Morning watch 5-24-14
By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK
A very nice morning weather wise with wall to wall blue skies and sunshine and a temperature of 52 (F) 11 (C)
As I passed the Andrews St. bridge (ASB) on my way downtown via St. Paul St. I saw gates up blocking the bridge. Upon further investigation I found out there was a I love PINK 5k race to start on the ASB. As I turned onto the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) from South Ave. I caught a glimpse of a falcon on the base of Mercury with some feathers in the air so it had prey up there. When I pulled over to look it was gone. I then got confirmation from both Annette and Campgee that Beauty had left the nest box and returned at that time but she didn’t bring food. Thank you ladies!
I drove down State St. to check the Kodak Office tower and found the parking lot there was just about full of cars from 5k racers but no Dot.Ca (DC) on the the building. I went back to the Times Square (TSB) area and settled in the hole parking lot-soon I was completely blocked in as the police were blocking all my exits for the race.
Make sure to click on all my pics to see full version of them
<Main and State St. blocked
<Exchange and Broad St. blocked
No problem-I watched starlings, sparrows, pigeons and mourning doves while waiting for DC to show up. Suddenly, just before 8am the Beautyful one flew from the nest box heading south-I lost her quickly behind the Philippone building. A couple minutes later I heard the distinct sound of DC chirping-I looked around but didn’t see anything until Beauty flew from above me and over to the nest box with food.
This is the reason why I named this area surrounding Aqueduct St. the hole-because there are buildings completely surrounding you and it’s like being in a hole where you can only see so much. Anyway, I believe there was a food exchange between Beauty and DC just before she went to the nest box with her talons full of prey. Next, I spotted DC under the northeast wing of Times Square preening.
A minute later DC flew across and landed on the Wilder green strip where he started watching the bird activity in the area and unbeknownst to him a starling was above on the fire escape ladder.
At 8:21am DC flew off the Wilder building and went to the nest box while Beauty went to the base of Mercury to cache food. I thought it was DC on Mercury as I didn’t see him go to the nest box when Beauty flew out-Donna straightened me out on this sequence. Thanks! Then after Beauty returned to the eyasses DC showed up on the back lower roof north side of the TSB at 8:25am.
DC stayed a minute or two then flew north and that would be the last time I saw him.
There were runners from the 5k race going down Main St. and Broad St. at this time so I took a minute to watch
<Aqueduct at Main St. 
<Main and State St.
A few minutes later a train of cars were let thru from Main St. down Exchange to Broad St. so I made a break for it and followed behind, thus ending my watch at 8:35am. I couldn’t help but smile for having seen Beauty for a moment and DC for a few minutes as I was given my freedom to leave the hole! 🙂
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May 26th, 2014 at 6:55 AM
Great sequence of Beauty landing with food. Thanks for your regular reports, may the weather gods continue to smile on you.
May 26th, 2014 at 9:44 AM
Thanks Alison-I love sequence shots! I sure am loving the nice weather!! 🙂