By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Saturday, 9/22/12

So who was the New Guy (NG) that visited with Beauty for most of Saturday.  We may never know.

Dana and Larry O spent most of Saturday morning keeping watch over the downtown area and the BS location.  Both were seeing two falcons, at the same time.  Well that was interesting, since there was normally only a total of 3 falcons seen at both of these locations.  Dana tweeted out that she was unsure if she had Dot.ca or another tiercel (male).  I had lots to do Saturday morning, so I could not get downtown until noon.

I joined Dana on Aqueduct St. (aka the hole) and she pointed out the male on the ledge that was on same level as the nest box, on the south side.  I quickly got my scope out and we both took turns checking out this falcon.  Was it Dot.ca?  If so, who was out at the BS location with Pigott?

This male did not act like Dot.ca.  He flew all over the place, and he did a lot of display flying for Beauty, who was at the nest box.  Behaviorally, we suspected that this was a different tiercel visiting with Beauty.

Every time he took off and landed in a different spot, I would move the scope to keep him in sight.  Finally, I got a good look at his bands.  I quickly called Dana over to verify what I was seeing.  She saw what I did, there was no doubt, this was not Dot.ca.  This new guy’s band was black over green, while Dot.ca’s band is black over black.

We watched him all afternoon, flying from spot to spot.  He was very actively checking out the area and checking out every perch.  Some we had never seen a falcon on before.  There were a bunch of Crows flying through the area and Beauty didn’t like that at all.  She took off and chased them, new guy right on her tail.  Together they vanquished the Crows from the area.  It was a sight to see.  Beauty was more active than I had seen her in a very long time.  But, she would not allow him to enter the nest box.  That was a no no.  At one point, he came a little too close.  He landed on the ledge above the nest box, and she chased him off.  I am always fascinated by their behavior.  We learn something new every day.

Later in the afternoon, other Watchers came down to take a look at this new guy; MAK, Joyce, Kathy O, Jeanne, & Barbara.

Today (9/23/12), Dot.ca was back with Beauty and the new guy was gone.  At least for now.  The question is, will he return?  We’ll be watching.

Sunday, 9/23/12

The Watchers were split between the three Rochester locations today.  Pigott was seen at the BS location, Beauty and Dot.ca were seen hanging out downtown, so I focused on the female at Kodak Park, aka KPF.

My first stop this morning was Kodak Park.  I parked in the lot we are allowed to watch from and immediately spotted a falcon sitting on the railing in front of the red door on the south side of the east smoke stack.  I got my scope out and tried to see if she was banded.  It was too far for me to get a good look at her legs.  I do know she has a silver band on one leg, but have no clue if there is a band or what color it might be on the other.

During the time I was there by myself, she didn’t move too much from this area.  Later in the afternoon, I was joined by Joyce and Dana.  They took lots of pics, so hopefully we might get a clue to KPF’s identify.  KPF took off a a few times, the last time, she flew over us heading southwest.   Too bad new guy can’t find KPF.  lol 🙂

During the afternoon, I did go downtown to check on Beauty and Dot.ca and found them sitting a few feet apart on the top Ibeam of the OCSR on the north side.

On my way downtown, I noticed that the High Falls stack is nearly covered in scaffolding.  Probably not too long before they start taking it down.  🙁

Hope everyone had a nice weekend and that you all kept your eyes to the sky!

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 23rd, 2012 at 10:20 PM and is filed under Falcon Watch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.