By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

An early morning thunderstorm stopped me from going out as early as I usually do for my morning fledge watch.  I usually get downtown around 7:00 am, but today I didn’t arrive until 9:00 am.  It was cooler this morning, 66 degrees (F).  I had not seen either juvie yesterday, only Beauty and Dot.ca.

Before I arrived downtown, falcon watcher Donna texted out that Beauty and Rachel had visited the Powers nest box.  Here is a picture that the Rfalconcam camera at the Powers nest box captured.

<— Beauty and Rachel in the Powers Nest Box (Rfalconcam Camera)

I hoped to catch them there, but they were gone when I arrived. From the Andrews St Bridge, I could just make out an adult on the base of the Mercury statue.  Pretty sure it was Beauty.

<— Beauty on base of Mercury.

Larry O and Zeke joined me for a short visit before they headed out for a morning hike.  The sky was very overcast, threatening to rain again.  The lighting for my pictures was not good at all.

<— Overcast sky over downtown Rochester, NY.

Beauty had taken off when I wasn’t looking and Larry reported that there was a falcon on the Times Square Bldg (TSB) above the nest box.  I drove over that way and ended up on Aqueduct St (aka “the hole”).  There was very little parking in the area due to the Jehovah Witnesses in town and the Cornhill Festival.

From the hole, I could see a falcon on the ledge above the nest box and it was a juvie.  It was Rachel.

<— Rachel on TSB.

Rachel was being very vocal, screaming every few minutes.  lol  At 9:58 am, Rachel took off heading south, fast.  It wasn’t long before she returned followed by an adult.  It was Beauty.  There must have been a food transfer out of my view, because Rachel was carrying prey.  She landed up on top of the ledge under the NE wing on the TSB.  Beauty landed on the ledge above the nest box, where Rachel took off from.

<— Rachel with food landing on the NE wing ledge.

<— Beauty on TSB ledge above the nest box.

Beauty moved around on the ledge.  I think she was looking for leftovers.  Rachel was eating under the north east wing.

<— Rachel eating under the north east wing ledge on the light.

Beauty jumped up to the column above the nest box.

<— Beauty on column above the nest box on the TSB.

<— Beauty and Rachel on the TSB.

It was then that I noticed that Dot.ca was on the OCSR bldg, 2nd IBeam down.  He was preparing prey, feathers were flying!

<— Dot.ca on OCSR preparing prey.

Rachel finished her meal and stood up on the light.

<— Rachel on TSB.

When the prey was ready, Dot.ca took off, flying towards the Times Square Bldg.  Both Beauty and Rachel took off, Beauty in the lead.  Beauty took the food from Dot.ca and landed on the south east corner of the Widows Walk.  Rachel followed Dot.ca towards the Powers Bldg.

<— Dot.ca carrying prey towards TSB.

<— Beauty takes the prey from Dot.ca.

<— Beauty eating Dot.ca’s gift on the Widows Walk.

It wasn’t long before Rachel found her.  Rachel flew in and landed next to her, forcing Beauty to leave her meal.

<— Rachel Arrives! (11:00 am)

Rachel took over Beauty’s meal.  She had already eaten well on the Times Square Bldg.  This was her 2nd meal during my watch.  A little while later, Beauty returned to land on the railing above Rachel.  She was soaking wet.  Beauty had bathed and was not preening above her young daughter.

<— A very wet Beauty preens on railing above Rachel.

Beauty took off flying towards the Times Square Bldg.  Rachel moved down the ledge and took off, heading south.

<— Rachel on the move on WW.

Over the buildings between me and the jail communication tower, I could see three falcons talon tagging and zipping over the buildings.  Beauty was watching from the OCSR.  It was the first time I saw Li’l O (Ontario)!  He must have been hiding out over in that area, while Rachel was Beauty’s shadow.  I was not able to get any picture of Ontario today, but it was good to see him flying well with Rachel and Dot.ca.

I drove back to the hole to watch Beauty.  It was very frustrating not being able to move around like I am used to, with all the traffic downtown.

Beauty left and I was again falconless.  Just as I was getting ready to leave at noon, in came Beauty and her noisy shadow, aka Rachel.  They both landed on the Wilder Bldg’s green strip.  Beauty and food and was hungry.  Rachel had a very full crop.  This time Rachel let Beauty enjoy her meal in peace.

<— Beauty and Rachel on Wilder Green Stripe.

<— Beauty and Rachel.

After Beauty finally finished her well deserved meal and Rachel ended her nap, Rachel moved down the ledge towards Beauty and, yep, you guessed it, Beauty took off!  lol  Do you want to see it?  Well here is the video clip of what I saw.  Just click on this link to my YouTube video.  Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjWBxdxf6BA&feature=youtu.be

After a few moments, Rachel followed her mom.  It was almost 1 pm and time to end my watch!  On my way out, I stopped on the Andrews St Bridge and saw Dot.ca on the camera at the Power nest box.

<— Dot.ca at Times Square Bldg.

Now where was Ontario hanging out???

On my way home, I stopped  to check Seneca Towers from the west side of the river.  I checked the apartment building, both side of the bridge, Hawkeye and the east end of Kodak Park.  I did not see or hear any falcons there.

Please be sure to click on any pictures you would like to see in their full format.  Enjoy!

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 8th, 2017 at 6:33 PM and is filed under Fledge Watch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.