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Fledge watch 6-23-14

Monday, June 23rd, 2014

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

A great morning for a fledge watch with sunshine, blue skies and a starting temperature of 57 (F) 14 (C)

Make sure to click on my pics to see the full version

As I arrived on the Broad St. Bridge (BSB)for my first fledge watch Dan was in his spot-he reported that there had been many stoops by Beauty and Dot.Ca (DC) with no catches before I arrived. Beauty was on the top ibeam west corner of OCSR and DC was off hunting.

img_0001-beauty-on-ocsr

5 minutes later DC showed up on the 3rd ibeam west corner below the Beautyful one then he quickly flew off and landed on the southeast wing ring of the Times Square building (TSB).

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I could see all 4 eyasses up at the nest box area-Nor’Easter on the nest box roof, Mercury on the well wall parapet and the girls on the deck. At 6:24am DC stooped down the south side of TSB and pulled out of it just before reaching Exchange Blvd. then back to the southeast wing ring.

img_0005-all-4-kids img_0012-dc-flying-thru img_0013-dc-about-to-land

DC flew off to the jail tower top arm north side a few minutes later, stayed there briefly then flew to the northeast wing ring. Beauty remained on OCSR.

img_0019-dc-now-on-ne-wing-ring img_0025-beauty1

Dan left at 7am and I went down to the hole where I was closer and could see the north end of the well wall.  Around 7:30am Beauty joined her kids and perched on the parapet while Mercury was at the north end of the wall and Nor’Easter got off the roof as reported by Annette. TY. Soon after Beauty went to cam 4 (thanks Annette and Donna for letting me know) and started preening as one of the kids followed suit and preened too.

img_0043-dc-rousing img_0046-beauty-and-one-of-the-boys img_0049-beauty-and-baby-preen-together

DebbieH  joined me for a bit before going to work as DC took off going after something between the TSB and Philppone building-Beauty flew off to join him and we lost sight of them temporarily behind the building. When they resurfaced DC went to the Wilder green strip and Beauty to the heel of Mercury. At 7:58am DC flew over to the top ibeam west corner of OCSR.

img_0054-dc-on-wilder1 img_0057-beauty1 img_0059-dc-landing-on-ocsr

All was quiet so I left to run a couple errands at 8:15am-one of my duties was to walk Jeannes’ dog, Isabella. I do this 3 times a week and I always check the Brighton Site on those days for any falcon activity-today there were 3 Turkey Vultures on the north side of the northeast extension.

img_0063-tvs-at-bs<Click it

I returned to downtown at 10:20 to continue my fledge watch from the hole. DC was on the southwest wing ring and I could see 3 eyasses on deck then one of the boys went over to the parapet.

img_0067-dc1 img_0076-dc img_0081-3-of-them<Click it

It turned out to be Nor’Easter and he continued on to the north end of the well wall-Mercury followed behind his brother and when he reached Nor’Easter it got a bit nerve wrecking as they switched spots and Mercury almost went over the edge at least 2  or 3 times! ( I got it on video-scared me  a bit) Nor’E ran back toward the deck followed by Mercury but he changed his mind and turned around to go back to the end of the wall to scare me some more by flapping his wings very rapidly-I thought he was going to fly off!

img_0084-one-of-the-boys img_0092-mercury img_0095-mercury-showing-off img_0099-is-that-my-byf

At 11:07am all 4 were on the deck but Mercury just had to go run the wall again a couple minutes later.  I found DC on the top ibeam west corner of OCSR at 11:19am or so and then Donna (thanks) let me know that Beauty had been in the nest box for the last hour and was now on the deck where I couldn’t see her. Finally just before 11:30am Mercury returned to the deck with his siblings-of course he went to the front edge by the main cam to get me riled up again! lol

img_0117-mercury-off-to-the-north-again img_0122-dashing-dc img_0124-i-love-how-they-watch-each-other

All 4 were together out on the front of the deck before settling down a few minutes later leaving my field of vision.

img_0128-2-talkin-2-listening<Click it

This was the last sight I saw of them as I ended my watch at 11:45am with everything calm, just the way I like it. I had to smile as I left downtown after an exciting and fun first fledge watch! 🙂

Click on the links below to see more picks and videos

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqjoA

http://youtu.be/b46N4txtRHA

http://youtu.be/-D_Ubkt81CE

http://youtu.be/lfGrMYbWmUQ

http://youtu.be/ZzolR_bqQRs

http://youtu.be/4td023fGa-8

http://youtu.be/iCbKN9b4xRo


Fledge watch 8-21-13

Wednesday, August 21st, 2013

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

At 63 (F) 17 (C) it  was calm,clear and warm with a blue moon as I stepped out the house for my watch.

