By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Morning/Early Afternoon Watchers: Dana, Carol P, Kathy O, Shaky and Larry O.

Afternoon/Evening Watchers: Pat, Carla and Joyce.

Camera Crew/Monitors: Eileen, Shaky and Annette.

Walker, our last eyas, fledged early this morning! Dana and I had arrived just in time to see his first flight.

Walker’s Fledge Flight. He did great! He took off from the north end of the nest box wall. Swung around to the south and back towards the TSB. He made it to about 1/2 way up the face of the bldg under the NE wing ledge. At first I thought he might cling to the small ledge there, but he couldn’t quite hang on. He slid very gracefully down to the parapet level & out of sight. Soon he showed himself & received a meal from Nova. Meng then joined him for an afternoon nap. That’s where he remained until we ended our watch at 1:00 pm.

There was a lot of really good flying by Mighty and Justice. Meng mostly stayed by Walkers side. Lots of talon tagging between Mighty, Justice and the 2 adults. Justice just loves chasing Nova all over! This is such a close group!

The afternoon/evening watchers have been reporting flying by Mighty, Justice and Meng, including talon tagging! Walker has moved down one level on the Times Square Bldg. He is now on the level above the nest box and he’s been seen playing on what we call the jungle gym on the back of the TSB.

I’m really happy that they have all fledged now. Now the watchers will keep an eye on them as they strengthen their flight skills!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Morning/early afternoon Watchers: Kathy O, Carol P, Dana, Larry O and Shaky

Afternoon/Evening Watchers: Carrie, Joyce, Lisa McK, Carla P and Larry O.

Camera Watchers & Monitors: Ei, Shaky and Annette

The 3 juvies have been flying a lot and very well. This morning we saw Mighty chase Neander from the Times Square Bldg to OCSR and back. She ended up landing on the NE corner of the Wilder Bldg. She had food, so we were pretty sure she received a food transfer from Neander.

At one point, Justice took off heading north, fast. I was very impressed by this flight. He ended up landing on top of the Cross Rds Bldg.

Meng is getting stronger, making multiple flights and joining Walker on the wall. She and Mighty spent time with him during the day.

Walker continues to do a lot of wingercising. I really thought he was going to take off many times. Take your time Walker.

The evening crew reported seeing some beautiful flying by our juvies, but still no fledge by Walker.

At 8:47 pm, Walker is in the boy cave, left side of the nest box, and Mighty is on the corner of the nest box platform.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Morning/Early Afternoon Watchers: Dana, Larry O, Kathy O, Carol P and Shaky.

Afternoon/Evening Watchers: Brian, Carrie, Pat, Joyce, Carla P & Jeanne.

Camera Operators and Watchers: Shaky, Eileen & Annette.

I arrived downtown at 6:30 am. Dana was already there, so she pointed out where each of the 3 fledged juvies were. Walker has still not fledged as of 5:00 pm.

Soon after I arrived, the juvies started flying all over the area. If you follow the watchers tweets, you know all the details of the excitement we had this morning. Meng is doing great. She made multiple long flights and nailed her landings. Mighty and Justice took turns returning to the nest box to spend time with Walker.

Nova and Neander are keeping a close eye on all of their young, keeping the skies above the TSB clear. That is until a very large blimp from Dick’s Sporting Goods came through multiple times, way too close as far as I was concerned. After passing by three times, they left the area. Surprisingly Nova never alarm kakked when it flew through. But, she sure did when someone was up on the roof of the Telesca Bldg.

It seems pretty quiet on the Afternoon/Evening Watch. If anything exciting is reported, I’ll add it later.

After 2 days of cold rain and wind, today was a joy, with temps into the 70s, blue sky and sunshine. A lovely day!

Update: Flying by the 3 juvies and Nova and Neander. At 8:29 pm, Walker has settled by himself in the boy cave, left of the nest box. Will one of the juvies join him?

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

And then there was one. One unfledged eyas, Walker!

It was a double fledge afternoon here in Rochester, NY.

After spending nearly 7 hours sitting in a cold rain, with no fledges this morning/early afternoon, I had to leave. Soon after I left, both Justice and Mighty fledged pretty close together.

Morning/Early Afternoon Watchers: Dana, Carol P, Kathy O, Larry O.

Afternoon/Evening Watchers: Kathy O, Pat, Joyce, Carrie, Carla P, Lisa & Larry O.

On Cameras: Shaky, Ei and Annette.

Justice fledged first. He flew around to the south side of the Times Square Bldg (TSB) out of view. Later he walked/hopped back to the south ledge where we could see him.

