By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Sunrise at 7:39 am.  Sunset at 4:58 pm.  Oh, so close to 5:00 pm!  Full Moon too!

Temps were in the upper-30’s (F) and it was cloudy.

I didn’t have much time for my afternoon watch today, so I was happy to find both Beauty and Pigott.  I did look for Dot.ca, but could not find him.

No Falcons at Kodak Park.  There were two Red-tailed Hawks, one on the tallest still and one in the trees.  Probably a good indication that the adult Peregrine that we’ve been seeing there was not home at the time.

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My next stop was the BS location where I found Pigott on the east end of the building on a lower roof with a very full crop.

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Downtown I was unable to find Dot.ca after a quick search, but I did find Beauty up on top of the Mercury statue.

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I had to end my watch earlier that I would have liked.  But I was happy to have found Beauty and Pigott doing well.  Goodnight everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

51 (F) degrees and rain on Saturday and mid-30’s (F) and ice pellets on Sunday.  Hey at least the days are getting a little bit longer each day!

Today:  Sunrise at 7:39 am.  Sunset at 4:56 pm.

Watchers that were out this weekend:  Kathy O, Pat, Larry O, Dana, Lou and me Carol P.

Dot.ca was busy, going back and forth between downtown and the BS location.  There was a lot of activity at both sites.

I’ll start with the falcon we’ve been seeing at Kodak Park.  This falcon was spotted by Joyce, Brian and I on Friday.  I checked both Saturday and Sunday and the falcon was in the same spot, on a silver box just to the left of a red light on the east stack catwalk.  Is this a wintering falcon just passing through?  We’ll definitely be keeping an eye on this location.

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Saturday, January 11, 2014

It was raining hard most of the day and Dot.ca was busy going back and forth between both downtown and the BS locations.  Here are some pictures from my Saturday Falcon Watch.  Kathy O joined me that day.

Beauty & Dot.ca at Kodak Office

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Pigott & Dot.ca at BS

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Pigott and DC flew to the north side of the building and sat in the pouring rain.

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They both took off and went on a hunt!

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Dot.ca returned first with food.  We found him eating on the slat window on the south side of the building.

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Pigott flew in and landed on the southeast corner of the southeast extension with food.  Dot.ca grabbed his meal and flew over to the east side tree ledge, just below Pigott.

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After Dot.ca finished his meal, he flew to the north side of the building and Pigott joined him there.

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Kathy and I decided to head downtown to check on Beauty.  We found her on the Mercury statue.  She started to vocalize with a wailing sound, which usually meant that Dot.ca was somewhere nearby.  Yep, there he was on top of the Times Square Bldg on the southeast wing ring.

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At the end of our watch, Kathy and I decided to go over to check out the High Falls area.  There was a lot of ice on the river and due to the higher temperatures, there was a lot of water flowing through.  Here are some pictures from High Falls.

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A couple more pics from my Saturday Watch.

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Sunday, January 12, 2014

Today it only went up into the mid-30’s (F).  Ice pellets fell for much of the afternoon.  Dana and Lou had reported that they had Pigott at the BS location at the same time I found both Beauty and Dot.ca on the Kodak Office tower. Beauty was on the south side arch ledge, just above the old M&K nest site location and Dot.ca was on the south east corner of the 19th floor.

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I went over to the BS location, but could not find Pigott.  So, I returned to Kodak Office to find that Dot.ca had moved up to the south east corner of the launch pad.  Beauty was still on the arch ledge.

On my way home I checked out Charlotte and Russell Station.  I didn’t find any falcons, but I did find fellow Falcon Watcher Pat at Russell Station.

I ended my weekend watch after seeing all three Rochester Falcons plus one at Kodak Park.  Goodnight everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Sunrise at 7:40 am.  Sunset at 4:56 pm.

It is currently 21 (F) degrees, but it feels like 14 (F).

When I left work today, I decided to head over to the south side of Kodak Park (KP) to check the stack catwalks.  During the day I had noticed that the neighborhood pigeons were antsy.  They were doing a lot of flying, like they were being spooked by something.  When I checked out the smokestacks, I could see what may have had them airborne so much today.  There was a Peregrine Falcon on the lower catwalk on the east stack.  Looked like a big bird, so I’m going to guess that it was a female.  Joyce and Brian joined me for a few moments.

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Since I didn’t have much time, I headed down to the lake (Ontario) to see if I could find Billy or any other falcons.  Nothing at Charlotte, so I continued on to Russell Station (RS).  I checked out both sides, but again could find no falcons.

Earlier in the day, Shaky had posted this picture taken from the Rfalconcam Camera, showing two falcons on the Kodak Office Tower.  Probably Beauty and Dot.ca.

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Joyce reported seeing Pigott at her nighttime roost late this afternoon at the BS location.  So, all of the Rochester Falcons had been seen today by the Watchers.  Plus, a 4th falcon that I saw at Kodak Park.

