By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

The weather this morning at first was abysmal with light rain falling, dark conditions and a temperature of 62 (F) 17 (C) It stopped raining around 7am and cleared up a bit

I started my watch at Seneca Towers today with the juvie I call Bith. He was on the top window ledge at the north end of the building with his back to me at first. He was eating and after a while he walked from the west corner of the ledge to the east corner. He returned to the west end and about 6:15am Billie flew in and landed at the east end-she too seemed to have food. Bith started whining at her and a few minutes later she flew off after Seth who passed by them heading east.Bith flew north about 15 minutes later .

Billie landed on the northwest corner railing and Bith flew in, knocked her off and landed on the west side railing.  He walked around to the north side then flew up to a transformer type apparatus on the roof. He started whining then flew north at 7am and didn’t return. I thought I’d better get downtown to check on our family of 4 at this time.

My downtown watch featured Cadence as I saw her on the southeast cube of the Frontier Communications tower (FCT) when I arrived on the Andrews St. bridge. I went over to the City Hall parking lot to observe her as she flew to the large dish on the east side and looked to be eating. She also did a series of dance steps with her wings spread. A true entertainer!

At 7:20am Beauty flew in from the southeast and landed on the middle arm of FCT-she did some preening. 20 minutes later Cadence flew southeast as I returned from looking for Genesee and DC. Beauty had switched middle arms as well. DebbieH came over to my car as I was parked on Fitzhugh St. in front of City Hall. It was great to see her-last time was months ago!

Later on the Beautyful one showed up on the top Ibeam west corner of OCSR with a fascinator on her beak. On my way out of downtown I found DC on the northeast corner of the playpen netting on Kodak Office.

I ended my watch around 9:30am so I could get home and get ready to go with Joyce and Linda to Syracuse to see Pigott and her family. We saw her,  but unfortunately none of her kids or mate that we could prove. On a few occasions we saw falcons flying in between buildings but couldn’t even tell if they were adults or juvies. I spotted Pigott on a north side window ledge on St. Paul’s Cathedral. A long while later Joyce spotted her on the nest box perch on State Tower. She flew north shortly after and that was all she wrote.

Still, seeing Miss Pigott for the first time in a very long time was enough to make me smile! 🙂

Click on the links below to see today’s videos including a short snippet movie of our old friend Pigott

http://youtu.be/3Ttuceq8DXY

http://youtu.be/SeXtb-Wkqo0

http://youtu.be/yInRGt0F2ZI

http://youtu.be/qt058Jc4BfM

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was humid and very overcast with a starting temperature of 69 (F) 21 (C) when I started my watch

I stayed for 20 minutes or better at Seneca Towers (ST) waiting for Bith (what I’m calling ST juvie) to show himself as I could hear him whining. I decided to leave for downtown and hoped to see him when I got back home. As I arrived on the Andrews St. Bridge (ASB) just before 7am I could see Cadence and Genesee on the Wilder building. She was on the elevator shaft and he was on the chimney. I went to the hole to see if I could get a closer look-then to the back of the parking lot next to Thomson Reuters to get back far enough to see them.

<Click it

I then walked over to the Main St. bridge to get enough distance to see them better. After a few minutes Cadence took a walk to the other side of the elevator shaft where I couldn’t see her. By 6:30am they were both gone from my field of vision and I surmised that they had flown off so I moved on.  In my travels I saw a kestrel fly to a stack  and land on it over near City Place

It would be nearly 7am before I saw a falcon again-as I was driving down Exchange Blvd. I saw both juvies fly out from behind Wilder and go up to the west side lower roof of Crossroads. They would fly back out chasing Dot.ca (DC) back up State St. and hang a left down Main St. out of view. I stopped at Falcon Watcher Central which is the stairs that go down into the hole from Broad St. when I spotted a juvie back on the Wilder chimney. I also noticed Beauty up on cam 1 from there.

I wasn’t able to ID the juvie before it flew off to the northwest – I went down to Basin St. in the hole to share space with the Beautyful one. She was just taking it all in and at one point she extracted a pellet from her crop.

