Rochester Falcon Watcher: Carol P.

While a big portion of the country is currently in a heat wave, many Rochester Falcon Watchers have been braving the scorching temperatures.  We all take keeping an eye on “our” fledglings very seriously.

Today’s Watchers included, Dan S, MAK, Brian H, Joyce, Marcia, Carrie, Shaky, Kathy O and Larry O (not related!  lol).

Brian remained downtown during the daytime, taking cool down breaks at the library and drinking lots of water.  He saw Callidora do some really nice flying during the afternoon.  Most of the day, Callidora was located on the Frontier Communication Tower, keeping to the shade.  Archer and Beauty were with her on and off during the day, but most of the time she was by herself.  Although I’m sure A&B were keeping an eye on her.

A little before 8 pm, Archer flew up to the communication tower and Callidora started crying.  As far as we knew, she had not been fed today.  Archer circled nearby, eventually heading south.  Soon after, Callidora took off, heading in the same direction.  Carrie and Shaky found them both on the Monroe Cty Jail’s communication tower.

The Watchers split up.  Marcia, MAK and I were located on the middle of the Broad St. Bridge, facing the Time Square Bldg. (TSB).  We could see both A&C on the comm twr.  The radio came to life, “Archer just took off heading north!”

I couldn’t see where he went, but I certain saw him returning towards us.  He was successful on his hunt.  Archer flew over us, clutching prey.  He ended up on the TSB on the base of the SE wing.  Feathers flew!  We reported to the others that Archer had food.

The others watching Callidora, called to say that she had taken off and was heading our way.  We watched as she flew towards the TSB, circling and screaming.  She eventually landed next to Archer.  In Marcia’s pictures, it shows that Archer attempted to feed her, but she would have none of that.  She grabbed her dinner and Archer was off, returning to the jail’s communication tower.

When I left at 8:30 pm, Callidora had finished her meal and had returned to join her father on the jail’s communication tower.  It was a nice ending to a very long, hot day.  🙂

Keep cool everyone!

Brian H continued watch this afternoon on top of South Avenue garage after Carol P left to take time to cool down.  Oppressively HOT!  He is taking periodic breaks to cool down.  He cannot Twitter. Brian reported via text messages:

12:24 pm – At library cooling off.  Left Callidora on communication tower tucked in, settled down.
1:15 pm – Callidora still tucked in the framework of Comm. Tower.  Beauty flew around and left.
1:36 pm – Callidora flew for 5 min. over downtown. Great flight, she came right over me twice.  Soared and talon tagged by herself.  Landed back on Comm. Tower.  Good landing, yelling while flying.
1:38 pm – 1 adult landed on top arm of Comm. Tower.
1:52 pm – Callidora is tucked back in gridwork, south middle of red part under platform. Adult still on upper arm.
2:01 pm – All 3 on Comm. Tower.  Alarm kakking – yelling at guys working on Frontier roof.
2:32 pm – Going for water.  It’s hot out here. Archer and Callidora on Comm. Tower.
2:37 pm – Going to library for air conditioning and water.
3:42 pm – I’m back on garage. Callidora is where I left her. Tired after all that flying.  No Archer or Beauty in sight.

Edit 4:40pm – Callidora took short flight twice around Comm. Tower with great landing.

Larry O

To put it succintly, Callidora’s lessons began in earnest today.

When Cleo & I arrived downtown, Carol P, Dawn (& Maggie), Don and Suzette were at Falcon Watch Central by Thompson – Reuters. Bringing me up to speed, they reported that A & B & C were all on the north side of OCSR in the shade.

The watch stayed quiet until a brief glimpse of Archer overhead. Shortly after that, Beauty appeared overhead – but only briefly. Then shortly after that, Callidora came from OCSR and flew towards TSR. Her flying looked more robust, more steady … more confident. With any new juvie, her landing lacked grace. It seems that the drag introduced by dropping the talons on landing interrupts the air stream upon which they depend. This change in aeronautics obviously disrupts their performance until they gain experience.

Once again all settle down, until …

Archer performed some flight lessons for Calli. She stayed on TSR while Archer soared and stooped and did fly-bys.

Archer and Beauty came back. We think Archer came in first, but pretty quickly someone said “Three falcons in the air”. Every one scanned around and we all confirmed that A & B & C were on the north side of TSR and in flight.

The important thing is that they were flying together.

The first maneuver was an aerial circle by the three. They performed three or four loops of the circle. The flying was tight enough that it could be said that no one was in the lead.

From the circle they broke off so that Callidora was flying solo with Archer and Beauty introducing her to talon tag. It was amazing to see the parents come in to their daughter, approach and just delicately enough show Calli how to stop flight, perform the tag and regain aeronautical control. Beauty and Archer each took turns (at least two apiece) before breaking off the schooling lesson.

Callidora returned to TSR (NW west). A & B disappeared, but later Beauty came in with food which she put down by Calli. Callidora raced to the food and Beauty took off again.

I may have forgotten some of the details but it was a fantastic 10 minutes of activity from the family.

From Lou

We arrived last evening around 5:30 pm to find fellow falcon watchers all huddled in the parking lot on the north side of the Times Square building. Jemison was on a window structure on the north side of the TS building, about 25 feet above people walking to their cars in the busy parking lot there. There was an event letting out at the War Memorial in addition to normal traffic, so the streets, sidewalks, and parking lot were quite busy, causing a heightened level of concern in the watchers as they waited for Jemison to take off so that they could confirm whether or not he was okay. About 7:30, he finally did take off and it didn’t go well. He went down. Luckily, he flew west and avoided the traffic on State Street and allowed for a much easier rescue. We took him to a rehab station in Churchville, NY where he was examined by a rehabber and a veterinarian. We left him there for further evaluation, so as Carol shared in her report, there will be more communication once there is more certainty as to what’s happening.

