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Fledge Watch/Herons in the river 7-5-17

Wednesday, July 5th, 2017

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Another pleasant bit of weather with a starting temperature of 55 (F) 13 (C)

Click on my pics to see the full version

I began my watch at 5am with Dan on the Court St. bridge (CSB). We could see one juvie on the southwest corner of Xerox in the darkness but it left when we were looking for the other members of this falcon family. Dot.ca (DC) flew in around 5:20am and landed on the southwest wing ring on Times Square (TSB). He was the only one we saw for about 10 minutes when he flew off to the Powers building, first landing on the railing then into the nest box. He was followed by Rachel and Ontario who kept flying past Powers to the north out of view.

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A bit later a juvie showed up and landed on TSB under the northeast wing. Beauty showed up over at Powers and I assume she and DC did some bonding there. Dan noticed a small bird on the southwest wing ring and I was able to confirm that it was a robin. 5 minutes later I spotted both juvies on the northwest corner of the Xerox roof. The sun was behind them and so pics are not so great.

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We missed them taking off but we saw them flying with an adult and Larry confirmed 3 flying near Legacy Tower (LT) and Xerox from his 16th floor apartment at Tower 280 (formerly Midtown). It had to be DC who had food over there because Beauty was still on the Powers cam and the next thing we saw was Rachel on the lower southwest corner of Legacy eating. Ontario buzzed past her a couple times then landed on the opposite south corner briefly then he was off again. Once more the lighting was horrible with the sun behind the east side buildings.

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I happened to see a Great Blue Heron land in the river below the Broad St. bridge and a few minutes later a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron (BCNH) landed near him. The GBH chased the smaller heron out of there as he didn’t want to share his hunting spot!

img_0027-gbh img_0031-herons<Click

Larry and Zeke joined Dan and on the CSB around 6:15am. Ontario made another appearance near Rachel and then he landed on the slanted roof on LT. He promptly slid down to the end and had to fly off! It was pretty comical-you can see it on my snippet video. A robin landed on the street light near us and sang to us for a minute then flew off.

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Beauty flew over to the jail communications tower (JCT) and Rachel finished eating. She then hopped up on the railing before taking off.

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Beauty flew from the JCT and that was the last I saw of our downtown Rochester Peregrine Falcons. I spotted an adult BCNH on a log down in the river behind the library. Dan left after checking it out. It was on the hunt and a duck family was hanging out behind it in the shallows. Suddenly a GBH came in and scared the BCNH off-he flew over to the tree by the northwest corner of the library and the Broad St. bridge and vanished behind the leaves. This is where he has roosted in past years.

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Larry was ready to head out and I had to leave too as I had an early appointment and a busy day ahead of me. Carol started her watch as I was leaving. I would have liked to see more of Rachel and Ontario but at least they were safe and sound after last nights fireworks and that was enough to have me smiling as I ended my watch at 7am! 🙂

Click on the link below to check out today’s snippet video

https://youtu.be/U4t-7QJoccg


Wednesday Morning Fledge Watch – Day After! – 7/5/17

Wednesday, July 5th, 2017

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

After watching the 4th of July Fireworks last night on our streaming video, I was very happy to hear that all four Rochester Falcons had been seen before I arrived for my morning watch a little after 7:00 am.  I arrived on the Court St Bridge (CSB) just in time to see both Larry and MAK packing up and ready to leave.  By the time I parked and got out of my car, MAK was pulling away.  But, Larry remained to give me an update, say hello and then goodbye.  Thanks Larry!  I really appreciated that.  I was on my own, and no falcons in view.  lol

Since I could see no falcons from the CSB, I decided to drive around.  It wasn’t long before I found a little juvie falcon head peaking up from the west side roof of the Legacy Tower.  This used to be called the B&L bldg.

1-juvie-falcon-on-legacy-bl-7-5-172-juvie-falcon-on-legacy-bl-7-5-17<— Juvie Peregrine Falcon Peaking from the Legacy Tower Roof.

I continued checking out the area, but could find no other falcons.  It was time to return to the Court St. Bridge.