img_0001-blue-moon-to-start-my-day Doesn’t look blue to me

Fellow falcon watcher, forum member and friend Ginny from New Jersey was to catch her train back home this morning at 9am. We went on a watch until I took her to the train station. We found Beauty on HSBC southeast corner as we approached from Court St.-as we pulled over on Chestnut St. to watch her she flew off to the northwest. We couldn’t find her or any other falcons around downtown so we went to Brighton and had the same results, Pigott wasn’t around either.Returning downtown we joined Larry and Harold at the High Falls. The Osprey was in the Falcon Sucking Tree (FST) with no PEFAs in sight.

img_0003-osprey img_0005-larryharold-and-ginny Click my pics for full version

Larry left around the same time the Osprey flew off to the north side of the bridge landing in the island tree. A  few minutes after he left  the Osprey dove completely under water and came back up with a fish. A Great Blue Heron flew right over and tried to steal the catch of the day but the Osprey got away and flew to the High Falls side landing on driftwood on the floor of the gorge.

img_0008-osprey img_0009-take-off-to-catch-a-fish img_0016-osprey

10 minutes later Ginny spotted a falcon on the Kodak Office launchpad northeast corner so we left and drove around to State St. to ID it. It was Dot.Ca (DC). He stooped off to the northwest out of sight after half hour.

img_0029-dc img_0041-dc1 img_0044-dc-takes-off

We left there and checked out the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT). Parked on Church St. facing east I found Beauty on a north side beam in the middle of the bottom red section with food.

img_0052-beauty img_0047-beauty

It was 8:30am and time to go to the train station-Ginny was thrilled that Beauty showed up before she had to leave. I returned to FCT a little after 9am and Beauty was still there and eating.

img_0074-beauty img_0103-beauty img_0127-talk-about-a-foot-in-your-mouth img_0143-beauty

A man by the name of James stopped and spoke to me about our falcons. As he shook my hand and left he winked at me and said by the way my nickname is Birdy! How cool is that!? Anyway, Beauty ate her fill and remained perched on that beam very alert and very Beautyful as she kept an eye on the area. She walked to the east end of the beam and flew off to the east around 10:30am.

img_0145-beautyful img_0150-im-the-proud-mama-of-3 <Click it img_0157-im-all-shook-up img_0166-see-ya

She met up with a smaller falcon (DC?) and touched talons with it above the river and then they flew together in and out of view near the Andrews Place  Apartments before breaking it off. Beauty flew  back to FCT going to the middle of the metal work under the platform.

img_0172-beauty img_0175-beauty img_0176-beauty

It was getting warm out and it was obvious Beauty was all comfy and ready to have a snooze so I left her, took a look around downtown with no PEFA sightings and ended my watch at 11:15am. I shared space with Beauty for a good amount of time this morning which placed a smile on this watchers face! 🙂

Click on the links below to see my photo album and some videos

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqih0

http://youtu.be/sQwuHMKFO3g
http://youtu.be/oX3hylVHUw8
http://youtu.be/rEpYU7Hf970
http://youtu.be/NvzfoXt9P5A
http://youtu.be/RmoYZVFzZ2U


Fledge watch 8-20-13

Tuesday, August 20th, 2013

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood with a touch of humidity and a starting temperature of 59 (F) 15 (C) for the 3rd day in a row.

Ginny and I didn’t find a falcon until 6:30am when I spotted Beauty on the base of Mercury as she prepared a meal we saw feathers a flying.

img_0001-feathers-a-flying img_0004-beauty-with-her-breakfast img_0009-beauty

Beauty stopped eating half hour later and flew off the north side with her food and we next found her on the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) platform east side.After she pooped she started to eat.

img_0026-beauty img_0028-poop-shot img_0038-beauty-has-a-bite img_0041-beauty

DebbieH stopped by on her way to work to meet Ginny. After she left we heard whining and Ginny saw a falcon fly behind the large dish. We went over to the City Hall parking lot to see that it was Dot.Ca (DC) and he was eating.

img_0048-dc1 img_0049-dc

Beauty had gone over to west side under platform.

img_0062-beauty img_0064-let-me-see-any-tidbits-left-in-those-talons img_0065-beauty

At the time we thought Beauty was a juvie and DC was Beauty so my tweets are totally off from this time period.

img_0071-beauty-and-dc< Click it img_0082-dc<DC img_0089-beauty<Beauty

We left them to nap and checked Brighton but Pigott wasn’t home, so we returned to find the Beautyful one and the handsome one still napping in their same spots. Ginny wanted to go to High Falls so we did a search around town on our way there but found no juvies anywhere including the gorge. A few minutes later the Osprey flew in and landed in the Falcon Sucking Tree.

