Fledge watch 8-3-14
By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK
A dark, gloomy morning with spotty light rain at times and a starting temperature of 65 (F) 18 (C)
Click on my pics if you want to see the full version
As I stepped out of my apartment at Seneca Towers I saw a beautiful sunrise sandwiched between clouds out the east side 16th floor balcony-that’s the last I saw of the sun.
Dan was not a happy camper this morning when I joined him on the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) because he hadn’t seen a falcon. He was having trouble staying awake and he finally gave up and left a little after 7am as a few raindrops started to fall. After checking all the usual spots downtown I tried my luck on the east side near Main St. where I was lucky enough to find Mercury on the Sibley Tower Building-he was perched on the billboard frame up on the roof.
I was enjoying all the potted plants in the area plus there was one lonely sunflower on East Ave. near E. Main St. where I was parked.
Dana came along around 8am and told me Beauty was behind me on the RGS antenna. Mercury flew off the billboard after some pigeons right above us.
A few minutes later the Beautyful one took off to the east-another juvie appeared and followed her as Mercury also took off after mom. We lost them all quickly as we were surrounded by buildings in this area of downtown-a lot like being in the hole. 2 juvies came back thru-Tesh landed on the south side roof of the Sibley building and Nettie showed up on the east side roof.
Tesh gave a wave good bye and flew off toward Midtown around 8:15am-Dana went to look for her and I noticed some pigeons tucked up on a window ledge in hiding. Dana returned having no luck finding anybody and Nettie went in on the roof so only the tip of her tail showed before flying off and around to the billboard.
As a very light rain started falling we decided to pack up our chairs and go look for the rest of the family leaving Nettie on the Sibley billboard with her back to us. As I was stopped on the Andrews St. bridge (ASB) I spotted 2 falcons on the Frontier Communications tower (FCT) about 9:30am. Dana tweeted that they were both juvies.
As I arrived on Fitzhugh St. I could see that 1 was on the south side platform railing and the other on the north side, not on corners as I reported from the ASB. Things are not always as they appear when falcon watching!
A couple minutes later I heard a series of very loud pops which scared the kids off FCT. When I caught up with Dana she said she heard them too but we didn’t know if it was gunfire or fireworks or what. Anyway, I took off toward the south and spotted a falcon flying above Crossroads and as I came up on Widows Walk I spotted Tesh on the east side railing and Mercury on the southeast corner. Dana pulled up and pointed out Nor’Easter on the northeast corner of the lower ledge.
Nor’Easter then walked down to the southeast corner below his siblings before flying off.
I left to look for him and checked to see if Nettie was still on the billboard but she was gone so I returned to the parking lot next to Times Square where I had left Dana. Mercury flew south after I got there leaving Tesh all by herself. I decided to end my watch at this time-a little after 10am. I was all smiles as I drove away after having seen all 4 juvies and Beauty on this overcast Sunday morning! 🙂
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August 3rd, 2014 at 4:25 PM
Nice that you’re still seeing them each day.
Beautiful sunrise by the way.
August 3rd, 2014 at 5:15 PM
I’m so grateful that we’re still seeing them Ruth-it’ll be a big let down when they go. 🙂