Friday Late Afternoon Watch – 1/31/14 – Goodbye January, 2014!
By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.
The sunrise and sunset get wider apart and frigid, cold January is gone! Bring on February! Today the sun set at 5:19 pm and the temperature remained close to 30 degrees this afternoon.
At KP, I did check sporadically during the day, but never saw the KP Falcon. I checked one more time as I left work, but again could not find a falcon there.
At the BS location, I found both Pigott & Dot.ca on the east end of the building. But, before I could turn my camera on, first Pigott, then Dot.ca took off heading to the north side of the building. By the time I drove around to the north side, they both returned, Pigott landing on the NE corner of the east extension and Dot.ca on the SE corner. The looked like falcon bookends up there.
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I parked where I could keep an eye on both of them. They were preening and actively watching all the activity around them. Dot.ca kept bobbing his head until he finally took off and zipped around to the south side of the building. Pigott watched him and then launched herself from the building and followed. They both flew back and forth diving down on the lower roofs. There are starlings that hang out among other small birds and I have a feeling that Dot.ca was on a hunt with Pigott lending support.
Dot.ca disappeared around the west end of the building, where I could hear a short burst of ee-chups and Pigott returned to the NE corner of the east extension. Dot.ca returned clutching something very small in his talon. He landed on the tree ledge on the east side and got down to eating. I have no idea if he had a successful hunt or if he had found a small cache that Pigott had hidden on the building. Whatever it was, it didn’t take very long for him to finish it. (4:40 pm)
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Fellow Falcon Watcher Kathy O joined me on the watch. While we were chatting, Watcher Pat tweeted that Beauty was up on top of the Times Square Bldg. (4:46 pm) So all three resident Rochester Falcons were seen this evening.
At a little after 5:00 pm, Dot.ca took off and flipped around to the north side of the building. We looked over to where Pigott was and she was also gone. Kathy and I drove around to the north side and found both Pigott and Dot.ca on north facing windows on the east extension where it meets the NE extension. This is a spot that Pigott uses frequently as a nighttime roost. I’ve seen Dot.ca join her there before.
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The sun had set and it was time to end our watch. I did check the Times Square building on my way through the city, but Beauty was not there. I suspect she was probably tucked up inside the OCSR elevator shaft.
Goodnight everyone!