After looking for Billy, I parked in the small parking lot on the north side of RS and walked across the street to take a look at the icy lake.  It was a beautiful sight!  What looked like small icebergs were floating just off shore. They were surrounded by all kinds of water birds, ducks and geese.  A family of Mute Swans (I believe), floated by.  The whole scene took my breath away.  It was surreal.

I’ll leave you with a few pictures from my trip to Lake Ontario this afternoon.  Enjoy and Goodnight!

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Sunset over Russell Station

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I so wanted to take a dip!  lol

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Sunrise at 7:40 am.  Sunset at 4:54 pm.

Watchers out today were Larry O, Joyce, Brian & me Carol P.

Today temps in Rochester, NY, went up into the teens and the sun was out for a little while.  A nice change from the single digit temperatures and below zero windchill.

I headed downtown after work, stopping first at the Kodak Office Tower.  This is my view as I come off of Rte 390, showing the west side of the tower. (3:50 pm)

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While I was checking out Kodak Office and not finding any falcons there, I received a tweet from Joyce.  She was downtown on the Broad St Bridge.  Joyce texted that she had watched Beauty chase off a Red-tail Hawk and that Beauty was now on top of the Mercury statue.  I joined Joyce and Brian down on Aqueduct St. (4:10 pm)

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At 4:30 pm, Beauty took off and flew up into the OCSR elevator shaft.  I drove over there and found Beauty on the north side ledge.

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We could not find Dot.ca downtown, so I headed over to the BS location.  Pigott was on the northeast corner of the east extension.

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I parked where I could keep an eye on Pigott and watch the east end of the building.  As the sunset and I was quickly losing light (approx 5:07 pm), Dot.ca flew in from the east and landed on the tree ledge on the east end of the building.  He had successfully hunted and landed next to the tree with his meal.  While Dot.ca prepared his meal and feathers were flying, Pigott took off and flew around to the north side of the building.

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I drove around to the north side of the building and found Pigott on a north facing window on the east extension.  She was 3 windows down.  We believe this is her nighttime roost.

It was going on 5:30 pm when I left the BS location.  Dot.ca was eating and Pigott was tucked into her nighttime spot.  With Beauty up inside the elevator shaft, that made all three of the Rochester Falcons seen t0day.

I am always very happy to see all three of them doing well, especially after such harsh weather.  Keep warm everyone and goodnight!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

What is the Polar Vortex?  Not to be confused with the Polar Express.  It’s a large pocket of very cold air, typically the coldest air in the Northern hemisphere, which sits over the polar region during the winter season.  The frigid air found its way into the US when the polar vortex was moved south.  That’s how the weather folks explain it.  All I know is it is darn cold out there!   When I woke up this morning it was -5 degrees (F) with a windchill close to 30 below zero.  As I type this at 7:36 pm, it is 4 degrees and feels like 18 below zero.  Thankfully, tomorrow the temperatures will start to rise, 20 degrees tomorrow and up into the 40’s by Saturday.

When I left work today, I headed straight downtown to look for Beauty and Dot.ca.  Larry O and Joyce had been out earlier and both had seen a falcon at the BS location.  Joyce was pretty sure that it was Pigott.

My route took me by Kodak Office first, so I checked out that area.  When I didn’t find any falcons there, I headed over to the OCSR to look up into the elevator shaft.  When I first arrived, there was blowing snow, making it hard to see anything that high up.  Finally the snow stopped.  I was losing light, but without the snow, my visibility was much better.  There was definitely one falcon on the north ledge of the OCSR elevator shaft and I am fairly certain that the other falcon was on the south side ledge.  Both had their backs to me.  Because of this, I could not tell which was Beauty and which was Dot.ca.  Here are some pictures of what I saw.  I’ve added arrows to point out where the falcons are.

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I stayed there for close to an hour before the sun set.  Both falcons remained in the elevator shaft, an excellent spot to get out of the cold, snow and wind.

Goodnight everyone!

Sunrise at 7:41 am.  Sunset at 4:52 pm.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

At 5:00 am it was 50 degrees.  As I type this report, it is 5 degrees (F) and feels like 19 below zero with blowing snow.  That’s a big BRRRRR!

Sunrise at 7:41 am.  Sunset at 4:49 pm.

I knew I didn’t have a whole lot of time, so I first checked Kodak Park.  No falcons there.

At the BS location I found Pigott on the east end of the building on a window below the tree ledge.

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She was there by herself and she was settled in an area where the wind was blocked.  So, I headed downtown and searched the downtown area twice.  It was snowing hard when I arrived and visibility was poor.  When I looked up into the OCSR elevator shaft, I could not tell if Beauty and Dot.ca were up there or not.  They could have been, I just couldn’t be sure.  This is what I saw.

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I went over to the Kodak Office Tower to see if they might be there, but had no luck finding any falcons there.

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By 5:00 pm, it was getting dark.  The winds were blowing the snow around and the temperatures were plunging.  I called it a watch.

Here are a few more wintry pictures I took while on my watch today.  Goodnight everyone!

