Morning Falcon Watch-Big Frank and unbanded male 9-26-15
By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK
The temperature at the start this morning was 51 (F) 11 (C) with hazy skies but once the sun came up it didn’t take long to break thru the thin clouds that were covering it
Old faithful, Seth, was in his spot on the north top window ledge of Seneca Towers as I began my watch this morning at 7am. I left him and drove around to my spot on Seth Green Dr. where I found Billie eating on the northwest corner and Seth on the west railing.
Seth left while I was tweeting and I decided to go back to the north end to get closer to Buffalo Billie. When I got there Seth was back in his spot on the window ledge. Billie finished eating then did some feaking as she went around in circles.
<Click
I left them a couple minutes later. At first I didn’t find a PEFA (Peregrine Falcon) but after a trip around town I spotted Dot.ca (DC) on the middle arm of the Frontier Communications tower (FCT) while pulled over on the Broad St. bridge (BSB). I went over to Fitzhugh St. to observe him.
DC was just leisurely hanging out up there when I got a phone call from Larry. He said he was passing thru and noticed 2 falcons flying over by HSBC on the east side so I wrapped it up with DC and headed over not knowing if there was an intruder or a juvie and probably Beauty. I found the Beautyful one on top of the RGS antenna-she took off soon after diving to the northeast at 8:01am.
I drove around the area for the next 15 minutes when I spotted what looked like a falcon on a railing on the roof of the Eastman School of Music. I had a hard time finding a good spot to get close enough to try and ID it. I ended up on Winthrop St. off East Main St. in a gated driveway. My pics made me think it was an American Kestrel but when I got home and checked on the computer screen I was sure that it was a Merlin which is in between a PEFA and kestrel in size.
It took off very fast at 8:30am heading south and that was the last I saw of it. I’m thinking that perhaps Larry saw Beauty chasing this merlin for I never found any other falcons on the east side of the river. 15 minutes later I spotted DC on the southeast corner top railing of the Powers building from the Court St. bridge. i drove to the end of Aqueduct St. at Main St. for the best view of him.
DC flew northeast at 8:49am and as I backed to the hole I saw Beauty on the base of Mercury. I then went around to the end of Bank Place and Aqueduct St. to watch.
She was overlooking the near vicinity when I left to go to the Medley Centre in Irondequoit to see if Big Frank would show up for me.
When I arrived around 9:45am Big Frank (BF) was on the pointed peak roof-I was on the south side of the mall when I found her.
I checked my phone and saw a tweet from Dana saying there was another adult falcon on a lower roof which I couldn’t see from where I was, so I circled the mall. I ended up back on the south side and found a spot where I could see an unbanded male just to the west of where BF was on the peak.
He took off while I was tweeting so I had no idea what direction he went. I then went to the east side of the mall to look around and pulled over next to Dana who said the male had flown east. This was a much better place to see BF and shortly after I arrived she got buzzed by a Coopers Hawk. We thought at first that it was the unanded male falcon because we heard e-chupping.
<Click
A few minutes later at 10:13am BF flew east out of view and didn’t return. Dana said she would take a ride around the mall for one last check and I headed home. What a great watch I had in which I saw 7 falcons-Billie,Seth,Beauty,DC,a Merlin,Big Frank and an unbanded adult. And I’m sure y’all know this produced a huge smile on this watchers face! 🙂
Click on the links below to see today’s videos
September 26th, 2015 at 5:12 PM
You had excellent attendance during this morning’s watch, MAK! The Merlin was an added bonus. I’ve only seen one out here. Thanks for your report. Always good to see your resident PEFAs.
September 26th, 2015 at 8:51 PM
Always good to hear from you Barb! It was an excellent watch!!! 🙂
September 27th, 2015 at 8:56 AM
And a Coopers Hawk too. The gang was all there! Great watch and great report, MAK.
September 27th, 2015 at 10:17 AM
Thanks Pat! Hail, hail, the gang’s all here! 🙂