By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Carol picked me up for an early morning watch and boy did Dot.ca(DC) keep us busy.When we arrived on the Broad St. Bridge(BSB) we saw a pefa on the main cam but it left before we could ID it. 5 minutes later Beauty was on the southwest corner of the Wilder building and DC was on the southeast side of the Times Square building(TSB) on a column one level higher than the nest box.

Beauty flew to the nest box and DC took flight over us before settling on the well column south of the nest box.

He then flew over to the Wilder building landed on the southwest corner where beauty had just vacated and then went to the nest box.

A couple minutes later he shot out and headed south to the jail tower perching on the very top. At this point we decided to go check the Brighton Site(BS) for Pigott before the traffic for the Lilac Festival got to be too much. We found her on a northeast window ledge with a white feather on her head, she is so cute.

We were informed at this time that Beauty was laying her 2nd egg. Yipee! Congrats to Beauty and DC!! 10 minutes later DC flew in with a food package for Pigott. They both flew around the back of the building. She landed on a window ledge kitty corner across from the scrape and began eating. DC landed on a south corner and started preening.

He then flew to the scrape echupping as Pigott ate her breakfast.We heard geese flying in and all of a sudden Pigott flew after them coming real low just missing giving one of them a thumping. Then both DC and Pigott flew in the scrape and did some echupping. DC then flew out and left the area while Pigott flew to a north window about half way down the building to keep an eye on the geese who were on the grass eating dandelion seeds. She then flew to a higher spot on the front of the building and this is where we left her to see if DC had gone back to downtown.

On our way downtown Donna let us know DC was checking his newest egg out and when we arrived on the BSB he was in the scrape incubating. Dana and Dan came by to watch with us but I had to leave.  I had a rather large smile on my face from the mornings events to say the least! 🙂

http://pix.kg/p/649594975213%3A907976664/scl

http://youtu.be/256wXFl7y5Q

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

I arrived downtown just before 10:00am and found Dot.ca(DC) on top of cam 4 preening himself and looking quite comfy and at home. I set up on the Broad St. Bridge(BSB) and went back and forth between watching for falcons and the rapellers going down the southeast face of OCSR.

While I was watching the activities at OCSR DC went down to the nest box and 20 minutes later Beauty showed up on the deck.

DC flew back up to under the southeast wing once again focusing his attention on OCSR. Beauty went in the nest box and plopped down on their egg. What little I saw of her back end she looked pretty heavy with egg to me.

Katie (birdgirl814) stopped by to say hi real quick while on her lunch break. DC left the building while we chatted. I needed to charge my phone and it was about noon so I went to the library for a lunch break. Upon my return I could see no pefas in sight. I checked the activity down in the Genesee River and then resumed watching the rapellers over at OCSR. Joyce informed me that Beauty snuck into the nest box and was incubating the egg . 20 minutes later DC returned to his post under the southeast wing.

All was quiet so I decided to call it a watch and head down to the bus stop which is right near the OCSR building. The boyscouts had a table set up out front and a tent was off to the side with camping gear displayed. Across the street in front of Aqueduct Park a small band made up of boy scouts was playing music and there were lots of people on the Main St. bridge and surrounding area watching and cheering the rapellers. Oh did I mention that the rapellers were paying for this thrill of a lifetime to donate to the boy scouts of America. Everyone was having a great time and smiling! 🙂

Check out the links below for pics and videos from my watch

http://pix.kg/p/648295875213%3A171433746/scl

http://youtu.be/6oQ-kPVodWA

http://youtu.be/2WXyyxI0T1E

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

The plan today was to go to Niagara Falls and check to see how many hatchlings there were for Sage. She had asked Joyce if she could do this as she and DEC watcher Jackie would not be able to for a couple days. As of  yesterday 2 of the 5 eggs had hatched. Naturally when Joyce asked if I wanted to join her I said yes. Our first mission was to find out where Dot.ca(DC) was for he hadn’t  been downtown all morning to see Beauty or his new egg.  When we arrived downtown we found DC under the northeast wing and Beauty was in the nest box with their egg. 10 minutes later Beauty flew up under the southeast wing and DC went down to the deck of the nest box and got his first glimpse of the egg.

