By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Warmest morning yet at 66 (F) 19 (C) and a busy breeze. A cold front will be coming thru this afternoon changing that little fact and making for a cold weekend.

I landed in the hole at a little after 6am facing Mercury I saw a falcon fly to the base and start plucking feathers with its back to me. Still predawn and dark I wasn’t sure at first who it was until she turned around to face me-it was Beauty.

About this time Donna texted and thought maybe UT had been on the well wall since that’s not a spot Dot.Ca (DC) frequents. I was watching Beauty so I totally missed whoever was up there. At 6:20am I spotted DC under the northeast wing.

A few minutes later he was off and as I followed him in flight toward Mercury I saw Beauty was on the Mercury money bag (MMB). She had snuck up there while I was watching DC and then a mating occurred on theMMB. I was caught off guard and only got the end of the mating on video plus a blurry quick pic before I started recording. I played with it in Picasa and came up with this unique pic.

Beauty flew to the nest box afterwards and DC flew south out of view. I then made my way up to the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) to see if I could find him and instead found my mentor Dan in his spot on the bridge. I asked for his report and he said he watched DC bring prey to Beauty at the nest box a little after 6am. I must say since the first egg came DC has stepped up with the food deliveries-he’s being a good provider. Donna texted me to say that Beauty was on the eggs so I told Dan, who got a big kick out of  the fact that someone who lives in Jersey is telling us what’s going on right under our nose! lol Dan left at 6:55am since DC was nowhere to be found and Beauty was on the eggs. I left for Brighton (BS) to see if he went there but I found only Pigott there perched on the west end of the south side vent.

She took off almost immediately and chased a crow out of the area and continued south until I could see her no longer. I waited and watched for her return for 10 minutes and then I took a ride around the building. I found Miss Pigott on the northwest corner in the front of the building at 7:30am.

I got a text from Donna 10 minutes later saying Beauty was making weird sounds at the nest box and going back and forth so I left BS for downtown to check it out. As I arrived I could see Beauty up under the northeast wing and then she went down to the deck. DC unbeknownst to me had brought food and was on the eggs as Beauty started eating on the deck by the well wall.

Click the pics for a full version

I was on the BSB at this point and after a few minutes Beauty flew off with leftovers behind the Thomson Reuters building where I lost sight of her.

I drove back down to the hole in time to see the Beautyful one flying near the OCSR and above the Wilder building and out of view. 5 minutes later DC was flying back and forth in the TSB area almost like a victory flight before coming to rest on the Wilder building green strip.

DC did a little preening, caught a nap or two but mostly he was watching prey birds in the area during the hour and 10 minutes I spent with him. I took a walk over by He’s Chinese for some pics of him from below as I stood in the alley named Basin St.

I wasn’t sure that Beauty was in the nest box until I got a tweet from Annette confirming that she was indeed. Thanks for your help and also to Donna too who always helps me out. I finished up my watch over by the Philipone building sitting on the garden box over there for the best view of DC. I really enjoyed observing him up close and personal.

I ended my watch at 10am as the sky started to spit a few rain drops with a smile on my face as all is well with our Rochester Peregrine Falcons! 🙂

Click on the links below to view more pics and videos from todays watch

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWrd3g

http://youtu.be/bnH59zSCuDI
http://youtu.be/RN-2b7AFBsE
http://youtu.be/YD0K4m0k0vg
http://youtu.be/2z66hHrenDo
http://youtu.be/u_71MqxORJk
http://youtu.be/s_zyCs-ECbo

This entry was posted on Friday, April 19th, 2013 at 5:04 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.