By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

49 (F) degrees when I walked out the house this morning! That’s 9 (C) and outrageous for August around here. On the up side the sun shone bright with blue skies and it warmed up nicely.

I’m afraid our juvenile Peregrine Falcons are wandering but hopefully not for good yet. Last nights watchers didn’t see any and I didn’t this morning either-maybe just a day trip and they’ll be back to grace us with their presence.

I found Dot.Ca (DC) on the northeast corner of the Kodak Office launchpad at 6am to begin my watch. In the 20 minutes or so I observed him he mainly was looking at something to the north, he then walked back and forth a couple times before launching himself off into an immediate stoop to the north. I lost sight of him near Sahlen’s Stadium as he vanished behind buildings.

Remember to click on my pics for the full version

When he didn’t come back I left Mill St. and checked everything on my way to the pedestrian bridge at High Falls on the east side where I could see Dan. When I got there I asked if he had seen DC stoop but he said after watching him for 20 minutes he missed it as he turned away for a minute. That’s how it goes a lot of the time-you can keep your eyes on them for hours and the second you look away POOF! they’re gone. After 15 minutes passed Dan noticed a falcon on the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) platform railing north side. I took a couple pics and after checking them with the zoom fully engaged determined that it looked like an adult. Dan decided it was time to leave just before 7am so I drove over to City Hall straight away and found it was Beauty on FCT.

I only spent 10 minutes with her when she flew off in no big hurry to the southeast. I wondered if she was looking for her kids or if she knows where they are hanging out of late.

I went to the Broad St. bridge and looked around for 15 minutes and then I saw a falcon on the top arm of FCT. I whipped over to Plymouth Ave. where I could see the front and determined it was the Beautyful one. This time I only spent 2 or 3 minutes with her before she flew off to the north in a big hurry.

Click them for full version

After searching to the north up Lake Ave. to Driving Park and back downtown with no sightings I went over to Brighton and saw no falcons there either. As I was stopped on the side of the service road on the west side I had a woman pull up next to me and ask if I was looking at the bird.  I said yes but before I could say anything else she told me every morning at 5:30am that bird flies down to the ground over there and eats berries and she repeated every day and then she pulled away.  I didn’t know Pigott liked berries! lol

I never did see another falcon as I searched all over the downtown area and ended up at High Falls for the duration of my watch. I saw the gorge Osprey in the tree that sits in the middle of the river on the north side of the pedestrian bridge. It was looking to catch a fish and it made a valiant attempt as it dove to the water and came up empty taloned. It flew downriver to a concrete structure that protrudes up out of the river, landed for a second then took off to the north where I lost sight of it behind the trees.

I did a 360 degree scan of the sky and buildings and saw no falcons and then Joe (aka Viper) our young watcher walked up to me and said hi. He was with his mom,sister,grandmother and a friend. We chatted for a few minutes and then they had to leave. I ended my watch at 10:20am and left as well. I wish I had seen the juvies but I was happy to see Beauty and DC who always bring a smile to my face! 🙂

Click on the links below to view a couple videos from my watch

http://youtu.be/rrQLmXAwC0s
http://youtu.be/dsqcg5UPe7Y

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Sorry to say, no juvies were seen by the Watchers between 4:00 – 8:30 pm.  I even checked Kodak Park and the surrounding area, but could not find them.  When I arrived downtown at 4:00 pm, both Beauty and Dot.ca were on the Kodak Tower.

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Lots of Watchers showed up hoping for a glimpse of Baron, Rosetta and Voyager, but they were a no show.  Thankfully the weather was much better than yesterday, still in the 60’s, but the sunshine made it much nicer.  Tonight’s Watchers included, Joyce, Susan C, Dan, Larry O, Lisa McK and me Carol P.  Although there were no juvie sightings, we still have lots of fun when we get together.

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Two Cormorants were flying around in circles over the High Falls, looking like they were talon tagging.  NOT!  I guess they would have to have talons.  lol

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The moon was quite beautiful.

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We even saw a fox run across the east end of the bridge, scaring two ladies standing there.  By the time I got there, the fox was gone.

The herons were out in force, now that the river was lower.  Lots of good fishing spots for them and shallow spots.

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After everyone else left, Dan, Lisa and I went searching for falcons.  Both Beauty and Dot.ca had left the Kodak Tower.  We were all parked on the east side of Xerox, when Beauty flew in over HSBC with food clutched in her talons.  She flew around and then settled on top of Xerox on the SE Corner.  She just stayed there, probably waiting to see if a juvie would come in for food.