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Ginny and I ended our watch around noon and went back out this evening at 6:30pm. We found Beauty on the southeast cube and DC was right below her on the top support beam for the large satellite dish on FCT.

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DC flew off and back to land on the platform railing northeast corner.  KathyO joined us as we were in the City Hall parking lot followed by CarolP. Suddenly Kathy yelled there’s a falcon on the KO launchpad so we all thought juvie and raced over there to find an adult. We were like-then that must be a juvie instead of Beauty back on the FCT cube. The adult which looked small to me must have been a tiercel because it flew off headed straight for FCT.

img_0024-hmm-1 KO bird

We all jumped in our cars and went back to FCT to find DC was gone but the cube bird was still there. Shaky and Carrie were there when we arrived. We all then went over to the Hochstein parking lot to get a front view of the falcon. Carol got out the scope and said she saw the red band on the right leg telling us that it was Voyager. Larry came by with Harold as every one of us looked at that bird and didn’t notice that it was not a juvie. It wasn’t until I downloaded my pics on my computer for tonights report that I could clearly see that it was Beauty.

img_0036-beauty img_0039-beauty img_0024-hmm-3

So unfortunately we had no juvie sightings today and hopefully DC chased the unknown falcon out of the territory without incident. We all packed it in after Beauty flew southeast  around 8:30pm as it was getting dark out. One thing that made me smile today was Beauty and DC hanging out with each other so much! 🙂

Click on the links below for more pics and videos

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqihW

http://youtu.be/ugYJpD2l8wo
http://youtu.be/3rFrm_5YMSE


Fledge watch 8-19-13

Monday, August 19th, 2013

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Today was a carbon copy of yesterday with a starting temp of 59 (F)  15 (C) with calm sun-sational conditions.

Ginny and I started our watch at 6am and found Beauty on HSBC at the southeast corner. She flew off 15 minutes later and circled above Xerox several times before vanishing behind it. We found her 5 minutes later on the top arm west side of the jail tower.

img_0002-beauty img_0008-beauty2

Ginny wanted to go look for juvies so we did but didn’t find any and ended up at the pedestrian bridge at High Falls at 7:10am. Larry was there but leaving to go to work and said that Dan had just left. There were no juvies in the area but our gorge Osprey flew in and landed on the Falcon Sucking Tree (FST). It appeared to have a full crop.

img_0012-osprey-with-full-crop

We left and went over to the Brighton site but Pigott was not at home either.  We returned to downtown and found Voyager, who seems to be the only juvie in town, on the lower roof ledge of Widows Walk  north side. She had food and judging by the color (no red) I’d say it was cached food.

img_0019-voyager-with-food-in-her-beak img_0020-voyager-with-a-mouthful img_0023-voyager1

She finished the meager amount in a few minutes then she flew off circling back around and landed on the southwest corner of Widows Walk below the railing.

img_0026-voyager-going-down-the-runway img_0033-voyager-gives-a-look-my-way-as-she-flies-off

Miss Voyager stayed but a minute then flew north right over our heads and we weren’t able to find her again. After a lengthy search of downtown with no PEFA sightings I took Ginny to Charlotte Pier to check out  Lake Ontario. She was amazed that it was a lake saying it looked like the Atlantic Ocean. We walked out to the end of it and saw lots on the way.

img_0035-charlotte-pier img_0039-charlotte-looking-good img_0044-shore-birds img_0048-hi-guys img_0043-thats-a-lot-of-gulls

We cruised back to downtown afterwards and found Beauty and Voyager on the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT). Beauty was hidden well and a fully cropped Voyager kept moving around in the middle of the structure.

img_0052-find-the-falcon<Find Beauty img_0049-food-coma-for-sure<Voyager in a food coma lol

They were napping so I took Ginny to Wild Wings where we checked out all their beautiful birds of prey and we took a walk down the trail to feed the Chickadees out of our hands. That’s always a treat! We also checked Irondequoit Bay -nothing but gulls and ducks seen there.

