Morning watch 5-15-14
By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK
Another warm morning with hazy sunshine a temperature of 67 (F) 10 (C) and windy conditions
Beauty was on the eggs when I checked before heading out the door and when I got downtown I had to go to the Andrews St. Bridge (ASB) to see the north side of OCSR and find Dot.Ca (DC) on the northeast side of OCSR 2nd ibeam with food.
Click on my pics to see the full version
A minute later DC flew off headed toward Times Square where he switched with Beauty on the eggs. The Beautyful one went to the base of Mercury to take a breather after a long night on the eggs that should be cooked and about ready to start pipping and hatch. I parked on the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) to watch her.
Beauty started eating after 5 minutes at 6:35am-mainly just picking at it. She stopped to extract a pellet and got back to her breakfast with more enthusiasm after that.
Beauty moved back on the base a little so I couldn’t see her as well so I went down to the hole-parking on Aqueduct St. The wind was blowing her feathers and actually made her lose her footing too!
Beauty took a look at the nest box then flew off and over to it at 7:33am
DC came out from nest box and flew north. I followed behind and found him on the north corner top ibeam of OCSR. The sun was in a bad spot making for lousy pics as I was parked on State St. across from the Rochester Plaza Hotel.
I went to get some coffee after a while and when I got back DC was gone so I went in search of. While stopped on the BSB I spotted DC flying up river from the north and disappearing behind OCSR so I drove to the ASB again and found him on the 3rd ibeam down north corner at 8:55am.
I drove to Bragdon St. by the Radisson Hotel across the river from DC where he was closer to me and looking especially white with the sun beating on him. The wind was blowing all the international flags on the Sister Cities pedestrian bridge.
DC flew off around 9:05am and I decided to call it a watch at that time. I left with a smile on my face! 🙂
Click on the links below to view 2 videos from todays watch
May 15th, 2014 at 8:23 PM
It is like the legend of Lohengrin, no sooner do you discover the STJ’s identity, then she has to disappear.
May 15th, 2014 at 10:35 PM
Ah but she hasn’t disappeared Alison-we just hadn’t seen her in a few days. Joyce and I saw both of them tonight on the bridge-he brought food for her. Pretty sure they’re nesting under that Veterans Bridge! 🙂
May 16th, 2014 at 12:54 PM
That would be cool, what does the DNR (or what ever the New York State nature folks are called, I do not remember) say about this discovery?
May 16th, 2014 at 2:35 PM
Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) biologist Jenny Landry was thrilled when we told her about this new pair and even happier when Lou Capuano was able to get a photo to ID the banded female. She said if they establish themselves this year and stick around a nest tray could be placed for next year assuming we locate their nest site. We local watchers believe they may be nesting under the Veterans Bridge-we’ll continue to monitor and report to DEC any useful information. 🙂