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By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Sorry, I don’t have time to leave a detailed report.  Thought you would all enjoy seeing pictures of our Rochester Falcons from over the weekend.  All 3 were seen doing well  by the Watchers this weekend.

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Pigott at BS Location.

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Dot.ca at Kodak Office Tower.

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Beauty on Mercury.

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Other Pictures from my Falcon Watch.

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Sunday, January 5, 2014

Temps in the 30’s (F).  Mostly cloudy with a little bit of sun.  Sunrise at 7:41 am/Sunset at 4:49 pm.

Beauty was seen on the Mercury statue on the Rfalconcam cameras this morning.

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Pigott and Dot.ca were seen by Watchers Kathy O, Dana and I late morning/afternoon.

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A totally ice cover Genesee River between Main St and Andrew St Bridges.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Rochester was hit by a bad snow storm over the last couple days and today it didn’t make it out of the single digits.  When I was downtown between 4 and 5 pm, it was 4 degrees and the windchill was below zero.  Brrrr!

With the bad weather and the frigid temperatures, I was pretty sure I knew where the falcons might be, at least Beauty.  I made my way over to the Radisson and looked up into the OCSR elevator shaft.  The elevator was up there, but there’s still room on each side.  Both Beauty and Dot.ca were there.  Beauty was on the south side ledge and Dot.ca was on the north side ledge.  I was happy to see them.

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Larry O had reported earlier in the afternoon that he had seen a falcon at the BS location, but was unable to positively ID if it was Pigott.

Traveling was not the best today.  The roads were pretty much snow covered and slick, but yesterday had been a lot worst.  Tomorrow it’s expected to go up to 30 degrees.  Today the sun rose at 7:41 pm and set at 4:47 pm.  The days are getting longer!  🙂

I’ll leave you with some pics I took of snowy downtown Rochester during my watch.  Be sure to click on any you would like to see larger. Goodnight all and keep warm!

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By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Here are some pictures from the Watcher gathering on New Year’s Day.

Gathered Watchers: Shaky, Carrie, Larry O, Jeanne, Pat, Dan S, Don, Suzanne, Kathy O, Lisa McK, Joyce, Steve, Dana, Lou, June, Carol P and MAK (from Arkansas).

#1 – Larry O, Jeanne, Dan & Shaky; #2 – Dan, Carrie, June & Pat; #3 – Shaky (Not sure what he’s doing. 🙂

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#1 – Shaky, Steve, Joyce and Lou; 2 – Shaky (not sure what he’s doing : ); 3 – Shaky, Shaky, Shaky!

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#1 – Lisa McK, Kathy O & Shaky; #2 – Everyone by me!; #3 – Shaky recording the event.

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#1 – Shaky with Time Sq Bldg Behind him; #2 – Dana and Joyce.

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#1 – Steve, Dan & Pat; #2 – Lou, Shaky & Don.

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Oh, in case you were wondering why we were gathered, here are three reasons why.  Beauty, Dot.ca and Pigott!

Beauty on the Kodak Office Tower

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Pigott and Dot.ca at the BS location

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Beauty eating on Kodak Office Tower

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Thanks Shaky for fixing the problem that wouldn’t let me download pictures yesterday.

Goodnight everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Today the Rochester Falcon Watchers met at noon  in front of the Blue Cross Arena on Broad St to toast the new year.  A toast to a falcon filled season!

But first, I wanted to find the falcons we were toasting.  So, I headed out an hour and a half early.  There were no falcons at Kodak Park or the BS location.  I headed downtown, again finding no falcons.  From Kodak Office I looked south and saw two falcon flying really high above the city.  They were circling each other, coming together, then apart.  The only way I can describe this flight between a bonded pair of Peregrine Falcons is to call it an aerial ballet.  They flew higher and higher, heading north east, where  I lost sight of them over the river.  Soon after that, one of them flew in and landed on the southeast corner of the launchpad.  Beauty had arrived.

It was noon, so I had to get going.  It was time to meet up with the other watchers to toast to a successful 2014 falcon season.  The following Rochester Falcon Watchers showed up today.

Shaky, Carrie, Dan S, Jeanne, Larry O, Pat, Suzanne, Don, Lisa McK, Kathy O, Joyce, Steve, Dana, Lou and me Carol P.  Oh, and MAK called and joined us for the toast all the way from Arkansas!

I had pictures I wanted to share, but for some reason, I can’t post them.  I’ll try again tomorrow.

After the toast, we headed over to the BS location and found both Pigott and Dot.ca on the east side of the building.  Pigott’s crop was huge, so she just ate.  Dot.ca was eating her leftovers.  By the time he was finished eating, his crop was huge too.  lol

At the end of my watch, I drove through downtown and found Beauty where Joyce reported seeing her.  Beauty was eating on the south side of the launch pad at Kodak Office.  So all three Rochester Falcons were accounted for, well fed and doing good.

Happy New Year everyone!!!