A minute later he was in the nest box touching and rolling the egg to form his bond with it. It was a tender moment to say the least. Next thing we knew he was out the box and mating with Beauty under the southeast wing. I guess that’s what you call celebrating Peregrine style! lol When they were done he flew around the area doing his happy dance flight before leaving. Joyce and I stayed about 20 minutes waiting for him to return and decided we better get going to Niagara Falls as it was after 11:00am already. We left the Beautyful one under the southeast wing soaking in the suns rays.

When we arrived at Goat Island on the U.S. side of Niagara Falls about 1:20pm it was sunny with blue skies as far as you could see. The resident female Diamond was in the scrape incubating.

Make sure to click on pics for full version

The unbanded male, named Gorge’s George by Sage brought a food package and mom fed the eyases. Joyce was able to determine that there were 3 little fuzz ball heads being fed looking through my scope. So 1 egg hatched since yesterday with 2 remaining.  She flew out and cached the leftovers and returned. A while later he flew in to relieve her and take over the incubation duties. I spotted her on a window south of the scrape after she flew around a bit.

The mist from the falls started drifting over to us from a shift in the wind so we packed up and headed to Buffalo. First stop was the south Grand Island bridge where I spotted a pefa under the bridge in a couple different spots.

We left for downtown as the day was getting shorter stopping at the Statler building nest site. From the 26th floor of the Rand building we could see a pile of white fluff in the scrape but no adults were in our view.

Next stop was Central Terminal where we were disappointed to see no falcons. We did see a man on the lower roof below the scrape and thought it odd that no pefas were at least checking him out. Maybe one was in the nest box with the babies and couldn’t see him. We left not feeling good about not seeing anyone there. Our last stop was the grain elevator where we saw nothing also. After a long day we headed home as the sun was setting in the western sky. Another fantastic day of falcon watching in the books giving Joyce and I something to smile about! 🙂

Check out the links below for more pics of the days events and 4 short videos of  the falls

http://pix.kg/p/544498775213%3A159481372/scl

http://youtu.be/AlfPGmGnGa8

http://youtu.be/59IOVf1-Htk

http://youtu.be/wjYBfAKtaos

http://youtu.be/KF7MwlaiorE

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Date : 5/17/12 (Thursday)
Time: 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Weather: Sunny and Cooler than in past days. Temps in the 60’s. A beautiful day!
Watcher: Dan, Kathy O, Brian H, Lou, Dana & Carol P.
Places: Downtown Rochester (Times Square Nestsite) (TS)
Peregrines Seen: Beauty (at TSB) & Dot.ca (at TSB)
Beauty = B
Dot.ca = DC
Pigott = P (the female falcon formerly known as SA or Sub Adult at BS Location)
Times Square Bldg = TSB
Brighton Site = BS
Broad St Bridge = BSB
Baush & Lomb Bldg = B&L Bldg
Old Changing Scenes Restaurant = OCSR

Now that we are with egg, many of the Watchers gathered on the Broad St Bridge tonight to watch the falcons and to talk excitedly about the possibility of young falcons here in Rochester this year. Believe me, we are NOT counting our eyases before they are hatched, but we can’t help hoping that they will.

When I first arrived, Kathy, Dan and Brian pointed out a falcon on the level above the nest box, right in the center. They weren’t sure if it was B or DC. That question was answered fairly quickly when we spotted a falcon flying in from the east. We spotted the split wing tip on the right wing. I never thought I would say that to describe Beauty in flight. That was something that helped us ID Mariah most of the many years we watched her. Beauty flew up to the platform of the nest box and remained there throughout our watch. While we watched Beauty fly in, we lost sight of Dot.ca who had been the falcon on the level above the nest box. No one saw him leave, but it was nice to know that while Beauty was away from the nest, Dot.ca kept watch over their egg. Oh, and Larry O had reported a Falcon at the BS location just before I arrived, so he probably saw Pigott there, while DC was on the TSB.