We made our way back out for an evening watch around 6pm. We found Beauty and Dot.Ca (DC) on the Kodak Office playpen. The Beautyful one was at the southeast corner and DC was at the north east corner. DC flew off when we weren’t looking.

img_0002-beauty1 img_0011-dc img_0014-bdc

We ran into KathyO by FCT and chatted for a bit and then we left to check for Pigott. We didn’t find her or any other falcons for the remainder of our watch. We had a great day with lots of laughs which makes for big old smiles! 🙂

Click on the links below to see more pics and videos

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqigw

http://youtu.be/fsG5MSg_WDg
http://youtu.be/FLjiKD7yKNA

Weekend Catch-up – Pics of Voyager and Beauty and Visiting Friends – 8/17 & 8/18 & 8/19/13

Monday, August 19th, 2013

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

It has already been reported what happened this weekend, so I’ll just add some pictures I took.  The weather was gorgeous and it was  really nice meeting our friend Ginny from NJ.  🙂

Dan and Ginny on the Pedestrian Bridge - 8-17-13Voyager on the East Peak of the Kodak Tower - 8-17-13Beauty catching some zzzz's on the Frontier Communication Tower 8-18-13*

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Voyager Peek-a-boo 8-18-13Voyager with Food on City Place - Nice Wing - 8-19-13Voyager Takes Off 8-18-13*

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Dan on the Pedestrian Bridge 8-17-13Juvie Flying Above Xerox 8-18-13Voyager on Frontier Communication Tower 8-18-13*

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Kris G - Linda Braveheart - Ginny 8-18-13*

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8/19/13 – Monday Night Report

Beauty was on the SE corner of the playpen on the Kodak Tower.  Lisa joined me on the pedestrian bridge for a short watch.  Kathy O, Ginny and MAK were also downtown during my short evening watch.

Lisa and I did see a falcon eating on the SW corner of Midtown for a few moments.  To far to ID if it was a juvie or adult.

Goodnight everyone!

Fledge watch 8-18-13

Sunday, August 18th, 2013

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Picture perfect weather here in Rochester lately-calm,sunny and warm. It started out at 59 (F) 15 (C) for the morning watchers and just got better as time went on.

Todays watch was all about the lovely Miss Voyager. Ginny and I started the day with her and spent most of the day with her. City Hall was our starting point with a juvie on the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) platform railing. Ginny was itching to meet the Beautyful one so I drove us over to the east side where we found Beauty on HSBC northwest corner. We also had a juvie on Midtown.

img_0013-beauty img_0015-juvie-on-midtown

They both took off and we headed over to High Falls where we met Dan and Larry on the pedestrian bridge. They had a falcon on Chase. I spotted 2 talon tagging over by the Radisson and they continued across the river behind OCSR where we lost one  and the other went to the Kodak Office (KO) launchpad.

img_0016-falcon-on-ko1

I saw my first Eastern Kingbird in the river tree on the north side of the bridge.

img_0019-eastern-kingbird

Dan and Larry left a little after 8am as Ginny and I went over by KO and ID’d that bird as Beauty. She didn’t stay long before she stooped out of view.

img_0027-beauty1 img_0032-beauty

Next stop was Brighton where we found Pigott on the front edge of the cubby-Ginny was excited to meet her as well. She just kept saying she’s so pretty! And well, she is so pretty!!! She had a feather stuck to her forehead which we call a fascinator  around here. Pigott went in the cubby for a few minutes then came back out for a minute before flying up to the southwest corner of the west extension.

img_0034-pigott-with-a-fascinator1 img_0045-pigott-is-off

Miss Pigott would leave us after an hour when we weren’t looking. We made our way back downtown around 10:30am and found Beauty on the FCT north side under the platform. We then had Voyager on Widows Walk below railing on the north side and we would see her for most of the rest of our watch. After hanging out with her on Fitzhugh St. she flew off to the north then we went up on the Sister Cities garage to watch from there so we could see both Beauty and Voyager.

img_0048-beauty img_0059-voyager img_0064-im-cute-they-say-im-cuuuute img_0072-am-i-diva-material-or-what img_0073-later

Voyager went to FCT landing under the platform south side and right after we believe it was Dot.Cs (DC) who flew out and went east. Carol was down at City Hall at this time and we went down to join her as Dana was also there. Lisa came by for a few minutes as well.

img_0082-i-cannot-believe-what-time-it-is<Voyager>img_0097-voyager img_0103-beautyful<Beauty>img_0104-sleepy-head

Things would remain like this for 3 hours or so and in that time watchers that joined us were Linda (Braveheart),Bill and KrisG when Voyager finally spotted Beauty below her and started screaming ay=t which point Beauty flew off to the south and a few minutes later Voyager flew north at 3:05pm.

img_0114-i-see-you-down-there-mom Hey I see you down there mom img_0117-you-cant-hide-forever-from-me

We then heard whining and a falcon shot out from FCT to the north. Next we heard whining over at City Place where we believed DC dropped food off to Voyager and skidaddled to the northeast. Voyager started eating then stopped and went down to a lower roof on the back of City Place and got another chunk of food and started eating again. She flew over to FCT with it soon after and finished it off there.