I glanced over at Widows Walk and noticed a juvie on the north side railing so I left Beauty to get a closer look from Fitzhugh St. It was Genesee and he didn’t stick around for long as he soon flew off to the north. I followed behind and saw him knock DC off the Frontier Communications tower and chase dear old dad to the south over the Sister Cities garage and out of sight.

15 minutes later I found Genesee back on the north railing of Widows Walk and Beauty was still on cam 1. He stayed a little longer than a couple minutes this time. I ran into Times Square lawyer MarkB and had a quick chat with him before Genesee flew northeast right around 8am.

I just caught Beauty as she flew off cam 1 and headed north-I went down to the end of Aqueduct St. where it ends at Main St. and spotted her on the northeast corner of the Powers building. I said hi to Pat, who works at Thomson Reuters and told her where Beauty was, she had to move along and so did I as I left there to look for the rest of the family.

From State St. across from the Federal building I saw 2 falcons on the northwest corner of the Crossroads lower roof. At least one of them was a juvie as I couldn’t see much of the other one. Then the juvie I could see flew over to Powers, knocked Beauty off the Powers railing and chased her southeast out of view.

I left downtown at that time as I had seen all 4 members of the family and headed for ST where I hoped to see Bith. The only falcon I found there was Seth. He was on the northwest corner railing and he was in hunt mode intent on watching something below him.

He stooped down into the Genesee River gorge-after waiting 15 minutes for his return I ended my watch at 9am when he didn’t come back.  Keep smiling everyone it makes people wonder what you’re up to! 🙂

Click on the links below to view today’s videos

http://youtu.be/VIO3b63K_xY

http://youtu.be/rkISRUTKS_w

http://youtu.be/zk1KXr5qmJo

http://youtu.be/eL0LfEt2KEc

http://youtu.be/YIiaEqUURRU

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was partly to mostly cloudy and humid with a temperature of 63 (F) 17 (C)

My watch started at Seneca Towers (ST) as I found Billie on the northwest corner railing fromthe parking lot at the north end of the building. I could hear the juvie whining but couldn’t find him after checking all sides of ST, so I believe he may have been on the roof out of view.

I left for downtown as I didn’t go there yesterday and I missed seeing those crazy juvies of Beauty and Dot.ca’s (DC)! I spotted a falcon on Crossroads northwest corner from the Andrews St. bridge-it flew off before I could get pulled over. Ended up in the hole by He’s Chinese and found Genesee on the northeast corner of Widows Walk. He got buzzed by a smaller bird, lost his balance and ended up on the roof inside the railing. He walked out to the north side and flew north. As I drove down Aqueduct St. to Main St. I spotted Beauty on the east side railing of the Powers building and DC on the southeast corner of Crossroads (CRX).

I drove to the Andrews St. bridge (ASB) and watched as Genesee flew in from the north past Beauty who flew off with him. She ended up landing on the top ibeam west corner of OCSR-Genesee flew over and forced her to fly off, then he knocked DC of CRX. Both parents ended up on the Powers building-Beauty near the nest box and DC on the east side railing. He flew off right away  and the Beautyful one soon after that. Meanwhile, Cadence was on the north end of the lower CRX roof taking it all in. I drove down to State St. to get closer to her as she was eating.

<Click

I left her while she was still eating and found Beauty on the middle arm, DC on the top arm of the Frontier Communications tower (FCT). Genesee settled on the Powers building top railing north side. 10 minutes later DC stooped to the west out of sight and I turned to see Genesee was gone from Powers. The ladies stayed put!

<Click it

Just before 7am everybody disappeared from where they had been so I returned to the ASB to look around. DC was on the northeast corner of Powers and I saw Genesee in flight before landing on the northeast cube and taking off again to the south. I then went to check FCT and from the Hochstein School of Music parking lot I could see that DC was replaced on Powers by Genesee and Cadence had joined her brother-she was on the north side railing not too far from Genesee. She walked down close to him and they stayed that way until he jumped down to the roof. I returned to the School of Music parking lot at this time. Genesee kept popping in and out of the railing slats as sis looked for him. Too funny!

