By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a bit muggy out with a starting temperature of 68 (F) 20 (C) and some thin clouds which cleared up as the sun got higher in the sky

I began my day with Billie as she was on the top south side window ledge of Seneca Towers. I shared space with her for 15 minutes and then she flew southeast.

I followed behind and caught up with her at the Kodak Hawkeye nest box. She was on the railing close to the box as I pulled into a parking lot across St. Paul St. from the building. She had her back to me and didn’t stay long as she flew southwest toward the river at 6:15am.

I left for downtown and as I pulled over on the Court St. bridge after checking the east side I noticed a falcon on the south side railing of Widows Walk (WW). I drove over to Broad St. to watch from next to the Terminal building. The back lighting was bad from there  so I moved forward and stopped next to the Democrat&Chronicle building. I was able to ID this juvie as Cadence. She was looking in every direction-most likely looking for mom or dad with her breakfast.

At 6:44am Cadence turned and flew northwest and I followed suit by driving down Fitzhugh St. by the Sister Cities parking garage and pulled over. She was now on the northeast cube of the Frontier Communications tower (FCT). That is her mothers’ favorite cube and I couldn’t believe how much she looked like Beauty.

I chose to go to the City Hall parking lot for a different angle on our little beauty who’s not so little. Cadence had her back and side to me during the half hour I spent there with her.

She took off at 7:20am  heading east and flying right into the sun where I lost sight of her.

I drove around downtown and from the Broad St. bridge I thought I could see the top of a head on the east side of the Powers building. I drove down to the end of Aqueduct St. where I could see it from a closer vantage point and could see the partial wing of a falcon at the nest box through the railing.

I drove to the Andrews St. bridge for a better look but the bird was gone when I got there. I wouldn’t see another falcon until after 9am when I spotted one on the middle arm of FCT again from the Andrews St. bridge. The only place to pull over was right below the tower which only enabled me to see that it was an adult. I thought Beauty but can’t say for sure.

I drove over to Plymouth Ave. to have a look at the front of this falcon but it was gone when I got there. I didn’t find another falcon either downtown or at Seneca Towers when I got home at 10am. It was a slow watch this morning but seeing the beautyful Cadence provided me a reason to smile! 🙂

Last night Lynda picked me up for a night watch and we were treated to Beauty and Dot.ca coming to the High Falls gorge as we were on the pedestrian bridge. I am including a photo album and a video link of Beauty as she was on the gorge floor getting a drink as a mama duck and her 4 ducklings were allowed to pass right in front of Beauty. DC had landed in the falcon sucking tree and left-Beauty flew up to it after she had her fill of the Genesee River water. What fun-thanks Lynda!

As always click on the links below to see our Rochester Peregrine Falcons in action

https://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqkK0

https://youtu.be/K9ZhSE__Jyk

http://youtu.be/NmEnDt1oOEI

http://youtu.be/4-Td–PS4dk

http://youtu.be/0egKB2dSS_0

http://youtu.be/JcJpxWWZEv4

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

5:30 – 9:00 pm

Temps high 80’s (F).  Hot and Humid.

Evening Watchers: Kathy O, Joyce, Lynda, MAK, Carrie, Shaky and Carol P.  Visits by our old friends Sally and Diana R.

Today was hot, but tomorrow will be even warmer, pushing up over 90.  The watchers gathered on the pedestrian bridge hoping for a glimpse of Cadence and Genesee in the gorge.  They never arrived.  But we were thrilled when Beauty and Dot.ca visited the gorge!

When I first arrived at 5:30 pm, there was an adult on the Kodak Tower’s south side arch.  We did have a few other sightings of a falcon on the Frontier Communication Tower.  But it wasn’t until approximately 7:40 pm that Shaky spotted a falcon flying into the gorge, and landing on the gorge floor near the water.  Less than a minute later, we saw a 2nd falcon fly in and land on the falcon sucking tree (FST).  Both were adults.  Beauty was on the gorge floor and Dot.ca was in the FST.

Dot.ca did not stay long.  He took off and flew up to the top of the Kodak Tower.  All of the watchers lined up at the railing, taking pictures, videos and chatting about Beauty and Dot.ca’s visit to the gorge.  We wondered where the juvies were.

