By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Well, what can I say? This year got away from me totally! As you have probably heard, downtown Rochester is a wreck! There are very few options on where to sit and watch or park the Rochester Falcons and certainly nowhere quiet. A few of us even got parking tickets! That was a first for me. Here’s a couple shots to show you a bit of what we have been dealing with.

Enough complaining, it is what it is. Another strange thing that happened this year is that no watcher’s actually witnessed any of our young falcons fledging. It all happened while we were not there. From Jubilee’s accidental fledge after being pushed off the wall by sister Artemis, then Artemis soon taking off after that, to Sterling waiting until later that day. Thankfully all three fledged safely to nearby buildings.

I do apologize for not leaving any watch reports this year, but things have been a little hectic. I and other watchers have been downtown to keep an eye on the young juvies as much as possible. Weekends are the best, since it’s easier to move around.

Sterling, Artemis and Jubilee have been seen hanging out together and training, under the watchful eye of Nova and Neander, to become successful Peregrine Falcons.

I’ve finally had a chance to download my picutres. There are quite a few favorites that I’d like to share. Hope you enjoy!

BE SURE TO CLICK ON EACH PICTURE TO SEE THE LARGER VERSION

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Watchers (during my watch): Dana, Larry O and Carol P.

7:00 – 10:00 am

Another hot, humid and steamy day. Again the temps are going up to 90 today. This is getting old. The good thing is it’s supposed to cool down soon, with much needed rain on the way.

It took me awhile to find the falcons this morning. The first falcon I found was Beauty on the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT). It didn’t take long for Golden to find Beauty’s hiding spot. He flew in and knocked her off. Both flew over me heading south. Soon after they left, Dot.ca flew out from inside the Frontier Communication Tower framework. He flew up to the white disk. I have to assume there was food up there.

I next found both Golden and Beauty on the Widows Walk (WW). For the majority of my watch, Golden remained there until he finally left, flying back towards the FCT. He ended up on the shorter of the two communication towers, where he moved in out of sight, probably for a nap.

No Freyja sighting today. We’ll keep looking.

We ended our watch at that time and made a quick visit at Seneca Towers, where Dana and I found Beau and one juvie in view.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from today’s watch. Lots of Golden Wings! Enjoy and stay cool!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Watchers (during my watch): Larry O and Carol P.

6:30 to 9:00 am

Hot, hot, hot! Another scorcher with temps up into the 90’s expected today. I decided to stay in the hole (aka Aqueduct St) where there was a lot of shade and a nice breeze. At least it was bearable there.

Thankfully, just after I parked my car, Golden showed up carrying food. He landed on the Wilder Bldg and made his way down to the SW corner. He played with his food for awhile, then cached it near the SW corner. He is such a busy young falcon. lol

Golden made his way back to the ladder and then took off, flying gracefully above me. I felt honored to be there to see just how well he is doing. He headed back towards the Times Square Bldg, where Dot.ca was prepping or eating food on the SE corner nook. This is a spot the adults will cache food.

Golden continued towards downtown where I lost sight of him as he flew directly into the sun over the Hyatt. He next showed up flying high above the Xerox Bldg.

Dot.ca finished with what he was doing and took off, clutching a small “package” of food. DC flew over me, heading east over the river. Not quite sure where he was taking this bit of food?

Beauty had spent most of the morning at the Powers nest box. Larry O joined me for a short while before heading out.

While he was there, a juvie (assumed to be Golden) came in vocalizing. He landed on the NE wing ledge and walked in out of sight. Probably for a nap. Beauty flew over from Powers, landing on the TSB nest box platform. After a few minutes, she walked in to enter the nest box.

I’m just going to say, that I have not given up on Freyja. I won’t for a long time. We have had miracles happen in past years when juvies had disappeared for awhile. I’m still hoping she’ll show up some day. 🙂

The heat was rising and all was quiet, so I ended my downtown watch. On the way home, I stopped to check out the ST juvies. I was just in time to see two juvies flying together over the river. One had a scrap of food and the other one wanted it. The chase was on. The 3rd juvie was eating. So happy to see Billie and Beau’s three juvies doing well.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from today’s watch. Enjoy and keep cool!

