By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

The morning started out a bit chilly at 36 (F) 2 (C) and a little breeze but it warmed up nicely with sunshine and blue skies.

I made my way downtown by 6:10am and when I got to the Broad St. bridge(BSB) I could see a falcon on the well wall. Dan was in his chair and Donna was reporting Beauty in the nest box and UT (unbanded tiercel) on the well wall. Thank you very much! Afew minutes later UT flew toward the river and doubled back going to the nest box. I didn’t know where Beauty had gone because she wasn’t in the nest box anymore. I drove down to the hole (Aqueduct St.) and found the Beautyful one on the base of Mercury northwest corner where you can’t see her from the BSB.

She was eating and suddenly UT came from nowhere and mated with her. I don’t think Beauty was expecting it any more than I was and so my pics were all blurry as I was taken by surprise.

When he was done UT flew over to the Times Square building (TSB) and landed on one of the north side columns for like 10 seconds and then he was off behind Widows Walk out of view.

Remember to click on pics for full version

10 minutes later Beauty flew off Mercury and as I was back up on the BSB with Dan we saw UT flying near the Radisson with food. A few moments later Donna was reporting Beauty and UT in the nest box bowing. I told Dan and we just looked at each other like-how did we miss that!? Anyway, UT flew out the nest box over to the southeast corner of Crossroads and then seconds later off he went. Next I spotted a falcon on the top ibeam southwest side with food missed it leave shortly after and then UT was at the nest box.

Honestly, this tiercel is lightening fast and gives us a hard time keeping up which is why I nicknamed him Rocket the first time he came to town. Joyce had compared pics from last nite and was 99.9% sure it’s the same unbanded male. So he has been lurking all this time perhaps.

At 6:50am Dan and I could see no PEFAs  and a few minutes later we saw one fly to the nest box from behind the TSB. It was UT and he flew out after a couple minutes going south then doubling back to fly past Beauty who was on the top ibeam west corner of OCSR.

Now it was around this time that UT disappeared and Dot.Ca (DC) showed up. I reported UT went to the southside of  the TSB but my pics don’t show any real evidence of whether it was UT or DC in a defensive posture up there.

We saw no battle,no chase just suddenly DC flew to the Mercury money bag (MMB) and at the time I thought it was UT. I was able to confirm that it was DC when he flew off 10 minutes later after seeing black leg bands.

DC flew to the TSB and came to rest under the northeast wing while Beauty napped on OCSR.

Just before 7:30am they both flew to the nest box and DC left less than a minute later going back up to the northeast wing. Just before Dan left around this time a couple guys stopped to ask about the falcons. The first man was Jack and the second Brian. Brian said his late aunt Martha Bentley had been a big bird watcher in New York City. He was quite schooled about birds! Donna,Joyce and Ei let me know Beauty was still in the nest box about 10 minutes later. We watchers are very fortunate to have cam watchers to help us when we can’t see a falcon in the nest box. Thanks ladies!

DC flew off a few minutes later circled Mercury and returned to the northeast wing and 5 minutes after that he went down to the deck. He and Beauty both left the nest box area. At 8:00am DC was eating at the northeast wing. I didn’t find Beauty until 20 minutes later as I spotted her on the top ibeam west corner of OCSR. DC flew over and went by her then returned to the TSB northeast wing and Beauty was gone from OCSR. 5 minutes after that DC was gone and Beauty was back on the west corner of OCSR. Sheesh! I watched Beauty for the next 15 minutes and when DC wasn’t showing himself I drove to State St. to check the north side of OSCR and that’s where I found him. He was on the top ibeam about a quarter of the way down from Beauty.

DC moved closer then he and Beauty bowed to each other just before she stooped off the building.

Click it to see them

DC remained on OCSR as Beauty showed up on the base of Mercury with food and was plucking feathers as I arrived in the hole to observe.

She had her fill and then cached the leftovers on the other side of the base.

At 9:15am Beauty and DC met at the nest box briefly then DC shot out of there while Beauty stayed to get some shut eye with a full crop.

DC was nowhere to be found so I let Joyce know that he might be on his way over to the Brighton site where she was watching. He did show up there soon after. Since Beauty was resting I decided to join Joyce and discuss the events of late. That is when she told me about comparing pics and finding that UT was the same bird that got along so well with Beauty just before DC returned from migration. I never saw Pigott as she was in the cubby while I was there with DC up on the northwest corner. DC left 10 minutes after I got there so I went back downtown and Joyce followed soon after. DC beat me easily and was under the northeast wing when I arrived on the BSB.

DC flew north as Beauty was in the nest box and at 10:30am I ended my watch as all was quiet. These guys kept me hopping and smiling today! 🙂

Click the links below to view my photo album and some videos from the watch

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWrdVg

http://youtu.be/xsz6ACxFBbE
http://youtu.be/dC22rhM5sfE
http://youtu.be/NU4QoBgF36M

This entry was posted on Monday, April 15th, 2013 at 6:48 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.