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She waited about 15 minutes before she started eating.  When she was done, Beauty flew over to the south side of Xerox and landed on the 5th column in from the SE Corner.

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It was 8:30 pm and time to call it a Watch.  I did check the downtown area one last time, but again no juvies or Dot.ca.  More than likely, they are starting to wander further out from the city, but I do hope we will see them again before they take off on their migration.  We’ll be Watching!  Goodnight Everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Feels like fall out there today! It was a chilly 52 (F) 11 (C) with a brisk north wind and on and off rain showers and a couple breaks of sun.

I arrived at the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) about 5:50am but saw no falcons so onward to check Kodak Office (KO) where I found a juvie in the darkness on the southeast corner of the launchpad.

15 minutes later it was off with blazing speed flying south.

10 minutes later I found Rosetta on the northwest corner of  Widows Walk from the top of the Sister Cities parking Garage. I watched her from there for over half an hour as she was eating and then I went to Fitzhugh St. below Widows Walk for a closer look. I thought maybe she had caught the small package herself as there were no adults around, but of course there’s no way to tell without witnessing it.

Click on my pics to see the full version

I spent over an hour with Rosetta as she rested,stretched and kept an eye on her surroundings. DebbieH came by for a brief couple minutes on her way to work. Rosetta flew up to the railing and walked down to the northeast corner.

Next I drove over to Broad St. parking in front of the Ebeneezer Watts building where DebbieH works to get a better angle on big beautiful Rosetta.

She flew off just before 8am to the northwest and after a quick look at FCT and KO off to the Brighton Site I went.

I spotted Pigott right away when I rounded the west side of the building. She was on the southwest corner of the west extension and took off a minute after I got there flying northwest.

You can see her left wing has only a couple tattered feathers now, left over from her incident earlier this summer.

Back downtown I found Beauty around 9:15am on the top arm south side of FCT after checking the rest of our fair city. I was very happy to see her as I hadn’t laid eyes on her in a couple days. I observed the  Beautyful one from Plymouth Ave. as she was keen on watching some birds below her. A couple times I thought she would stoop on one but didn’t. She only gave me 10 minutes with her before she flew off to the northeast.

I ended my watch over on the pedestrian bridge at High Falls where all I saw were gulls and a couple cormorants. So on todays watch I saw 3 out of our 6 Rochester Peregrine Falcons and I hope to see Voyager and Baron soon. Rosetta has provided me with smiles for the last 2 days! 🙂

Click on the links below to view my photo album and videos including 2 of Rosetta from yesterday when I had technical difficulties uploading them

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqiem

http://youtu.be/9RLgoefAUTM
http://youtu.be/ZA-2bfIqJk4
http://youtu.be/629Zni8Y-8k
http://youtu.be/lCVXFNtFrfg
http://youtu.be/4OJHvfCRvVs

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Mid August in Rochester.  No balmy, warm day for us.  Instead of covering up with 50 million sun screen, I was covering up in fleece.  When I arrived downtown at about 6:00 pm, it was 67 degrees(F) and dropped during my 3 hour Watch.  My usual first stops are the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT) and the Kodak Tower.  There were no falcons on the FCT, but I did find Dot.ca on the Kodak Tower on the SE corner of the launch pad.

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I checked the rest of the downtown area and found no other falcons.  It was time to head out to the pedestrian bridge.  Maybe that’s where they were.  Nope, no falcons there either.  Even the Osprey was a no show.  Just me and a few folks on the bridge.  The winds were strong there and ominous dark clouds were moving in from the north.  It was more like fall than the hottest month of the year.

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Dot.ca was still up on the Kodak Tower.  I scanned the downtown area, checking for falcon specks.  No specks, but I did see two juvies soaring over the Chase Tower and talon tagging and chasing each other.  This is a picture I took zoomed out to the max from where I stood on the pedestrian bridge.

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So, I had three of the 5 Rochester Falcons, Dot.ca and two Juvies.  The two juvies finally split up.  One continued to soar on the winds over downtown and the other flew over to the FCT where it landed on the top arm.  It then flew to the City Place Bldg onto one of the white structures on the NW corner.  There must have been some leftover food there, because this juvie was enjoying a snack.