Now for the 2nd Part of my morning watch. At ST I found all three of Billie and Beau’s young ones. Two were flying high, chasing each other. One eating breakfast. I just love knowing that these juvies are Mariah & Kaver’s great grand kids!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Watchers (during my watch): Dana, Linda, Lisa, Larry O and Carol P. Bonus drive-by by Dan. 🙂

7:00 am to 10:00 am.

The heat and humidity is rising here in Rochester, NY today. It was almost 80 degrees (F) when I started driving around downtown at 7:00 am. My phone says it is 90 degrees as I type this at 1:35 pm. Temps are expected to go up well into the 90’s. I joined Dana on the Court St Bridge just in time to see some fantastic flying by Golden and Dot.ca. They were all over between the Times Square Bldg and Xerox. Golden is doing extremely well with Dot.ca as his teacher.

At one point, both Beauty and Dot.ca attempted a bowing session at the Powers nest box, but alas, Golden had other plans. As soon as his parents went into the nest box, Golden landed on the corner screaming. Dot.ca immediately flew out of the nest box and up to the NE wing ledge on the Times Square Bldg. Beauty will not be bullied by her little boy. She remained at the Powers Bldg with Golden.

After awhile, Dot.ca flew out to the Xerox Bldg and Beauty flew over to the Times Square Bldg and went into the nest box there for some shade. Golden went into the Powers nest box and then up to the roof where he was able to get some shade.

This is where they all were when the watch was ended at 10:00 pm. The heat was rising quickly and we all decided it was time to go.

No Freyja sightings this morning. We’ll keep looking for her.

I stopped at ST for a quick look on the way home. Pretty sure it was Beau that I saw attempting to hide from his and Billie’s three young ones (verified by Dana). Two of the three juvies were tearing up the sky above, screaming and talon tagging.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from my watch. Enjoy and keep cool!

Some pictures from the RFalconcam Cameras.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Watchers (during my watch): Dana, Lisa McK, Kathy O, Larry O & Carol P.

7:00 am – 1:00 pm

The watch started out with lots of rain and a bit of wind. For a couple hours we all drove around looking for the falcons. Golden was hanging out on the Powers Bldg along with Beauty and Dot.ca on and off.

By 10:00 am, I was the last watcher left. The rain finally stopped and the temperatures rose along with the wind. Some gusts were quite strong. Temps are expected to go up to 92 degrees (F) today (even more heat and humidity tomorrow). I decided to travel on foot today. I feel I see more and hear more than when I’m driving around.

At approx 10:50 am, both Beauty and Dot.ca were at the Powers nest box with Golden. I saw a falcon take off and fly towards OCSR. Then there were two falcons flying over OCSR. They headed towards the Times Square Bldg, then continued south. I assumed that it was Golden getting flying lessons from one of the adults. Imagine my surprise when I looked back at the Powers Bldg and both DC and Golden were still there. So, who was getting flight lessons from Beauty? There was absolutely no aggression. Sadly I was not able to get a picture with both falcons in it.

The rest of my watch was very quiet until Golden finally woke up and started to cry. He took off from Powers, flew over OCSR and ended up landing on the same ledge with Beauty. I believe he attempted to knock her off, but she wasn’t giving in this time. lol

Golden landed on the column above the nest box and then hopped down to the east side, center ledge, above the nest box. I saw him for a moment, until he walked further in on the ledge. That was the last time I saw him before ending my watch.

I just wanted to say, that I believe that it was Golden I was seeing throughout my watch, but there were some times when I was unable to see a band to verify that it was always him.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from today’s watch. Enjoy!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Watchers (during my watch): Kathy O, Lisa McK, Dana, Larry O and Carol P.

7:00 am to 1:00 pm

The temps are rising along with the humidity. Temps up into the high 80’s expected today.

The watchers have continued to search for any sign of Freyja. We all have hope that she is ok and that she will show herself to us soon. Neither Beauty or Dot.ca seem concerned, so we have to follow their lead and continue to look for her. After seeing her day before last, flying and landing so well, I have hope we will see her again.

So, today’s watch was all about our beautiful Golden. He is doing great, flying and landing with great confidence. Today he tried to knock Beauty off of the back extension of the Times Square Bldg, where she was preparing food, which he eventually got at the nest box area.

The Widows Walk has become a favorite spot for Golden. He just loves to watch the small flitty birds and pigeons landing and flying below him. Needless to say, I believe he knows that these are what he will eventually be hunting on his own.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from today’s watch. Enjoy!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Watchers (during my watch): Dana, Kathy O, Larry O and Carol P.