At 8:00 am, Kathy O arrived.  She let me know that there was a falcon about midway down on the Spectrum Communication Tower (SCT).  I wasn’t able to see this falcon because the Frederick Douglas/Susan B Anthony Bridge was in the way.  From the west end of the CSB, we were able to see it.

3-rachel-on-spectrum-comm-twr-7-5-17<— Rachel on the Spectrum Communication Tower.

A few minutes later, Joyce arrived.  She and Kathy decided to drive over to the Spectrum Tower to see if the falcon there was a juvie or adult.  I remained on the CSB to keep an eye on things.

Just after they left, Beauty arrived and landed on the top arm of the Jail Communication Tower (JCT).

6-beauty-on-jail-comm-twr-7-5-17<— Beauty on Jail Communication Tower.

At 8:15 am, I noticed that the falcon on the Spectrum Comm Tower was gone, but there was another falcon higher up.  Kathy tweeted that she and Joyce had ID’d the first falcon as Rachel.  She had taken off, flown far to the south and returned to the SCT.  Dot.ca had arrived, without food, and landed above Rachel.  She was not happy that he was empty taloned, vocalizing loudly.

4-dc-on-spectrum-7-5-175-dc-on-spectrum-7-5-17<— Dot.ca on the Spectrum Communication Tower.

It wasn’t long before Dot.ca took off and joined Beauty on the Jail Communication Tower.

7-beauty-and-dotca-on-jct-7-5-17<— Beauty and Dot.ca on the JCT.

Kathy O and Joyce returned to the Court St Bridge and we enjoyed some flying by our falcons and the beauty of the river below.  The Black-Crowned Night Heron was perched in the tree near the library and a Great Blue Heron was snoozing on a log below.

9-great-blue-heron-river-7-5-17<— Great Blue Heron Snoozing.

In the distance, I could see a small falcon on the top arm of the Frontier Communication Tower.  Most likely one of the Kestrels nesting over there.

8-kestrel-on-fct-7-5-17<— Kestrel on the Frontier Comm Tower.

At 9:30 am, from the Andrews St Bridge (ASB), I could see an adult falcon on OCSR’s top Ibeam at the west corner (most likely Dot.ca) and a falcon eating on the Times Square Bldg below the northwest wing (I believe this was Ontario).  Joyce still had Rachel on the Spectrum Comm Twr.

11-dc-on-ocsr-7-5-17<— Dot.ca on OCSR.

10-falcon-eating-under-nw-wing-tsb-7-5-17<— I believe this was Ontario eating under the TSB NW wing.

We ended our morning watch a little before 10 am.  Ontario, on the TSB, had finished eating, Dot.ca was still on OCSR and Rachel remained on the SCT.  The only falcon we could not find was Beauty, but we had seen her earlier.  It was siesta time for our falcons and it was time to leave.

We were all very happy to have seen all four Rochester Falcons this morning after the fireworks from last night.

Enjoy the day everyone!

Falcon Fledge Watch – Happy 4th of July! – 7/4/17

Tuesday, July 4th, 2017

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

What an incredibly beautiful morning for America’s Birthday!  It was a wonderful morning for a falcon watch.  🙂

I arrived on the Court St Bridge (CSB) just before 7:00 am.  Dan and Larry (with Zeke) were there.  MAK had gone looking for the two juvies.  Dan told me that soon after she left, both juvies showed up on the jail communication tower (JCT).  Isn’t that always the way?  lol

So, just after I patted Zeke on the head a couple times and settled down in my chair, one of the juvies was already gone from the JCT.  It was Rachel!  She flew out towards the river, turned left, passed over the Court St Bridge, then the Broad St Bridge.  Turned left again, passed by Beauty (who was sitting on the Powers Bldg), banked left and ended up landing on the Widows Walk (WW).  Very nice flight Rachel!!!

1-rachel-fly-by-7-4-17<— Rachel Fly Over.

2-ontario-on-jct-7-6-17<— Ontario remained on the Jail Communication Tower.

3-dan-larry-zeke-csb-7-4-174-zeke-on-csb-7-4-17<— Dan, Larry and Zeke on the Court St Bridge.