Here is a Youtube video showing Beauty on the gorge floor drinking from the Genesee River.

https://youtu.be/7JmNoCQ906s

While Beauty was drinking, a momma duck and her three small ducklings approached Beauty and swam by her.  Beauty moved further from the river, but continued to watch the small family.  That’s all she did, watch.  Beauty let them pass.

Here is a short video showing the ducks passing by Beauty.  Sorry for my shakiness. 🙂  Just click on the Youtube link below.

https://youtu.be/1aEVsyQtoGs

After the ducks passed by her, Beauty jumped up onto a log.

At 8:05 pm, Beauty took off and flew up to the falcon sucking tree.  Dot.ca was now on the cupola on the Kodak Tower.

Beauty stayed there for about 20 minutes and then flew out of the gorge towards the Kodak Tower.  She landed on the east side launchpad.  Dot.ca was close by at the southeast corner of the launchpad.

We were starting to lose light at 8:30 pm.  I wanted to drive around the downtown area to see if I could find Cadence and Genesee.  I did find a falcon on the Times Square Bldg under the northeast wing and another eating on the top arm of the Frontier Communication Tower.  It was too dark to identify them.

In the coming days, we will probably start to see less and less of our young juvies.  This time comes to quickly for this watcher. But, it’s part of their growing up and learning to be Peregrine Falcons.  Hopefully we will still get to see them for many days to come!

Goodnight everyone!

Quick correction:  There were actually 4 ducklings with the momma duck!  🙂

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was 67 (F) 19 (C) when I ventured out with a hazy sky breaking into blue skies and sunshine

I spotted Billie and Seth from Seth Green Dr. on the south end of the building top window ledge. They were at opposite ends facing each other. I drove back to my parking lot for a closer review. Billie stretched out and i could see a feather or two missing from her tail-she may be molting as is Beauty. It was peaceful as there were no juvies around whining and the adults seemed content to just hang out with each other as they stretched and preened.

One of the Seneca Towers residents stopped by to chat with me about the falcons and during that time both Billie and a few minutes later Seth flew southeast. I left for downtown around 6:40am and after having a look from the Andrews St. bridge (ASB) decided to check the east side after checking the Times Square area. As I was driving down Exchange Blvd. I spotted Cadence and Genesee on Widows Walk (WW). I went around the block to Fitzhugh St. where I could see that Cadence was on the north side with food and Genesee a few feet from her on the northwest corner.

Cadence stopped eating just before 7am and walked over to her brother. She was being very cute as she tipped her head to look at him and then they did a little beak to beak kissee face. Genesee put a talon on her back and I thought he would jump on her until in a flurry, Cadence got out of there and went under the railing to the inside out of view.

<Click<Click

After thinking about it a couple minutes Genesee joined his sister inside the railing and now MAK couldn’t see either one of them!

I drove out to Broad St. to see if I could see them from there when I noticed Dot.ca (DC) fly to WW then up to the southwest wing ring at the tippy top of Times Square. There was no sound coming from the juvies so I wondered if they left or if DC had dropped off food and they were busy with that.

DC left while I was on my way up to the Broad St. bridge (BSB) and there I found Cadence on the head of Mercury. So that answered my question of whether the juvies were still on WW.

I also spotted a falcon on the 3rd arm of the jail tower, I took a quick ride over to Troup St. to see who it was-Beauty. Then back to the BSB where Cadence was giving the falcon power signal.

She took off at 7:28am across the river where she met up with Genesee near the Hyatt Hotel. They headed southwest until I could no longer see them.

<Click

I started checking out the river inhabitants and about 10 minutes later I heard a juvie screaming-I looked up in time to see the Beautyful one being chased by a juvie right over me.The juvie landed on the base of Mercury then immediately took off again heading northwest. I lost track of Beauty as I watched the juvie who, based on size I believe was Genesee.

I left and drove the direction they were headed and found DC on the top arm of FCT around 8am. I also refer to him as Mr. Clean and Whitey as you can clearly see why in the following pics.

I left him after a few minutes to search for the others but had no luck. it was starting to heat up so perhaps they found some nice shade to relax in. My last stop was the ASB where I could see that DC was still on FCT so I set out for home.

