By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I was a little late getting downtown to start my normal 4:00 pm Fledge Watch. Very dark clouds were approaching from the west. Susan C, our Official Weather Watcher aka OWW, reported that heavy rain and T-storms were heading towards the downtown area. I arrived downtown at 4:45 pm and joined Marcia on Aqueduct St just before it started to rain. Orion was on the south end of the Cross Roads Bldg and Beauty was on the south side, top Ibeam of the OCSR. We took our chairs out and got comfortable for about 10 minutes. Marcia told me that Orion had been fed by Beauty on the Cross Rds Bldg. Then it started to rain. Marcia said her goodbyes and I took over the Fledge Watch at 5:00 pm.

I decided to head up to the Broad St Bridge to watch in the rain. It’s amazing how active Orion is when it’s raining. He seems to really like it. Probably cooling to him after a very warm, humid day. For over an hour, it rained harder and harder. During that time, Dan pulled in front of me on the bridge and we both watched.

Both Beauty and Orion took off and returned, Beauty back to the top Ibeam and Orion above her on the roof of the OCSR roof. Then Orion was gone! Poof! From the BSB, I was able to see that he was now over on the FCT platform. I told Dan I was going over to check on him and Dan decided to stay on the bridge. Over at the city hall parking lot, I was able to watch Orion preen and do his wing stretches. Then he was off, heading south. I quickly followed and saw him flying with Beauty near the OCSR. I again joined Dan on the BSB and Dan told me that Beauty had stooped over the river and came back with Orion hot on her tail. She did not catch anything, but he was ready in case she did. Beauty returned to the OCSR and Orion returned to the FCT platform.

Jeanne joined us just after it stopped raining, although the sky still looked threatening. We set-up our chairs and enjoyed chatting while we kept an eye on O & B. Beauty again stooped and ended up on the jail communication tower. She continued to hunt from there. Orion had moved up to the 2nd arm of the FCT, where he probably had a better view of mom, just in case she caught something for him.

At 8:00 pm, it was time for me to leave. I left the watch in the capable hands of Jeanne and Dan, who remained downtown for another 1/2 hour. Weather permitting, I will return downtown early tomorrow morning. I would love to see a food exchange between Beauty and Orion. I will definitely keep my eyes to the sky for that! 🙂

Sorry. No pictures to share today. It was dark, overcast and raining the whole time I was there. Hopefully next time!

This entry was posted on Friday, August 10th, 2012 at 10:42 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.