Falcon Fledge Watch (7 am-2 pm/7 pm-8:30 pm) School is Now in Session! 8/12/12
By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.
I arrived downtown very close to 7:00 am. Many Watchers were already gathered on the Broad St Bridge. Dan, Lynda, Larry O, Dana, MAK and I settled in our chairs on the bridge for what would be a spectacular couple hours of amazing flying over the Rochester Skyline by Orion, Beauty and Dot.ca. Sometimes it was hard to know who was who. Obviously Beauty is the largest and her split wing tip (due to her molt) is a dead give away. All three were diving and stooping and chasing and talon tagging and just when one of the adults would land, Orion was on them, knocking them off of a building for more fun! It was so much fun to see this young fledgling doing all this flying and getting the attention of both his parents. The Watchers were enjoying every moment of Orion’s lessons. If Orion had a sibling, they would both be learning together, but in this case, both Beauty and Dot.ca were giving Orion their full attention.
After a couple hours of intense flying, everyone left except for Lynda, MAK, Dana, Kathy O and I. We decided to move our chairs down closer to the library to get the sun out of our eyes. Larry and Dan had to leave and Kathy O joined us. During that lull, we were approached by a reporter from the D&C, David Andreatta. He interviewed us and asked many questions. Between all 5 of us, he got quite an ear full. lol We were all interested to know how the article would turn out and what would be included. It was wonderful meeting you David! Come join us anytime! 🙂
During the mid-afternoon, the falcons were still flying around a bit, but not as much as they had this morning. I decided to get some things done, so I left Kathy and Jeanne on Watch.
I returned at 7:00 pm for a quick look around the city to see where Orion was. I was joined by Dana and Lou. We found Orion on the platform of the FCT and Beauty on a small ledge on the SE corner of the TSB, below the nest box level. This was one of Archer’s favorite spots. As we were losing light, Orion flew back towards the TSB, and we found him at the base of the SE wing, hopefully tucked in for the night at about 8 pm. Beauty remained on the lower ledge. So, with it getting dark and both Orion and Beauty settled in on the TSB, we all decided to call it a night at about 8:30 pm. Tomorrow was another day to keep our eyes to the sky to view more lessons for our young juvie. <3
August 13th, 2012 at 2:19 PM
Thanks for the report. It had me Googling the Rochester D&C to read the article and see the video. Nice coverage! The comments are nice, too. One person commented that the FalconCam has peaked his interest in visiting Rochester. I must say, seeing someplace on a distant webcam can do just that. It really provides a reminder about this City’s historic location of American industry and technology. Maybe some already know that there is a Genesee Valley here on the west coast, too. It’s in San Diego and was named for its association with the west coast location of the Salk Institute (La Jolla) which, of course, had origins in Rochester.
August 13th, 2012 at 8:54 PM
Gee, the D&C website is just like the one Ganett has put up for the Indianapolis Star, which occasionally reports on the falcons nesting on the Key Bank building (and D&C ran a Key Bank commerical before I watched the video!). Indystar.com also hosts a citizen blog about the peregrines (which is not nearly so visitor friendly as rfalconcam.com!)
Rfalconcam is really the prince among websites, having both an excellent forum and fantastic images.
August 13th, 2012 at 11:51 PM
You’re both very welcome Roberta and Alison!