Attached is an album with some pics (click on the below pic of Jemison’s takeoff to view)

Click on Mercury here to see some pictures that go along with Carol’s report of last evening’s watch..

By Lou

I checked on Callidora yesterday morning and tweeted that she was still there from the night before. I returned later in the day to find her on the south ledge of the Time Square building. She remained there all evening while Archer, Beauty, and Jemison did all of the flying ..and all the eating.

I snapped a few interesting shots from last night that I wanted to share. Click on the pic to view.

From,
Lou

I wasn’t officially watching but was there today for some of the exciting developments!

When I arrived, MAK told me she had been watching Callidora on the Jail and was going to station herself there! Great idea! I saw Jim P and Jim D taking pictures. Jemison was in the nestbox area and A/B were each on a corner of the building. All was pretty quiet for a couple of hours. Archer did chase a very small bird but came back empty taloned:)

MAK left after 10 and I went to the the Jail to watch Callidora. Thankfully, Dana took pictures of the area because she blended right in with the architecture. Callidora preened and walked (at one point slid) as she made her way up and down the structure. At times, she walked inward or was resting and it was impossible to see her. Fortunately, Carla and Theresa could see her from work. Twice, I saw an adult fly over head. The second time, I did not see Calli. A short time later, I saw two falcons fly in the air. I left to go to the Times Building.

When I arrived, there were three falcons and no Calli. Did I imagine this? Lots of watchers were out– Joyce, Lynda, Tim, Debbie, Larry, Jim P, Shaky, Carrie and then Carla, Theresa, Dan. Even the parking enforcement man stopped by to take a look!
Beauty would take off and fly and a few times Jemison. He made it to above the river beyond the Mercury statue. Jemison ahs awesome flights but Beauty keeps him reined in. Typically, when he flies out, she is nearby and will bring him in. Today, she and Archer did this. At one point, we had all three and Dan saw a little head peak out. Sure enough, it was Calli! Shaky has a picture with an arrow to where she is. What a relief to have all 4 there.

Jemison took a jaunt to the Telesca building and then flew out. Escorted back by his parents, he landed on the top left of the structure around from Calli. (He also landed with precision on the metal structure between the wings. Awesome)!

When I left, all was calm an especially happy knowing our little gal is back to Times Square

Larry O

Quick lunch stop. Pulled over on Plymouth and located Callidora on the jail roof. Shortly thereafter, Beauty came by. I did see Callidora either step onto the roof or flatten herself such that I could not see her anymore. But she was up there.

Then I went over to Broad St and caught up with everyone. The best part was having three falcons in the air at one time. That was B & A & J. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen such activity over the skies of Rochester. The flying was not audacious in any sense, but all three were up and about.

Archer eventually headed out on a hunt which ended behind Xerox. I’ve no idea what happened, but he returned empty-taloned. Beauty stayed in the area except for a fly-by on Callidora.

Jemison got a meal up at the scrape.

Callidora remained disappeared. Jim P went over to look for her. I came across him and [Debbie H] on my way back to work.

Nice lunch-time break.

Larry O

After a neighborhood assc meeting to discuss an planned development, I headed downtown to walk around and get some exercise. I pulled up to the Broad St bridge and Cleo and I jumped out to get an update on Callidora.

Jim P and Shaky told me that Jemison was on TS, but that Callidora was still not found. Lots of people were downtown keeping an eye out for her.

Since everyone had good coverage on the east side of TS, Cleo and I headed down Broad St to the west to get on the opposite side of the Civic Center which is where Callidora was last seen flying.

It didn’t take long. Keeping my eyes to the skies, I caught a PF fly over Broad St from the Civic Center and then cross back to the Civic Center. She was not too high up. I figured it was Beauty because the flying was too good. Carol P caught up with me and we continued down Broad St looking for Beauty.

We pretty quickly found her over the Civic Center. The question became “Why?” Then Beauty threw us a curve and flew way out to the west — out of view.

I turned down Plymouth to pass behind the jail. Watching the ledge lines and scanning with binocs, I finally found a PF on the jail roof ledge. I alerted the others via radio, and kept watch.

Callidora obliged me by showing her red band. That settled it. Cleo and I had found Callidora. She was looking none the worse for the wear. Beauty kept coming back in and going out, so it became clear that Beauty knew where Callidora was. That’s good because Beauty will keep an eye on her during the night.

Most of the watchers made it over and we all commented on how perfectly Callidora was camoflaged against the background. She was not easily seen.

It was time for Wegman’s – a bachelors got to eat, just like a hungary eyas.

Larry O

Quick wrap-up of how I was briefed on arrival.
Callidora stayed on the Tellesca Bldg since about 6:00 am. Beauty was protective of her due to the presence of workers on the roof of the next building over.

Watch: All was pretty quiet with all four sighted: Callidora on Tellesca and the other three on TS.
Then Beauty took off, kakking loud, over Callidora. (I did not see the reason, but guess that the workers were back.) Callidora lifted off pretty quickly, arced over our heads, and headed back towards TS where she made a not pretty but still impressive landing. She had the more characteristic up-swoop at the end rather than a straight-in approach. She made the landing high up on TS.
For reasons unknown, she then took off again, and arc’ed over Exchange St towards the river, passing over the War Memorial. We lost sight of her, but she reappeared over Broad St – heading towards the Civic Center Plaza. Then we lost her again. She did not reappear.

Best guess is that she is somewhere on the Civic Center which is big expanse of 3 – 4 buildings.

I had to return to work. The watchers are looking for her. The other three were on TS when I left.