At 7:13 am, Dan left us.  At 7:16 am, Rachel (after being harassed by a Robin on WW) returned to the JCT.

5-ontario-and-rachel-on-jct-7-4-176-rachel-on-jct-7-4-177-ontario-on-jct-7-4-171<— Rachel and L’il O on JCT.

At 7:20 am DC flew in to JCT and he and both juvies took off.  When we looked back at the Powers Bldg, Beauty was also gone.

Dot.ca took Beauty’s spot on the Powers Bldg at 7:20 am.

8-dc-on-powers-7-4-17<— Dot.ca on Powers Bldg camera.

Rachel came back, landing on the jail communication tower.

11-rachel-on-jct-7-4-17<— Rachel on the JCT.

MAK ended her watch and Joyce joined Larry, Zeke and I on the Court St Bridge.

All was quiet for awhile, so Larry and Zeke left to go on a hike.  Joyce spotted two falcons on the Widows Walk.  It was Ontario and Beauty.  So now we had four again.  Dot.ca (DC) on Powers, Rachel and on the JCT and Ontario & Beauty on WW.  All was good in the Rochester Falcon World. (8:40 am)

11-rachel-on-jct-7-4-171<— Rachel on JCT.

12-dc-on-powers-cam-7-4-17<— Dot.ca on Powers Bldg.

13-ontario-and-beauty-on-ww-7-4-1714-ontario-and-beauty-on-ww-7-4-17<— Ontario and Beauty on WW.

Ten minutes later, Beauty flew over to the west corner of OCSR.  Fifteen minutes after that, Rachel joined her brother on the WW.

15-ontario-on-ww-7-4-17<— Ontario on WW after Beauty left.

16-ontario-and-rachel-on-ww-7-4-17<— Rachel joined Ontario on WW.

17-beauty-and-dotca-on-ocsr-7-4-17<— Beauty and Dot.ca on OCSR.

Both Rachel and Ontario took off.  It was time to hit the road and find the two juvies.  (9:11 am)

It didn’t take long for Joyce to find them both on the west side of the Cross Rds. Bldg.  By the time I arrived in the hole (aka Aqueduct St), Rachel had returned to the east railing on Widow’s Walk.  I moved over to the parking lot on the north side of the Times Square Bldg.

18-rachel-on-ww-7-4-1719-rachel-and-robin-on-ww-7-4-17<— Rachel was having a nice conversation with the local Robin. 🙂

Ontario arrived and flew all over the area, chasing pigeons.  He’s doing really well with his hunting training.

20-ontario-on-the-move-7-4-1721-ontario-on-the-move-7-4-1722-ontario-on-irving-place-7-4-17<— Ontario in hunt mode!

Ontario joined Rachel on WW at 9:30 am.

23-rachel-and-ontario-on-ww-7-4-17<— Both Rachel and Ontario on WW.

Rachel took off heading north, leaving Ontario to deal with the irate Robin.

24-ontario-and-the-robin-on-ww-7-4-17<— Ontario and the WW Robin.

At 9:48 am, Ontario had enough and took off heading north.

25-ontario-take-off-7-4-17<— Ontario Take Off!

I followed the best I could, but could not find him.  But I did find Dot.ca on the east side of the Powers Bldg from the Andrews St Bridge.  Beauty was on OCSR.

26-beauty-on-powers-7-4-17<— Dot.ca on Powers Bldg.

Now, where were those kids!  At 10:00 am, I drove back to the Court St Bridge and found Ontario on the front of the Rochester Public Library.  It was a holiday, so he wasn’t able to take out any books.  lol

27-ontario-on-library-7-4-1728-ontario-on-the-library-7-4-17<— Ontario on the Rochester Public Library.

Soon after I took this picture and tweeted out where he was, Ontario took off, heading back towards the Times Square Bldg.

When I arrived back in the hole (Aqueduct St), I could only see the tip of juvie tail feathers hanging out on the TSB NW wing ledge.

29-ontario-on-tsb-nw-wing-ledge-7-4-17<— I believe these were Ontario’s tail feathers.