I checked the bridge and all sides of Seneca Towers but could find no falcons so I ended my watch at a little after 9am. I must say it was good to see all 4 downtown falcons today as they’ve been elusive the past few days and you know it made me smile! 🙂

Click on the links below to see today’s videos-the snippet movie shows how cute Cadence and Genesee were with each other

http://youtu.be/lLcl9suInQs

http://youtu.be/wai7jqkE67g

http://youtu.be/r035_n1d4R8

http://youtu.be/PBaMg9GxjiM

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

3:30 – 9:00 pm

Hot and Humid were the weather words for today with temps in the mid-80’s and hardly a cloud in the sky to block the sun.  It’s only going to get worse over the next few days with temps going up to 90 and 90+.

Afternoon/Evening Watchers: Lisa McK, Joyce, Shaky, Larry O and Carol P.

Just after Lisa and I arrived at the pedestrian bridge we received a tweet from Shaky.  CADENCE AT TSB NEST BOX: 15:27 PM. At 5:23 pm, Donna tweeted that Cadence was still at the nest box by main cam (Wailing). She’s so cute!  We were so happy that she was visiting the nest box and that all her fans were able to see her up close and personal. 🙂

We were spotting falcons at different locations around the city.  But it wasn’t until 6:00 pm that an adult flew into the gorge and landed on the falcon sucking tree (FST).  We are pretty sure that it was Beauty.  Joyce had joined us on the watch.  We thought that Beauty had food, but she didn’t stay long.  She took off heading south towards the Powers Bldg, where she landed on the east side railing.

At 6:30 pm, I noticed movement on the lower branch of the FST.  It was Genesee and he was eating.  We had to wonder if he had been hidden in the tree in the shade where we couldn’t see him, and that Beauty had dropped off food for him.

After finishing his meal, he settled down, watching everything that flew around him.  There were a lot of small birds, including Robins and Gold Finches that were flitting about near him.  He took off and stooped down low toward the river.  He flew into the tree line on the island and then back to land low on the gorge wall.

Genesee then again took off and flew into the island trees.  It looked like he was on a hunt, or at least practicing for one.  He flew back up to the end of the falcon sucking tree and grabbed a small nub of a branch with one talon.  Then hung like a bat.  lol He really likes to do this.  Genesee flapped his wings and finally righted himself on the branch.  We’ve seen him do this multiple times.  It’s like he’s playing.

At 7:15 pm, Genesee took off and flew over the High Falls heading south down the river towards downtown.  It was fun spending time with Genesee in the gorge.

Shaky joined us.  At 7:50 pm, we received a tweet from Larry O.  He had spotted two falcons on a chimney on the southeast corner of the old City Hall, which is connected to the Widow’s Walk.  Of course that’s where we headed, meeting on Broad St, southwest of the Times Square Bldg.  It was Beauty watching Genesee eat.  When she moved towards him, he would vocalize very loudly.  After eating in the falcon sucking tree, he already had a very full crop, so it wasn’t long before he was finished.

Shaky spotted this falcon fan waving from a nearby window.  🙂

Genesee finally stepped away from the food and let Beauty eat her fill.  He took off heading southeast.  After finishing her meal, Beauty took off heading south.

At 9:00 pm, from the Broad St Bridge, we found Beauty on a lower arm of the jail communication tower.  There was a falcon flying over Xerox that landed on the SW corner.  It then took off heading southeast.  By this time, it was too dark to ID as adult of juvie.

A Black Crowned Night Heron was hunting on the river below us.

Earlier on the river below the pedestrian bridge, we saw a busy beaver collecting greens from the island and swimming down the river heading north.

It’s always amazes me what we see while on our falcon watches.  Goodnight everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a clear sky when the sun peeked out from the horizon with a pleasant temperature of 63 (F) 17 (C)

As I stepped out onto the west side balcony I spotted a juvie fly below me just above the tree tops to the north and out of view. After a few minutes I left for my car and went out to Seth Green Dr. where I saw a juvie on the southeast corner below the building. On the top window ledge south end of building with her back to her son was Billie. He started whining at her and she went to the other side of the ledge so she could see him. Probably didn’t want to get knocked off by the juvie without warning.

The louder the juvie got the more Billie ignored him-she would not look his way! lol

<Click

I don’t know who flew off first because I was taping the juvie when he flew off and when I looked at the window ledge Buffalo Billie was gone too. I caught a glimpse of them as they flew southwest over the river disappearing behind the trees with the juvie screamimg the whole time. 5 minutes later I heard a juvie and looked up to see one land on the west side below the railing just above the west side balconies.

I left for downtown after it was apparent the juvie wasn’t going anywhere too soon. I drove around the city a few times with no falcon sightings. I didn’t see anyone from the pedestrian bridge at High Falls either so I left for the Andrews St. bridge. I was just about to pull away when I spotted a falcon fly to the southeast corner of the Frontier Communications tower (FCT) and another one to the platform near northeast corner. I drove over to the City Hall parking lot in time to see Cadence fly over to grab food from Dot.ca (DC) on the platform railing.

Cadence then took her prize down to the platform and started whining as she mantled it. DC flew south a minute later and she immediately stopped mantling and whining as she got to work pulling feathers out before eating.

Cadence ate half then started making her way down the east side of the platform and eventually crossing the platform and ending up in the northwest corner. I had gone down to Fitzhugh St. in front of the Sister Cities parking garage to observe her better while she was eating on the south side. After Cadence went to the northwest corner, I drove down to the City Hall parking lot to watch as I couldn’t see her from Fitzhugh St. I lost sight of her and I believe she left without me seeing her fly off.

I left not knowing if Cadence was still up there and didn’t see another falcon until after 9am as I was parked on the Court St. bridge. I caught a glimpse of a falcon flying from behind OCSR’s north side heading west. Again from the Andrews St. bridge I spotted a falcon on the top I beam west corner and it flew off as I was enroute to get closer to ID it. I didn’t find it again and so I left for Seneca Towers. As I was crossing the Veterans Memorial bridge I saw 2 falcons flying above ST with one landing on the northwest corner of the refuse shoot.

From Seth Green Dr. I could see the head of a juvie peeking out then disappearing only to turn around and show his tail feathers. From the up and down motion the tail told a tale of a juvie that was eating. He eventually went completely out of view at which point I ended my watch at 10am.

The mornings have been hit and miss for seeing our Rochester Peregrine Falcons but the downtown juvies have been seen flying and playing in the High Falls gorge in the afternoons and evenings. Before we know it the juvies will be gone, but in the meantime they continue to make us smile! 🙂

Check out the links below to see today’s videos

http://youtu.be/HK0Xfp23ocE

http://youtu.be/CIJwtVZn_Ao

http://youtu.be/dHcx5FOUbE4

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

4:00  to 9:15 pm

Watchers (Afternoon & Evening): Carrie, Joyce, Pat, Lisa McK, Larry O, Shaky and Carol P.

Each day seems to get a little warmer and more humid.  Temps in the 80’s (F) today and partly cloudy with a nice breeze.

I was getting ready to head downtown when I received a tweet from Shaky.  Carrie was downtown on the pedestrian bridge and she had two falcons on the small building on the island below the bridge.  Come to find out later, when I spoke to Carrie, she actually had three!  Both juvies and one of the adults!

When I arrived at the east end of the bridge at about 4:00 pm, there were no falcons or watchers in view.  Joyce soon joined me. While I was tweeting out that we had no falcons, Joyce called out that two falcons had flown into the gorge.  We found one falcon in the Falcon Sucking Tree (FST), but could not find the 2nd one.  It was time to head out to the observation deck.  From there we had a better view of Cadence on the tree and it looked like she was eating.  Later we decided it wasn’t food.  She was playing with a stick she had been carrying around.  lol

It was nice and cool on the observation deck.  Lots of mist from the falls was cooling us down.  Carrie joined us.  Since it was quiet and we could not find where Genesee went, we headed back to the pedestrian bridge.  Larry O joined us.

At 5:45 pm, Cadence took off and flew around the gorge.  She landed on the small building on the island.  First on the east end, then swung around and landed on the west end.  I didn’t realize until I checked my pictures, that she had been carrying a stick around with her.  This is all part of her training.

Five minutes later, Cadence took off (leaving her stick) and stooped on a gull, causing it to plunge into the river.  She continued on her way and again landed on the FST.  Lisa McK, Shaky and Pat joined the watch.

At 5:55 pm, she took off again, this time flying south, over the railroad bridge, towards downtown.  Larry spotted Dot.ca up on the Kodak Tower, southeast corner of the launchpad.

Shaky, Carrie, Joyce and I decided to head up to the brewery for a little something to eat, leaving Lisa and Pat on the bridge.  It was very quiet until Cadence and Genesee flew at hyper speed over the brewery and across the river heading towards downtown. They joined up with an adult near the Frontier Communication Tower.  Then three falcons were flying near the Powers Bldg and the Times Square Bldg.  One landed on the 2nd arm of the jail tower, while two talon tagged nearby.  The two that were talon tagging attempted to knock the third one off.  This all happened at about 8:30 pm.  They were too far away for us to get any pictures and we were losing light.

