By Lou

Yesterday, Dana, Carol P, Dan and myself watched a hard-headed Red tail hawk get pounded by the Peregrine falcons. I refer to it as “hard-headed” because on the previous day, Dana had witnessed a Red tail hawk get brutally pounded by the falcons in the river near the nest box and it seems the hawk came back for more punishment…

Around 1:00 PM yesterday, a Red tail hawk was spotted flying over the river near the Broad Street bridge. One of the Falcons (we think Archer) reacted to this territory-intruder and swiftly went after it, pushing it out of the area, south, into the Corn Hill district. Watching through our binoculars, we saw the falcon repeatedly dive bomb the Red tail. At one point, the poor hawk landed on a roof and seemingly didn’t know what else to do except just sit there and take a beating from the falcon who just kept swooping down on it. Eventually though, the falcon came back and took up a guard position on the Mercury statue.

But wouldn’t you know, about 10 minutes later, the hard-head came back again. But this time, he came back with a second red tail – it was kind of like he was bringing his big brother to settle the score. However, the hawks must have been surprised when both falcons took to the air. And it seemed that big brother disappeared quickly, leaving the same poor red tail again in the same predicament. Sure enough, the falcons again started going after him. The hawk landed in the safe haven of a tree next to the library, Beauty went back to the nest box, and Archer again took up position on Mercury. I managed to get a few shots of the hawk while it was in the tree- it had such a sweet face and it looked like he was just plain tired from getting beat up.

Eventually, the hawk flew under the bridge below us. We didn’t see him come out on the other side so Dana and Carol took a walk to a driveway near the Convention Center to take a look under the bridge. They couldn’t see anything. The hawk appeared again later, flying over the river where it flew up under a structure that’s on the east bank of the river, next to the convention center. After a short while, he came back out again and Archer immediately went after it, swooping on the hawk as it flew across the river and back, where it landed in another tree. We couldn’t help but feel sorry for the hawk – he just didn’t have any place to go and Archer was on him as soon as he took flight.

While the hawk was sitting there in the tree with Archer peering down on him from Mercury’s heel just waiting to attack it again, we noticed a group of pigeons perched on the wall looking into the river, seemingly watching the interaction like spectators at a Ultimate Fighter’s Championship event. We had to laugh. But we really hoped that the hard-headed hawk would just leave the area and live to see another day. Our prayers were answered when he eventually took off and flew south, hugging the wall by the library and escaping under the Court Street bridge.

We wondered what would drive such behavior. Perhaps there is a food source, such as vermin in the subway area, that the hawk is familiar with and was determined to go after, but now, with Archer’s return, that area is within nest box territory and is now off-limits. Whatever it was, I think the Broad Street bridge might be prime viewing territory for us watchers and I think yesterday provided a glimpse of how things might be with the new pair and the new nesting location. Hard-heads beware!

Here’s a link to an album with some pictures: (Log-in required. Thx)

http://tinyurl.com/yhgm573

Lou

By Larry O’Heron

Headed downtown with Cleo, the Catahoula Leopard dog for watching before the weather turns rainy and freezing.
Beauty was at the scrape and Archer nowhere to be found.
After a couple of minutes, Carol P pulled up and we began to chat. She noticed Archer had arrived and landed on Mercury’s base.
Suddenly Archer ripped across Broad St, over our heads and stooped on an intruding redtail. I thought Archer was going to fly into the bridge; he came so close to the railing in order to get to the redtail. There was a man walking down the bridge and Archer went right past him. I don’t know if the man was aware of what had just happened.
Archer stooped and stooped on the red tail who landed in a tree near the bridge and library. In between stoops Archer kited on the winds over the Broad St bridge, presenting a spectacular view of his flying abilities.
Eventually Archer returned to Mercury but kept a sharp-eyed lookout on the hawk.
Carol and I headed to the east end where we were about 30 ft from the hawk. The view of the bird was magnificent.
We stayed there about 15 minutes when the red tail took off to the south. Archer immediately came off Mercury but with the red tail heading away, Archer kited briefly and returned to Mercury where he spent the rest of the watch hunting.

From Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Over the past week, there have been multiple reported sightings of one Falcon in the downtown area and close to the Times Square Bldg, the location of the nest box and cameras.  We’re pretty sure that it’s Beauty.

We’ll continue to keep an eye on the situation and report what we see.

