Morning watch 6-10-14
By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK
Remember this day as it started out calm, warm and sunny with a temp of 59 (F) 16 (C)
Little did we know that this would be banding day for the Rochester Peregrine Falcon chicks! I started my watch in the hole watching Beauty and Dot.Ca (DC) on the top ibeam of OCSR-they chose opposite corners with the Beautyful one on the west corner and DC on the south corner.
They hung out in these spots for a while until DC pooped and took off and when I looked Beauty had left as well.
Having trouble with site so I’ll just narrate and provide a link for pic and videos at the end of this report.
Any way, DC went to the northeast wing ring on the Times Square building (TSB) and I don’t know where Beauty went as I was watching DC at the time of departure. DC flew northeast at about 7:24am only to return a minute later coming to rest on the northwest wing ring. I stepped out to get some coffee and while I was gone chatting up our falcons and website Annette reported That a falcon who she thought might be Beauty was on the main cam then went to cam 1 and saw 1 eyas flee and return to the nest box from the front porch. Thank you Annette!
DC showed up on cam 1 around 8:42am and 10 minutes later flew off to the northwest. Right around this time I was wondering where Beauty was hiding. At the 9 o’clock hour to my surprise I spotted Jenny Landry (DEC) walking into the Times Square building-I knew that meant the banding of the eyasses was going to be real soon. I set out to look for Beauty and DC but quite frankly my heart wasn’t in it. I ended my watch at about 9:09am and hung around to observe our Peregrine Falcon adults as they stressed over people being at their nest box invading their territory and getting too close to their family of 4. I took no pics or videos of the banding events from the ground- I just took it all in and when it was over I left downtown.
I got some calls and messages from people who were afraid that something was wrong with one of the eyasses as it was on its back and not moving. I tweeted it out to bring it to the attention of the banding group who were still in the Times Square building. They were monitoring the situation as I called June Summers, president of the Genesee Valley Audubon Society (GVAS). She assured me that they were watching and that the eyas had a very full crop which made it very sluggish when they took it from the nest and that they were confident all would be ok, which it was as the eyas got right up when Beauty came to the nest box. Phew! A good reason to smile! 🙂
Click on the links below to view my photo album and videos from this mornings watch
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqjkw
