By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

The early morning was mostly cloudy but the sun broke thru later after a chilly start with a temperature of 52 (F) 11 (C)

Please click on my pics to see the full version

I would like to dedicate this report to Voyager and Luzerne…

Dan was on the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) when I arrived-he told me that there were 3 juvies under the southeast wing of the Times Square building (TSB), 1 with food just before I got there. Soon after we watched Beauty fly from the west side,cross the river,fly behind Bausch & Lomb then return to land under the southeast wing and go to the back of the ledge out of view. No doubt there was food left up there as she spent quite a while back there.

We were thrilled by a juvie that went after 4 crows near the Blue Cross Arena (BCA)-it then disappeared behind the building. Dan left and then Beauty flew over to the northeast wing ledge. The Jehovahs Witnesses were starting to make their way to the BCA for a 2nd weekend convention in a row and as I made my way down to the hole I stopped for a pic of the Rochester Knighthawks Mascot who was being interviewed at Exchange and Broad St. after I asked him for a pose.

Around 7:30am Nettie and Nor’Easter flew in quite noisily and knocked the Beautyful one off her perch under the wing. She left the scene and they flew down to land on the north side of the roof above the well and nest box area. They were very vocal at first, then Nor’E settled down to do some preening while Nettie continued to shout out!

Eventually Nettie stopped screaming and did some preening of her own. They stayed about 20 minutes then Nettie flew north and a half  hour later Nor’E flew behind TSB and disappeared.

<Nettie

<Nor’E> 

30 minutes passed before I found a falcon as I came across Beauty on the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) below the platform on a north side beam. Dot.Ca (DC) was directly above her on the top arm of FCT.

A juvie came flying out from the tower screaming and headed south. Beauty left or went in the middle of the tower where I couldn’t see her while I drove around trying to get a better angle on DC. I left to run an errand at this time. When I returned CarlaP was on the BSB. We checked around but couldn’t find any falcons so we went to the Pont De Rennes pedestrian bridge at High Falls. We spotted a falcon fly to the 2nd arm of FCT after about 10 minutes and then Tesh was chasing gulls in the gorge! She flew to the Falcon Sucking Tree (FST) and landed.

Carly wanted to know how a Canada Goose over at the edge of the falls didn’t go over them-I’ve often wondered how shore birds can stand in the current and not get swept away myself. I guess it’s just another one of natures’ wonders. I spotted a Great Blue Heron down on the island below the bridge as Tesh remained on the FST.

Our juvie boys Mercury and Nor’Easter flew into the gorge and Tesh joined them as they gave us quite a show flying around the gorge from one side to the other. When they finished Tesh went back to the tree and I spotted a falcon on the 2nd arm of FCT. I didn’t get in flight shots but I did get videos of them flying for y’all to enjoy. I’m new to watching falcons in the High Falls gorge as I wasn’t a watcher in the days of Mariah and Kaver- I must say it’s a whole different experience from watching them with buildings obstructing the view! Love it!!

Dan joined the watch around 12:30pm just in time to see 2 juvies fly around on the north side of the bridge this time. Around 12:50pm Tesh flew under the bridge to the north then back thru to the south-as we ran from one side of the bridge to the other eo watch her I noticed people on the bridge looking at us strangely. lol Tesh continued south riding the wind above OCSR then stooping straight down by TSB and vanishing. Lisa came by on her lunch break and with no falcons in sight I ended my watch at 1pm after a fantastic 7 hour watch that made me smile! 🙂

Click on the links below to view more pics and many videos
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqjyO

http://youtu.be/YRLdPJ53rI4

http://youtu.be/QlgOdVaXZoM

http://youtu.be/ElluUQ27HYw

http://youtu.be/FcI9-guWV9A

http://youtu.be/txiAwx-8nII

http://youtu.be/lwYc5p0YtyA

http://youtu.be/wFRAtAz-DUw

http://youtu.be/lLLLpjtnVSA

This entry was posted on Friday, July 25th, 2014 at 7:43 PM and is filed under Fledge Watch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.