Mighty flew, soon after, flew down to the pillars on the east side of the Times Square Bldg and then to the Wilder Chimney.

Both have been back to the nest box to visit with Walker and have made multiple trips to the Wilder Chimney.

You ask, how about Meng? Well, she remains on the parapet above the nest box where she fledged to yesterday. We witnessed her receiving food from both parents this morning. She’s fine, doing lots of wingercising. I’m sure she’ll take more flights soon.

Walker is younger, so he’ll probably wait a little longer to fledge.

These are exciting and nervous times for the Rochester Falcon Watchers. If you’re walking around the Times Square Bldg and you see someone with a camera and binoculars, stop by and say hello. We’ll be happy to point out the locations of the Rochester Falcons.

Also, a big welcome to our new neighbors at Constellation Brand who just moved into their new location on Aqueduct St. We’ve met quite a few of you!

Update: 8:30 pm. Watcher and Mighty have settled down in the boy cave (left side of the nest box). Meng finally flew again. She ended up in the center section between the parapets one the east side of the TSB. Justice by light on NW wing ledge.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Morning/Early Afternoon Watchers: Dana, Larry, Kathy O and Carol P

The weather left much to be desired. Cold, cloudy and misty rain most of the morning. You almost needed a winter jacket!

For whatever reason, Nova and Neander seemed to not want the eyases to fledge today. It was mostly quiet, quieter than yesterday. The eyases continue to wingercise and strengthen their wings. Nova and Neander brought in more food than yesterday.

The highlight of our watch was seeing Walker finally make his way to the wall. He continued out along the wall until he found the food left there from an earlier feeding. Go Walker!

Afternoon/Evening Watchers: Pat, Brian, Carrie, Joyce, Carla P and Lisa.

Lots of flying by Nova and Neander. Chased out a Turkey Vulture from the territory.

Highlight of evening watch as of 6:30 pm. Justice made it to the top of Cam 4!

No fledges yet.

Eileen notified us that Mighty has lost her red tape. Thankfully, she is larger and darker than Justice, so we should be able to ID them.

Meng fledged this evening! She flew out and back towards the Times Square Bldg escorted by an adult. Watcher Joyce reported seeing her land on the TSB above the nest box. Hopefully Justice, Mighty and Walker will settle down for the evening. The morning fledge watchers will look for Meng tomorrow morning. Be safe Meng!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

This is the 2nd day of our fledge watch for the Rochester eyases.

Day 1 of the fledge watch passed quickly. I won’t say it was uneventful, since there was a lot of flapping by all 4 eyases. Justice, Meng and Mighty ran the wall while Walker looked on. Yesterday’s fledge watchers were Larry O, Carol P and Dana (morning); Lisa, Brian and Joyce (afternoon/evening).

Day 2 had much more activity. Nova and Neander brought leftovers in multiple times. Neander tended to let the eyases grab it from him, but Nova would stay for a moment, then take off with the food. The eyases would scream for her to bring it back. Sometimes she would, sometimes she wouldn’t. All training to entice them to take their first flights.

Some Turkey Vultures would wander too close and Nova and Neander would vocalize loudly, alarm kakking! If that didn’t scare them off, the adult falcons would take flight and chase the TVs out of their territory, keeping the skies above and around the Times Square Bldg clear for their eyases first flights.

All 4 eyases continue to wingercise, strengthening their flight muscles. They are amazing to watch. Again Justice, Meng and Mighty ran up and down the wall. Walker has yet to go there, but we have to remember he is much younger than the others.

Today’s morning fledge watchers were Kathy O, Dana, Larry O, Linda and Carol P. We left after 1:00 pm, when it was quiet.

Late this afternoon, Lisa, Joyce and Carrie are the fledge watchers. They started their watch in the rain. It’s now stopped raining and the eyases are flapping. Justice and Meng on the wall and Mighty & Walker closer to the nest box. As of 4:50 pm. Still very cloudy and more rain expected. This may keep them from fledging tonight, but you never know!

The fledge watch continues!

Right now, I’m too busy to share any of my pictures, but I’ll try to continue to post updates. Busy times!

8:00 – 10:30 am.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

It’s that time of year again. Our four eyases are growing like weeds and Nova and Neander are busy hunting, providing for and protecting them. So, when the watchers are downtown, it’s usually pretty easy to see activity around the Times Square Bldg nest box.

It was a beautiful Sunday morning! The sun was shining and the temps were warming up nicely. Larry O joined me with his dogs Gimli and Cozi.