<Click

Genesee left Cadence at some point and as I was just about to pull away Beauty and Genesee came into view as he stooped on a kestrel with mom right behind him. They chased a couple of them above the Sister Cities garage then flew south. That was so cool to see! Cadence left after that so did I  to look for everyone and I quickly found DC on the middle arm of FCT. His whiteness sticking out like a sore thumb. 20 minutes later I saw a juvie on the northeast corner and Beauty above it on the railing. I couldn’t see them clearly as the sun was right behind them. She moved down to the north side and I believe both juvies may have been on the roof out of sight.

I had to leave for a while and when I came back Beauty and DC were on FCT-she was on the bottom arm west side and he was under the platform on the north side. I couldn’t find the juvies so I figured they were hunkered down somewhere. Satisfied that all 4 downtown Rochester Peregrine Falcons had been seen safe and sound I left for home.

When I arrived on Seth Green Dr. I saw Seth fly from the northwest corner and a couple feet from there on the west side railing was the juvie I’m calling Bith. I took a quick pic then drove down to my parking lot on the east and south side of Seneca Towers (ST) to check the rest of the building on foot.

To my shocking surprise as I entered the lot Seth came flying through maybe 10 feet at the most above the ground in front of me and continued to the east over the 8ft. fence that surrounds the property. I certainly hope he isn’t teaching Bith to do such a crazy thing! I ended up on the west side near the pergola across from the main entrance of ST where Bith started out with his back to me. A few minutes later an adult must have been nearby as he turned around and started whining and dipping down like they do when there’s an incoming falcon. On a tree next to me I spotted the casing of a June bug.

An interesting looking insect came flying up to the tree and landed.

After it flew off I decided to do the same and ended my watch at 10:15am leaving Bith with his back to me as I had found him. Every time I think about the fact that I basically live with falcons a giant smile comes across my face! 🙂

Click on the links below to see today’s videos

http://youtu.be/qFTam6FvQ0A

http://youtu.be/g1Tl3Ne183E

http://youtu.be/C7k35W7CcFM

http://youtu.be/DYU240ajqS0

http://youtu.be/vamZ5pPnsz0

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Joyce

Early Saturday afternoon (7/4/15), Dana observed a falcon flapping a lot on the west side roof above the balconies. She and Carol were certain it was a juvie. It took off heading south down the river. They did not see it return. Carol alerted the group to be on the lookout. Dana shared a quick phone edited pic with those of us that regularly check the building.  Luckily, MAK lives there and  is able to monitor this juvie first hand and provide updates.

Later that evening, I followed up at Seneca Towers. I noticed a juvenile peregrine on the SW corner of the building, then it flew to the middle of the roof above the west side balconies. From below I noticed an adult at the NW corner on a pipe. I couldn’t see the juvie from where I was, but I heard the distinct crying for food by the juvenile falcon. Billie tried to entice the juvie off the building with food, but there was no food exchange.  Billie took the food, ate most of it, and Seth sat nearby. The juvie looks like a male based on size comparison with the parents. He flew very well. He still has a white eyas feather on his head, so we suspect he recently fledged.

This is the link to photos taken yesterday.

Enjoy!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

A new day dawned with sweet sunshine and a temperature of 58 (F) 14 (C)

I made my usual U-turn on Seth Green Dr. just beyond the visitor parking area where I can see the west and south sides of Seneca Towers (ST) through the trees. Seth was on the northwest corner railing waiting for me, or so I’d like to think. He stooped down into the river gorge and I could hear a juvie whining.

I chose to go over to East Ridge Rd. where it meets St. Paul St. by the Northridge Church to check the east and north sides of ST instead of leaving for downtown since Carol was already down there-she and Dana had seen a juvie here yesterday. Of course I was thrilled to hear Billie and Seth had a successful nest but after spending a lot of time in the past week looking for a juvie, I was determined to see it for myself.   In the meantime, I found Seth on the top window ledge at the north end. He flew off alarm calling to the north and returned to land on the northwest corner railing. Again he flew off alarm calling heading south this time.

Seth kept looking down and made several stoops only to return with no catch so I started thinking maybe all this had something to do with a fledgling being down there somewhere.

Billie flew in from the north and joined her mate on the railing-they bowed and vocalized a couple times and both kept looking down. Now I really suspected they were watching their baby.

