Morning watch 4-4-14
By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK
Todays starting temperature was 39 (F) 4(C) with light rain,windy and dark overcast conditions throughout the duration of my watch
I witnessed Beauty and Dot.Ca (DC) on the livestream video at the nest box bonding before I left for my watch this morning. I started at the Brighton Site (BS) again hoping to see Pigott but no such luck-I also didn’t see the juvie with the yellow tape on it’s right leg band I named JY. It was seen yesterday at BS so DC didn’t chase it out of his territory like I had thought when it wasn’t seen for a few days. I made my way downtown and while looking from the Andrews St. bridge found Beauty on the northwest corner of the Crossroads building around 7:10am.
Left and found the best place to see her was on Exchange Blvd. by the Philipone building. She stayed there until 7:22am when she flew off heading south toward me and disappearing behind the Times Square building (TSB).
I went up to the Broad St. bridge (BSB) and found Beauty on the jail tower top arm but as I grabbed my camera she flew off. She went to the top ibeam west corner of OCSR. She was looking southwest from the jail tower in the direction of BS so I think she was looking for DC who was being elusive at the time. As time went on I got more concerned that he might be battling with either JY at BS or the falcon that’s been seen at Kodak Park or the 3rd falcon seen yesterday with Beauty and DC by MarkB who works in the TSB.
I left for BS again but no falcons were seen again so I returned to downtown hoping to see DC. I didn’t locate him but could see Beauty on the west corner top ibeam of OCSR. While I was gone Annette reported a falcon at the NB-thanks!
I looked away for a second and Beauty was gone from OCSR-I found her on the north side just around the corner from where she was as I pulled over on State St. around 8:45am.
I left to check BS one more time but there was no Pigott or DC but I did see what I think was a juvie flying above St. Johns Home on Highland Ave. I found her while I was trying to find a building I thought I had seen it on that I incorrectly tweeted on Highland Drive instead of avenue. Meanwhile, NCAFalcons reported mating on OCSR and bonding at the nest box by Beauty and DC. YAY!!! No more worries on where DC was all this time. He may have just been hunting and/or eating but boy it sure took him a long time! Thank you very much for your help NCA!! I got back downtown a little after 10am to find the Beautyful one on the base of Mercury.
I left to look for DC and from the Andrews St. bridge I spotted him on the top ibeam north corner of OCSR-I went to Bragdon St. by the Radisson Hotel for a closer look.
Then I drove back to State St. for a front view of DC. I could only see the top of him as he was scrunched down.
I must say this was the one of the weirder watches I’ve had in quite some time, but at least DC was ok so I could end my watch with a smile! 🙂
Click on the links below to see my videos from today
April 4th, 2014 at 3:05 PM
Thank you so much MAK. Got a little concerned when I woke up this morning and there were no sightings of him, so it was such a relief to see him fly up to Beauty! I’m on the west coast, so it’s the first thing I do in the morning..grab the phone & check Twitter!
April 4th, 2014 at 3:16 PM
Thank you NCA for letting me know-I was getting a real bad feeling about DC. He may very well have been fighting with someone but thankfully is no worse for the wear! 🙂
April 5th, 2014 at 7:29 AM
don’t borrow trouble MAK he might just be looking for Pigott like the rest of you.
April 5th, 2014 at 11:52 AM
Trust me, I’m not trying to borrow trouble bc, there’s enough to go around. But with falcons hanging around to the north and south it only makes sense that he might have been tussling with one as he was not seen for over 2 hours! Totally different from all the rest of the days since Pigott disappeared, as he has been hanging close to Beauty. 🙂