When I first arrived, Nova was on top of the Rfalconcam Main Camera. The eyases in the nest box were able to see her. I was not able to see Neander, who was on the Main St side of the Wilder Chimney. But Shaky or Eileen pointed our Pan Cam, Camera #3 to his location.

There are a lot of changes to the area surrounding the Times Square Bldg. The hole, aka Aqueduct St, has had the most changes since Constellation Brands is moving into the Aqueduct Bldg. Where we used to watch the falcons from is now pretty much off limits to us. We’ll adapt.

Here are a couple pictures from my Sunday morning watch. Enjoy!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

When I first arrived downtown I spotted a falcon on the Widows Walk. This is the old city hall building located behind the Times Square Bldg. It was Neander aka Mr. White Feather.

Neander took off flying towards the Wilder Bldg and landing on the chimney. That’s when I could hear very loud falcon vocalization. You guessed it, Nova was on the chimney and she had food. There wasn’t much left, so Neander helped himself to her leftovers. Neander took his pigeon wing to the SW corner of the Wilder Bldg while Nova remained on the chimney.

It was quiet for a long time, but the Sunday morning peacefulness was broken by both Nova and Neander’s alarm kakking. They both took off and flew low over the Wilder and Cross Rds Bldg. I could not see what they were after, but assumed it might be a person out on the roof. It was quiet as Nova landed on top of the Mercury Statue and Neander landed on the NW wing ring on top of the Times Square Bldg.

Again it was quiet for a long time. Then they both started alarm kakking again. This time they both took off and flew towards the Widows Walk and started diving on the building. I quickly drove over to the Times Square Bldg parking lot to see what had their attention.

Mystery solved! The intruder into their territory was a Red-tail Hawk. The poor hawk was hunkered down on a lower ledge and was under attack by two very irate Peregrine Falcons!

As I watched, Nova and Neander took turns stooping on the hawk. The hawk kept low, trying to stay away from falcon talons. Finally, Nova and Neander ended their attack. Nova returned to the top of Mercury and Neander to the Times Square Bldg. I watched the hawk for awhile, only catching a glimpse of the top of its head. For some reason, I thought this was a juvie Red-tail Hawk. I wished it well, hoping it would soon make its escape.

On the way home, I checked ST and could not find Billie or Beau.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Sunday morning falcon watch. It was very cold. Most of my watch was spent watching Neander on the Wilder Chimney.  He did take off once kakking and chasing a juvie Red-tail Hawk out of the area. He soon returned to the chimney.

I put down some seed for the neighborhood pigeons. I do this every Sunday morning that I go downtown for a watch. The city workers were busy putting up Christmas decorations on Main St. A rat ran by as I was watching them!

The hole aka Aqueduct St, is still closed. Has been for about a month now. Looks like new curbs have been placed and a few trees have been planted. Not sure if we’ll be able to park down there when it’s finished.

There was a very large crane next to OCSR towering high above the building.

Larry O, Cozi and Gimli joined me. There was no falcon activity while they were there, unless you count Neander preening.

After Larry left, I drove around the downtown area looking for Nova. From the back of Midtown, I spotted 3 falcons flying together high above the 5 Star Bank Bldg. They were headed west, and there was absolutely no aggression.

Back on the Court St Bridge, I could see that Neander was still on the Wilder Chimney.

It was time to end my watch and head home. I decided to drive by City Hall to check the Frontier Communication Tower. I was happily surprised to see a falcon on the platform. After a closer look, I saw that it was Nova, and she was dancing! Flapping her wings and strutting around, circling. She then took off heading west. That was fun! So happy to see both Nova and Neander. 

One other thing. City Hall is now playing a recording of very loud distressed bird vocalizations. They use these to scare off crows and pigeons. I didn’t see any Crows, but there were a lot of Pigeons nearby that were not impressed. Nova may have been there to investigate.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Yesterday morning I headed downtown for a Sunday morning falcon watch.  I found Neander on the SW corner of the Wilder Bldg. I followed his line of sight. He was intently watching Nova who was eating her breakfast on the SE corner of the Telesca Bldg.  Feathers were flying!

It wasn’t long before Neander joined Nova to grab a share of her meal. Loud vocalizations filled the quiet Sunday morning air. Neander grabbed a small portion of what appeared to be a pigeon while Nova grabbed the rest of it and flew off heading south behind the Wilder Bldg. She cached it and flew back, landing on top of the Wilder Chimney.

Neander quickly ate his small meal and took off heading towards OCSR. I spent the rest of my time watching Nova on the chimney.

On my way home I stopped at ST and found one falcon there. I was not able to see if banded, so not sure if it was Billie or Beau.