I drove over to City Place, but by the time I got over there, the juvie was gone.  For the next hour or so, I cruised all over the downtown area, catching glimpses of falcons flying here and there.  They were really enjoying the winds.  From the Andrews St Bridge, I heard a juvie loudly vocalizing above.  I looked up in time to see a juvie fly up to an adult.  At first I thought there was going to be a food exchange, but the adult did not have any food.  So the juvie flew off towards the west, still loudly calling.  The adult circled above, higher and higher, definitely in hunt mode.

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From the Broad St Bridge, I saw a falcon flying around carrying small prey.  It was starting to get dark, and I couldn’t tell if it was an adult or juvie.  It flew towards Xerox and then turned back and flew towards the FCT.  Was this an adult looking for a juvie to feed?  I really have no idea.

I had planned on leaving at 8 pm, but as usual, time got away from me.  lol  Because I could see no falcons, I decided to check out downtown one more time.  By 8:30 pm, I was really losing light.  I stopped on the Broad St Bridge facing east, looking towards Xerox/Midtown/B&L.  The gulls were up and flying over the river.  Lots of them.  I heard them vocalizing to the south and I looked up in time to see that there was a falcon flying with them.  The falcon did a quick turn and snatched one of the birds it was flying with.  I only saw gulls, no pigeons, and I really do believe this falcon grabbed a gull.  I quickly grabbed my binocs, it was way too dark to take any pics and I really wanted to see what was going on.

The falcon held on tight, while the large bird struggled to get free.  They headed east towards B&L, losing altitude.  I lost them behind B&L.  Quickly jumping into my car, I drove over to the east side of B&L and searched for close to a 1/2 hour.  I even parked in different spots to listen and checked all the roof lines, even the lower ones.  I did see a juvie flying over B&L touching down and taking off like it was looking for something.  Needless to say, I had no luck finding the falcon or the gull or the pigeon.  I do have to wonder if a pigeon was flying with the gulls and that’s what the falcon got.  I had really hoped to find the falcon to verify what it caught.  I even question, whether it was a juvie that grabbed a gull.  It wasn’t the type of hunting that we usually saw Beauty and Dot.ca do.  Was the juvie I saw afterwards looking for a lost meal?  I truly have no idea.  If it had been lighter, I could have snapped a couple pics and maybe solved the mystery.

It was dark and time for me to head home.  At 9:00 pm, I did drive over to Kodak for a quick look and could not see any obvious bumps up there.  Well, that was an interesting Watch.  Goodnight Everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

The dawn loomed wet as it showered on and off and a bit humid with a temperature of 64 (F) 18 (C) at 5:45am

I spent this morning  with just one juvie-Rosetta! All others eluded me for the 4 hours I was on watch. I first found her under the large satellite dish on the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) perched where I’ve never seen a falcon before. Our 3 Falconeers have shown me a lot of firsts this season. Rosetta next flew up to land on top of the dish briefly before taking off very fast to the east toward the river.

Click on my pics to view the full version

10 minutes later Rosetta flew in from the north with a small package and took it to the northeast corner of City Place to eat. I went up on the Sister Cities Garage roof to observe her.

Rosetta spent 25 minutes eating and then she flew off heading down Fitzhugh St. along side of City Place about 2 floors down from the roof. When she got to Main St. she hung a right and headed west out of my view. I did the search route around the city to no avail so I went to Brighton- there were no falcons to be found there either. Larry stopped next to my car for a quick chat then he headed off to work.

Returning downtown I had no luck locating any falcons so I went to the pedestrian bridge at High Falls-again no PEFAs seen but that doesn’t mean they weren’t parked on that gorge wall somewhere blending in. At 8am cam watcher Donna said there was 1 and possibly 2 falcons on FCT so I went there right away. They left before I got there flying west according to Donna. Thanks my friend! I then went to the Broad St. Bridge to see what was going on in the river. I was surprised to see how low the water level was between Broad St. and Main St. considering the High Falls were rolling along at full force when I was there.

As you can see there were lots of Great Blue Herons strutting their stuff. After another look around downtown I took a ride north up Lake Ave. to Kodak Park at W. Ridge Rd. I checked the buildings there with no luck and nothing was seen along the way to or from as I stopped at the Kodak Hawkeye plant on St. Paul Blvd. on the way back downtown. It was 9am and I hadn’t seen a falcon in over 2 hours so I decided to call it a watch. As I started out toward home, Donna texted that there was a falcon on the FCT platform-this time I got there in time to find Rosetta near the northeast corner eating.