img_0122-who-dat img_0148-nom-nom img_0150-winding-up-to-take-off img_0152-taking-my-food-and-going img_0160-2-legs-for-voyager

Voyager moved up in the tower just as we were getting ready to leave.

img_0170-walk-the-plank img_0171-lets-hop-up-there

All the watchers left so Ginny and I decided to go to High Falls to end our marathon watch. There were no falcons there but we had 4 explorers down in the gorge hiking to the island and back. We also had a cute little bat fly past us a couple times when Dan followed by Joyce and Larry all filtered onto the pedestrian bridge with us. Dan spotted the gorge Osprey on the concrete support north side of the bridge. He made an attempt at catching a fish but missed and went to the north side tree to let his wings drip dry a bit before heading over to a bigger tree on the northwest shore.

img_0172-gorge-explorers img_0179-im-so-pretty-oh-so-pretty img_0180-hang-down-those-wet-wings

That’s all she wrote-Ginny and I left at 6:45pm over 12 hours after we started this morning with smiles on our tired faces for we’d had a very fun watch! 🙂

Click on the links below to see more picks and videos from the day

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqifi

http://youtu.be/BPFOgut602o
http://youtu.be/MBC2lUhveyg
http://youtu.be/tP9EscSvYRg
http://youtu.be/xB_Jj3wR5iE



Fledge watch 8-17-13

Saturday, August 17th, 2013

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Another banner day weather wise in our fair city with sunshine and blue skies. When I left the house at 5:45am the temp was 56 (F) 13 (C)

After checking the west and north sides of the city I ended up finding 2 falcons on the east side. Beauty was on the northwest corner of HSBC and there was a juvie on Midtown with its back to me. I believe it was one of the girls.

img_0005-beauty img_0001-one-of-the-girls

After 20 minutes the juvie was gone having left when I wasn’t looking. 5 minutes later Beauty flew off toward the west.

img_0008-beauty1

A check of downtown turned up nothing so Isabella and I went to the pedestrian bridge at High Falls. Dan was already there and Larry pulled up right after me with Harold. Dan found what looked like Dot.Ca (DC) on the north corner top ibeam of OCSR at 6:45am.

img_0009-dc

At 7am we noticed DC gone and half hour later he showed up on the northeast corner of the Kodak Office (KO)launchpad. At the same time I looked down on the north side of the bridge to see the Osprey in the island tree.

img_0013-dc1 img_0017-osprey img_0018-osprey1 img_0019-osprey-in-hunt-modeimg_0020-beautiful-birds

There were lots of fish coming to the surface of the river to snatch a bug and after 5 minutes or so our Osprey friend dove down and snatched one of those fish and flew northwest, doubled back toward us and went under the bridge where we lost sight of it.

img_0021-osprey img_0022-take-off

While we were watching DC left KO and so Dan and Larry decided to call it a watch at around 7:45am. I left and stopped on the Andrews St. Bridge where I spotted DC eating on a brick building that is for lease by the Philipone people on State. St. across from the Rochester Plaza Hotel. Beauty has also been seen eating on this same building in the past. As I was parking he moved back on the ledge where I could only see his head and that heart shaped malar stripe.

img_0023-dc

A few minutes later he came back out in plain view and started eating his small package again. It looked fresh so I assume he caught it off of KO.

img_0028-dc img_0029-wide-eyed-dc You must click on my pics to see the full version

A few minutes later he stopped eating and walked 10 ft to the south, stopped and started looking around.

img_0030-dc1 img_0032-dc1 img_0037-whitey img_0038-building-on-state-st-dc-was-on

A couple minutes of that and he was off to the northeast out of view.The next series of pics is the progression of his take off.

img_0041-dc-ready-for-take-off img_0042-and-hes-off img_0043-dc-heading-north img_0044-see-ya-makClick it

I drove straight down State St. and found DC on the KO  launchpad northeast corner again.

img_0047-dc img_0048-dc img_0050-bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed-dc

I left DC and checked downtown to no avail so I drove to Brighton where I had the same result-no PEFAs. I returned to downtown and found only one falcon-the Beautyful one! I went to the hole (Aqueduct St. ) where I could see only the top half of her and what a gorgeous top half it is!

img_0056-beauty1

She was on the top ibeam west corner of OCSR and it was time for me to leave so I ended my watch at 9am. I would like to have seen all 3 juvies but hopefully tonight they will be around when I pick up New Jersey forum member Ginny Karyn  from the train station who is going to be staying with me until Wednesday. There will definitely be smiles if that happens! 🙂

I have only one video link today-just click and view

http://youtu.be/cj5E43MSbMI

Friday Late Afternoon/Evening Fledge Watch – Only One Juvie Seen with Beauty & Dot.ca – 8/16/13

Saturday, August 17th, 2013

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

What a gorgeous afternoon/evening.  Temps in the 70’s (F) with a soft breeze, blue sky and sunshine.  Lots of folks were out on the pedestrian bridge, enjoying the weather, the beautiful view of the High Falls and the birds.  So many people stopped to talk to us about the falcons, asking how they were doing.  The Osprey visited too, allowing good looks to all that passed by.  What kind of bird is that?  It was fun talking to everyone.

