Thursday Afternoon Falcon Watch – 4/25/13
By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.
My watch started at about 3:45 pm. It was a gorgeous afternoon, but I knew it wouldn’t last. Clouds were moving in. I looked all over for Beauty, knowing that DC was in the nest box on the eggs. I ended up in Aqueduct St aka “the hole”, called that because you are surrounded by buildings and lose sight of the falcons pretty quickly when they fly overhead. Today was no exception. A few minutes after I parked my car, Beauty came flying in from the NW. She flew over me and then up to the Times Square Bldg (TSB) landing on the SE corner of the ledge above the nest box. Loud ee-chupping filled the air as Beauty and Dot.ca vocalized together. (4:00 pm).
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Beauty took off and flew over me heading west. I lost sight of her quickly, so I did not see where she went. I drove up to the Andrews St Bridge (ASB) to check out the area from the north and found Beauty on the base of the Mercury statue. I quickly tweeted that she was there and then made my way to the Broad St Bridge (BSB), where I was soon joined by Joyce and Brian. (4:10 pm)
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From the Broad St Bridge (BSB), we watched as Beauty preened and stretched. She was just soaking in the sun and keeping an eye on her nest box. Brian, Joyce and I were enjoying the sunshine too, watching Beauty and all that surrounded us. There is so much to see.
The Genesee River was much lower than it had been in a long time, leaving some of the rocky areas exposed. This gave this group of Pigeons a chance to take a bath in the cold, clear water.
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Looking north down the river, we noticed that the whole length of the Main St Bridge is loaded with trees debris, lots and lots of trees!
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Oh, and we now have new garbage receptacles on the Broad St Bridge. 🙂
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During our Watch, we spotted 4 Turkey Vultures soaring over the Xerox Tower. As the clouds moved in and the temperatures dropped, Brian spotted a Broadwing Hawk and an Osprey moving north to south and over the downtown area.
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Beauty remained on the base of the Mercury statue until about 4:55 pm. We didn’t see her take off, so we thought that she might have walked around to the other side of the base and out of sight.
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Joyce and Brian had to leave, so I drove around looking for Beauty and could not find her. I drove over the the BS location at 5:15 pm and did not see or hear any falcons over there. Back downtown at 5:40 pm. Beauty had taken over the brooding of the eggs at 5:15 pm, so I drove around the downtown area looking for Dot.ca. I had no lucking finding him. Joyce tweeted that she was out at the BS location and Dot.ca was not there either. At approximately 6:00 pm, it was time for me to head home.
I want to thank RFalconcam Watchers NCAFalcon and Braveheart for the assist this afternoon. I am unable to check to see if there is a falcon in the nest box while I’m downtown, so your assistance is much appreciated. Thank you!
Also, just to let you know, Rochester Falcon Watchers Joyce and Lisa McK were at the BS location after I left and they saw Pigott on the vent on the south side of the building. So, all three Rochester Falcons were seen this afternoon, making it a very good day indeed!
I’ll leave you with this picture I took on my way over to the BS location. I do love spring flowers!
BE SURE TO CLICK ON ANY PICTURES YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE LARGER.