It was siesta time for our juvies.  They had been quite active this morning.  When I arrived home, I checked the cameras on our live streaming video page.  They showed Rachel sleeping in the Powers Nest Box.

I hope that everyone has a very happy 4th of July!!!

Fledge Watch/Independence Day 7-4-17

Tuesday, July 4th, 2017

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a very pleasant morning with sunshine and a temperature of 58 (F) 14 (C)

Click on the pics to see the full version

Happy Birthday America!

When I joined Dan on the Court St. bridge (CSB) at 5am Rachel was under the northeast wing and Ontario under the southeast wing of Times Square (TSB). It was still quite dark out but thanks to the new lights on those ledges you can see the falcons.

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Rachel went up on the light then down quickly and started doing some sort of happy dance for a minute or so and then she flew out and over to the southwest wing ledge. She wasn’t there for long as she flew off and came back in to knock Ontario off the northeast ledge taking his place. He flew over to the Powers building near the cam.

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Around 5:30am Rachel flew over to the Spectrum Communications Tower (SCT) then off to the west leaving our field of vision over Cornhill. Next we had both juvies flying over and landing on the SCT. Beauty was on the Powers cam.

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Ontario flew off about 15 minutes later and went after a duck near Cornhill out of view. He came back and landed on top of the Freddy-Sue bridge arch. I’ve never seen a falcon on that bridge. These juvies are certainly giving us some different tendencies from past broods. He didn’t stay there for long and joined his sister on the SCT once more. Beauty flew in landing on the upper part of the tower where she could keep an eye on her kids.

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The juvies flew off together and did some talon tagging all around the tower and Cornhill area. Rachel returned to the tower while Ontario stooped on something over Cornhill.

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I watched Ontario return to the tower but we couldn’t see him from where we were on the CSB so I walked down by the Blue Cross Arena and found him.

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Right after I located him everybody flew off heading towards me and then I saw Dot.ca (DC) with food. I lost them all behind the Arena and when I walked back up to rejoin Dan, Larry and Zeke were there as well. DC had gone to OCSR top I-beam south corner and Beauty to the Powers cam. We had no visual of the kids but they were last seen near TSB. DC stooped straight down OCSR out of view a couple minutes later.

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I always get antsy when I don’t know where the kids are so I left Dan and Larry around 6:45am to go in search of. Carol joined them soon after I left. Larry tweeted out that the juvies were on the Jail Communications Tower (JCT) so I drove over to Troup St. to watch them.

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They were so cute next to each other and you could see the big size difference with Rachel being the larger one on the left. Rachel flew off and Carol reported that she went to Widows Walk so I went first to the parking lot next to TSB but she had her back to me so I went over to Fitzhugh St. where I found a robin across from her.

img_0049-rachel img_0052-r img_0053-rrobin<Click

I no sooner got settled when Rachel took off. Joyce reported that she had Rachel with her brother on opposite arms of the JCT. I joined Joyce, who was on Troup St.

img_0055-juvies-on-jail-tower<Click

A minute later they both flew north out of view. Joyce went over to the CSB and I went looking for the kids. I found the Beautyful one on Widows Walk and Ontario was on Irving Place singing up a storm. He had food in his crop so I don’t know why he was whining so much. I saw feathers floating so I wondered if maybe Rachel was behind him on the roof where I couldn’t see her from the parking lot next to TSB.

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Lil O walked further down the roof before flying off to the north quickly leaving my field of vision.

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Beauty then flew off and ended up on the northeast corner of Irving Place. Just like her son before her she kept looking down at the birds that were flitting around below.

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I ended a very active fledge watch at 7:45am smiling as Beauty was looking at me when I pulled away! 🙂

Click on the links below to view today’s videos

https://youtu.be/07C53Sj8r3A

https://youtu.be/aoxR5hJPI_c


Falcon Fledge Watch – Rachel & Ontario Are Doing Well – 7/3/17

Monday, July 3rd, 2017

By Rochester Falcon Watchers Carol P.

I haven’t been able to get out as early as I’d like, due to life in general.  So if I’m lucky enough to arrive in time to see the other morning watchers, it’s usually only for a short time.  When I arrived this morning, around 7:20 am, I was too late to talk to anyone.  Dan and Larry had left, and I saw MAK for a moment in the hole, but she left before I could say hello.  Oh, well.

