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Eyes to the Skies

Morning Watch 11-22-14

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

As I stepped out of my apartment I couldn’t help but notice the beautiful site of a new day dawning out the east side balcony windows. Naturally I went out and shot a couple pics!

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Todays starting temperature was 25 (F) -4 (C) with mostly cloudy skies and a busy breeze out of the south

Click on the pics to see the full version

After a trip around downtown with no luck finding a falcon I went back to Kodak Office and while checking the west side from Verona St. by Frontier Field I spotted the familiar shape of a falcon on the northeast wing ledge of Times Square (TSB) around 7:25am.

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So I drove directly down to the hole parking lot and to my sweet surprise both Beauty and Dot.Ca (DC) were up there facing each other.

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The wind was ruffling their feathers as they preened together-seemingly copying each other as they would stick one leg forward and go back to preening.

img_0023-beauty-preening img_0025-beauty-rousing img_0030-dc-preening img_0033-dc-puts-his-best-foot-forward

At 8:09am the Beautyful one flew north as DC watched her wind up and fly off.

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DC followed suit and flew off less than 30 seconds later. I then departed myself to find out where they took off to.

img_0051-dc-before-he-leaves img_0052-see-ya-mak img_0053-dc1

As I drove down State St. I spotted Beauty up on the northeast cube of the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT). I parked in the lot next to the Hochstein School of Music for the best view.

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I stayed just a few minutes after checking each side for DC who wasn’t up there anywhere. I headed back toward the Times Square area and found DC back under the northeast wing of Times Square. This time he was facing  out and perched in a buddha style position with feathers foofed to keep warm.

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DC was moving his head very fast from one side to the other, obviously in hunt mode and looking for some poor unsuspecting prey bird to fly in his air space. I had to get going so I left him after a few minutes. On my way out of downtown I stopped by to say good bye to Beauty who was still on the northeast cube of FCT. I ended my watch at 9am.

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I didn’t see Billie or 99 at Seneca Towers while on watch this morning but as I put my report together I have seen a falcon fly past my living room window twice-southbound the first time and northbound the second time about a minute later and it was in stoop formation. This makes me smile because I haven’t seen a PEFA here in a few days! 🙂

Click on the links below to see todays videos
http://youtu.be/73GN_45_MAE

http://youtu.be/m8rJqrmv3vE

http://youtu.be/62QtNQY6Jsk

http://youtu.be/sWgFP5ewbiU


6 Responses to “Morning Watch 11-22-14”

  1. June Kogut Says:

    Wow! What a sunrise..The dance they did for their ablutions was amazing! Thanks again for the AM smiles! June

  2. patsy6 Says:

    Love the shots of Beauty and Dot.ca doing the hokey-pokey preen up there on TSB, MAK.

  3. MAK Says:

    June, I learned a new word today because of you! Had to look up ablution as I never heard that word before-for anyone else who doesn’t know the meaning, here it is.

    ab·lu·tion
    əˈblo͞oSHən/
    noun
    noun: ablution; plural noun: ablutions

    the act of washing oneself (often used for humorously formal effect).
    “the women performed their ablutions”
    a ceremonial act of washing parts of the body or sacred containers.

    I’d say Peregrine Falcons bodies are sacred! 🙂

  4. MAK Says:

    Pat, I was thinking to myself as the lovely couple preened across from each other, the couple that preens together, stays together! I’ve noticed a lot of people spell DC’s name wrong-it’s Dot.Ca with a capital C. I don’t care how anyone spells it, just thought I’d make mention is all. Thanks for your comment!! 🙂

  5. tapper gal Says:

    I just love watching and reading about this “couple” The pictures and video of them just looking at each other is precious.What a lucky find you had,and perfect timing to obtain that shot.Thanks again for the efforts you give in tracking them.Glad you saw a falcon at ST. Continuing luck with that.Diane

  6. MAK Says:

    That was fun for me too Diane-they were awfully cute when they were facing each other on Times Square. I sure wish I could catch both Billie and 99 at home-soon hopefully. 🙂


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