Easter morning watch 4-20-14
By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK
It was a chilly start at 31 degrees (F) -1 (C) when I left home, but it was sunny and warmed up nicely
Happy Easter to you all!
Just before I stepped out the door for my watch on the livestream I saw Dot.Ca (DC) come screaming in with food for Beauty. She took it and he plopped down on his Easter eggs. When I arrived downtown at 6:15am the Beautyful one was on the base of Mercury with food but just nibbling on it not really eating in earnest. I settled myself in the hole to watch the activities. A minute or so later she flew off with the leftovers heading north.
10 minutes later she returned to the base of Mercury without the food so she had cached it somewhere to save it for another time. She didn’t stay long before flying across to cam 1. Beauty must have had ants in her pantaloons because she then flew off cam 1 less than a minute later heading east right over me and out of view over the river.
Next, I spotted Beauty on the northeast corner of the Crossroads building, I drove to State St. across from the Rochester Plaza Hotel but she had her back to from there so I went down to watch from Graves St. next to Aqueduct Park. Again she didn’t stay long and flew off by the east side of Crossroads quickly leaving my field of vision.
<From State St. 
At 6:45am I found Beauty on the back of Widows Walk on a small northeast column and I could see she had caught something because it was still alive and flapping its wings. I went to the parking lot next Times Square and surmised by how the wing looked that she had caught a Northern Yellow-shafted Flicker (woodpecker). That would be the 2nd one this week-DC caught earlier this week as well. I made a video of them and it will be listed first in my video links at the end of this report but let me warn you that it is graphic and many of you may not want to watch.
I figured she would be busy for a while so I checked on the Brighton Site with no luck. Just before I left there to return to downtown Larry and cam watcher Ei tweeted that there had been a switch on the eggs-Beauty in and DC out. Thanks! Now I hadn’t gotten any pics of DC yesterday because he was incubating my whole watch so I beat feet back to the city so I could see the dear lad. I made it back around 8am to find Larry and his dog Harold on the Broad St. Bridge. I pulled over to get out and talk to Larry who didn’t see where DC had gone. After a few minutes Larry headed out and I went looking for DC-I didn’t find him until about 8:40am. He was on the 3rd ibeam down of the OCSR at the east end by the elevator shaft eating and I went to my spot by Main St. and the Radisson Hotel to observe.
DC spent about 10 minutes eating before turning tail and caching his leftovers to the back of the ledge and then walked to the very end of the ibeam to do some feaking.
DC flew off at 7:44am heading west and when I caught up with him he was on the northwest corner of Widows Walk. Once again I parked in the lot next to Times Square to watch.
At just about 9am DC flew to the northeast corner of the wall above the well and that’s where I ended my Easter morning watch with our beloved Rochester Peregrine Falcons! 🙂
Click on the links below to view my photo album and videos from the day
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqjd6 http://youtu.be/oFuSgHY7oIs
April 20th, 2014 at 3:58 PM
MAK, thank you for posting the live prey video, and thanks for the warning as well. It brought tears to my eyes, but it makes me glad that I don’t take for granted the sacrifice of all the prey animals who have died so that our precious falcons can live. I think of that every time I see a pigeon downtown. And the same for all the animals I have eaten in my life as well. I respect their life and their death.
April 20th, 2014 at 6:20 PM
Mak, I watched the live prey video and like Patsy it made me cry too.
I need to send a big shipment of Pigeons to Beauty and DC so they leave the woodpeckers alone-LOL.
Not that a Pigeon’s life isn’t as valuable as any other bird, but…….
I loved the pictures of our gorgeous couple in flight!
Happy Easter my friend! 🙂
April 20th, 2014 at 6:24 PM
Pat, I could not have expressed my thoughts and feelings any better. One of the many things I admire about the Falcons is their quick-kill method. Sadly, it didn’t work immediately on this feisty Flicker.
Yes, thanks to MAK for the posting and the warning. I forced myself not to avoid watching, believing that it is important to observe the reality and value of life and death in the wild. Over the years I have learned that many of those who care about Falcons, also love the species that sustain them…even to the point of rescuing injured birds. I have great respect for all of you.
Thank you for your Holiday Report, MAK.
Good Easter Wishes to All.
April 20th, 2014 at 8:30 PM
Thank you for your comments Pat,Ginny and Barb. I struggled with whether I should post it or not but my motto is to share so that people can experience what I do-good and bad. Everybody has to eat! 🙂
April 20th, 2014 at 10:43 PM
I love the color changes for your report!! thank you for all your reports !!
April 20th, 2014 at 10:56 PM
Thanks Lynne-I was hoping someone would like the color thing. I know I did!! 🙂
April 21st, 2014 at 6:25 AM
Thanks for your report.I like the colours.It gives me an “Easterfeeling” .I did not watch the video ..
April 21st, 2014 at 8:58 AM
The colored type definitely had an Easter feeling, and was delightful at a distance, but some of the colors were pretty hard on old eyes.
Thank-you, MAK, for your efforts, not only in watching for yourself and for us, but for the labor that goes into posting all the photos, films and information in an appealing way for those of us in the Bathrobe Brigade.
April 21st, 2014 at 12:20 PM
I’m glad to hear you liked my Easter color print-I did my best to pick colors that were easy enough to read(I’m wearing old eyes too). Thank you so very much for the kudos Alison-I was just thinking to myself this morning that most days I spend more time on the blog than I do on watch! It’s all good! I know it’s hard to not be able to watch the falcons in person and know first hand what’s going on. I only see a small portion of the day but I’m glad to share it with y’all! 🙂