Dana and Lou joined us and we settled in to watch the daring folks repelling down the OCSR building we were so used to seeing falcons on, not humans acting like Batman and Robin in the old series I watched as a kid. I kept thinking they should be stopping and talking to people through the windows on their way down. Hahaha! Some of them were just being lowered and some were actually putting their feet on the building and “walking” down. We would say “Hey, look! He’s on the top IBeam! It actually does look like a lot of fun! 🙂

For the two hours we were there, Beauty did not move from the nest box and Dot.ca did not return (that we knew of). So watching the Crow on the river rocks below using the river water to try to soften the stale piece of pizza he found to be able to eat it and seeing a small raccoon walking up and down the river bank was our entertainment for the night. Mind you, I am not complaining. The good company of my fellow Watchers and the peacefulness of watching Beauty at the nest box with her egg was all we needed.

We of course will all be out again to keep an eye on our Rochester Falcons and we’ll report what we see. So, remember, keep your eyes to the sky. Sometimes it just nice to look up and see a Peregrine at rest, preening and dozing. Sometimes that’s the very best. 🙂

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Date : 5/16/12 (Wednesday)
Time: 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm
Weather: Partly Sunny/Partly Cloudy/little bit of rain when a cold front pushed through and temps in the 70’s/60’s
Watcher: Joyce, Kathy O, MAK & Carol P
Places: Downtown Rochester (Times Square Nestsite) (TS) & Brighton Site (BS) Location
Peregrines Seen: Beauty (at TSB) & Dot.ca (at TSB & BS) & Pigott (at BS)
Beauty = B
Dot.ca = DC
Pigott = P (the female falcon formerly known as SA or Sub Adult at BS Location)
Times Square Bldg = TSB
Brighton Site = BS
Broad St Bridge = BSB
Baush & Lomb Bldg = B&L Bldg
Old Changing Scenes Restaurant = OCSR

Well, this was a day of surprises for the Rochester Watchers that were out checking on the falcons this afternoon. I joined Joyce at the BS location at about 4:00 pm. She had seen both Dot.ca and Pigott there just before I arrived. I found her on the south side of the building watching Dot.ca who was preening up on top of the vent near the top. It was very quiet, so we chatted for awhile. At approximately 5:15 pm, Dot.ca took off and flew to the north side of the building where the scrape was located.

By the time I drove around to the front of the building, I could hear very loud ee-chupping from the scrape. Pigott had arrived and both she and Dot.ca were having a Chup-fest! It lasted a few minutes before Dot.ca left the scrape and Pigott soon followed. I lost track of Dot.ca, but watched as Pigott flew to the east side of the building. Joyce had joined me in time to witness all of this. I tweeted out what happened while Joyce drove around to see if she could find Pigott. She did, just in time to see her stoop down over a field on the east side. We did not see her return.

I decided to head downtown to check on Beauty and possibly Dot.ca if he went in that direction. I told Joyce I was heading out. On my drive over, my phone started going off with tweets and phone calls and, I couldn’t answer any of them, because I was driving! It didn’t take long for me to get downtown. Kathy O was already on the Broad St Bridge. After parking behind her, she quickly came back and excitedly told me that Beauty had just laid an egg. What! Wow! That was incredible! I took a look at my tweets and saw they were from so many falcon fans, some that I had not seen in a few years. Thanks Kristen! Everyone was so excited! Kathy pointed out that Dot.ca was sitting on the base of the SE Wing above the nest box. Since Beauty hadn’t moved off of the egg, he probably didn’t know she had laid one. Or maybe he did. Who knows. 🙂

We were soon joined by Joyce and MAK, who Joyce had picked up on her way downtown. WooHoo! We were all very excited.

Of course it’s way too early to know if this egg will hatch or whether Beauty will lay any others. I know I’ll be watching the cameras and going downtown to see what happens. and you know I’ll be keeping my eyes to the sky, watching “our” Rochester Falcons.

