Saturday Falcon Watch – 3 Peregrines & a Merlin – 11/9/13
By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.
It was a cold, blustery day with just a couple teases of sunshine during my five hour watch. (10 am – 3 pm) I spent the first one and a half hours of my watch checking out the lake area for falcons. Sorry to say, I did not see any falcons at Latta, Russell Station, Charlotte-Summerville, Seneca Towers or Hawkeye. While I was heading downtown, Dana tweeted that she had spotted Pigott at the BS location. Pigott was eating on the north side of the building on the center lower roof.
As I approached Kodak Office (11:30 am), I could see that both Beauty and Dot.ca were on the Kodak Tower. Dot.ca was on the north east corner of the launch pad and Beauty was above him on the cupola. Seems to be a current favored spot for these two.
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They seemed pretty settled, so I headed over to the BS location to see Pigott, who I hadn’t seen for a couple days. I joined Dana on the north side. Pigott was just finishing her meal when I arrived and I had just missed Larry O. (Noon) Dana left at a little before 1:00 pm. She drove through downtown on her way home and reported that Beauty and Dot.ca were still on the Kodak Tower. I stayed with Pigott until she took off and flew over to the NE corner of the NE extension at 2:30 pm. All the time I was watching her, she was hyper aware of her surroundings. Her head was in constant motion, back and forth, back and forth and up now and then to watch a bird pass overhead. Here are a few pictures I took of Pigott while I was there.
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I left Pigott at 2:30 pm and headed back downtown where I found both Beauty and Dot.ca still on the Kodak Tower. They weren’t budging. lol
I rechecked the lake area and found no Peregrines. But I did find another type of falcon. A Merlin was hunting from a light pole across from Shallers on Island Cottage/Edgemere in Greece (NY), near the lake (Ontario). It is very interesting to see the differences in how Peregrines and Merlins hunt. While Peregrines fly high and stoop at high speed on their prey, this Merlin was hunting birds on the ground from the pole. I watched as he swooped over the grass scaring the small birds that were foraging there into flight. He (I say he, but I have no idea if this was a male or female) missed and flew up to another pole near the street. He then took off again, this time heading west down Edgemere Dr. I drove home that way, but could not find the Merlin. I do love these feisty falcons, but rarely see them. While I was watching the Merlin, Kathy O was checking out the Latta location. She texted me that there was no falcon there.
I’ll leave you with a few pics of the Merlin. Be sure to click on any pictures you would like to see larger. Goodnight everyone!
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