Seth flew down yet again and returned to the west side railing where they bowed again and then he moved over near Buffalo Billie for another bow and a discussion. There’s no question about their bond to each other. Carol and Larry had reported seeing both downtown juvies so I felt I could stay at Seneca Towers and look for this juvie.

Seth flew off again and then Billie started kakking-it was her turn to dive off the building. She went straight down then I watched as she flew very low at the north end of the building going back and forth a few times-she couldn’t have been any more than 3 stories high kakking the whole time. That’s it, now I was convinced all of their behavior was juvie related.

I thought perhaps the juvie was on a tree or something so I decided it was time to get closer and I went to my parking lot, gathered up my equipment and climbed the hill behind and below the north end of the building. I snapped a couple pics of an adult on the northwest corner then I proceeded down the hill and up another one to a elevated walkway below the west side of ST and this is where I finally laid eyes on the fledgling.

<Juvie

Billie was down at the northwest corner and Seth was 20-30 feet away from his offspring on the west side railing. He flew down near Billie after a few minutes then flew off out of view. I was backed up to a fence that separated me from the river gorge and I have to say between being scared of heights and the excitement of seeing a juvie on my building I was shaking!

<seth watching his kid

I made the decision to go over across from the main entrance to ST to see if I had a better view but it was pretty much the same except I couldn’t see Billie on the corner. That’s ok, this time of year it’s pretty much all about the fledglings. I took a few more pics and decided since the adults were both gone and our newest Rochester fledgling was sleeping with a full crop, I ended my watch at 9:15am.

Boy, what a giant smile this mornings watch put on this watchers face! 🙂

Click on the links below to view today’s videos

http://youtu.be/MJyHw2CUnBc

http://youtu.be/l7ZoTPRgpRw

http://youtu.be/Z1AWuZl0YE8

http://youtu.be/Pq3fk0lkpmM

http://youtu.be/enG-jSxCrwk

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was back to overcast gloomy weather this morning with a temperature of 60 (F) 16 (C)

<Click it

My first stop was the Andrews St. bridge (ASB) where I spotted Dot.ca (DC) on the east side railing of the Powers building and a juvie over on the northeast corner of Crossroads (CRX) eating breakfast. I then drove down to my spot on State St. across from the Rochester Plaza Hotel to see if I could ID the juvie. No such luck and after a few minutes I set out to look for more falcons. I found that DC had moved to the Powers nest box ledge. I sure hope he doesn’t choose that nest for next year!

I took a ride to the east side of the river since I wasn’t finding Beauty or the other fledgling . Lo and behold the Beautyful one was on the RGS antenna trying to hunt when a smaller bird, I believe a Kestrel started buzzing her. After at least a half dozen near misses Beauty moved on and I caught up with her on the 5th column of Xerox. I barely got a pic of her when a juvie came flying in kakking and knocked her off her perch there. Poor girl was getting harassed from every direction!

They flew to the northwest out of view and when I returned to the west side at just about 7am DC was gone and the CRX juvie was popping in and out of view before flying off to the southeast. I drove up to the Broad St. bridge (BSB) to have a look see and spotted a falcon on the Time Warner Communications tower on Mt. Hope Blvd. I drove over to ID the bird but it was gone by the time I got there. Back downtown I went finding a juvie on the top arm of the Frontier Communications tower (FCT). It left as I was looking away so off I went again in search of! The Main St. bridge was blocked off by the city police in preparation for tonights’  holiday and fireworks festivities.

As I pulled into the Hochstein School of Music parking lot DC flew in from the south and landed on the top arm of FCT. Even on a gloomy morning he is a bright spot with his whiteness showing! He had a full crop as well.

I left Whitey and found a juvie on the east side of CRX around 8:20am. After a few minutes I headed for home to see if Billie or Seth were on Seneca Towers. I was delighted to find Buffalo Billie on the northwest corner railing. She had an empty crop and was in hunt mode. Just a few minutes shared with her before she was off to the north quickly leaving my field of vision thus ending my watch at just before 9am.

The kids are in for a surprise tonight when the downtown skies will be lit up with fireworks-all the noise and light will probably be a bit scary for them but they will survive as all their siblings from years past have also gotten through it. Beauty usually stays close when it happens. I have one more pic to share with y’all that I took while on the east side of the Strong Museum of Play sign.

