By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Got a late start today.  Since no one had seen Pigott recently, I decided to head out to the BS location first.  I arrived there around 5:00 pm.  I slowly circled the building and found her on a window on the east side of the building.  She was taking turns dozing and preening.  It was good to see her.

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At about 5:30 pm, I saw a falcon fly up to the south side of the building.  There was no reaction from Pigott.  I drove around and found Dot.ca on the south side vent.  I found a place to park where I could watch both of them.  There was no vocalization and they could not see each other.  I do not believe they knew the other one was there.  That is until Dot.ca started kakking and went after something south of the building.  That got Pigott’s attention!  He returned to the south side vent and Pigott ee-chupped and took off heading towards him.  Finally!  I kept telling them that the other was just around the corner, but they weren’t listening.  lol

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They flew together towards the west end of the building and I followed.  When I arrived on the west side I was greeted by very loud ee-chups that filled the air.  Love that sound.  They were both in the cubby for a long time vocalizing the whole time.  Dot.ca came out to the edge of the ledge and took off, flying around the building and returning to the SW corner of the NW extension.  From there, he could see into the cubby, where Pigott remained,  continuing to vocalize. (6:00 pm)

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For the next 20 minutes or so, Dot.ca and Pigott flew around the building, following each other and landing in different spots.  They both ended up back at the cubby for more “chatting” and then Dot.ca returned to the same SW corner he had been on earlier.  At 6:20 pm, he took off and I’m pretty sure he headed back downtown.  Pigott remained in the cubby vocalizing.

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Larry O and his dog Harold joined me on the watch just after Dot.ca left.  We were watching when Pigott flew out of the cubby and around the front of the building.  We found her on the south side vent.

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Larry decided to head downtown and I told him I would meet him there, since it was quiet at BS.  I left Pigott sitting quietly on the south side vent, watching over her territory.

At 7:00 pm, I joined Larry O on the Broad St Bridge (BSB).  He had checked his phone and we saw Beauty inside the nest box on the eggs.  So where was Dot.ca?  There were 100’s of some sort of swallow filling the airspace above the Genesee River on both sides of the bridge.  It was quite an amazing sight.  I don’t remember there ever being that many.  While we were enjoying the flight of the small birds, Larry spotted a falcon heading in.  We watched as Dot.ca came in for a landing on the Mercury statue’s heal. (7:15 pm)

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He stayed up there watching all the small swift birds flying around him.  He seemed as amazed by them as we were, but for another reason.  He was probably wondering if he could catch one!

It wasn’t long before he tried.  Dot.ca took off and flew directly over us heading towards the library at the east end of the BSB.  He reached the NE corner and stooped down the side of the library!  Down, Out and Up!  Whoosh!  Whoa!  The maneuvers Peregrines make are incredible. Larry and I are pretty sure he was chasing the swallows which were all around the library.  DC pulled up from his stoop and gained altitude, heading east.  He flew above the downtown buildings until we lost sight of him behind the Xerox Tower.

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Larry had to leave so I drove around the downtown area seeing if I could spot DC.  I had no luck finding him, so I returned to the BSB.  At 7:45 pm, the sun was setting and it was getting really cold.  Time for me to leave.  As I was driving down Exchange heading north, I spotted a falcon flying back towards the Times Square Bldg.  I turned around for a quick look, but couldn’t find him.

So I only saw Pigott and Dot.ca during my watch because Beauty was brooding the eggs the whole time.  All three Rochester falcons accounted for, making it a very good day!

Goodnight everyone and be sure to click on any pictures you would like to see larger.

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