Continuing on from MAK’s morning report……

From the hole (aka Aqueduct St), I could see both Rachel and Ontario on the Times Square Bldg (TSB).  Rachel was watching Li’l O (Ontario) eat his breakfast.  Beauty was keeping guard over her young from the Mercury statue.

1-rachel-watching-ontario-eat-7-3-172-rachel-and-ontario-on-tsb-7-3-174-ontario-and-rachel-on-tsb-7-3-17<— Rachel & Li’l O on TSB

3-beauty-on-mercury-7-3-171<— Beauty on Mercury

After Ontario finished his meal, he came forward on the column to sit by his sister’s side.  Then they both took off, heading west.

Rachel landed on the south railing on Widow’s Walk (WW) and Ontario buzzed her and continued on his way.

5-ontario-buzzing-rachel-on-ww-7-3-171

I drove around to Broad St to get a better view of Rachel, who had the attention of a very irate Robin.  They have to be nesting over in that area.

6-rachel-and-robin-on-ww-7-3-177-rachel-and-robin-on-ww-7-3-17<— Rachel and Robin on Widow’s Walk

After awhile, Rachel had enough and took off, heading north.

I drove around, ending up on the Andrews St Bridge.  From there I could see Beauty up on the Powers Bldg railing and she wasn’t alone.  lol  A pesky, but very brave Robin had joined her on the railing.  I was too far away to be able to ID it as the same Robin that had been bugging Rachel.  🙂

8-beauty-and-robin-on-powers-7-3-17<— Beauty and Robin on Powers Bldg

Beauty took a swipe at the Robin, but missed.  She landed on the camera and was almost immediately under attack from a Kestrel.

9-beauty-and-kestrel-on-powers-7-3-171

After tiring of dive bombing Beauty, the Kestrel headed back over to the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT), landing on the SE box.  During my morning watch the other day, I saw three Kestrels talon tagging between FCT and the church.  They definitely have young over there.

10-beauty-on-powers-7-3-17<— Beauty on Powers Camera

At 9:10 am, Beauty took off from Powers and soared between OCSR and the Times Square Bldg.  She ended up landing on the NW wing ledge.

I drove around hoping to find Rachel and Li’l O, but I couldn’t find them.  It was time to end my morning watch.

Tomorrow is the 4th of July!  Enjoy the day everyone!

11-happy-4th-of-july-7-3-17

***Be sure to click on any images you would like to see larger.***

Fledge Watch/Juvies like the East side 7-3-17

Monday, July 3rd, 2017

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a pleasant morning weather wise with sunshine and a temperature of 62 (F) 17 (C)

Click on the pics to see the full version

Last night KathyO came for a visit hoping that the Seneca Towers juvies would show up. We weren’t disappointed! We were in my apartment when I caught a glimpse of a falcon flying past outside my living room window. I said let’s go because they don’t stay around for long! We got out to the west side balcony on my 16th floor just as the brothers flew in front of us. They did some flying and talon tagging and then the whiny one landed on the west side railing and the other disappeared to the southeast.

img_0002-st-juvie img_0005-st

He flew off after a couple minutes and gave us a show going high then low over the trees of Seth Green Park and then we lost him. I believe he landed in a tree for the night. Just as the sun was setting Kathy spotted a Great Blue Heron in a dead tree on the west side of the gorge where I’ve seen Osprey in the past. It was a short stay but thrilling just the same to see falcons at eye level and up close and personal.