<Click it

So I had a peaceful watch this morning which made me smile on this Independence Day! 🙂

Click on the links below to see today’s videos

http://youtu.be/zXx5cuQ13Ko

http://youtu.be/sAWxBBYe2D8

http://youtu.be/oAe5WWV6ulE

http://youtu.be/ltFn2ukISu4

http://youtu.be/SQTSUBGRgfM

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a little chilly this morning at 51 (F)  11 (C) but once the sun came up there was nowhere to go but up as it warmed up nicely with bright blue skies and sunshine

As I made my Uturn on Seth Green Dr. like I do every morning to look for Billie and Seth to my happy surprise they were both on the west railing close to each other. I hadn’t seen them both on that side in a very long time-I still keep hoping to see a juvie or two of theirs but so far no such luck. Billie flew off soon after I got settled and went to the south end antenna, attempted to land then changed her mind and flew around to the east side out of sight. Seth remained for a few minutes then he flew very fast down into the gorge.

I left and drove north on St. Paul St. pulling over as I spotted Billie up on the east side railing. She was looking for breakfast and when the sun rose above the horizon and caught her it made her look that much prettier. She flew off to the east a few minutes later.

It was time to head downtown where there are definitely juvies to be observed. First stop was the Andrews St. bridge (ASB) where I spotted a juvie on the northeast corner of Crossroads (CRX). I stopped on State St. and took a quick pic and then to Graves St. across from OCSR. This juvie left while I was making the rounds to find the rest of the family. Carol and Larry reported in from the Pont de Rennes pedestrian bridge at High Falls around 6:30am. I found Dot.ca (DC) on the middle arm of the Frontier Communications tower (FCT), who could miss all that whiteness!?

I could see that the Powers bird was a juvie and it left around 7:10am. Larry reported a falcon back on the same corner of Powers and one on the north end of CRX. Dana reported that it was Beauty on Powers and Carol reported the CRX juvie was gone. I went to Aqueduct St. at Main St. to check out the Beautyful one and when Dana tweeted that the CRX juvie went to the small FCT and landed on the southeast top of it I returned to the City Hall parking lot to check out the juvie. I was able to see the blue tape on her right leg band and identified the juvie as Cadence.

<Beauty>

She was sleeping on and off and then she started walking and squawking-two of her favorite pastimes!

I wish I had seen Genesee, as I had to make it a short watch today due to having a lot of things to do, but Carol and Dana saw him after I left at 8:15am or so. The highlight for me today that put a big old smile on my face was seeing Buffalo Billie and Seth together on the west side of Seneca Towers where I live! 🙂

Click on the links below to see today’s videos

http://youtu.be/ZZ72wwa_G6Y

http://youtu.be/z_xOS-MDjls

http://youtu.be/0MlhfKA8yA0

http://youtu.be/6_lLP8JiwM4

http://youtu.be/QZqTyDzkXtI

http://youtu.be/T3-2cPOc0zE

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a mild, mostly cloudy morning with no rain and a temperature of 60 (F) 16 (C)

My first sighting this morning from the Broad St. Bridge was big beautiful Cadence on the top ibeam west corner of OCSR-I drove over to State St. across from the Rochester Plaza Hotel to get closer. You could tell she was looking for her family and she eventually started walking on the ibeam. After getting halfway across she flew off over to the northwest corner of Crossroads.

I left Cadence to look for the rest of the family and as I sat at the traffic light at Church and State St. Beauty and Genesee flew to the south side platform railing of the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT). As I parked on Fitzhugh in front of the Sister Cities parking garage Dot.ca (DC) appeared on the top arm. Beauty was on the southwest corner and Genesee was a few feet to her right on the railing. Genesee had a lot to say to her as she tried to ignore him. I’m sure he wanted breakfast and was demanding she go get some!

<Click<DC

<Click><Click

Larry was on the Pont de Rennes pedestrian bridge at High Falls and reported that he could see DC but not Beauty and Genesee around 7am. A couple minutes later the Beautyful one and DC flew south in a hurry-Genesee remained and DC returned to land on the middle arm this time. Around 7:15am DC flew to the west out of my view, but Larry said he saw him go near Dutchtown and he didn’t stoop or show a defensive posture.

