Evening Falcon Watch – Big Frank & A Juvie at Medley Ctr! – 8/30/15
By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.
5:45 pm – 8:15 pm
Another late start for my falcon watch. I left for my watch at about 5:30 pm. It was another gorgeous day with temps in the 70’s, blue sky and sunshine. I really wanted to see Big Frank (BF) again. In all of the pictures I took of him yesterday, I could not see the silver USFW band that should have been on his right leg. I asked our Canadian friends about that last night and was told by Carly that he had this band, covered with white tape when he was banded and during fledging. Other watchers verified that they could not see a band on BF’s right leg. We will probably never know how he lost it.
When I first arrived, I found an adult on the white vent cap above the section of the mall that contained the carousel. I quickly took a picture and then he took off, over the mall heading northeast. I headed to the north side of the mall.
As I drove around the east end of the mall, I could clearly hear the vocalizations of a juvenile Peregrine Falcon. I spotted a falcon on the roof, just as it took off, heading southwest. Back to the south side of the mall, where I could still hear the whining call of a juvie. It was up on top of the same vent cap that had just been vacated by the adult. I tweeted out that I had an adult and juvie at the Medley Center.
At 6:20 pm, the juvie stooped low in front of old Macy’s store entrance then back over the carousel roof. I found it on the north end of the carousel roof. Joyce joined me at this time.
The juvie took off at 6:25 pm and stooped to the south. Returned to Medley Ctr and chased a pigeon. Now back on the north side of the carousel roof. Some serious hunting attempts by this young one!
It went down to a lower roof and then to a vent cap on the north side. Joyce saw the juvie take off yet again at 6:50 pm, heading north. I drove around to the north side of the mall, while Joyce remained on the south side. At 7:00 pm, a falcon flew over me, heading northeast. I believe this was the juvie. Joyce and I were back on the south side, when Joyce saw an adult fly in from the west then land on the south end of the carousel roof. It was Big Frank!
First Kathy O, then Lisa McK joined us. They were there just in time to see Big Frank for a few moments before he flew over to the glass peaked roof at the east end of the mall. He then took off heading north. (7:20 pm).
At 7:25 pm, Larry O tweeted from downtown on the pedestrian bridge. There was a falcon on the netting on the Kodak Tower.
Big Frank returned to the peak of the front entrance where the carousel is on the south side. He remained there until approximately 8:00 pm, when Joyce saw him head south. We ended our watch at 8:15 pm.
On her way home, Joyce checked the downtown area and found Dot.ca up inside the OCSR elevator shaft. She did not find Beauty.
During our evening watch, we had positively ID’d the adult falcon at the Medley Ctr as Big Frank. I was not able to see any bands on the juvie. Goodnight everyone!
August 30th, 2015 at 11:59 PM
What a cutie juvie! Glad you were there to see it, Carol.
August 31st, 2015 at 12:34 AM
Thanks Pat! 🙂
August 31st, 2015 at 3:27 AM
All of you Rochester, NY Falcon Watchers have your work cut out for you with the increase in PEFA population there. Thanks for your report and photos, Carol! It’ll be interesting to learn if little Big Frank was/is a permanent resident. Could the juvie you saw be his?!
August 31st, 2015 at 5:46 AM
The juvie looks like BF 🙂
August 31st, 2015 at 7:17 AM
I would be very surprised if Little Big Frank had been here all this time and is now teaching its (since we do not know if his or her) juvie how to hunt. We have SO many eyes in the sky in Rochester, it would be hard for a big beautiful falcon to be hanging out for 6 months in secret. I opine that Little Big Frank has come to town recently and maybe the juvie came along for the ride (as we experienced with Dot.ca and his first mate), or maybe it is one of the Rochester juvies who has befriended it.
August 31st, 2015 at 10:21 AM
Well if little Big Frank turns out to be a female, it very well could be that the unbanded juvie could be Sellie or Bith from ST! So exciting- the story continues! 🙂
August 31st, 2015 at 10:23 AM
I agree Kathy. That was my first thought when I saw the juvie. The markings on the juvie are so similar.
Allison – Big Frank was born 2013 just as Billie and Seth at Seneca Towers. At 2 years old, this pair nested successfully. As the population increases, these younger peregrines are setting up new nest sites. Buildings are much easier to spot falcons, but Rochester has a gorge that runs from the city to the lake. There aren’t many places to view the gorge, and there are places along the walls of the gorge that are like cliffs. With the timing of our Rochester falcons and the new pair at Seneca Towers, we had our hands full. Who knows, Big Frank may have arrived this year and nested. Or, this juvie followed Big Frank to his hunting area. Regardless, they are a joy to watch.
August 31st, 2015 at 11:21 AM
Thanks for the comments everyone! We have such a great group of watchers that are always looking for new falcons wherever we go. 🙂
Having Big Frank and a juvie hanging out at Medley Ctr is very interesting. I never saw them interact with each other, so I’m not sure if they are “together” or not. BF was in hunt mode and so was the juvie. The juvie was vocalizing to the adult for food, like we see our juvies behave with their parents. But was this a juvie to adult or child to parent behavior we witnessed yesterday? Hope we get to see more of them in the future. 🙂