We rejoined Lisa and Pat on the bridge and chatted about what we had just seen.  At 9:15 pm, we ended our watch.  We all hoped that they would be back in the gorge tomorrow.  Goodnight everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

The morning started out overcast, humid and very dark with a temperature of 68 (F) 20 (C)

My first check at Seneca Towers from the 16th floor west balcony bagged me a falcon on the south ledge of the bridge whining. I waited a bit to see if I’d get any action from it or another but no luck. Before going to my car I checked in with the security guard to inquire about the raccoon from yesterday that had a jar stuck on its head-unfortunately,they never found it again. 🙁 Out to the north end of the building where Seth was perched on his top window ledge.

He seemed pretty settled in so I drove out to Seth Green Dr. after a few minutes and from there I spotted Billie on the south end top window ledge. She started out facing me but soon turned around showing me her back. At about 6:30am Buffalo Billie flew east and didn’t return. A juvie circled the building a few times whining then headed northeast out of view. I checked the north end again to find that Seth was gone so I headed for downtown.

Upon arriving on the Andrews St. bridge (ASB) I could see Dot.ca (DC) on the top I beam west corner of OCSR-I drove down to State St. for a closer view as I had thought it was Beauty at first. I went to the hole for an even closer look, then took a trip around town having no luck finding a PEFA.

I checked out the High Falls gorge as well and came up empty there too but I did see a Great Blue Heron land on the gorge floor and a doe laying down on the island.

Around 8am I found the Beautyful one on the RGS antenna after seeing that DC was still on OCSR.

I went from Elm St. near Clinton Ave. to Elm and Chestnut St. for a different angle but the lighting was just awful this morning. There was a pigeon up on the Hotel Cadillac right in line with Beauty-brave one!

I left Beauty after a spell and checked downtown on my way out-no juvies seen downtown this morning and DC was gone from OCSR. When I arrived back home at Seneca Towers I spotted both juvies on the west side from Seth Green Dr. Sellie was on the railing near the northwest corner and Bith was below the railing down near the balconies.

After a while Bith took a stroll toward the north end then flew off and joined his brother around 9:10am.

There was some conversation going on between the two as they were facing each other.

<Sellie

It was time for me to end my watch at 9:30am – I saw all 4 Seneca Towers falcons and both downtown adults. The only way to make me smile more would have been to see Cadence and Genesee too! 🙂

Click on the links below to see today’s videos

http://youtu.be/I5p2PdcELXE

http://youtu.be/UmdhfSQyAPE

http://youtu.be/qeG22DsHq4Q

http://youtu.be/03_Z_3uKucU

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

4:00 – 8:30 pm

Afternoon Watchers: Lisa McK, Joyce, Carrie, Shaky and Carol P.

Temps in the 80’s, sunshine, mix of clouds and blue sky with a light breeze.

Gorge, glorious gorge!  🙂

It seems that they love to visit it in the afternoon.  At least that’s when I’ve been catching them there.  Today they were flying in the gorge from 5:00 to 5:30 pm, and my friend and fellow watcher Lisa McK was there to enjoy it with me today.

Today started the same way as yesterday.  Beauty was up on the Kodak Tower on the south side arch ledge.  I looked around, but had no luck finding any other falcons.  It was time to head to the gorge.

My favorite bench was open, so that’s where I headed.  From there I am close to the east side of the gorge, with a sweeping view of the gorge, falls, and downtown.  Oh, and the Kodak Tower too.  I also enjoy watching all the visitors to the gorge and love talking to them.  For the first hour, it was very quiet.  Just as I saw a juvie falcon flying high over the east side of the gorge, a wedding party made their way out onto the bridge.  They were there to take pictures.  What a beautiful setting!

Lisa McK joined me on the watch.  We were also joined by our friend Ron.  He loves to walk around the city and take pictures. He asked if we thought the falcons would be here soon and we said we hoped so!  We would not be disappointed.  At about 5:00 pm, Cadence flew in and landed in the Falcon Sucking Tree.

A few minutes later, Genesee arrived and Cadence was off, joining her brother.  Watch out gulls and anything else they felt like swooping on!