Larry O’Heron and I got to watch Beauty for a while today at lunchtime.  There was a bit of excitement before Larry’s arrival.  I’ve posted a few pictures here.

http://marchlords.com/birdblog/2010/03/at-long-range-raptor-dust-up_03.html

With Rochester underneath a foot or more of snow, things seem be be heating up downtown.

Rochester Falcon Watchers Kathy O, Dana M and Joyce M are reporting  that Beauty is hanging out with another Peregrine Falcon.  They have not been able to ID the 2nd Falcon, so we’ll have to wait and see if it’s Archer returned from who knows where or another.

Keep watching the cameras.  You might catch a glimpse of them visiting the nest box on the Times Square Bldg.

We’ll have to wait for Dana and Joyce to share their pictures with us.

I truly hope this is the beginning of another, exciting Falcon Watching year here in Rochester, NY.

Keep your eyes to the sky and on the Rochester Falconcam Cameras.

Carol P.

11 Watchers gathered on the Broad St. Bridge at noon on Janurary 1st. We were there to Ring in the New Year and toast to a successful Falcon season in 2010.

Beauty was there. She did a lot of flying, scaring up the local Pigeons.

We only stayed about an hour and 1/2 due to the frigid temperatures.

The Watchers gathered on the bridge were Larry O, Dan S, Kathy O, Lynda, Tim, Lisa McK, Marcia, Dana, Lou, Jeanne and Carol P.

Happy New Year to all of the Rochester Falcon Fans!

Carol P.

From Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

After hearing from Jim P, Dana and Dan that Mariah was at the Medley Mall this afternoon, I decided to head over there after work and this is what I saw.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=247822164805%3A81044749

or tinyurl

http://tinyurl.com/yffjmsw

It’s so nice seeing Mariah again.  🙂

From Rochester Falcon Watcher – Carol P.

Well, its been a really long time since my last post.  This is a Watch Report that I’ve been wanting to post for a very long time.

Yesterday, Dana reported seeing a Falcon at the Medley Ctr in Irondequoit, NY at noon.  This is a suburb of Rochester, just north of the city.  It was a dark, overcast day and she only had a small camera with her.  When I enlarged the picture, I was pretty sure this bird was banded on the right leg.  Now let’s speed to Saturday morning.

Dana called me just before 11 am.  I was at work and I was just getting ready to leave.  She and Lou had just watched a Falcon eating a Pigeon at the Medley Ctr, near Macy’s.  When the Falcon finished eating, it flew to another part of the Mall, landing on top of a peaked, glass roof.  She and Lou had to leave, so I told her that I would be picking up Brian soon and that we’d head over to the Mall.

The Falcon was still on  the peaked glass roof of the Mall when we got there.  I set up the new Watcher’s Scope (thanks everyone!) and we had our first close-up views.  Brian said “I see a band on the right foot!”  I took a look through the scope just in time to see the right foot come up for a quick scratch.  “Blue with a yellow racing stripe!!!”  Woo Hoo!  It was Mariah and she was looking MARVELOUS!

As Brian and I were doing our happy Falcon dance, we started making phone calls to all the Watchers we could think of.  Before long, Watchers started to arrive from near and far.  Let’s see, there was Brian, Dan S, Larry O, Kathy O, Lisa McK, Dawn, Joyce, Ginny, Dana, Lou, Lynda and Carol P.  I think that’s everyone.

While we were Watching Mariah, a car pulled up.  It was Cornpoppy!  He had a friend with him and had just been on his way to Sears, when he saw some familiar folks just milling around the parking lot with binoculars, cameras and a scope.

Mariah made some short flights around the Mall, returning to the glass peaked roof three times.  The last time she flew off was around 3:00 pm.  She headed east where we lost sight of her.

John Carlos arrived just after Mariah left.

She looked wonderful, no evidence of the wound on her chest.  This was the first time we had been able to positively ID Mariah since she left the downtown area.  I’ll bet you all know where the Falcon Watchers will be tomorrow morning.  😉

So many thanks to Dana for being the first one to spot Mariah at the Medley Mall!

UPDATE:  Below is the URL to a KGallery Album with pictures from today’s watch.  No sign on needed.  Enjoy!  Carol P.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=177714\
154805%3A1331327141

or tiny url:

http://tinyurl.com/ylabqwj