By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

After two straight days of mostly rain, a cloudy and cool (40’s) morning was very welcome.  By the end of my watch, it had made it into the 50’s and the sun was peeking out from behind the clouds.

I arrived on the Charlotte side of the Genesee River at about 7:30 am.  Genesee was no where to be found, but I did meet up with fellow watcher Dana.  Genesee finally arrived at about 8:30 am on the Coast Guard Tower (CGT).

<— Genesee Arrives on the CGT.

We watched him preen for about a 1/2 hour before he took off and flew over the Port of Rochester buildings.  Dana found him on one of the red-peaked roofs.  I parked on the west side of the buildings, on the west side of the new marina.  From there, I could see Genesee on the roof.  There was a beautiful stained glass sail boat below him.

<— Genesee on the Port of Rochester Roof.

At 9:20 am, Genesee stooped off of the roof, flying over a lower roof.  I lost sight of him, but Dana quickly found him on a light pole in front of the building.  Dana had to leave, so I stayed where I was to keep an eye on Genesee.

<— Genesee on Light Pole.

Genesee was very interested in something nearby on the ground.  I checked it out with my binoculars.  It was a dead pigeon.  He must have dropped it there.

<— Genesee’s Pigeon.

He made three attempts at retrieving the pigeon off the ground.

Third time was a charm!  He swooped over the pigeon, grabbed it and carried it up to the roof of the building.

<— This was one of his attempts to grab the pigeon.

Genesee settled down with his pigeon on the roof and enjoyed his breakfast.  I was very happy that he did not eat on the ground.  Genesee was very determined to get it higher, where he could safely eat it.

<— Genesee eating his pigeon on top of a roof on the Port of Rochester.

<— My view of the Port of Rochester across from the Marina.

After finishing his meal, Genesee returned to the light pole he had been on earlier.  He left the remainder of his meal on the roof.

A Crow flew in and landed next to Genesee’s leftovers.  Big mistake!  Genesee took off and the chase was on!  Genesee chased the Crow, low over the marina, swooping on it over and over again, until it landed on one of the piers.  Genesee then flew up over the Port of Rochester buildings, back and forth and finally off to the west.  That’s when I lost sight of him behind the trees.  After Genesee left, the Crow took off and beat wings, fast!  lol

<— Pics of Genesee going after the Crow, then leaving the area.

I decided to check on the other Rochester Falcons.  No falcons were home at Seneca Towers (ST) or the Brighton Site (BS), but I did find Beauty and Dot.ca at home.  When I first arrived on Aqueduct St (aka “the hole”), Dot.ca was on the top Ibeam of OCSR, south side.  He took off and flew around the east end of the building.  The road work on Aqueduct St seems to now be complete.

From the Radisson, I could see that Dot.ca was now up inside the elevator shaft.  Beauty was nearby on the north side top IBeam.

<— Beauty and Dot.ca on OCSR.

From the Andrew St Bridge, I saw Beauty take off.  She flew past the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT) and continued on towards the Kodak Tower.  She landed on the south side arch ledge, above where the old M&K nest box used to be located.  By the time I arrived at the KTower, she had moved up to the southeast corner of the launchpad.

<— Beauty on the Kodak Tower.

The Beebee Station is almost totally gone now, leaving an unobstructed view of the gorge.

<— Bye Bye Beebee Station.

On my way home, I stopped at Charlotte one last time (for today!  lol).  Genesee was on the Shumway antenna, and he was very wet.  I watched him preen for about a 1/2 hour before ending my watch at about 1:30 pm.

<— A very wet Genesee on the Shumway antenna.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 23rd, 2016 at 7:57 PM 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.