By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Todays starting temperature was 33 (F) and 1 (C) and a bit cloudy at first but the sun came out and blue skies took over-a real nice winter day watch

As I turned onto State St. from Church St. I spotted him right away on his corner-that would be Dot.Ca on the north corner of the OCSR building. I pulled over snapped 1 pic then he flew off to the northeast toward the Andrews Terrace Apartments to stir up the pigeons. I got a very blurry bad take off shot.

I drove to the Andrews St. bridge to look for DC and spotted him back on his corner and Beauty was on the same ibeam on the northeast side of OCSR. I proceeded to go over to Bragdon St. by the Radisson Hotel for closer viewing.

<Click it <DC <Beauty>

About half an hour later I watched DC take a running start and fly over to the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) landing on the top arm northeast side while Beauty stayed behind.

I shared space with the Beautyful one for another half while she preened and gaped (gaping, a behavior where the head is thrown back and the bird appears to be swallowing air. Although in still shots it can look to less experienced watchers as if he’s calling, there are no sounds made during gaping and it’s actually a very different “look” than when they are vocalizing. Researchers are not sure why gaping takes place, but there are a couple theories: one is that gaping is a peregrine’s way of dislodging feathers that may get caught in the throat following preening. The other theory is that gaping equalizes the air pressure in their ears after a change in altitude or “sudden changes in barometric pressure, as when a cold front moves in” (described by Steve Sherrod in “Behavior of Fledgling Peregrines”).

I left Beauty as she turned her back to me and got cinched in and DC who was in hunt mode over on FCT to check on Pigott over at the Brighton Site (BS). When I first got there I saw a falcon fly toward the north (front) side of building so I drove around and on the east side I saw it land on the roof by the tree and take off again flying north again. I could hear distant whining so I figured DC had arrived.  When I reached the east side again I saw tail feathers hanging over the ledge by the tree (Pigott) and DC was up on the southeast corner of the east extension whining because Pigott had food.

<DC> <Pigott>

When Pigott was finished eating she came forward on the ledge and that’s when DC made his move by flying over to the same ledge and sneaking in from behind Pigott to grab her leftovers and make the great escape with it. (I have it on one of my videos) He’s a very funny character that DC! lol

<Pigott

<DC

He took his stolen goods back to the same corner on the east extension and started eating briefly. He stopped and took it across to the southwest extension to finish it off. Eventually Pigott flew over and went past him on her way to the west side as he was feaking and cleaning up. I found her on a south facing top window ledge on the west side extension.

<DC

DC flew off and I wasn’t sure where he was until I noticed his reflection in one of the windows where Pigott was perched. I just stayed put and watched them as he echupped.

Miss Pigott decided to to take a walk to the corner (she loves to get her walks in). At around 10am KrisG and her hubby Bill stopped by for half hour.

<Click it   <DC

That’s all she wrote folks-Kris and Bill left and I had to get going as well. I had another nice watch seeing all 3 resident Rochester Peregrine Falcons and a couple of falcon watching friends which always puts a smile on my face! 🙂

Click on the links below to view some videos

http://youtu.be/H4C1xbROiBM

http://youtu.be/RFwMBjCt8JQ

http://youtu.be/8QDn2q7S4b4

http://youtu.be/8Is_V8p1tbM

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 3rd, 2013 at 7:43 PM and is filed under Falcon Watch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.