By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Let me just start by saying…holy freakin’ falcon flying Batman! Today Beauty and Dot.Ca put on a clinic for Orion who flew just as well as his parents as far as I’m concerned. Most of the watch was spent observing the 3 of them on the east side of the city flying,soaring,talon tagging,hovering and stooping near Bausch&Lomb(B&L),Xerox,Chase and Midtown.

When I got off the bus at 6:15am and turned the corner at Main and Exchange I saw Beauty up on the ledge directly above the nest box.

I dragged my cart up the stairs at Falcon Watcher Central to go join Dan on the Broad St. bridge but I didn’t see him so I went back down to the hole and looked for Orion. I soon got a text from Lynda that she was with Dan on the bridge so back up I went(I’m surely getting lots of exercise these days). Shortly after I joined them(LarryO and Dana were there too) the show began with Beauty and Orion soaring above Xerox. Beauty landed up on the southwest corner of Xerox and stooped from there across the river near Cornhill as this has become a morning routine for her. She came up empty-taloned and landed on the south side of the jail tower. Orion was perched on the northwest corner of B&L and had a front row seat to watch his Beautyful mom show him her skills.

Beauty flew off the tower flying behind the Times Square building(TSB) then she flew over the river and joined Orion on B&L. A series of  flying and talon tagging took place and Dot.Ca joined them in the sky as well at one point. Orion chased his mom off  B&L a couple times which always cracks me up!

Lynda and I rode over to HSBC where I saw Orion on the northwest railing for the first time. Beauty always liked to hunt from atop HSBC first thing in the morning and no doubt she was encouraging her son to do the same.

After we rejoined Carol and Dana on the bridge we got a visit from a reporter for the Democrat&Chronicle(local newspaper). Dave Andreatta was very interested in our story as they are always looking for something out of the ordinary to report.  And lets face it folks to see a bunch of people sitting in lawn chairs in the heart of the city holding cameras and binoculars is definitely different and eye catching! Of course the whole time he was there the falcons were resting.

This day was all about flying lessons for Orion and fly he did!

Click on the pics for full version to see Orion fly

Beauty and DC did a super job teaching Orion today. He really is flying like he’s been doing it a long time instead of the week and a half since he fledged. DC chased a crow out of the area and Beauty sent a hawk packing as another lesson was taught to our young juvie. One funny thing happened after Lynda left. A homeless man came by and said “bird watching” to which we all answered yes and then he started walking again chuckling like Beavis and Butthead all the way down to the library and out of sight. Well it just hit us all funny and a laughing attack overcame us for a good 10 minutes after the fact. I ask you “who has more fun than falcon watchers”? Keep smiling it’s good for the soul! 🙂

Click the links below for pics and a video

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWrFTg

http://youtu.be/ZRbuw4NHJh8

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 12th, 2012 at 6:50 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.