By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

My first stop was Kodak Park West, where I found no falcons.  I headed downtown and found Beauty on the north end of the Cross Roads Building and Dot.ca nearby on the northeast corner, top IBeam of OCSR.  It was snowing lightly through most of my watch and the temps were in the mid-20’s (F).

First Dot.ca took off, flying north along the river.  Just as he passed over the Andrew St Bridge, Beauty took off and followed him.  There was no vocalization by either of them.  They both stooped down over the High Falls.  I could not see what they were after from my parking spot near the Radisson.  I drove over to the Andrew St Bridge and spotted a falcon on the northeast corner of the launch pad on the Kodak Tower, so that’s where I headed next.

As I was approaching the tower, a 2nd falcon flew up to and around the Kodak Tower, landing on the northeast corner of the playpen.  A closer look showed me that it was Beauty on the playpen corner and Dot.ca above her on the launch pad.

I stayed there for about an hour, hoping to see them do some hunting.  But they remained where they were, not moving except to look around and do some preening.  Since all was quiet and peaceful downtown, I decided it was time to check out Seneca Towers (ST).

On my way, I checked out the Hawkeye nest box (no falcons there) on my way.  This is certainly a spot that Billie and 99 may choose as their nest, so I will continue to check this location.  There were no falcons on the south end of ST, but I did find one on the top window ledge at the north end.  I was too far to ID this falcon.  It took off and flew around a bit, then landed on top of an antenna on the north end.

I ended my Sunday watch at Russell Station (RS) and a nice ride along the lake.  There were no falcons RS.  I was happy to see that there was a lot of open water on the lake and lots of different ducks and gulls were gathered there.  I really hope that it doesn’t ice over like it did last year.

I was happy to end my watch after seeing three of our four Rochester Falcons on this first day of March.

Saturday Buffalo Falcon Watch – 2/28/15

Now for the Buffalo part of my weekend falcon watch.  My good friends and fellow Watchers, Lisa McK, Kathy O, Dana and I had been planning a road trip over the past month.  We wanted to check out the Buffalo area, especially wanting to check on Diamante and his mate Gleig at Central Terminal.  But before we headed to Buffalo, we made a stop in Batavia to check on the Snowy Owls that are continuing to be seen at the airport there.

We had almost circled the whole airport when we finally found a Snowy on the roof of a building behind the fence.

Lisa pulled over to the side of the road and we all got that sinking feeling.  lol  Yep, the side of the road that looked like snow on pavement was actually the edge of a ditch and we settled into it.  Thank goodness for AAA!  We were out quickly and on our way.

The Snowy had left while we were stuck, but we found a Snowy on a building a little way down the road.  Not sure if this was the same Snowy Owl or not.

Saturday was a bright, sunny day, but still very cold with temps in the low 20’s.  We left this beautiful Snowy and we shuffled off to Buffalo.  Our first stop was Central Terminal, which was surrounded by HUGE piles of snow.  I had heard that they were dumping snow here from the surrounding area.  We found no falcons here, so we headed to Buffalo’s Outer Bank, where Diamante had been seen and photographed hunting.  We found no falcons there, but we did find a falcon nest box on the Holcim building.  But instead of a falcon being in residence, a murder of crows had taken it over.

We headed back to Central Terminal and this time we were in luck.  Kathy O spotted a falcon on a light on a lower section of the building.  Dana was able to see that there was a green/black band, but could not read the #’s.  We were pretty sure that this was Diamante.  He flew down to the top of the building and went out of view for awhile.  He popped back up and took off from the roof, clutching prey.  Diamante flew around the front of the building landing on the corner of a higher section, where he settled in to eat his meal.  Lisa spotted a 2nd falcon up at the top of the building.  There was no way to ID this falcon, but we hoped that it was Gleig.

Diamante took off and flew to the back of the building.  We tried to find him, but we couldn’t.  Gleig remained at the top of the building.  For those that don’t know, Diamante is the son of Rochester’s Mariah and Kaver and Gleig is Pigott’s sister.  They are Billie’s parents.

We headed over to the University of Buffalo to check on Yankee and Dixie.  No falcons were at the nest box, but we did finally find one on a nearby building.  The white wash down the whole side of the building was a dead giveaway.   Based on size, we thought this might be Dixie, although we never were able to see the bands.

We checked around the campus for a 2nd falcon, but could not find one.  It was time to head back over to Central Terminal for one last look before heading to dinner at the Anchor Bar.  Diamante had returned to the ledge he had eaten on earlier, but we could not find Gleig.  We ended our Buffalo Falcon Watch after seeing three of the resident Buffalo falcons.  It had been a wonderful day seeing Peregrine Falcons and Snowy’s and spending time  with good friends.  The weekend is over, can’t wait for the next one!  lol

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