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

When I approach downtown on the bus riding down Main St. from the west I always check the Frontier Communications Tower as I pass. Then my eyes go quickly to Widows Walk, the jail tower and the back of Times Square. I can see under all the wings except the southeast wing. I didn’t see any falcons on buildings this morning but as the bus approached the intersection at Main and State/Exchange Streets I spotted a Peregrine flying over the Crossroads building. It was headed in the general direction of Times Square. So after I got off the bus at Main and Aqueduct St. I walked directly to Exchange St. and looking up at Times Square as I turned the corner I could see tail and wing feathers hanging over the edge under the northeast wing.

I sat down on the garden box timber next to He’s Chinese restaurant and patiently waited for this pefa to show itself so I knew who it was although I was pretty sure it was Beauty as Dot.ca(DC) doesn’t perch this way but Beauty does. About 25 minutes later it turned and gave me a side view.

Yes it was her, the Beautyful one. I took a walk down to the front of the Blue Cross Arena to get a better look at her in the bright sunshine.

As I passed by the Times Square Building(TSB) I took a pic of the placard showing the address of Beautys’ home.

Next it appeared she flew off to the back of the building so as I was walking back down Exchange to see if she had gone under the northwest wing I ran into DebbieH who was on a break from work and taking a walk. After she left I looked up and saw Beauty had moved farther back under the northeast wing close to the building.

15 minutes later Beauty flew above the Wilder building before going around the back of Times Square out of view. I decided to walk down in front of the Blue Cross Arena to check the jail tower since that’s the direction she was flying and sure enough there she was on a north side cross beam.

I walked practically to Cornhill to get a front view of her.

45 minutes passed before I noticed she had left when I wasn’t watching. I just love it when that happens! lol I started trekking back toward Times Square up Exchange St. and I could see the bright white chest of DC on a southwest column in the back of Times Square one level higher than the nest box.

He then flew around the back of the building to the nest box. It was at this time I decided to go up on the South Ave. garage where I could look for Beauty. When I got up there DC was still perched at the nest box where he remained for quite some time.

Nearly an hour passed when DC flew out and met Beauty over the Thomson Reuters building and they both flew to the nest box landing next to the main cam and did some bowing to each other. DC left when they were done and Beauty remained  a couple minutes before she also left.

This would be the last I saw of either one of our Rochester falcons for the remainder of my watch. I stopped on the Broad St. bridge for a while and watched a gull jump off a rock and grab a shiny little minnow out of the Genesee river. He threw it up on the rock and repositioned it in his beak for an easy swallow. At 2:00pm nearly 2 hours after last seeing Beauty and DC I called it a day and headed to the bus stop. I’m glad to see them bowing more and DC bringing food gifts but what would really make me smile(and everyone else) is if she would lay eggs so we don’t have another lost season here in Rochester. 🙂

Click the link below for more pics from today

http://pix.kg/p/702425575213%3A2021972163/scl

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Date : 5/14/12 (Monday)
Time: 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm
Weather: Partly Sunny/Partly Cloudy and temps in the 70’s
Watcher: Carol P
Places: Downtown Rochester (Times Square Nestsite) (TS)
Peregrines Seen: Beauty (at Times Square) & Dot.ca (at TS)

Beauty = B
Dot.ca = DC
Pigott = P (formerly known as SA or Sub Adult at BS Location)
Times Square Bldg = TSB
Brighton Site = BS
Broad St Bridge = BSB
Baush & Lomb Bldg = B&L Bldg
Old Changing Scenes Restaurant = OCSR

Earlier reports from Larry O had both Pigott & Dot.ca at the BS location. Also, around 3:20 pm, Brian H reported seeing three falcons flying over the downtown area. Beauty and Dot.ca for sure, but no ID on 3rd falcon except Brian was pretty sure it was a female. Could this have been Pigott? Or another female migrating through? There is no of knowing for sure. Luckily the 3rd falcon left pretty quickly.

After reading Brian’s report of 3 falcons seen, I headed downtown to make sure everything was quiet. When I arrived on the Broad St Bridge at 6:30 pm, I checked all the buildings in the area, starting with the Times Square Bldg. I found Beauty on the B&L Bldg at the NW corner. She was looking west towards the TSB and her nest box. I checked around but could not find any other falcons.

