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!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Watchers: Dana, Kathy O, Linda, Larry O, Dan, Pat, Lisa, Brian (During my watch.)

6:00 am – 2:30 pm

Happy Father’s Day!

I made it downtown early this morning to check on Golden’s progress. Dana was already there when I arrived. Golden was still on the lower ledge where he spent the night and Freyja was above on the north side wall.

It wasn’t long before Golden started flying back and forth across the lower bumps on the east side of the Times Square Bldg. He paused for a moment on the south side bump and looked up intently at the nest box above him. Freyja was there looking down at him. It was now or never.

Golden started to flap his wings and he leaped into the air. The strong beat of his wings carried him up to the ledge next to the nest box and his sister. Dana and I let out a cheer, that was heard by our friend Jackie who was jogging by with a couple of her friends. They had seen Golden’s flight too.

Kathy and Linda joined us on the watch. Beauty brought food down to Golden as a reward for a job well done. Of course Freyja got some too.

Now that Golden and Freyja were reunited, our watch was fairly calm. There was a lot of activity by Beauty, Dot.ca and the two young ones. Golden discovered the well and became quite curious about it. Freyja loves to stand or lay down at the north end of the wall. She loves to lean over to watch the activity below her, including the comings and goings of her parents.

Dan joined us around noon. It was wonderful to see him doing so well. I was going to leave at 1:00 pm, but that all changed when Freyja took flight from the north wall. At the time, I wasn’t sure if it was her or Golden. We all watched as she flew out from the building heading north. She circled back, towards the Times Square Bldg, wing beats strong and sure. Her altitude was good too. We lost sight of her just as she approached the back of the building. It looked like she was heading for the back section of the Times Square Bldg or maybe beyond. Time to call in the watchers and spread out to look for her.

Pat, Lisa, Larry O, and Brian joined the search. I found Beauty on the south side of the old City Hall. She didn’t seem concerned and it was usually safe to take the parents lead. Beauty took off heading north.

The watchers continued to search, but we had no luck finding Freyja. I had to end my watch, but I later got word that Joyce found her on the back of the Times Square Bldg, looking great. It was so wonderful that she was ok.

A huge thank you to all the watchers that joined the search for Freyja on a Sunday afternoon.

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

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Watchers: Dana, Kathy O, Lisa, Larry O, Ron and Sue. More Watchers through the day and evening. Hopefully they will leave their own accounts.

6:45 am to 1:00 pm.

Oh, what a beautiful day for a fledge flight and Golden did not disappoint. When I arrived at 6:45 am, I had just missed Golden’s fledge flight from Cam #4 to the south side well. It’s not a long flight, but he did a great job! The first thing I saw when I arrived, was Golden on the south side well wall, looking over at the nest box, and Freyja on the north side well wall being fed by Beauty.

Dana and I spread out and we found that Golden had walked around the perimeter of the building, ending up on the NW corner. Although he was on the same level as the nest box, there was no way for him to return without flying.

Kathy O joined us and she set up to keep an eye on Freyja, just in case she decided to go. Larry O was watching from further out at the Court St Bridge.

Golden made his way back to the south side of the well wall and looked longingly at the nest box, where his sister was watching from. He made an attempt to fly back across, but could not keep the altitude he needed to land there. Instead he landed on a lower ledge, just below the nest box.

This is where he remained for the rest of my watch. Golden did a lot of practicing, so hopefully he’ll soon make another attempt.

Lisa McK, Sue, and Ron joined the watch while I was there.

Other watchers will be there for the afternoon and evening watch. Will Freyja take her first flight? Will Golden return to the nest box? Stay tuned!

Here are some of my favorite picks from today’s fledge watch.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Watchers: Dana and Carol P from 7:00 am to 2:00 pm

There was a lot of activity by our two young eyases. Both were running the wall and flapping their wings, strengthening them for their soon to be first flights. Golden actually knocked Beauty off of Cam #4 and took her place for a few seconds. She brought in a small snack to entice him to come down from the camera. Freyja is a bit younger, but she’s keeping up with her brother.

The watch started out chilly and mostly cloudy. It did warm up and by the time we left, just before 2:00 pm, it was raining steadily. Both eyases had settled on the wall, so we decided it was a good time to leave.

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

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Well, here we are again. It’s almost time for the Rochester Falcons Fledge Watch to begin. Golden & Freyja are quickly losing their white fluff feathers and both are wingercizing like crazy. As of today, both have made it out to the wall. It won’t be long before they take their first flights!

Here are some pictures of our favorite couples, Beauty & Dot.ca; Billie & Beau. I can verify that Billie and Beau have successfully nested, but cannot say where.

I truly hope that all Rochester eyases fledge safely and successfully!