ROCHESTER, N.Y (WROC) — For twenty-five years, a camera has been trained on a nest box on top of the two iconic buildings in Rochester where peregrine falcons have called home.

Now, the newest group of young falcons, called eyases have started to take their first flights, according to June Summers, the president of the Genesee Valley Audubon Society. 

“[The] falcons have hatched, and we had three hatch, and they’ve grown to the point that they are now on the wing and flying,” said Summers. “The parents are teaching them about how to catch their own food […] once they start to learn, it’s about 6 weeks when they start to go off on their own.”

The falcons are all banded so other birdwatchers, if they see them in other parts of the country, can send the information back to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“Sometimes they go up to Canada. Sometimes they go out west,” said Summers. “We had one that we had a transmitter on, and that bird went to Cape Cod, and then she went to Toronto.”

The birds face a tough test once they fully leave the nest in a few weeks. The survival rate for the species in their first year is low.

“They have a 25% chance of living through their first year of life because of the way they hunt,” said Summers.