The morning started off kind of wet but when I arrived, there were so many watchers – it was awesome!  A little before 8AM, Mariah arrived with some food (a pigeon) that she gave to Quest, Diamante and Zephyr on the SE ledge of floor 13.  Susan B was on the ledge of building 9 (facing the parking lot) and Seneca was on the metal peak of the tower.  Kaver was hanging out on the communications tower behind us but only stayed there for a short while.  Seneca took off on a small flight towards the smoke stack – she went around it and then came back towards the tower trying to land on the metal peak but just couldn’t quite hit the landing…so she continued flying and ended up sticking the landing onto the 19^th floor SW ball.

Quest ended up eating most of the pigeon for a good 20 minutes or so until Mariah decided to steal it off of the ledge.  This got the three juvies into the air for some flying.  Mariah ended up dropping the carcass near the construction site and she flew back to the tower where she landed on the SE ledge of the 17^th floor.  Quest figured she had enough food and stayed on the ledge of 13, Zephyr landed on the corner of the Rochester Plumbing Supply building (which was where the food had landed!) and Diamante went to the ledge of building 9 (facing State St.).  A few of us walked over to find where the carcass had landed and we found it in the road.  Jim P. tried to throw it up onto a rooftop for Zephyr but he took off and landed on the antennae of the old Empire Brewing Company building.

At 10:30, Diamante decided to take a quick flight and after a short walk, we found him – he had landed on a satellite dish next to his brother on the antennae.Zephyr decided to give us all a scare with some low flying – he flew down in front of the watchers and landed for a quick second on the sidewalk and then took off flying low over the street until he got up to the SW corner of building 9 and landed.  Phew!

Around 9:15AM, Seneca flew off of the SW ball and went up to the playpen on the W side where she eventually made her way to the SE floodlight.  We were also treated to a Great Blue Heron flying over us with a fish in its mouth – he flew off towards the gorge.

Things went quiet and we enjoyed a doggie parade around 9:40AM until Mariah quickly took chase of a crow around the High Falls parking garage.  She wasn’t gone long and she rested back up on the NE ledge of 19.  There was a lot of kak-ing when she returned, but no food!

At 11AM, things started picking up as Kaver dropped off some food for Susan B on the corner of building 9.  Diamante and Zephyr quickly came over to steal it away. Susan B was able to get some before Diamante took it and went behind building 9 being chased by Quest.  The two of them ended up on a lower building roof behind building 10.

When I left, all were accounted for!  Another awesome watch!!

After Kelly left, I took over the Watch. She just missed Mariah’s
stoop off of the tower after a pigeon in front of the new housing
units being built across the street. Brian, Susan C and I watched in
amazement as Mariah did a move that just seemed impossible. She is
truly unbelieveable.

I had to leave for a moment and when I returned, I was told by Briah
H and Susan C that I had missed Mariah’s 2nd stoop off of the tower.
This time she snagged a Starling over the courtyard in front of
building. Darn! Brian said he never saw the small bird pass in
front of the tower. Instead he followed Mariah’s path and all he saw
was a “POOF” of feathers when Mariah hit the Starling.

We were joined by the nighttime Watchers, including Carrie, Shaky,
Jeanne, Joyce, Lucy, Dana, Lou and a couple who’s names escape me.
(Sorry!)

There was ALOT of flying during my Watch by all of the Fledglings and
M&K. Seneca ended up back at the playpen, under the nest box. Susan
B flew out to the smoke stack and was joined by Zephyr. They preened
each other. Ahhhhh! 😉

Lots of talon tag games were played, food was brought in. When I
left at 8:00 p.m., all 5 juvies were accounted for. What a beautiful
day it was for a watch.

Carol P.

Another beautiful evening for fledge watching! I arrived to find a number of watchers downtown. Carol P. was also on official watch. There were a couple of falcons in view. Closest to us was Seneca who had been hanging out on one of the lower buildings for most of the day. She seemed content to stay put while an adult flew in with what Brian said was prey. Immediately we saw 3 juvies where the food drop was on the east
side of the tower.

Around 5:30 Mariah started flying around the tower and it took no time for Zephyr to launch into the air. For the next 15 minutes we were treated to a lot of fun flying and talon tag by at least 3 juvies in the air at once! Seneca kept her on eye on her family but showed no signs of moving.

Approx. 5:45 Carol P. heard one of the adults sound the kak alarm. Kaver or Mariah was off to the east above the river. We grabbed the binoculars and spotted a very large, dark bird that was not a Turkey Vulture. The consensus was that it was a juvie bald eagle and it was escorted out of the area rather peacefully.