I left Genesee at this time and as I was driving north on Exchange Blvd. I saw at least 2 falcons fly to the northwest corner of Crossroads. I pulled over and took a pic of one and then I drove down to State St. where there was another on the north side. I don’t know if it was the same bird that moved while I was enroute or if it was a 2nd one. 5 minutes later I spotted Beauty flying from the south with food  toward FCT and the juvie flew off after her. When I got over to Fitzhugh St. I saw them jump down to the platform and then there were feathers flying from the south side.

I saw movement and then a juvie walked to the north side of the platform and flew up to the north side platform railing. I went down to the City Hall parking lot to watch and a few minutes later I saw Beauty fly up to the west side platform railing through an opening in the platform. She did some feaking and preening while Genesee flew off after DC who came streaking through from the north-they headed south. Beauty actually announced DC’s approach .

\

Suddenly I heard a juvie whining so Cadence must have been on the platform eating the leftovers. DC came back to the middle arm and flew off again. A minute later Beauty flew after a kestrel, hitting it over Church St.-it started losing altitude as it flew toward me and then she went after it again and they went out of view over the Sister Cities garage.

I decided to leave and check for the Seneca Towers falcons-I keep hoping to see a juvie or more but no luck in that category yet. As I was crossing the Veterans Memorial Bridge I spotted a falcon on the top window ledge at the north end of the building but it flew off before I could get to a spot where I could pull over. I had a look around the entire building and waited a bit but it never returned so I ended my watch at 9:30am. Seeing all 4 downtown falcons was more than enough to make me smile on watch this morning! 🙂

Click on the links below to see today’s videos

http://youtu.be/lqzsaG969RI

http://youtu.be/O29_c_nQYaA

http://youtu.be/ITSvOqGS3ME

http://youtu.be/aZGvkWNq9m0

http://youtu.be/ADQTzb08uPo

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

6:00 to 9:00 pm

Watchers: Kathy O, Larry O, Dan S and Carol P.

After a day of dark clouds and threats of rain during the afternoon, it was a beautiful evening.  There were still dark clouds moving through, but we were happy to see some bright sunshine too.

Kathy and I arrived downtown about the same time.  My first stop was Kodak Office, where I found Dot.ca on the southeast corner of the launch pad.  He left a few minutes later.

Next I checked out the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT) and found no falcons there.  From Broad St, I spotted Beauty on Mercury’s heel.

While I was tweeting Beauty’s position, Kathy O and Larry O were reporting that there were 3 falcons in the sky, flying over the river.

I hurried out to the Broad St Bridge to join them.  We were thrilled to watch the two juvies flying so well, soaring high above. Cadence settled on the east side of the Cross Rds Bldg and Beauty took off heading west.  We did not see where Genesee went.

All was quiet and we had no falcons in view.  Larry said he was going to head to the gorge.  We were hoping that they might head that way soon.  Kathy and I were going to join him, but on our way we spotted Beauty on Widow’s Walk (WW).  While we were checking out Beauty, Kathy noticed that there was a juvie below her on the old City Hall (OCH) roof eating.  I got the scope out and was able to positively ID the juvie as Genesee.

We are pretty sure it was pigeon on the menu.  Beauty flew down and landed next to Genesee.  He did not like that at all and showed his displeasure by mantling the food and screaming at her.

After a few moments, Genesee went back to eating his dinner.  Beauty moved in closer, and he again screamed at her and mantled the food.  She would back up and attempt to move in on him 3 times with the same results.  On her 4th try, she walked right up to him and around him to the other side.  Genesee took a nip at her and then continued his meal.  Finally he seemed to have his fill and he backed away from the food.  Beauty moved in once again, this time she was successful.  That’s when Genesee moved in on her. He nipped at her chest a couple times and then kicked her!  Beauty had enough of his shenanigans and flew over to the top of a nearby chimney.  There wasn’t much left.  She took a few bites of food and then cached the remainder on the same roof in a corner.  That’s when we noticed that Dot.ca arrived when we weren’t looking.  He was on the northeast corner of WW.