All I saw was her tail at first from right below in front of City Hall. I walked over to the northwest side of the Frontier building standing on Montgomery Alley with the Plymouth Ave. Open Door Mission behind me to get the best look at our big girl with the blue feet.

She began to move south on the platform and that was when I got the money shot of her white over blue taped leg band telling me what I already thought-it was Rosetta. I then went back to City Hall to share space with her before flying up to the south side railing and taking off to the southeast whining.

I spent an hour with Rosetta that I wouldn’t  have gotten had it not been for Donna letting me know she was on the FCT. Thanks a lot! I’ll take all the help I can get these days as the juvies and their parents are staying scarce. I was happy enough to watch Rosetta and so I ended my watch at 10am with a smile on my face! 🙂

Check out the link below to see Rosetta-I had more videos but I’m having trouble uploading them. Sorry

http://youtu.be/GeiOutC_xXs

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

As is normal on Monday, I got a very late start tonight.  I arrived downtown just before 7:00 pm.  It was quiet, with hardly any traffic, which was nice.  No festivals, baseball games or any events at all.  Well, except for the gathering at the beautiful, old church behind the Times Square Bldg.  It was overcast and looking like it was going to rain, but it held off while I was on my Watch.  It was cooler than it had been lately.  I checked all the west side locations, including the Kodak Tower and the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT) on the way to the Broad St Bridge.  I spotted a falcon, that I thought was an adult at first, on the railing below the Mercury statue with it’s back to me.  During my 2 hour Watch, the sky changed making for interesting backgrounds for my falcon on Mercury pics.  lol

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The only way to see the front of this falcon was to go down to Aqueduct St, aka the “hole”.  From there I could see that it was a juvie and not an adult.  I cannot be 100% sure, but I do believe that it was Rosetta.  She was being stubborn about showing me her bands, but I saw white a couple of times.

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She was in hyper alert mode, watching everything that moved around her, including a plane that flew overhead.  I decided to stay with her before checking for the other juvies, hoping that she would attempt to hunt.  Before heading back to the Broad St Bridge, where I had a better view of the area, I checked the Times Square Bldg and Widows Walk.  Here is a sure sign that there are no falcons on Widows Walk!  haha!

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I parked on the Broad St Bridge, facing west.  From there I could see Rosetta below Mercury and the surrounding area, just in case she decided to attempt a hunt, which I really hoped she would.  I was lucky to be one of the Watchers that witnessed Orion’s first successful hunt last year.  This year’s juvies may already be hunting on their own, but no one has reported seeing them hunt yet.  Larry O joined me for awhile before he had to head home.  A Green Heron arrived on the river below, which is very low right now, and started to fish for it’s dinner.

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By 8:30, Larry had left and since it was getting dark and Rosetta seemed to be settling in, I decided it was time to check for the other juvies.  I drove all around downtown before heading over to the Frontier Communication Tower.  That’s where I found the other two juvies.  They were playing up near the top of the tower, flying and jumping around.  They were quiet, no vocalization.  Just as I was going to try to get some really bad pics in the low light, first one and then the second one took off, heading east.  I attempted to follow, but by the time I made it to the Andrews St Bridge, they were no where to be found, including Rosetta who was no longer below the Mercury statue.  I have a suspicion that one of the adults may have brought in food and all three juvies went to greet their parent.  Oh, well.  I was very happy to have seen all three tonight.  Every day we see them at this point is a gift, since they could start taking off on their migration at any time.  That will be a very sad and at the same time, happy day.  But until that happens, the Rochester Watchers will be out and about and reporting what we see.

It was just before 9:00 pm and getting dark.  My last stop was the Kodak Tower, where I hoped to see them one last time before I ended my Watch.  I pulled over next to the Kodak parking lot and immediately spotted one juvie on the SE corner of the launch pad.  Another was flying around the top of the tower and landed on the east side of the cupola.  The lights were on and at least two juvies were there to roost for the evening.  It was too dark to tell if there was a 3rd.

I’ll leave you with one more horrible low light picture, which shows the one juvie on the launchpad.  It was time for me to head home.  Goodnight everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Another gem of a day here in Rochester with clear conditions and a starting temp 0f 61 (F) 16 (C)

No falcons on the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) when I drove off 490 but right around the corner on Kodak Office (KO) I found Baron and Voyager on the cupola in the semi darkness as the sun was on its way up to greet us.