She remained on the B&L Bldg for about an hour, before taking off and flying directly over me heading west. Dana, Lou and I noticed that she appears to now have a split wing tip on her right wing. Possibly a missing primary feather? Beauty flew up to the TSB and landed at the base of the SE wing.

At 7:30 pm, Dot.ca flew in from the south, past Beauty’s location, landing on the base of the NE wing directly across from her. He was carrying prey. DC settled into prepping the food by plucking the feathers. The slight breeze was carrying the feathers across the front of the building where they floated around Beauty. She intently watched what he was doing.

Finally there were no more feathers floating in the air, he was done prepping the food. He gave a soft, whiny ee-chup and looked at Beauty. The last time he had food on this spot, she flew over, ran to him and grabbed it from him. Hope you all enjoyed that video. 🙂 Did he expect the same this time? Nope! She wasn’t budging.

So, since she wasn’t coming to him, he decided to take the food to her. Well, maybe not directly to her. How about the nest box? Yeah! I’ll bring it to the nest box! DC grabbed the prey in his talons and flew past Beauty. He kept heading south and “U” turned back towards the TSB. I watched as he landed on Camera #4 in front of the nest box. Well, that was an invitation Beauty could not ignore! She took off and flew directly down to the nest box landing on the platform in front of him. DC remained on Cam #4 and she looked up at him from the platform. This lasted all of 5 seconds. Beauty jumped up onto Cam #4 with DC and she grabbed the food from him and then jumped back down to the platform.

DC remained on the camera for a short while before flying up to the SE corner of the level above the nest box. When he left, Beauty started eating the offered meal.

It was 8:00 pm and time for me to go. It was another good day with all three Rochester Falcons seen.

Remember to keep your eyes to the sky! There are so many wonderful things up there to see!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P. (& Dana)
Date : 5/13/12 (Sunday)
Time: 8:00 am to 12:30 pm
Weather: Sunny and temps in the 70’s; nice and warm (Another Beautiful Day!)
Watchers: Dana, Dan & Carol P
Places: Downtown Rochester (Times Square Nestsite) (TS) & Brighton Site (BS)
Peregrines Seen: Beauty (at Times Square), Pigott (at Brighton Site) & Dot.ca (at TS & BS)

Beauty = B
Dot.ca = DC
Pigott = P
Times Square Bldg = TSB
Brighton Site = BS
Broad St Bridge = BSB

It was yet another beautiful Spring day here in Rochester, NY. When I arrived downtown around 8:00 am, it was cloudy and cool, but the clouds soon parted and the sun appeared. Dot.ca was up on top of the Times Square Bldg on the base of the NE wing. I was informed by Donna and Joyce that Beauty was inside the nest box, which was directly below D.C. She was looking up at him and he was looking down at her.

Dana was at the BS location and she tweeted that Pigott was on the west end of the building. So, all three Rochester Falcons were seen this morning.

At 10:20 am, Dot.ca flew into the nest box for a short visit with Beauty and then flew out heading northwest. I waited to see if he would return but he didn’t. I drove out to the Broad St Bridge and found Dan at his favorite spot at 10:50 am. We settled in to watch Beauty.

10:50 am to Noon – report from Dana at the BS location – DC had arrived at BS and he had entered the scrape. Pigott joined him at the scrape and DC flew up to the roof on the north side of the building. Dot.ca then flew out to the east and appeared to be hunting. DC came back and joined Pigott at the scrape. Then took off again, this time heading west. Dot.ca returned with food and landed on the northeast window ledge. Pigott left the scrape to grab the food from him. Pigott settled in to eat, while Dot.ca remained on the building a level above her. Dot.ca then went to the scrape. Pigott took leftovers to the south side. At noon, Dana reported that Dot.ca was flying high above circling.