First Genesee took off heading east and then Beauty took off heading north.  Dot.ca remained on Widow’s Walk.  Soon after this, we received the following tweets from Larry O.  “Falcon in the gorge.  Probable juvenile.” “Tagging the cliffs.”  ” Gorge Falcon landed underneath the sandy wash.”  Well, you know where Kathy and I were headed.  TO THE GORGE!  lol

We arrived at the pedestrian bridge, joining both Larry O and Dan S.  They pointed out where the juvie landed, beneath the pipe below the observation deck.  These are the only two pictures I got before the juvie took off, flew in front of the falls and headed south towards downtown.  I was just so happy to see a falcon on the gorge wall.  This is my favorite place to watch falcons!

I wish I had time to ID this juvie before it left.  We ended our watch in familiar surroundings, watching the falcons fly over the downtown area.  Just before 9:00 pm, they settled down.  It was time for us to end our watch.  I’ll leave you with a few pictures I took while we were watching from the pedestrian bridge.  Good night!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Overcast and threatening rain- it only sprinkled briefly with a temperature of 63 (F) 17 (C)

I decided to stop on the Andrews St. Bridge (ASB) first today and I didn’t have any trouble spotting Cadence and Genesee on the railing below Mercury. I drove to the hole to share space with them from closer range. Cadence turned out to be the antagonizer on this occasion as she walked from the northwest corner over to the northeast corner next to her brother. After a little wing displaying and kissee face she flew southeast and he followed right behind. I drove up to the Broad St. bridge (BSB) and found Beauty on the south side of the Hyatt Hotel.

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Genesee came flying in screaming as he harassed mom until she flew off. They went opposite directions but then hooked up again over Xerox. There was a lot of flying together with Genesee zooming behind her then breaking away with some near misses. They both stooped to the southeast and pulled up before going out of sight-man that was cool! They were winging it all over the east side and then they disappeared to the north behind the Hyatt.

Next I found Beauty on the middle arm of the Frontier Communications tower (FCT) and a juvie flew in screamimg, knocked her off the arm and took her place. The Beautyful one flew to her favorite perch on FCT, the northeast cube. The juvie flew to Widows Walk (WW) and came to rest on the north side railing then took off and headed northeast around 7am. I found Cadence on the north side of Crossroads then she flew off out of view to the south end of it. I went down to the hole to look for her and found Dot.ca (DC) on the southwest side top ibeam of OCSR-he was plucking feathers from prey. Not for long, as Cadence came flying in quite noisily and grabbed the food from him and took off with it to the east. DC flew west out of view.

I found DC on the top arm of FCT while Beauty was on OCSR top ibeam south corner. I noticed a juvie on the roof just before it flew away. I ended up on the ASB and could see a juvie on a Wilder building roof vent then I watched a falcon flying near Times Square then it went over to the top arm of FCT.

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I noticed a falcon flying over Crossroads then the juvie on Wilder flew off and landed on the City Place roof vent where the other juvie was waiting for it. They did some flapping and moving around and then Genesee flew off and started buzzing Cadence who held her ground until Genesee rejoined her. They both took off when I wasn’t looking and next thing I knew they were flying near Kodak Office chasing and talon tagging all the way across past FCT and vanishing behind City Place. It’s so much fun to watch juvies play on the wing!

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After taking a break I returned to City Hall as I could see an adult on the bottom arm of FCT-it kept looking down at the platform and I thought there might be a juvie down there eating. The adult left as I was looking at a juvie on the north side railing of the Powers building. I took a ride around and returned when I saw an adult on the middle arm of FCT looking down again and I could hear a juvie whining so now I was convinced one of the kids was on the platform.

I left at this point to go home and look for the Seneca Towers falcons. Nobody was on or near the building that I could see but when I drove down East Ridge Rd. to get gas I spotted a falcon flying near the Keeler Apartments, another high rise about a quarter mile from Seneca Towers to the east. I didn’t see where it went after I got a glimpse of it. I ended my watch at 10am smiling as I had been so entertained by our juvies Cadence and Genesee this morning! 🙂

Click on the links below to view today’s videos-the last one showing Beauty and Genesee flying together

http://youtu.be/TyALjbXpGf0

http://youtu.be/2r1XoYm7B7E

http://youtu.be/kdzfXS8XSsE