6:30 am – 1:00 pm.

There was a bit of activity during the early part of today’s morning watch, all by Golden, Beauty and Dot.ca. It was fun watching Golden at the nest box, running the wall. I can’t say for sure we saw Freyja this morning. When we left at 1:00 pm, there was an unidentified juvie on the Times Square Bldg NE wing ledge, pretty much hiding from us. We couldn’t be sure if this was Golden or Freyja.

This early in their flight development, they aren’t very active. We’re hoping as they both get stronger, there will become more active.

Golden knocked Beauty off of the top of main camera and nailed the landing after she left. That was fun to watch! 🙂

The weather is heating up with temps in the low to mid 80’s today and high 80’s tomorrow. Humidity will be building too.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from today. Enjoy!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Watchers (during my watch): Dana, Kathy O, Larry O, Dan and Carol P.

6:30 am – 1:00 pm

It was a very happy watch today. It took 4 hours of looking without finding her, but Freyja finally flew in at close to 10:30 am, landing on the metal work between the wings on top of the Times Square Bldg. We all let out a big WOOHOO! when she appeared. This was the first time we had seen her since she fledged. It was so good to see her again, flying and landing so well.

For the first four hours of my watch, we had a lot of activity by Golden, Beauty and Dot.ca. By the end of the watch, both Freyja and Golden had landed on the wings on top of the Times Square Bldg.

I’m really hoping that Golden and Freyja will play together in the coming days, as they learn the skills they will need to survive.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from today. Enjoy!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Watchers (during my watch): Dana, Kathy O, Larry O and Carol P.

6:00 am – 2:00 pm

I want to start out with some good news! Falcon Watcher Joyce has found Freyja on the Ellwanger and Barry Bldg, which is just a little north of the Times Square Bldg. She’s looking great! We are all very happy that Freyja has been found safe and sound and hope that she will soon join her brother Golden.

We all spread out early this morning to search for Freyja. She was not ready to show herself to us, so we continued to keep a close eye on her brother, Golden. He had quite a busy morning, flying here and there. He even landed on the base of Mercury and found a food cache there. Needless to say, that made him very happy! lol

It was just reported that Freyja is back in the area around the Times Square Bldg, so hopefully we’ll see her on camera again soon. This is such a happy day.

Here are some pictures from today’s watch. Enjoy!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

7:00 am to 2:00 pm.

Watchers (during my watch): Dana, Larry O, Dan and Carol P.; Pat came as I ended by watch at 2:00 pm.

We got a little later start, due to some pretty hefty thunderstorms and winds, so I started my watch at approximately 7:00 am. The first thing we (Dana, Larry and I) did was to spread out and check all the buildings in the area for a sighting of Freyja. None of us had any luck finding her.

Golden was on the east side, lower level of the Times Square Bldg, below the nest box. After a long walk around the area, I arrived at the hole just in time to see Golden spread his wings and take off. He headed east, towards the Mercury statue. I really thought he was going to land there, but he missed and headed towards the Wilder building where he landed safely. Both Beauty and Dot.ca came off the Times Square Bldg. to follow him. DC landed on Mercury and Beauty headed back to the Times Square Bldg.

After a few moments, Golden popped up on a black square shaped structure. Wings out, ready to take off again. He settled down and explored his new surroundings. When he had enough of that, he took a small flight to the top of the Wilder fire escape ladder, making an excellent landing.

He did some wind surfing there (it was quite breezy today and very warm), before settling on firmer footing on the Wilder roof. For the majority of my watch, that’s where he spent his time. Walking around and sleeping on and off.

Golden once again took off, this time heading towards the red brick building behind the Telesca Bldg. He missed the landing on the corner and slid down the building before throwing his wings out and catching the wind for a return trip to the Wilder Bldg, where he landed once again on top of the ladder. More wind surfing and a return to the roof.

When I ended my watch at 2:00 pm, he was dozing on the Wilder roof. Pat took over the watch.

I’ve been reading through the evening reports. Joyce, Pat and Brian have reported that Golden took off from Wilder and ended up on Cross Rds (reported by Pat). He has now returned to the Times Square Bldg to the ledge just below the SE parapet (reported by Joyce). They have been actively searching for Freyja. Hopefully she will show herself soon.

Here are some of my favorite pics from today’s watch. Enjoy!