Morning watch 9-3-12
By Rochester falcon watcher MAK
On this Labor Day it was mainly about Orion as he was the most visible to me on my watch. Arriving downtown about 6:15am I met up with Dan on the Broad St. bridge(BSB) as is the routine. He informed me immediately that there were 2 falcons on Xerox and as he was telling me I spotted a 3rd one flying in from the south and vanishing behind Bausch&Lomb(B&L). Dana pulled up at this time as one falcon was eating way up there on Xerox. 10 minutes later one of them stooped to the south going behind the Rundell Library which blocked our view of it. Larry joined us followed by Jeanne and Carol a few minutes later.
20 minutes later we watched 2 falcons fly over Midtown and attempt a food exchange. The food was dropped and both pefas(probably Beauty and Orion) with talons still locked together started plummeting down lower and lower as we all stood in shock and horror afraid that when they went out of view behind Clinton Crossings they might not have pulled away in time. It was a very stressful few moments until 1 flew thru and behind OCSR and another landed on B&L north side with feathers flying. Phew! None of the veteran watchers had ever seen anything like that before and a discussion ensued.
Dana and Carol took a walk toward B&L and Dana confirmed Orion was on the north side of the lower roof eating. Larry checked the Frontier Communications Tower(FCT) and reported Beauty was under the platform. I then walked down to B&L and could just barely see Orion when he poked his head up.
Carol reported a food exchange on the southwest side of B&L and that Orion was eating on that side of the building as I was on my way up to the top ramp of the South Ave. garage. When I got off the elevator I saw that Dana and Carol were there.I stayed for a little bit then I went back down to the BSB to rejoin the other watchers. After I arrived Larry saw Orion fly off B&L and disappear behind the Dinosaur Barbeque. A few minutes later Carol reported Orion flew back toward Midtown and that she and Dana could hear him which is always a dead give away that he’s around somewhere! Dana then reported Orion knocked Dot.Ca(DC) off Xerox and they flew over to FCT so all 3 of our downtown falcons were there at once. Larry and Dan had left and Jeanne had to get to work but she gave me a ride to FCT before leaving and Carol and Dana were right behind us.
Things got weird there for a while as we heard kakking (which is usually a warning sound) DC was chirping and kakking and Orion was singing when all of a sudden Beauty and DC were having a little scuffle. At the time we didn’t really know what was going on as we thought there might be an intruder. Then we saw 2 falcons flying toward KO and Carol said it looked like they were fighting as I was trying to locate anybody on the FCT. We saw what turned out to be Beauty land on the launchpad and then there was another up there near her which turned out to be DC. Orion showed himself finally on the upper north side beam on the lower red section of FCT.
All was quiet for a while until DC showed up with a small package and landed directly above Orion on the platform railing. This got Orion singing loudly almost non-stop. I wondered if he ever got a sore throat! lol
After a series of moves by both DC and Orion around the FCT inner structure I believe DC left his little morsel for a full cropped Orion.
My opinion of the whole aggression scene between Beauty and DC is that she was mad at him for feeding Orion since he is in training to catch his own prey and we all know how well they like each other dating back to their rough start. I thought we were done with the air fights between them but I guess it’s still right there ready to surface at any time still. It was a lot of fun watching DC and Orion on FCT this morning making me end my watch smiling! 🙂
Pics and videos below for your viewing pleasure-just click them
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWrHbg
http://youtu.be/Y3lO6_fl-BE
http://youtu.be/VvayQjAVzjw
http://youtu.be/sbc48f5TMpo
http://youtu.be/ZbBJ0G7Rma0
http://youtu.be/3Iz502pb660
http://youtu.be/xDAm6saQc2I
September 3rd, 2012 at 8:55 PM
I think you may be right MAK. Look at the video I posted from cam 1 from that same time… http://youtu.be/eY-nabji45o
After seeing your video I think what may have happened at the end was Beauty came off the upper part of FCT and chased Dot off as he was about to feed Orion. Dot’s too much of a softy for Beauty’s liking-and for Orion’s good. At least they seem to have made up in the end-sat together for quite a while.
September 3rd, 2012 at 9:04 PM
LOL…why am I not surprised that Beauty and DC were scuffling over food again..he loves to feed that boy! I remember back when we still had the cam and Jack would sneak food into the juvies that Angel was trying to slim down so they’d fly and she’d run in and just rip the food away from him yelling her head off at him the entire time.
I suspect your assessment is correct, given he hunted on his own yesterday I was actually surprised DC fed him and Beauty is probably thinking he ruined all her hard work!
ps: That talons locked tumble scene with Beauty and Orion must have been nerve wracking to say the least!
September 4th, 2012 at 5:56 AM
They sat together but I don’t know if they made up as Dana said Beauty had lots to say to DC when they were up there on KO. Just a reminder to us of their love/hate relationship which I hope doesn’t cause any future problems. And kathy it certainly was nerve wracking to see them falling uncontrollably. Again I say phew! 🙂