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I started my watch this morning on the Court St. bridge (CSB) with Dan at 5:05am. We could see one falcon on Times Square (TSB) under the northeast wing.

img_0003-001-juvie

Ontario flew in and swooped on his sister a couple times before landing next to her-like father like son I guess! lol  A couple minutes later they were both off and flying across the river over by the Hyatt Hotel then back to TSB -each of them landing under the southeast wing.

img_0005-001-ro1 img_0006-001-r-off img_0007-001-o-off img_0013-001-under-wing

Rachel took off and flew out over the river flying in circles half a dozen times then went over to land on the jail tower. A few minutes later she came screaming over us and went after a Great Blue Heron that was attempting to land in the river. She is going to be a force to reckon with some day soon! She flew off to the east out of view and then Ontario came flying in to try his luck on one of the zippy little swifts that catch bugs over the river. He didn’t have a chance and he too disappeared to the east.

img_0017-r img_0018-o img_0021-dan-watching-rachel

Around 6am I spotted a juvie on the southeast corner of the 5 Star Bank (formerly HSBC) railing. I alerted Dan and he saw the other kid land on the roof where we couldn’t see it. The railing juvie hopped down to the roof as well and appeared to be eating at times.

img_0022-juvie img_0024-juvie

Dot.ca (DC) flew in with a small package landing on TSB under the northeast wing. Beauty followed him and grabbed it. They both flew over to the Powers building-he went to the nest box and she landed on the top railing southeast corner. During a lull in the action I checked out the river and found some ducks taking a bath and the Great Blue Heron that took a hit from Rachel earlier hunting.

img_0026-whatcha-got-there img_0028-b img_0034-ducks img_0036-gbh

Beauty flew over to the east side where Rachel flew out to meet her and take the tiny morsel of food. Dan left so I drove over to Elm St. and found Rachel eating on the north side of Legacy Tower (formerly B&L).

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Rachel finished up with her snack and flew off with Ontario as he came into the picture. They both ended up together on the east side roof of the 5 Star Bank after circling it a couple times.

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Beauty came in and I assume a food exchange took place out of my view because both juvies flew out to greet her and the next time I saw them all, Ontario was eating on the column above the nest box with Rachel right there supervising. The Beautyful one was on Mercury’s heel.

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Rachel must have been satisfied with her meager breakfast as she didn’t bother Lil O but rather did some preening.

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I figured they would be taking it easy after eating so I ended my watch around 7:30am leaving downtown with a smile on my face! 🙂

Click on the links below to see today’s videos

https://youtu.be/ureYVhJmkoQ

https://youtu.be/iwlUgUqVDk8

https://youtu.be/qOk1ijJMiyM

Fledge Watch/Rachel drops a pigeon in river 7-2-17

Sunday, July 2nd, 2017

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

The day started out with clear skies but soon became partly cloudy with a temperature of  62 (F) 17 (C)

Click on pics to see the full version

As I made my way down St. Paul Street towards downtown I had to stop and take a pic of Tower 280 (formerly Midtown) which was decked out with red, white and blue lights for Independence Day.

img_0003-tower-280-from-st-paul-st

I arrived downtown a little after 5am and joined Dan on the Court St. bridge (CSB). The only falcon we could see in the darkness was a juvie on the light under the northeast wing of Times Square (TSB).

img_0007-juvie

Around 5:30am I spotted Beauty coming from the north chasing 2 ducks heading right at us over the river. She broke it off and the ducks kept flying south at a speed I’d never seen ducks fly! lol The Beautyful one must have gotten her kids all riled up as the next thing we saw were the juvies playing talon tag over the jail. They made their way over to TSB with Rachel landing under the northeast wing and Ontario the southeast wing. He started munching on leftovers and she settled on the light.

img_0011-ro<Click

I spotted a duck all by its lonesome down in the river napping with its head tucked back under its wing and a Great Blue Heron hunting over by the Broad St. bridge.

img_0016-duck img_0017-gbh

When Lil O finished eating he flew over to join his sis under the northeast wing and started eating again on what Dan called “an old sun dried morsel that was probably stuck to the concrete”! He definitely has his own falcon language.