Please click on my pics to see the full version

Voyager walked around to the front where she could see her brother and they took turns whining for a few minutes. It was like they were trying to one up each other as one would display its wings and then the other. Oh I’m gonna miss them when they’re gone-sooo entertaining! They kept this up for 20 minutes and then Voyager took off followed by Baron going after a great Blue Heron above me on Mill St. breaking it off and then flew south.

<Click it

I went to the City Hall parking lot and found them on the FCT-Baron was on platform railing north side and Voyager was under the platform at the southeast corner.

<Baron  Voyager>

A starling came flying thru and Voyager took off after it and Baron did too, going into a stoop and I lost them behind the church. I next saw them flying around above City Place so I drove up to the top of the Sister Cities garage to get closer. As luck would have it they both landed across from me on the north side of the City Place roof and Voyager had prey. I wish I could say for sure that she caught it but I missed the end of the chase so for all I know this could have been cached food since they eat frequently up on that roof.

<click it<Baron<Voyager

Voyager picked at the prey item for a bit then she made her way over to Baron and then he had it. She flew off after a few minutes chasing another small bird around the FCT and vanished on the north side of the tower so i believe she must have landed somewhere over there where I couldn’t see her.

<Click it

Around 7am Baron flew over to the small tower with the food and while I checked my pics for leg bands so I knew who I was watching he left.

A minute before that I saw Voyager shoot out from the tower and fly west. After Baron was no longer in view Larry tweeted that he could see a falcon on the small tower dish-reporting from the pedestrian bridge with Dan. I took a look and could just barely make out Barons head.

<Click it

I then looked south and spotted a falcon on the 2nd arm of the jail tower southeast side. I walked to the south end of the garage roof to get a closer shot of it and from the posture and head I believe it was Beauty.

From this end I could now see Baron as he moved over a bit on the dish. 10 minutes later he slipped off the dish flying north past KO until I could no longer see him.

I turned around and looked at the jail tower which was now falconless. I decided to go to Brighton at this time. I found Pigott on the west end of the south side vent and it was apparent she had just finished eating as there were feathers blowing in the breeze on the edge of the vent next to her,she had a full crop and was picking at her bloody big yellow feet.

10 minutes later she flew around to the west side landing on a top window near the cubby. She had her back to me so I left her to roost and digest her meal.

Miss Pigott would be the last PEFA I saw as I returned downtown and looked everywhere and couldn’t find one. I ended my watch on the Pont De Rennes pedestrian bridge where all I saw were gulls. I only saw 3 out of 6 of our Rochester Peregrine Falcons but that was more than enough to send me on my way with a smile on my face! 🙂

Click on the links below to view my photo album and videos from this mornings watch

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqidI

http://youtu.be/8ih7kgKCjDo

http://youtu.be/tazBvxeCZ4k

http://youtu.be/KD3cVthshh4—

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Well, it looks like we had a visit by an unknown  juvie to the gorge on Friday.  Not Baron, Voyager or Rosetta.  I posted a picture in my last report showing a blue banded juvie flying over the observation deck.  This was after the food transfer from Beauty to one of the girls.  I had wondered why the juvie in the picture had only blue tape on her band and why her legs looked really yellow.   I had suspected that it was Rosetta and that her white stripe had come off, like Baron’s. This afternoon, Dana got a couple flight shots of Rosetta  and guess what?  She still has her blue and white striped tape on her band!  So, who was this visitor?  We will probably never know.  Maybe she was just passing through on the start of her migration and decided to stop by when she saw other juvies and an adult with food.  I assume female based on size, but can’t be 100% sure.  So Watchers, be on the look out for a blue banded juvie who may decide to visit again!

Here is my picture of the blue banded juvie from Friday and 2 of Dana’s pics of Rosetta from today.  Be sure to click on them to see a larger pic.

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It was a quiet watch tonight, shared with Lisa, Dana, Lou and Larry O.  I checked the whole downtown area and had no luck finding any falcons.  When I arrived at the pedestrian bridge, the Osprey was in the falcon sucking tree on the side of the gorge wall and she had a very large fish she was eating.  When I left at 8:00 pm, she was still eating. lol

Before the other Watchers arrived, I spotted a juvie on the Frontier Communication Tower, 2nd arm down.

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During the watch, we saw first one juvie, which Lisa ID’d as Voyager, eating on the large disk on the side of the Frontier Communication Tower.  She reported that the juvie on the 2nd arm down, took off and chased some crows then returned to the large disk.