When I first arrived just before 4:00 p.m., both Beauty and Dot.ca were on the Kodak Tower.  They changed positions a couple times, ending up with Beauty on the SE corner of the playpen and Dot.ca on the corner of the launchpad.

Dot.ca & Beauty on the KTower Launchpad 8-16-13*

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After checking out downtown and not finding any juvies, I parked at the east end of the pedestrian bridge.  I was there for over and hour before I decided to walk over to the Kodak Tower for a closer look.  I was looking directly into the sun and I wasn’t sure if Beauty and Dot.ca were still there.  I found a spot where I was in the shade and I could see both of them.  Beauty on the SE corner of the playpen and Dot.ca on the SE corner of the launchpad.  Now that I was closer, I could hear a juvie vocalizing from somewhere on the KTower.  I looked all over and could not find the juvie.  It was time to head back to the pedestrian bridge.

Dot.ca (top) Beauty (bottom) on Kodak Tower 8-16-13Beauty on the SE Corner of the Playpen KTower 8-16-13Dot.ca on the SE Corner of the Launchpad KTower 8-16-13*

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On my way back to the pedestrian bridge, I took a few pics of local interest, for those that want to learn about Rochester’s history.  Did you know that we were called the Flour City in the past, not to be confused with the Flower City.  The High Falls area was the location of many mills that used the river to turn the millstones that made the flower, oops, I mean flour.  lol

Millstone 8-16-13Old Millstone 8-16-13*

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Here’s the history of the pedestrian bridge that the Rochester Falcon Watchers love to watch falcons from.

Info About Pedestrian Bridge 8-16-13*

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and don’t even ask me why there is a giant chair??? set-up at the west end of the pedestrian bridge.  Not really sure what this is supposed to be.  Any ideas?

A Giant Chair? Hmmmm 8-16-13*

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Toronto St, in front of the Kodak Tower.  Could this be why so many of our young falcons end up there?  lol

Toronto St 8-16-13*

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I made my way back to the pedestrian bridge and spotted a familiar face at the east end.  Dan S had joined the Watch.  We were soon joined by Lisa McK and Larry O.  Dot.ca and the juvie we couldn’t find on the Kodak Tower took off and flew high over head.  Soaring higher and higher.  Now and then the juvie would catch up and they would touch talons.  Then DC would continue to gain altitude and the juvie followed.  Wish I knew which juvie it was.

Larry & Dan Watch Dot.ca and Juvie Fly Higher and Higher 8-16-13*

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It looked like school was in session for the young falcon.  Dot.ca was taking him up for some high flying lessons.  We lost sight of them.  Beauty remained on the SE corner of the playpen on the Kodak Tower.

An Osprey had flown into the gorge landing in the Falcon Sucking Tree on the east side of the gorge.  Her wings were wet and she held them out to dry them and preen.  After awhile, she flew under the bridge and landed on the island tree on the north side of the bridge.  There is a small island with one tree growing there.  The ducks and the geese usually use it.  Today there were a few ducks on the island.  The Osprey landed on a very thin branch that stuck up from the top of the tree.  For most of the time we were on Watch, the Osprey remained in that tree preening and watching the river below.  We thought for sure she would fish, but she was content to just watch.  She eventually launched herself from the thin branch and headed north down the river.

Osprey Lands on Island Tree 8-16-13Osprey on Island Tree with Ducks Below 8-16-13*

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Osprey on the Island Tree 8-16-13Osprey Took Off and Headed North Down the River 8-16-13*

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It was 8:0o pm and there was a chill in the air.  We all decided it was time to end our Watch.  By this time, Beauty had left the KTower.  No one has seen her leave.  I decided to check out the downtown area one last time before heading home.  Dana and Lou were just pulling into the parking lot when we were leaving.  They told us that there was a falcon on the top arm of the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT).  That’s where we headed.  It was Beauty and she was facing south.  Above us were 100’s of gulls flying over.  Beauty took off and we found her on the south side of  OCSR at the south corner.