At 6:00 I got ready to go but still had my eye on Seneca who had started to exercise her wings. She started off the building into flight and in the breeze, up she went! She was a little unsteady and I think a draft or two caught her off guard. We all held one collective breath as she went across State Street but then made her way back to the building. Her first landing did not stick so another small flight and she came in for a second attempt– she knocked her mom off her perch–but she stuck the landing! It was great to see what must have been only her second or third flight.

Kelly W.

When I arrived I could see one adult falcon on the south-east corner of the
tower, 17th floor. Incorrectly taking it for granted that this was Mariah,
because in past years it has been her favorite spot, I was later corrected
by Shaky, who appeared briefly, having been roaming around to try to get a
better view. He pointed out that Mariah was on the smokestack (which I had
looked at from another angle) and that the south-east corner bird was Kaver.
He added that two juvies were on the flat roofs just south of the tower, and
another had been seen on the peak of Building 10. Before returning to work
he told me more, but I’ll leave it to him to post the story of the
threeway…

As I had forgotten my notebook, it was probably fortunate that most of my
watch was uneventful, but highlights were as follows.

While I was trying to find a better angle of view, Mariah must have left the
smokestack and flown to the scrape, where she perched on one of the camera
struts for most, or possibly all of my watch.

Kaver stooped toward the west side of the tower, toward a fairly small bird.
He was unsuccessful, but from the commotion caused amongst the juvies you’d
think he’d caught a pterodactyl! Two immediately flew after him and around
the tower. At one point there were four birds in the air. I am not sure
whether they were three juvies and Kaver, or two juvies and Kaver and
Mariah.

Two juvies ended up on Building 9. One lay near the edge of the roof of the
glass part of the building and did a lot of kakking. The other was nearer to
the tower, and then disappeared. I did not see it fly, so am guessing that
it walked back out of sight, but it might have been one of those mentioned
next.

I then spotted two juvies on the south-east corner of the tower, one on the
19th floor and one on the 17th. I think they remained there for the rest of
my watch, as did the one on Building 9. All were lying down – it was a
fairly warm day. Note that when they lie down at the back of a ledge,
against the building, they sometimes disappear. One of them did this. I am
fairly, but not totally sure, that I continued to be able to see just enough
of something that I think it remained there. If it did, then I saw at least
four juvies, because suddenly there was one in the air. It flew briefly,
attempted balancing on the peak of Bulding 10, disappeared, and then
(assuming it was the same one) flew to the base of the cupola, where it
perched and remained until the end of my watch.

In the meantime, Mariah was on a camera strut by the scrape, and Kaver was
on the eastern side of the launch pad, about half way between the rockets.

Diana

Hello again, Tom from Kodak here. I added a few more pictures to the end of the “2008 Falcon Ledge Watch” Gallery album that I posted the other day. You can access it here:

http://tomhoehn.1000words.kodak.com/default.asp?item=2216071

Zephyr made an appearance and for one of the few times ever, Mariah!

Enjoy.

I was the official Watcher from 4-6 p.m., but not much happened during that time.  Lots and lots of Watchers were out on this gorgeous evening.  We were even visited by RNews (local Channel 9 here in Rochester, NY).  Lisa McK was interviewed and the rest of us and M&K and kids were filmed for the evening news.

There was alot of flying during my Watch by Mariah, Kaver, Zephyr and Quest.  I had to laugh as I watched Zephyr knock Kaver off of his lilies multiple times.  Kaver had taken over as Zephyr’s new playmate.  But, that didn’t leave Quest unharrassed when she dared to take flight and join in on the fun.  As soon as Zephyr realized that she had joined them in flight, she was fair game for a game of talon tag.  We were all laughing at their antics.  Diamante even joined in on the fun.

Kat took over the Watch at 6:00 p.m.  I’ll let her report what happened after that.  It was a very exciting Watch with lots of flying by all five of our young fledglings.

There were alot of Watchers out tonite enjoying the antics of these young Falcons including (and I apologize if I leave anyone out), Kathy O and her sister, Carla, Kat, Dawn, Dan S., Jeanne, Kat, Lisa McK, Carrie, Shaky, Diane and I know there were others!

Carol P.

When I arrived there wasn’t much activity, all where settled down to relax from the afternoon warmth. Just around 6:00 the little boys decided to have a great game of catch me if you can until Mom came home with a pigeon. Zephyr, of course, came in and stole it and spent quite a bit of time enjoying his snack. A while later Zephyr and Quest had another game of tag, she is so much bigger than her “little” brother, and she is getting to be a great flyer!