Back at the TSB, at 11:00 am, Beauty flew out of the nest box over to the OCSR where she landed at the west end of the top I-Beam. After about a half hour, Beauty took off and Dan and I saw her head west, low. I walked around and tried to find her but I couldn’t. I returned to Dan on the bridge.

Just after Dan left, at 12:10 pm, DC flew in and landed at the NE wing. He then took off heading south and flew back through, heading south. He was a busy Tiercel. At 12:20 pm, I spotted Beauty up at the base of the SE wing and she was preening. Dana joined me and we chatted for a short time. I had to get home to spend some time with my mom, so I headed out around 12:30 pm, leaving Dana on the Broad St. Bridge.

It was a very good day today. Due to tag team Falcon Watching with Dana, we saw all three Rochester Falcons and saw that Dot.ca is quite active at both nest sites. Bringing food to both Beauty and Pigott and entering both scrapes. He has also been seen defending both nest sites. We continue to wait and watch this all unfold.

I’ve included some pictures from this weekend in a KGallery album.  No sign on needed.  Enjoy!

http://pix.kg/p/4601394151105%3A1835453165/scl

Hope all you moms out there had a wonderful Mothers Day! 🙂

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Date : 5/12/12
Time: 8:30 am to noon & 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm
Weather: Sunny and temps in the 70’s; nice and warm (A Beautiful Day!)
Watchers: Dana, Lou & Carol P
Places: Downtown Rochester (Times Square Nestsite) (TS) & Brighton Site (BS)
Peregrines Seen: Current TS Resident Female (Beauty) & Two Peregrines at BS (Dot .ca aka DC & Sub-Adult Female aka SA)

It was a beautiful, sunny, warm day. Lots going on downtown including a gathering and parade of dachshunds. Not something you see every day. Graduations continue at the Blue Cross Arena aka Rochester War Memorial and the 2nd day of the Lilac Festival at Highland Park.

When I arrived around 8:30 am, Beauty was up at the NE wing of the Times Square Bldg (TSB). She was preening and soaking up the sun. I was joined by Dana.

At 10:00 am, Beauty started to whine. She took off and flew around a bit before going into the nest box. Soon after, Dot.ca flew in and landed at the SE wing. At approximately 11:00 am, Dot.ca left while we weren’t looking. Beauty came out of the nest box heading east where we lost sight of her. Dana and I decided to split up and look for them. She was going to head over to the BS location, but could not get close due to the Lilac Festival. I drove around the downtown area checking out all the buildings. Neither of us had any luck.

We both met back at Aqueduct St. For the next hour, we had no falcons in sight. I decided to leave to have some lunch. Before I got too far I received a text from Dana that Beauty had returned.

I returned downtown around 3:30 pm. Dot.ca was at the NE wing and Beauty was in the nest box. Soon after I arrived, I was joined by Dana and Lou for a short while. At 4:10 pm, first Dot.ca and then Beauty took off from the TSB and flew together above us. They both headed east, but were only gone for a few moments. First Beauty and then Dot.ca flew back to the nest box, fast!. There was a Turkey Vulture (TV) close to the building and DC chased it towards the southwest.

After that Dot.ca continued to fly higher and higher, circling the area. Beauty perched on the railing outside of the scrape and watched DC above. He would fly in and out of our view, before we couldn’t see him anymore. At one point I did see him stoop past the Radisson Hotel, but didn’t see where he went. I did not see DC for the remainder of my watch. Dana and Lou left and I remained for another hour before heading home myself, leaving Beauty on the perch in front of the nest box.

Tomorrow is Mothers Day! Happy Mom’s Day to all you moms. Enjoy your day!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Time to start up our Falcon Watches again.

Wanted to start with my Watch Report from today. I saw all three Rochester Falcons during my watch, Beauty, Dot.ca and Pigott.

For this one, I decided to write up my report along with the pictures I took in a KGallery album. Here’s the link (no sign on needed):

http://pix.kg/p/5775131151105%3A345333072/scl

and a video of Beauty flying over to Dot.ca and grabbing the food he brought to her.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4fWd-Zn2Sg&feature=youtu.be
 

Hope you Enjoy!
Carol P.