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After the duck chase Beauty had flown off and ended up on the Powers cam. Rachel must have decided it was time for mom to get her some breakfast as she flew over there and knocked Beauty off and took her spot atop the cam.

img_0021-b<Beauty img_0023-r<Rachel

Rachel left a few minutes later and followed Dot.ca (DC) to the Jail Communications tower (JCT). He landed at the very top and after a failed attempt to land next to dear old dad she landed down lower on the tower.

img_0025-dc img_0026-r img_0029-dcr

DC flew off to the southwest and once again his daughter followed him until they both left our field of vision. A bit later Beauty flew in with DC and Rachel over the jail. DC stooped on something out of view and Rachel went with him. Beauty landed on the jail tower-boy, what a bunch of jail birds! Ontario was still hanging out on TSB digesting his snacks.

img_0032-dc-flies-off img_0033-r-flies-off img_0035-beauty

Right around 6:30am Larry and Zeke joined us. I was giving Zeke some treats out of my car trunk when Larry yelled FOOD TRANSFER by the library. I turned and looked right after and watched as DC and Beauty flew off. Dan and Larry were not sure which one handed the pigeon over to Rachel, but she started flying over the river heading towards the Blue Cross Arena. She was steadily losing altitude and had to drop her breakfast in the river before crashing into the lower part of the Broad St. bridge. Thankfully she was wise enough to do so! She ended up over on the JCT after flying to TSB first. The only pic I was able to get of the whole ordeal was the one below-notice the wing of the pigeon sticking straight out behind her on the right side. It may have still been alive causing Rachel to struggle that much more with it.

img_0038-r-with-pigeon img_0041-r

The kids started flying together over by the Spectrum Communications Tower (SCT), formerly the Time Warner tower. They eventually landed next to each other on the tower. I checked Widows Walk and found an adult there with a robin bravely staring from across the way.

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Dan was leaving just as Carol joined the watch. The juvies left SCT and Beauty landed on the JCT.

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Larry spotted a juvie back on the SCT and that was the only PEFA we could see. I was about ready to end my watch so I left Carol and Larry on the CSB and drove around to see what I could see. I ended up over in the Spectrum parking lot off of Mt Hope Blvd. where I was able to locate both Rachel and Ontario on the tower.

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As I was leaving just before 8am both juvies flew northwest over the river out of sight leaving me with a smile on my face! 🙂

Click on the links below to see today’s videos

https://youtu.be/Jj5STIcTbnE

https://youtu.be/0azEWzQ_sU4

Seneca Towers Juvie makes me smile 7-1-17

Saturday, July 1st, 2017

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

I just spent 20 fun filled minutes watching one of the Seneca Towers juvies. I spotted him on the south side ledge of the Veterans Memorial bridge. He laid down after a couple minutes and I figured he was going to take a nap. NOT-he was back up a few minutes later and started hop-walking along the ledge almost falling off 3 times! He was also playing with something that he dropped off the edge.

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I was about to tweet out about his antics when his brother appeared out of nowhere coaxing him off the bridge. They flew over on the west side of the gorge just above the tree tops and then they were gone. Last seen heading north towards the lake. Make sure to watch the snippet video of him by clicking the link below and you too, will be smiling! 🙂

https://youtu.be/Tg3sRSpmzJ0

Fledge Watch/4 very wet falcons 7-1-17

Saturday, July 1st, 2017

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a dark, damp and dreary morning with rain, humidity and overcast conditions.

The temperature was 69 (F) 21 (C)

Click on the pics to see the full version

Let me start with a Seneca Towers update. I saw Billie on the Veterans Memorial Bridge south side ledge eating 2 nights ago but I haven’t seen the juvies since Wednesday. I’m convinced that Billie and Seth are training them somewhere new this year. There is a short snippet video of her eating at the end of this report.

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It was raining lightly when I left for downtown this morning and continued throughout my watch at varying degrees. I arrived on the Court St. bridge at 5am joining Dan who was in his chair with his umbrella up-I did the same. He said there was one falcon on the light under the northeast wing of Times Square (TSB) but checking my pic on the computer screen you can clearly see 2 in the darkness.

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Ontario flew off with Beauty then returned to the wing and walked over to get on the light again-he loves that light. I walked up to a spot on the bridge where you can see Widows Walk and spotted Dot.ca (DC) flying past and over to the Spectrum communications tower landing on his favorite hunting spot over there.