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The Osprey had a really big fish!  It’s so interesting to be able to watch a young Osprey fishing in the river below.  She dives from the tree into the river and disappears under water, then comes back up flapping her wings.  She then flies around, gaining altitude and usually returns to the tree again sometimes with a fish.  I’ve seen her successfully catch a fish once.  I’m sure I just missed seeing her catch this large fish.

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When we all left at 8:00 pm, the Osprey was still eating and there were two juvies on the Frontier Comm Tower.

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It was such an enjoyable weekend, I hated to see it end.  Night everyone and keep your eyes to the sky for that blue banded juvie!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Another nice morning for a watch with a cool starting temp of 54 (F) 12 (C) and calm clear conditions.

My first stop right off the 490 ramp bagged me a juvie on the 2nd arm of the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT). And after checking the east side I found a 2nd juvie on the northeast corner of the platform railing.

10 minutes both juvies flew northwest and after a look around the Kodak Office area I decided to go to the High Falls Pont De Rennes pedestrian bridge. On my way I spotted Baron on the northwest corner of the WSC building, which is on Water St. behind the falls off Andrews St.  I barely had time to stop and get pics before he was off  flying west out of my field of vision.

I continued on to the Genesee Brewery on Cataract St. on the east end of the High Falls gorge. Dan was on the bridge and said that he had seen the Osprey fly in and land on the falcon sucking tree (FST) and leave earlier.  He also saw a couple falcons near the FCT at one point. There was a juvie on the northwest corner of the FCT platform railing as I arrived.  5 minutes later Dan yelled the Osprey is in the gorge and then it flew over to the FST and landed.

We noticed the FCT bird gone around 7am as we watched the Osprey. 20 minutes later we had a juvie on the small satellite dish on FCT and another one on the southwest corner of the platform railing. Dan he west side of spotted a mama turkey and 2 kids down below Browns Race on the west side of the falls.

You must click on my pics to see the full version

A couple minutes later the dish bird was gone and 10 minutes after that the other juvie left. While scanning the buildings i spotted a falcon on the Times Square Building (TSB) under the northeast wing.

It was time for Dan to leave so I decided to go over to the observation deck to see if I could get a better view of the Osprey. There was a rainbow from the mist caused by the falls that stretched across where the Osprey was located and the mist was raining down on me so I didn’t stay long.

I left about 8am and went to the FCT after spotting a falcon on the small satellite dish again. I parked in the Frontier parking lot to get the best view. I believe it was Baron.

We shared space on this quiet Sunday morning for the next half hour and then he slipped off the back of the dish and I didn’t see him again. I got a text from cam watcher Donna that she could hear a juvie screaming near the TSB so I drove right over to the Broad St. Bridge to have a look. I didn’t find a juvie but I did find both Beauty and Dot.Ca (DC) on the top ibeam of OCSR-she was at the west corner and he was near the south corner. I drove to the hole for a closer view.

<Click it to see Beauty

5-20 minutes later I heard a juvie whining and then I saw it flying over the river toward OCSR where it went around by the elevator shaft and disappeared behind OCSR to the north.

A pair of pigeons started splashing around in a puddle and I couldn’t resist taking a few pics as they seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves.

The Beautyful one and DC seemed all cinched in so I visited the Brighton site where I found Pigott on the west extension at the west end on the 2nd window down.

Miss Pigott had her back to me as she preened and picked at her feathers. I didn’t stay long as I was satisfied to have seen her there safe and sound. On my way back downtown I stopped in Cornhill on Exchange Blvd. near Plymouth Ave. as I often do to take a look at the jail tower and other frequent falcon perching spots.

<click it

From there I could see that the Beautyful one and DC were still on OCSR. I searched for juvies and didn’t find any until as i was driving south bound down Fitzhugh St. by City Hall 2 juvies flew above me going the opposite direction. By the time I turned away they were out of sight. I went up to the top of the Sister Cities garage and had a look around but couldn’t see any falcons other than Beauty still on the west corner of OCSR. I decided to go to the pedestrian bridge for one more check entering on the west end at Browns Race.

