Morning watch 10-18-13
By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK
The morning started out a bit cloudy with a temperature of 50 degrees (F) 10 (C) but the sun shone brightly after the clouds broke up
The pattern for Beauty and Dot.Ca (DC) seems to be changing a bit as today I first found Beauty on the jail tower 2nd arm down on the southeast side and DC, well you’ll have to read on to find out what he was up to. I spotted the Beautyful one from the Broad St. Bridge on my way back from checking the east side where she usually is early morning and I also saw a window washer on Broad St. cleaning the Thomson Reuters south side windows.
I drove to Troup St. on the south side of the jail for the best spot to observe Beauty. She stayed about 15 minutes then she flew off heading my way over 490 and then as she got overhead she went into a stoop turning on the after burners and leaving my field of vision into the Cornhill district.
I drove around the Cornhill area but didn’t find her so I left to check the Brighton Site (BS) arriving there at 8:20am. As I came up to the west side where the cubby is located I saw a falcon on the front ledge. It flew out going north as I pulled over-it looked small like a tiercel so I figured it was UT (unbanded tiercel). As I drove around to the south (back) side of the building I thought I saw it flying across the roof line and when I reached the east side I found a falcon on the southeast corner of the east extension. I tweeted that it was UT who has been seen with Pigott daily for the last 2 weeks during which time DC has NOT been seen at BS.
As I was paying attention to him Pigott snuck in onto the 2nd window down on the east side of the southeast extension below the roof top tree. She seemed like she was agitated as she walked back and forth on the window ledge and had a fierce look on her face when she looked his direction. One of them was whining-couldn’t tell which one.
At about 9:10am I got my confirmation when DC flew off showing his leg bands and he was chupping. Pigott did not return his chup as she flew over to the corner he vacated.
<DC leaves 
<Pigott moves in
After DC didn’t return I went to look for him and when I got back to the east side he was perched by the roof top tree. Pigott had her back to him while she preened and mostly ignored him as he eechupped softly on and off. She did NOT eechup back and left 20 minutes later flying west and that was the last I saw of her. DC eechupped loudly as she flew away but she didn’t return his call. Hmm…
<DC Pigott>
I was surprised that DC didn’t follow Miss Pigott. I checked the entire building but she was gone so I pulled over to watch DC from a side angle as he mainly watched over his territory, stretched and scratched.
So, many questions come to mind such as- is Pigott upset with DC for not coming around for so long or has he been at BS when UT was not in the past 2 weeks? Or, was she upset that he chased UT away if that’s what transpired. Is DC now going to spend time with Pigott exclusively like he has with Beauty for the past 2 weeks before he migrates. The truth is we’ll never know the answers because we only spend a fraction of time watching these falconss-so much can happen when we are not observing them. Stay tuned!
I left DC on his own at 10:45am and went downtown before ending my watch. I found Beauty from the Andrews St. Bridge on the northeast side of OCSR on the top ibeam. I drove over to Bragdon St. for a closer look to make sure it was her and take a pic or two.
I ended my watch at 11:05am the same way I started it-with Beauty and smiling! 🙂
Click on the links below if you wish to see more pics and videos
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqi0k
http://youtu.be/kr4phmKs0NE
http://youtu.be/6rWwmG-J0zQ
http://youtu.be/PirALcgJZeQ
http://youtu.be/4Tz9qfENioo
October 18th, 2013 at 7:47 PM
Interesting observations MAK. I suspect perhaps Pigott wants to have one mate and maybe she is tired of sharing…not all falcons will accept a dual nester. She has thus far but perhaps now that she’s not had any offspring and DC has at his other nest, she’s realizing her better chance might be with a more dedicated mate? Just thinking out loud but she certainly seemed very accepting of UT very quickly and the fact she didn’t respond to DC and left and didn’t return is quite telling. I also wonder if all those times she’s been MIA at the site..maybe she met this UT elsewhere?
October 18th, 2013 at 7:57 PM
WOW!! Pigott does NOT look happy and DC seems so “put out” by her behavior yet at the same time he has a look that bodes no good for UT….
These falcons are a huge mystery-LOL….just don’t want see any fights….
October 18th, 2013 at 8:02 PM
I wonder if Pigott had a family with this UT already and just comes back to the Brighton site to hang out?
October 18th, 2013 at 10:58 PM
Kathy, I was thinking the same thing about her being off with UT somewhere. There’s just so much that we don’t see or know about our falcons. So we must continue to watch and learn. 🙂
October 18th, 2013 at 11:59 PM
Ginny, Pigott really seemed like she was miffed at DC. And I highly doubt Pigott would leave a family to come back to see DC. lol 🙂
October 22nd, 2013 at 11:35 AM
Pigott was never absent from the Brighton site for the amount of time it would take to lay, brood and raise eyases somewhere else this last season. Besides, the watchful eyes of our falcon observers are not just at the usual places, but everywhere within flying distance, and the activity around an active scrape would have attracted notice.
If Pigott is anything like me, I imagine she is bummed out about the departure (voluntary or forced) of UT and the return of the faithless Dot.Ca