We watched from the pedestrian bridge for about a minute, then it was time to head for the observation deck.  I arrived at the observation deck first, Lisa was last to arrive.  The juvies were all around us and over us.  Stooping and swooping on each other and everything else.  When Lisa was walking up the path, one of the juvies swooped on her and then a dog walking on the lawn behind us.  lol  Anything is fair game!  What a joy to see them in the gorge.

Here are my pictures from today and at the end another video.  Be sure to click on the picture to see the full version.  Enjoy!

Here is the link to my Youtube video.

https://youtu.be/PubwYKxTnLA

After about a 1/2 hour, Cadence settled in the falcon sucking tree and Genesee headed south towards downtown.  It wasn’t long before Cadence followed her brother.  Beauty was still on the Kodak Tower.  Lisa and I decided to head back to the pedestrian bridge.

It was very quiet after that.  We received a tweet from Joyce, who was downtown looking for the falcons.  At 6:14 pm, she reported that Dot.ca was on the north side of OCSR on the north corner.  So, we had all 4 Rochester Falcons seen this afternoon.  Joyce joined us on the pedestrian bridge.

At 7:15 pm, we had three falcons in view.  Both adults had moved.  Beauty was now on the Times Square Bldg, under the southeast wing.  Dot.ca was on the top arm of the Frontier Communication Tower and there was a juvie below him on the southeast corner of the platform.

Shaky and Carrie joined us and Carrie spotted the beaver swimming around the south end of the island below us.  There were two Great Blue Herons, one on the small building on the island and another that had landed on the fence on the east side of the falls.

Joyce left us at 8:00 pm.  At 8:20 pm, a juvie flew into the gorge carrying food.  We were losing light and could not tell if it was Cadence or Genesee.  For a few moments, the juvie flew around, attempting to land on different spots, including the Falcon Sucking Tree (FST) and the gorge wall.  Finally s/he landed on a spot on the wall just past the FST, but we could tell s/he was not comfortable there.  After a couple minutes of moving and adjusting the hold on the prey, s/he took off.  This time heading west across the gorge.  We all watched as the juvie flew over the buildings and finally landed low on the Frontier Communication Tower.

Lisa and I moved to the east end of the bridge so we could see that the juvie was now eating.  Carrie called out and pointed up. An adult falcon was flying over us, also carrying prey.  We are pretty sure this was Beauty.  She flew towards the Kodak Tower and landed on the south side launch pad.

Shaky and Carrie remained on the bridge, while Lisa and I drove over to the Frontier Communication Tower to see if we could ID the juvie eating there.  It was to dark to see the bands.  Beauty flew over us, heading south.

It was 8:30 pm, when we ended our watch.  Tomorrow is Sunday and I hope that the juvies will again visit the gorge. Goodnight everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a gloomy morning with rain on and off and a temperature of 62 (F) 17 (C)

The falcons didn’t care that it was gloomy out and neither did I -we still had fun! As I stepped out on the west side balcony I could hear a juvie but it wouldn’t show itself so I walked across to the east side balcony where I could hear it louder. When it wouldn’t show itself I decided to go down to the ground for a look-as I was walking to my car 2 falcons flew above me, one was whining so at least one of them was a juvie.

On my way to my spot by the visitors parking on Seth Green Dr. I spotted a raccoon wandering the parking lot with a jar stuck on its head. I stopped and got out my car to see if I could grab it and take the glass jar off but one of the residents warned me about getting scratched and that he had called the police, so I decided since I’m on a blood thinner I didn’t need to bleed all over the place so I left it for the authorities.

From my spot I saw a juvie land on the west side railing for a couple minutes then it left as the Seneca Towers (ST) security guard came up to the car to chat about the falcons and the raccoon. I noticed 2 falcons flying south over the river through the trees as I told the guard about the juvies at ST and downtown. He left when the police arrived and I left for downtown as all was quiet at ST.

I made my way to the High Falls around 6:45am after no luck finding any falcons downtown-there were none there either. I saw a doe run behind some bushes on the south side of the pedestrian bridge and a Great Blue Heron in the river on the north side.

I left for the Andrews St. bridge (ASB) finding Dot.ca (DC) on the west corner top I beam of OCSR with his back to me so I drove to the hole parking lot to get a front view of him. I could hear a juvie whining as DC stooped down toward the river heading south.

