By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Fledge Watch from 3:50 to 8:00 pm.

Today was the official start of the Rochester Falcon Fledge Watch.  The two boys, Mercury and Nor’easter are raring to go.  The females, who are bigger and heavier will need more time.  All have lots of white fluff left under their beautiful, brown juvie feathers though, so it may be another day or two.  But one this is for sure, you can never know for sure when they will take their first flights.  We have had our share of  “accidental” flights, so as I always say, expect the unexpected!

It was a very warm day, with a nice breeze.  Temperatures reached the mid 80’s (F).  When I arrived down on Aqueduct St (aka “the hole”) at 3:50 pm, both girls, Tesh and Nettie, were on the nest box platform and both boys, Nor’easter and Mercury, were at the north end of the well wall.  Beauty was up on the northeast wing ledge on top of the Times Square Bldg and Dot.ca was over on the OCSR, 2nd Ibeam down, west end.  There was lots of wing exercising going on up above.  I could see bits of white fluff falling off of the 4 eyases and drifting away on the breeze.

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My first job was to look for somewhere to set-up my chair where I had a good view of the nest box and surrounding area.  I found the perfect spot, in the shade with a nice breeze.  It looked like darker clouds were approaching, but I was assured by our “official falcon weather watcher” Susan C, that there was no rain moving in.  Thanks Susan!  🙂

Soon after I started my watch, Beauty took off and soon returned with food, which she took to the nest box platform.  While she was feeding Tesh and Nettie, Nor’easter and Mercury edged their way closer and closer, finally getting their share.

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After she finished feeding the eyases, Beauty took off with the food and landed on Mercury, then headed back to the nest box, fed some more and returned to the heal of the Mercury statue.  Was she giving them lessons on how to take off while clutching food in her talons?

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Beauty remained on Mercury for quite awhile and Dot.ca flew up to the southeast wing ledge on the Times Square Bldg.  The eyases all returned to the nest box and platform.  In the heat of the afternoon, it seemed that it was siesta time.  All was quiet and there wasn’t much movement by any of the falcons.

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While it was still quiet, Beauty took off and flew around a bit before landing on Camera #1 (aka Pan Cam).  Even after she landed there, the eyases remained quiet.  At least for a little while.

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Finally, I started to see the eyases and their wing exercises continued.  Both Mercury and Nor’easter ran out onto the well wall.  Kathy O joined me on the watch at about 6:30 pm.

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Dot.ca moved to the top IBeam of the OCSR, south corner.  While he was up there, we heard the chittering sound of an irate Kestrel.  We used to hear them all the time when we watched Mariah, Kaver and their young at the Kodak Tower.  This Kestrel was not happy that Dot.ca was nearby.  It dove on Dot.ca a couple times, hovered above and then took off heading northwest.  Dot.ca just sat there, mostly ignoring the Kestrel.  I was happy to see the Kestrel get away safely.  I really like these spunky little falcons!

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During my 4 hour watch both Beauty and Dot.ca did a lot of flying around the Times Square Bldg and the surrounding area.  They were definitely giving flight lessons to their young and the eyases were paying close attention.

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When Kathy and I were getting ready to leave, Larry O tweeted that he was up on the Broad St Bridge.  He had arrived in time to see Dot.ca fly up to the top of the Mercury statue.  When we left at 8:00 pm, the eyases were still moving around, flapping their wings and strengthening the muscles they would need for those first flights.  Goodnight everyone and please consider helping out with the fledge watch if you have a little bit of free time.

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