Beauty on the top arm of the FCT 8-16-13Lots of Gulls Passing Overhead 8-16-13*

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I drove around the downtown area and could find no other falcons.  It was time to head home.  I’ll leave you with a picture I took of the beautiful sunset from the pedestrian bridge.  The weekend is here and I truly hope that the juvies will be out and about for the Watchers to see.  Goodnight everyone!

Sunset From the Pedestrian Bridge -8-16-13

Fledge watch 8-16-13

Friday, August 16th, 2013

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Todays weather conditions were calm with a sun cloud mix and a starting temperature of 54 (F) 12 (C)

It was half hour before I saw a falcon today-after a search of downtown I came across Dan on the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) who had 2 juvies on the jail tower.

img_0001-2-juvies-on-the-jail-tower Click on my pics to see the full version

As I got out my chair and got settled the 2 of them took off to the southeast. 10 minutes later I spotted Beauty on the top ibeam south side OCSR.

img_0002-beauty-on-ocsr

Larry came by with Harold and met Isabella fellow watcher Jeannes’ puppy that I am watching for her. Harold didn’t really like her but she sure liked Dan laying by his feet almost the whole time.

img_0003-larry-harolddan-and-isabella-on-the-bsb

Larry left after 20 minutes and right after Baron appeared under the northeast wing on the Times Square building (TSB). We were too far away to hear him but I could see his mouth open as this would set the mood for a watch with Baron on this day.

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He stayed but 10 minutes and then he was off in a flurry to the north and then I saw that Dot.Ca (DC) had joined Beauty on OCSR.

img_0010-baron-zooms-off-tsb < Click them> img_0014-beauty-casts-an-evil-shadow1 LOL

Dan left around 7:20am so I opted for leaving Beauty and DC and going to look for juvies. After a half hour of nothing I went to the hole to watch the happy couple who were still up on OCSR. DebbieH joined me as we walked down to Aqueduct Park for Isabella to do her business. Deb left for work and I went searching once again. I found Baron on City Place as I heard him first and for the next 2 hours listened to him whine  and whine and whine some more!

img_0038-baron img_0062-baron img_0069-baron

I left my spot on Church St. and drove up to the Sister Cities garage roof to get the sun behind me and to have a better view of the area. That’s when I spotted Beauty on the northeast cube of the Frontier Communications Tower  FCT).

img_0074-beautyful

I think Beauty got tired of listening to to Baron because she moved into the middle of the tower where he couldn’t see her. Well this only made him squawk louder!

img_0075-beauty-moves-in img_0082-awake-with-mouth-fully-engaged img_0086-wings-and-mouth-wide-open

img_0096-im-mad img_0097-im-talking-and-i-cant-shut-up img_0098-mr-big-mouth

Mr. noisy britches did a lot of stretching and pivoting to look around the area for I assumed Beauty. He also did some posing for me and boy was he turning on the charm!

img_0109-aint-i-cute img_0116-i-love-posing-for-mak img_0118-what-up

He switched corners up there and then he spotted mom-flying off to join her on FCT screaming  the whole way over there and after he arrived as well.

img_0125-here-i-come-mom-ready-or-not img_0126-he-found-me

Baron moved to another spot but with the same scenario-yelling at mom while she ignored him. I elected to leave them and go to Brighton only to find no falcons there. While I was there Dana tweeted that she had both girls on the south side of Midtown. I left to join her but I didn’t see her anywhere and so I watched Rosetta and Voyager for a few minutes. I had to get Isabella home to eat so I couldn’t stay as long as I would have liked to.

img_0135-rosetta img_0140-rosetta

I first saw Rosetta at the southeast end-she flew off a couple times before landing by Voyager. It didn’t look like Voyager liked her so close but that’s a sibling thing right!? lol

img_0143-rosetta-going-to-join-sis img_0146-take-a-hike

It was wonderful to see all 3 juvies once again as I thought yesterday after not seeing any they might have started on their life journey. It was also nice to see Beauty and DC  together on OCSR. No reason not to smile today as I ended my watch at 11:10am! 🙂

Click on the links below to see more pics and videos

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqifA

http://youtu.be/0TUMY6wpUdA
http://youtu.be/s6DtjGzfR2w

Thursday Late Afternoon/Evening Fledge Watch – ALL 6 Rochester Falcons Seen Tonight! The Juvies Return! – 8/15/13

Thursday, August 15th, 2013

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

It was a gorgeous afternoon.  Temps in the low 70’s (F) and fluffy clouds and sunshine.  I arrived downtown just before 4:00 pm, and I really hoped I would see at least one of the juvies.  It had been close to two days since I had seen one.  My first stop was the Kodak Tower, where I found Beauty on the SE corner of the playpen.  I parked in front of Frontier Field to get a better view.  At first Beauty had her back to me.  She turned around looking south.  Then a smaller falcon took off from the east side, heading south in a really big hurry.  Beauty followed.  I believe the 2nd falcon was DC.  I tried to follow them, but I was caught at a light.  By the time I arrived on the Broad St Bridge (BSB), there were no falcons in sight.

