By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

12:30 pm – 4:00 pm

Oh, my goodness!  What an absolutely stunning late winter day.  Temps in the 70’s, blue sky, bright sunshine and a nice gusty wind!  Perfect for falcons and their watchers!  🙂

I arrived downtown around 12:30 pm.  The city was bustling with all the worker bees and residents out on the streets enjoying the summer-like weather.  From the Andrews St Bridge (ASB), I saw my first falcon of the watch at 12:50 pm.  It was flying between the Times Square Bldg (TSB) and the Powers Bldg (PB).  I lost sight of the falcon when it flew behind OCSR.  Time to go to the Broad St Bridge (BSB).

From the BSB, I saw Dot.ca (DC) at the nest box.  Beauty was soaring high above, on the hunt.

She flew higher and higher into the clouds.  Beauty passed over me, heading north.  She stooped over the river and returned empty-taloned, landing on the south side of OCSR (top IBeam).  Then she took a walk!  Love watching them walk on their big yellow feet.  They always remind me of Groucho Marx.  lol

During all of this, DC remained at the nest box.  Beauty then flew to the Times Square Bldg nest box, joining Dot.ca inside.  I could hear ee-chupping all the way out on the Broad St Bridge.  They can be very loud!

Dot.ca did some soaring on the high winds above the Genesee River.

He then returned to the nest box, joining Beauty.  He stayed and she left.

Beauty went on the hunt again.  This time she was successful.  She caught a small bird by the Radisson and carried it to the base of Mercury.

DC watched from the TSB nest box.

Beauty ate just a bit and then cached it on the base of Mercury.

After she was done, she flew over to the Times Square Bldg and landed below the SE wing.  DC remained at the nest box.

Brian H joined me.  He was dressed for the weather.  Shorts, T-shirt (no sleeves) and no shoes!  Hahaha!  I wasn’t so brave, although it was very warm, especially with the sun shining.  Some folks stopped to ask about the falcons, wondering how they were doing.  We were happy to educate them.  lol

The migration has started, so we weren’t surprised to see two Turkey Vultures floating over the city heading north.

A Crow flew too close to the Times Square Bldg and Beauty stooped on it and gave chase.  She flew overhead and then to the nest box.  DC came out and landed on the base of Mercury.

Dot.ca didn’t stay long and did not touch Beauty’s cache.  He flew over to the top IBeam of OCSR.  At that point, all was peaceful and quiet.  In fact, I was getting ready to end my watch.  But as happens all too often, at 3:30 pm, Beauty took off from the nest box platform, flying over us.  She was heading southeast, fast!  We could see her target.  Another falcon was heading in from the south side of the Xerox Bldg.  This falcon, based on size, was another female.  She was much higher than Beauty, who was gaining altitude fast.  Brian and I looked back to verify that Dot.ca was still on OCSR.  He was.

Beauty was below the intruder when she stooped on Beauty.  Then the chase was on.  We lost sight of both falcons, as Beauty chased the other female out of her city, heading south.  Sorry, I was unable to get any pictures.

Now we (and DC) waited for Beauty’s return.  It wasn’t a long wait.  At 3:40 pm, Beauty flew in from the south, over us and up to the nest box platform.  Dot.ca had not moved from OCSR.  This is not unusual, since Tiercel’s will usually not battle female falcons, since they are so much larger.  It’s not unheard of though.

This is the time of year that we usually see migrating falcons come through the area.  Beauty and Dot.ca will hopefully keep them moving.

When I finally ended my watch at 4:00 pm, all was peaceful and quiet again.  Beauty was on main cam at the nest box and DC was on the top IBeam of OCSR on the south side.

On my way home, I stopped at Seneca Towers for a quick look.  I did see a falcon eating on the bridge, but by the time I got turned around, it was gone.  From Maplewood Park, I could not see any falcons on Seneca Towers.

During our watch, Brian called Dan to let him know what was going on.  Dan told us that he had been out that morning and had seen Beauty and Dot.ca copulate.  So nice to talk to Dan.  He said to say hello to everyone!

We are expecting rain all day today (3/10), but tomorrow it should clear up.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 10th, 2016 at 9:37 AM and is filed under Falcon Watch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.