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Dan left around 6:20am as he’d had enough of the rain and I was more than happy to get in my car as it’s very difficult to hold an umbrella, keep my camera dry and take pics at the same time. Ontario flew off to the east crossing over the river and out of view. He most likely saw Beauty and soon after watcher, Larry reported seeing a juvie flying past as seen from his 16th floor apartment in Tower 280 (formerly Midtown). Rachel flew off when I wasn’t looking so I decided to go searching. From the Andrews St. bridge I spotted an adult on the top I-beam northeast side of OCSR. With a closer look from Bragdon Place I was able to identify it as DC.

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I then checked the east side where I found the Beautyful one on the RGE antenna (one of her favorite hunting spots) from Euclid Street. She was looking pretty drenched.

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I left her to look for juvies but only found DC still on OCSR. I returned to find Beauty had moved up to the top arm of the antenna. She flew off a couple minutes later heading west in a hurry.

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As I was leaving to see where Beauty had gone I just happened to look up and see two very wet juvies on the southeast corner of the Xerox roof. Rachel and Ontario were side by side surveying points west/southwest from the highest spot in downtown Rochester.

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I had to get going but I left smiling for having seen all four of our downtown Rochester Peregrine Falcons thus ending my watch at 8am! 🙂

Click on the links below to see a couple snippet videos

https://youtu.be/DZGDMM9tZG8

https://youtu.be/uK5baong324


Fledge Watch/Seneca Towers too! 6-28-17

Wednesday, June 28th, 2017

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a mix of sun and clouds with a cold start of 52 (F) 11 (C)

Click on the pics to see the full version

I’ll start with my brief encounter with the Seneca Towers brothers last night. I was doing therapy on my shoulder at my living room window when I heard a whining juvie. I grabbed my camera and went out on the west side balcony and found one of the boys on the west side railing.

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A couple minutes later his brother flew in and off they went flying and talon tagging over Seth Green Park. I gladly shared space with them for about 5 minutes and then they were gone.

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I arrived on the Court St. bridge (CSB) at 5am before Dan which is highly irregular. He showed up a minute later as we had both juvies flying over near the Powers building. When they were done they went to the column above the nest box. Dot.ca (DC) came in with a small package and dropped it off to a screaming Ontario who dove down to the deck to snag it from dad. DC went over to OCSR top I-beam south corner. B was over on the jail tower (JCT).

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When he was done eating Lil O flew up to the nest box roof, then over to cam 4 and finally to the main cam. Beauty flew off and then both juvies were in the air flying around Times Square (TSB). Ontario ended up on the column above the nest box.

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Larry and Zeke arrived at 6:30am and at that time DC delivered food to the northeast wing where Rachel and Ontario were at the time. Beauty came in and took the food over to the southwest corner of Wilder. Rachel followed her from the wing Ontario remained on wing ledge. DC had gone over to OCSR. Rachel took it from mom and hopped down on the Wilder roof to chow down.

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Dan left at 7am and Larry wasn’t too far behind him.  A few minutes later Rachel finished her breakfast and flew off to Widows Walk (WW). Beauty joined Rachel briefly then went to the base of Mercury.

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There was a robin on WW with Rachel and he was very unhappy that she was there. Carol started her watch around this time from the Andrews St. and Carla joined me in the hole a few minutes later. Beauty switched to the other side of the base and Rachel took off and flew south.

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Carla jumped in the car with me and we caught up with Rachel on the JCT. I drove to Troup St. for a closer view of her.

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We watched the equally Beautyful Rachel until she flew off heading west then she made a u-turn and flew north out of sight.

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Carla and I went back to the hole where I spotted Rachel on the OCSR roof and Carla spotted the Beautyful one on the top I-beam south corner of OCSR.

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I had to get going-when I left DC was under the northeast wing and Beauty and Rachel were on WW.

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I had to stop home before going to a therapy appointment so I quick checked Seneca Towers. I found Seth on the north end window ledge from the Northridge Church parking lot. He wasn’t there for long as he stooped down into the river gorge a couple minutes later and never returned.

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I ended my watch at 9:10am with a smile! 🙂

Click on the links below to see snippet videos from Seneca Towers last night and downtown this morning

https://youtu.be/hTjHx3ZtYZQ

https://youtu.be/ENljw7-UVVE


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