I didn’t see any falcons or the Osprey. I left and after checking downtown one more time with no results other than Beauty and DC still on OCSR I called it a watch at 10am. I saw all 3 Rochester adult Peregrine Falcons and I’m pretty sure I saw all 3 juvies. The feature that made me smile the most was seeing that Osprey! 🙂

Click on the links below to view some videos from my watch

http://youtu.be/8kWp65ZkdaU

http://youtu.be/Or2hIInsDII

http://youtu.be/OmiDBirPsGw
http://youtu.be/pEIHU63MWnU
http://youtu.be/TDbG57OgSzo—

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

The day started out at 64 (F) 18 (C)  with a nice refreshing breeze and no humidity issues.

I found a falcon on the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) straight away and turns out it was Rosetta. She was on the east side platform railing and she was whining. She flew off to the northeast and returned whining and the reason for all this whining was Dot.Ca (DC) was coming. FYI-I mistakenly tweeted that it was Beauty on my watch. DC landed on the top arm south side  and Rosetta circled the tower and went northeast again.

DC

DC then flew north and when I got over to the east side of the tower DC was on the platform railing and Rosetta who had come back without me seeing her was on the tower somewhere whining.

DC

DC then jumped down to the platform and back up then off. I still couldn’t find Rosetta as she whined.  Suddenly she flew up to the platform railing on the east side. DC then returned with prey and went to the southeast cube and started plucking feathers.

Rosetta got impatient and flew off  a couple times landing in a couple different spots and then finally settled down right by dear old dad snatching his prey and moving him out. She then mantled her prize whining the whole time as DC headed out away from her to a beam by the satellite dish.

Rosetta after a few minutes took the small package back further under the platform where I couldn’t see her but I knew she was in there for feathers were floated out from under there. DC left  and went to Kodak Office launch pad as reported by Larry who was on the  High Falls pedestrian bridge with Dan and Rosetta quieted down.

Another juvie flew in and now I had 2 of them I couldn’t find!  Finally I found Baron on a beam below the southeast cube with a full crop. These kids sure are eating well these days! 10 minutes later I located Rosetta under the platform neat the northwest corner.

After some moving around on the beams Rosetta walked and hopped her way around to the south side near the southeast cube and brother Baron. He must have felt it was too close so he flew in further under the platform and that southeast cube.

<Rosetta> <Rosetta

<Baron>

10 minutes later Baron came shooting out from the tower followed by Rosetta both flying northeast where they met up with Voyager and played some talon tag. They ended up over the high falls area where I lost sight of them. I went to the pedestrian bridge and found a juvie on the fence to the east of the falls.

I thought it looked like Voyager and I missed her when she left as I was looking for other PEFAs in the gorge area. As I was leaving the bridge I saw 2 falcons on FCT-they were gone when I got there so I went to Brighton next and didn’t see Pigott at first. I parked by the cubbyon the west side and a bit later she came flying out of the cubby to a top window by the west extension inside corner.

I left Miss Pigott as she was napping on and off and found Beauty under the southeast wing of the Times Square building (TSB) when I returned downtown. I would find out a few minutes later she wasn’t alone up there for Rosetta popped up from the back of the ledge and started whining.

<click this pic and all my pics for the full version

Beauty soon got the boot as Rosetta hopped out with food in one talon and bumped the Beautyful one off the ledge. She flew northeast and Rosetta claimed the ledge as hers going to the back of the ledge to resume stuffing that already full crop.

It was about this time when former lurker and now falcon watcher Deanna and her husband Bud came by as I was on the Broad St. Bridge. Carol joined us followed by Dana and we all watched a Great Blue Heron which had speared a whopping big fish from the river try to get it off its beak so it could eat it. It had fishing line attached to it and it was all over the GBH as another GBH followed it to the east wall where it promptly jumped on its back and stole the fish. It swallowed the fish quickly and easily as the loser of the spoils flew down river.

Gulp

Rosetta had left and Dana spotted Beauty on the top ibeam south side of OCSR. We decided to go to high falls and see what we could see. Dan and Kathy were on the pedestrian bridge when we got there. Shortly after we arrived Voyager came flying in the gorge and landed in the falcon sucking tree (FST)  on the gorge wall.

Lisa came by just before I left and Voyager gave me a send off as I was leaving by flying around the gorge and going back to the FST. What a fun watch with lots of smiling faces as I was blessed to see all 6 Rochester Peregrine Falcons on this day! 🙂

Click on the links below to view a photo album and some videos

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqicu

http://youtu.be/Lj9-AubDREk

http://youtu.be/C1MNl_-W1d4

http://youtu.be/MHIfx0QlkvQ
http://youtu.be/RK3g-d1DcSU—