Beauty on the Kodak Tower 8-15-132-beauty-on-ktower-8-15-13*

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I decided to check out the BS location.  It had been awhile since I had seen Pigott.  I was very happy to find her on the south side vent at the west end.  She was very alert and following the movement of the birds flying by.  It wasn’t long before she spread her wings and took off heading SW.  Since I lost sight of her, I decided to head back downtown.  I really wanted to find a juvie.

Pigott at BS on South Side Vent 8-15-13Pigott at BS on South Side Vent 8-15-13*

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I ended up on the pedestrian bridge, watching the critters that call the gorge home.  Dot.ca returned to the Kodak Tower, on the SE corner of the 17th Floor.  He didn’t stay very long.  The next time I looked, he was gone.  I also saw a falcon soaring over downtown Rochester, starting at Midtown and flying behind the OCSR building.

Dot.ca on the Kodak Tower SE Corner of the 17th Floor 8-15-13*

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3 hours after I started my Watch, I decided to head downtown to look for falcons.  No such luck.  I decided to park on the Broad St Bridge and stay put.  At 7:30 pm, Dan found me and he joined me on the evening Falcon Watch. Joyce also joined us after finding Dot.ca on the large disk on the side of the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT).  She thought she had heard a juvie vocalizing, but could not find it.  DC took off and she joined us on the BSB.  It was 7:40 pm when I spotted Dot.ca on the top IBeam of the OCSR, south side.  Finally a falcon to Watch.  Dan was happy and went to his car to get his chair.  lol  Dan spotted a falcon flying over the Raddison.  To both of us it looked like a juvie.  It flew behind the Raddison and did not come back out.  DC was still on the OCSR and Joyce was yelling from the other side of the street that there was a falcon under the SE wing on the Times Square Bldg (TSB).  It was Beauty.  So, with DC still on OCSR, where was the 3rd falcon we had seen flying?

Dot.ca on Top IBeam of OCSR 8-15-13*

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First Dot.ca took off and appeared to fly up into the elevator shaft.  Beauty took off and flew over us heading east towards Xerox.  Then a third falcon was flying around the OCSR.  It was the juvie and s/he was vocalizing loudly.  Oh, I do love that sound.  The juvie flew up to the NE ledge just above the nest box on the TSB and another falcon landed on the well wall just north of the nest box.  Joyce and I moved closer to get a better look.  We determined it had to be a male on the ledge and definitely a juvie.  Had to be Baron!  At first we thought the large falcon was Beauty, but Joyce’s pictures showed it was definitely a juvie.  Woohoo!   Two juvies!  So we had Baron and either Rosetta or Voyager.  We never did get a look at either of their bands.

Baron and either Rosetta or Voyager on TSB 8-15-13Baron and either Rosetta or Voyager on TSB 8-15-13*

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We were all so happy to see them.

Our evening Watch ended with yet another happy surprise.  Both Baron and his sister took off and headed downtown (east).  I stayed on the BSB and Joyce drove over to try to find them from the east side.  She tweeted that there were three falcons flying over HSBC.  I looked up in time to see all three blast over the Xerox Bldg. and B&L.  For about 15 minutes (8:25 -8:40 pm) Joyce and I (Dan had to leave) were thrilled to see all Three juvies talon tagging and chasing each other, vocalizing loudly.  It was so good to see them home again.  I hope they stay a little longer before heading out on their migration.  I’m really going to miss them.  It was 3 hrs and 40 minutes into my Watch before I saw a juvie, but it was so well worth it.  I ended my Watch at 8:50 pm, checking the Kodak Tower on my way home.  It was too dark to see if there were any falcons up there.

I just read a comment under the tweet section in the forum posted by Christiane a Rfalconcam Watcher.  She zoomed in on one of the pictures taken by the nest box cameras and believes she saw red.  Red/yellow is Voyager, so maybe she was the female on the well wall.  Thanks Christiane and thank Ei for letting us know when she left.  Your help is much appreciated.

Oh, and guess what?  Even though it was getting dark, I decided to try getting a video of their play.  It’s not the greatest, but here it is.  Enjoy and goodnight all!

CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINK TO VIEW MY YOUTUBE VIDEO

http://youtu.be/r5wz2fPsxmA


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