As I was leaving the parking lot I spotted a juvie on the lower roof of Widows Walk (WW), as I was waiting for traffic to go across to the parking lot next to Times Square my parking lot attendant buddy, Mike started flagging me that a falcon was up there. When I got over there, another juvie popped up as I was thanking Mike. Both juvies popped in and out of view before settling on either side of the northeast corner.

<click

They stayed there a few minutes then Genesee spotted something and flew off-Cadence followed suit half a minute later after cranking her head sideways watching him fly off.

<Click

<Click>

Initially, they flew east only to make a U turn and head northwest over the Telesca building out of view. I made my way over to Fitzhugh St. to check the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) and there I found DC on the top arm. I ended up over on Plymouth Ave. where I could see the front of him but he left while I was checking my pics at 7:20am or so.

After a trip around downtown with no success finding a falcon I ended up back on Fitzhugh St. by City Hall as I had seen a falcon on the FCT platform railing east side from the ASB. It started raining hard as this falcon spread its wings and I was puzzled because it looked like an adult but this was juvie behavior. I was able to see the black over black left leg band proving that it was DC! He jumped over to the north side railing holding his wings out and flapping a little before fly/hopping back to the east side railing.

After a minute or two the rain stopped and DC settled in to do some preening of his very wet feathers. In the western sky a rainbow broke out. I stayed with DC a little longer and as I was leaving him to look for his family I had to stop and take a pic of some pretty flowers on the north border of the City Hall parking lot.

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I had no luck in my search and ended up at Seneca Towers around 8:30am-as I was crossing the Veterans Memorial Bridge I saw a falcon flying toward Kodak Park on Lake Ave. When I landed on Seth Green Dr.  Billie was perched on the south end top window ledge. I then spotted  Sellie on the northwest corner of the refuse shoot roof, which is located next to the elevator shaft on the ST roof.

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Sellie moved back away from the edge where I could only see his head occasionally. A few minutes later Bith showed up on the west side railing near the northwest corner around 9am. Sellie whined a little when his brother first arrived but evryone settled down after that.

Billie and Sellie weren’t moving and Bith had his eyes shut so I called it a watch at 9:30am.

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I have to say that the highlight for me today was DC and his rain dance-I’m smiling right now just thinking about it! 🙂

Click on the links below to see today’s videos

http://youtu.be/7F5-cHtqhlA

http://youtu.be/43Oe7qTV9qs

http://youtu.be/DyTjHq8uT44

http://youtu.be/42MZkkBER3c

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

3:00 to 7:30 pm

Another warm, sunny day with temps near 80 degrees (F).

For the majority of my watch, I was alone.  Larry O did join me for a short visit at the end of my watch.

When I first arrived downtown, I again found an adult (I believe it was Beauty) on the Kodak Tower, south side arch ledge.  I did drive around downtown and had no luck finding any other falcons.  To the gorge!  lol

From the gorge, I could see Beauty on Kodak and another falcon on the north side of OCSR, top IBeam, west corner.  It was a far distance away, but I do believe this was Dot.ca.

I went to my favorite bench on the pedestrian bridge and settled down for my watch.  At 4:30 pm, I went to my car to get some more water.  While I was sitting in my car at 4:40 pm, I saw two falcons pop over the top of the tree line leading up to the pedestrian bridge. Juvies in the gorge!  I quickly gathered my stuff and returned to the pedestrian bridge.  It took me a few minutes to find them.  They were both in the Falcon Sucking Tree (FST), next to each other.  I quickly checked the Kodak Tower and Beauty was still up on the arch.

At 5:00 pm, I decided to head out to the observation deck, which is close to the High Falls.  From there I had a great view of both Cadence and Genesee in the FST.

It had been a long time since I had been on the observation deck while young falcons flew around the gorge.  Both Cadence and Genesee took off and I just enjoyed the show.  This is where I and most of the watchers love to watch the falcons fly.  Here is a short video showing just a little bit of what I was honored to witness.  Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/7QUB2Vx-JyA

Here are some pictures I took.  There was a lot of mist from the falls and bright sunshine, so my pictures are not the best.  With the weekend coming, I hope more watchers are able to enjoy seeing the falcons in the gorge. They won’t be with us much longer.  🙁

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

Larry O joined me for a short time at the end of my watch.  He was able to see one of the juvies in the Falcon Sucking Tree.  I ended by watch at 7:30 pm.

While I was watching Cadence and Genesee gracefully flying in the gorge, I couldn’t help but think about their lost brother.  I truly wish that Bronx could have been there too.