensive reintroduction programs. From 1974 to 1988, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation hacked 168 young falcons, obtained from captive parent birds through the Peregrine Fund, at more than a dozen sites around the state. (Levine, p. 204) Many of these birds have readily adapted to the cities, especially New York City, where skyscrapers serve as cliff substitutes, and where Rock Doves provide an abundant food source.By 1992, Peregrine Falcon was “occurring almost monthly in the Rochester area, thanks to the hacking work done over the past 15 years.” (LG, February 1992)
Status
Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a regular, rare spring transient; an irregular, rare fall transient and a casual, very rare winter visitant (with only three records at that time). Now a regular summer resident (introduced falcons nesting downtown) and increasing as spring and fall transient and winter visitant.Livingston County, Fox (1998) considered this a sporadic rare spring and fall transient.
Occurrence
Spring: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 26 February to 13 May, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 25 March to 17 April. In most years had departed by 18 May, with a late departure date of 30 May.This species is still one of the rarer raptors reported during spring migration. Braddock Bay Hawkwatch has averaged ten a spring, but that has been exceeded ten of the last 11 years through 2004, including thirty-six during the record flight in 1996 and 45 in 2004.
Summer/breeding status: The Rochester Peregrine Falcon Project, funded by Rochester Gas and Electric and other local businesses and organizations, was begun in 1994 under Money’s leadership. Twelve falcon chicks were hacked and released that year at RG&E headquarters downtown and at its Russell Station power plant in Greece, six at each site. Some of the birds dispersed and raised families as far away as Cleveland, Omaha and Hartford. Two years later, however, two Peregrines – a female from the Rochester project, and a banded male of unknown origin – successfully fledged a young falcon from a man-made nest box on the roof of the Marine Midland Plaza building in downtown Rochester. (GOS, June, July/August 1996)Then Money convinced Kodak to let him erect a nest box high up on the tower of the company’s State Street corporate office building. In 1998, a male hatched in Toronto and a female of wild origin nested there, and the site has been used annually ever since. (Marcotte, p. 45)The falcons have been a big hit in Rochester. Newspaper stories annually chronicle how each brood is faring; volunteers keep dutiful watch, ready to retrieve any nestling that prematurely flutters to the streets or sidewalks below. A Kodak Web site, recently taken over by Genesee Valley Audubon Society, offers continuous camera coverage of the nest box during the breeding season.So far this is the only known breeding location in Region 2.
Fall: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 1 September to 7 October, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 8 to 28 September. Subsequently, one on 1 August 1987 (R. Dobson) at Greece was listed as an even earlier “first of fall” arrival. (GOS, October 1987) Also early: One on 8 August 1998 (Ewald) at Braddock Bay. (GOS, October 1998)In most years had departed by 16 October, with a late departure date of 22 November.     Sightings have picked up in fall as well. Five were reported during October 1986. (LG, November 1986) Twenty-six sightings in October 2005, including 11 on 8 October, was a good fall tally. (LG, December 2005)One roosted under the Irondequoit Bay bridge November into at least December 1994. “It is most frequently seen sitting on lights about halfway across at just about dawn and dusk.” (Notes to November GNR)
Fall maxima:     11 on 8 October 2005 (Niven, D. Tetlow) at Braddock Bay. (LG, December 2005)      8 on 9 October 2005 (Symonds, D. Tetlow, mob) at Hamlin Beach. (LG, December 2005)
Winter: Traditionally rare in winter. In fact, an immature on 24 January 1978 (N. Henderson) at Island Cottage was considered the “most unusual record” of the month by Chip Perrigo. “It may well represent only the second area winter record of this always rare falcon.” (LG, February 1978) With rebuilding populations, it is now increasing as a winter visitor. Five reports in January 1995 were further evidence of this species’ recovery. (KB 45: 114)

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse