Fledge Watch/Shorebirds aplenty 7-9-17
By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK
It was a calm start to the day with a chill in the air, some sun and a temperature of 54 (F) 12 (C)
Click on my pics to see the full version
While checking for falcons at Seneca Towers I had to settle for sun rays coming through openings in the clouds. Trading one part of nature for another-not a bad deal at all!
When I began my watch on the Court St. bridge (CSB) with Dan we had no falcons in sight, this would be the theme of this mornings watch. Light on the falcons and heavy on the wildlife in the river. I entertained myself by taking pics of the full moon and the green light theme for Xerox and Legacy Tower (LT) before the sun came up.
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About 5:15am we spotted Rachel and Ontario playing talon tag over by Xerox and LT. We didn’t see them for long and didn’t see them again (or so we thought). Around 5:30am 2 teenage guys on skateboards rolled down the bridge past us in the middle of the road with another guy following behind on a bike. I thought it odd that teens would be out that early but dismissed it until I turned around a minute later and saw them sitting on the opposite side of the bridge on the sidewalk and curb staring at us. I alerted Dan and we both found it to be unnerving-luckily they left after 15 minutes of that! After they left we spotted 2 falcons on the Powers building. A third head was showing in front of the nest box. At the time we didn’t know who was there. Turns out 2 of them were our beloved juvies! I checked the archives and found them there.
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Again, they were gone as fast as they appeared and then we had none. During the lull I checked out the river and was very excited to see all kinds of baby ducklings (oh my, there so darn cute) and some type of sandpiper down in the river on the south side of CSB. Buddy, the gull was on a light pole.
Also, I checked the north side of Court St. and found 2 adult Black-crowned Night Herons (BCNH)-one hunting near the shore below the library and the other flew in and landed on a log in the middle of the river near a Great Blue Heron (GBH). I thought the GBH would drive the BCNH off but he just walked past him.
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The one on the big log flew off to the south and right about this time Larry and Zeke came by. Beauty showed up on the Powers east side railing. Dot.ca (DC) was on the cam and then he went into the nest box and spoke to his mate as seen from the archives.
In between watching the Powers situation I had been watching the BCNH. I looked down at one point and found that breakfast had been caught. I thought it was a perch but after further review I believe it was a small catfish that was the catch of the day. The BCNH was having trouble swallowing the large head so he kept squeezing it with his beak, dunking it in the water and slamming it on the rocks to soften it up.
Larry yelled that 2 falcons were flying behind OCSR so I looked but missed them. When I looked back at the BCNH the fish was gone and the other adult was down there too. My theory is that the one swallowed the fish as soon as the other one showed up so it couldn’t be stolen from him.
Dan decided to leave just before 7am and I said I was going to go exploring for juvies so Larry ended his watch as well. I checked everywhere that I could think of but didn’t find them. The Beautyful one was still on the Powers railing when I checked the east side. I thought it was Beauty that I saw fly to the RGE antenna but after seeing the pics on my computer screen I believe it may have been DC.
That’s all she wrote folks, I ended my watch at 7:30am with a smile on my face regardless of not seeing our downtown Rochester Peregrine juvie Falcons very much-the ducklings did the trick for me on this day! 🙂
Click on the links below to see what I witnessed on watch today
July 9th, 2017 at 6:43 PM
It was nice that you got quick glimpses of Falcons, but lots of fun seeing some of the other birds in the area.
Looks like you had yourself a Spotted Sandpiper. One of its characteristics (other than spotted underparts) is “its habit of constantly teetering and bobbing its tail.”
“She Who Must Be Obeyed” looked like she was giving some tough love to one of her ducklings that must not have been following instructions. They’re such adorable little kids!
I watched a juvenile Black-crowned night Heron exhibiting the same meal “preparation” by using a large stick…Drop/retrieve/flip…over and over again, as though doing it’s homework!
Thanks for your report, MAK. Glad those skateboard characters moved along. Take care out there, all of you Watchers!
July 9th, 2017 at 7:27 PM
Thanks Barb, I knew somebody would know the name of that sandpiper. I’m not much into shorebirds as far as knowing who they are but I sure do like watching them! I saw the teetering he was doing-pretty funny actually-like a drunken soldier! Teehee!!
Yeah, that mama duck was showing some tough love!
Dan and I were glad the skateboarders moved on as well!!! 🙂
July 10th, 2017 at 1:15 PM
There is certainly a lot to find out about this issue. I love all the points you made.