Kaver later came in with a small snack and Diamante made sure he had his turn; actually he did it a second time later too.

All during this time Seneca was snuggled down on the launch pad and sister Susan B. was hanging around the playpen area. Just when we thought Susan B. had decided that the great big world wasn’t a place for falcons, she spotted Mariah coming in. She took off like a shot out toward the gorge and we started running, who knew what she was doing and how far she was headed. Just as quickly, Mom flew over head with a big pigeon and Susan B. hot on her tail. Mariah landed on one of the not so deep corner ledges and Susan B. quickly stole it and sat there precariously perched mantling the pigeon. Once she got her bearings and a good hold she took off and landed on one of the lower roofs on the south of the tower. A bit later Mariah flew down to help her clean it and Zephyr decided to help. After some squabbling over pigeon, Zephyr flew off and Susan B. got to enjoy her well earned meal.

Seneca did do a little flying and seems to be doing pretty good for her first day. When it was time for me to leave, all where accounted for, except Dad, earlier he got tired of being knocked off his perch by Zephyr and headed down town for some rest!!!

Kat B.

The fledglings packed plenty of flying into a little more than an hour. Plus, I got to see Seneca out of the playpen for the first time! Here are dozens (!) of pictures and a report of all the action:
http://marchlords.com/birdblog/2008/06/morning-fun-for-fledglings.html

Jim

I see that Lisa has posted about Seneca’s first flight.  This is such awesome news!  🙂

Jeanne called me a little after 8:00 a.m. to tell me that Seneca had fledged earlier this morning.  Yay!  I told her I’d be out as soon as possible, since the morning crew had to leave and no one was scheduled after they left.

When I arrived at Watcher’s HQ, Linda was just setting up her chair.  I gave her the good news and we started our Watch.  Seneca was still on the column between the “K” and the “O” on the 20th floor.  There was another fledgling on the east side of the 16th floor and Kaver was on the southeast corner, 18th floor.  Seneca kept running, and hopping and flapping her wings, trying to get Kaver’s attention. No others were in sight.

For the first hour it was fairly quiet.  Both Mariah and Kaver took turns flying around the tower, coaxing their young into flight.  There were a couple of takers.  We had 3 in the air at once, with Seneca watching.  It was getting warm so they all settled down.

Kaver brought in food.  That woke up some of them.  Mariah took off from the tower and attempted to take the food from Kaver.  Kaver had other ideas.  He kept the food and landed on the southeast corner of the 17th floor.  After about a minute of preparation, I saw one of the fledglings come around the tower, walk up to Kaver and snatch the prey.  This is why Mariah wants the food.  She has better control of which fledglings receive the food.  Kaver just gives it over to whichever one takes it.  LOL

Again it was quiet.  Quest had appeared just below Seneca on the 19th floor, southwest corner.  That’s all it took to get Seneca flapping again.  As we watched, Seneca took off and headed towards the High Falls Smoke Stack.  She was coming in too low, so she turned and headed back to the tower.  Seneca attempted to land on top of the peaked metal roof, east of the playpen.  We watched as she clung to the edge and flapped, trying to pull herself up to the peak.  No such luck.  She let go, slid down the metal roof, spread her wings and took flight, again heading for the stacks.  Still low, she turned and headed back to the tower, missed a landing on 17 and flew around to the north side of the tower, where we couldn’t see her land. 

I saw Quest take off and fly around to the northside in search of her sister.  By the time I arrived at the north side, I spotted Seneca sitting up on the 19th floor.  Quest was on the 18th floor, top of the Philadelphia Tower.  They were very close to each other.

It always amazes me when the fledglings seem to support each other.  Linda left and I had to leave at 10:30 a.m.  No other Watchers had shown up, so I walked around the tower on my way.  Kaver was on the lilies, Mariah was on the southwest corner of the 16th floor.  Seneca had made her way to the 19th floor, northwest ledge.  She was now just above Quest, who was snoozing on the philadelphia tower just below her.  There was one fledgling on the 16th floor, westside.  I couldn’t find #4 & #5, but I was sure they were up there snoozing in any shade they couldn find on the tower.

I was very pleased by Seneca’s flight.  I guess waiting longer and taking the time to strengthen her flight muscles was a good thing.  The last of our eyases have fledged.  Let the fun begin!  😉

Carol P.

Good Morning All:

I start this morning report with “Breaking News!”

Seneca has fledged!!!

Yes, I repeat, Seneca has finally fledged. She was perched between the K and the O of the KODAK sign when I arrived.

Signing off,

Lisa McK.

The Falcon Flyer