By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

When I stepped out the house this morning it was a brisk 34 degrees (F) 1 (C) with a light breeze and overcast skies

I found Beauty on her night time roosting spot-the 5th column from the southeast corner of Xerox on the south side at 6:40am.

Click on my pics for full version

10 minutes later cam watcher Annette (thank you) tweeted that there was a falcon on the Mercury money bag (MMB). So Dot.Ca (DC) had arrived and was probably looking for Beauty. A mere minutes after that the Beautyful one flew off in that direction. As I pulled up on the Broad St. Bridge I could see DC on the Mercury money bag (MMB).

While I observed DC I spotted Beauty fly to the jail tower and land on the top arm west side. I drove to Troup St. but she was gone when I got there. I then drove  to the hole to watch DC on the MMB and as I arrived I found Beauty on the Wilder buildings green strip near the fire escape ladder around 7:15am.

Even with all the rain and wind we’ve had the last few days there’s still color on the trees as the leaves hang on. Beauty had her back to me for the most part-she would turn her head now and again. DC was looking for a prey bird to fly by so he could snatch it. Right around 7:30am Beauty took off and a split second later DC followed as they flew north out of sight.I looked for them but didn’t find them so I went to the Brighton Site (BS). Pigott was nowhere to be found so I returned to downtown. As I was driving east on Court St. Beauty came flying toward me from the east and over my head-she continued due west. I caught up with her on the base of Mercury at 8:30am as she had a small package and was eating and plucking feathers.

She stopped eating after 15-20 minutes and started trying to situate her leftovers in her talons just right but when she flew off it dropped.

I didn’t see if she grabbed it but I found her on the Wilder green strip again after a short search. Again Beauty showed me her back and this time she started napping as she had satisfied her hunger minutes earlier. She went into a bit of a defensive posture briefly as DC flew in right above her and continued on to come to rest on the 2nd ibeam south corner of OCSR.

As tiny little snow pellets fell on and off I was impressed that some of the mums around the city are still hanging in there even tho we’ve had a killing frost. There are survivors in all walks of life! I decided to end my watch 3 hours after I started it at 9:30am with Beauty to my left and DC to my right-smiling as I left the hole! 🙂

Click on the links below to view more pics and some videos

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqi6c

http://youtu.be/ThQ0gEZ1A2Q

http://youtu.be/mF6xjRxCSSk

http://youtu.be/Yfw4uJJZdb0

http://youtu.be/ix54RXZmpQo

http://youtu.be/TCE4hcrFNFA

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

The warm weather of yesterday has gone with the wind as the temperature was 20 degrees colder this morning at 43 (F) 6 (C)

I found Dot.Ca (DC) on the Mercury money bag (MMB) around 7:30am looking for prey as I parked on Bank Place next to the Philipone building.

A few minutes later he flew north and then turned west and hit the after burners leaving my field of vision in a hurry. I chased after him going toward the Frontier Communications tower where I spotted a falcon fly off of it and head south. I put on the brakes and headed to the Broad St. Bridge where I saw a falcon circling the jail tower twice and then it landed on the top. I guessed it was DC since he’s the only one I’ve ever seen up there other than a juvie. Then Beauty circled and landed on the top arm west side. I drove to Troup St. and was able to confirm that I was correct on who was who.

<Beauty <DC   Click on my pics to view the full version

The red light on top of the tower was lighting DC up as it blinked on and off making for a new species I have named the Red-throated Peregrine.

<DC>

About a minute later Beauty flew up closer to her mate and less than 5 minutes after that  Beauty flew off and DC followed behind her prompting me to do the same.

<Beauty  DC> 

I ended up in the hole as Beauty was peeking from the base of Mercury and DC was on the northeast corner of the Widows Walk (WW) railing.

I drove over to Fitzhugh St. by WW to see observe DC from the front and cam watcher reported that Beauty was gone from Mercury. Thanks! DC was watching starlings below and then he flew off and down to the northeast corner and started to eat cached food.

After DC finished eating I drove off to find Beauty and spotted her on the opposite corner of WW eating her own piece of cached food.

<Click it> <Beauty

The Beautyful one had her back to me so I drove over to Broad St. to watch and shortly there after she flew north.

I left for the Brighton Site but Pigott wasn’t there. I called it a watch at 9:10am as I had places to be. I love how Beauty and DC are sticking so close together these days-it makes me smile! 🙂

Click on the links below to see 3 videos from my watch

http://youtu.be/SumXYndXFnM

http://youtu.be/T0O17DL2aUA

http://youtu.be/Vspqe07QUWc

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Wow at 63 degrees (F) 17 (C) it was a balmy November morning here in Rochester,NY but the winds of change are a comin’ as a cold front brought in on the heels of a very windy day will drop temperatures. I believe I heard talk of snowflakes on Sunday!

It was nearing 8am when I finally found Beauty on the OCSR building top ibeam northeast side from the Andrews St. Bridge. I couldn’t ID her for certain until I went over to Bragdon St. next to the Radisson Hotel.

She kept looking north in the 10 minutes that I observed her but then at 8:02am she flew south. I went on the hunt to find her and 5 minutes later I got a report from cam watcher Donna that Beauty was at the nest box. I headed over there from the east side and got a tweet from cam watcher Annette that there was eechupping near the nest box. Thank you ladies! Unfortunately, traffic held me up and I didn’t get to the Broad St. bridge (BSB) in time to see anything. I did however find Dot.Ca (DC) on the top ibeam southeast side of OCSR.

And for a bonus a rainbow formed to the north with some dark clouds above.

A few minutes later DC flew north. When I was out on the bridge I had a hard time keeping the camera steady from the strong winds and when I tried in the car I had the same problem as it was rocking me in that as well. I set out to look for our fine feathered friends but was unsuccessful so I drove to the Brighton Site (BS). 3 trips around the building and no Pigott sighting. I left to pick up fellow falcon watcher and close friend Jeannes’  puppy Isabella and then we went downtown around 8:30am. I found the Beautyful one had returned to the top ibeam northeast side of OCSR.

I was parked at the Radisson Hotel at Main St. and as the sun came out I couldn’t help but see the white of DC on the southeast side of OCSR top ibeam.

The wind was blowing out of the west so DC was getting his feathers ruffled more than Beauty as they seemed pretty settled on their spots. The sun went away and then DC was in the shade as well.

I ended my watch at 10am wishing I had seen Miss Pigott what with the wind, but no worries for as I write this report Lisa has reported seeing Pigott at BS. So all 3 Rochester Peregrine Falcons have been seen today and that makes me smile! 🙂

Check out the links below to see videos of  Beauty and DC

http://youtu.be/a-qkgRVv-GY

http://youtu.be/yaeefr9l9Tc

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was like a heatwave this morning compared to the last few days as the temperature was 44 degrees (F) 7 (C) unfortunately it was dark, kind of ghoulish and raining.

Despite the weather our falcons still have to tend to business and so do I. When I drove down Ajax Alley behind HSBC I spotted a falcon on the north side of the roof at 7:40am.

There was no way to ID this bird from there so I went to my spot on Chestnut St. near the Hotel Cadillac and could clearly see that it was Beauty and she was eating.

10 minutes after arriving the Beautyful one managed to slip away without me seeing. I went to the Broad St. bridge (BSB) to check Mercury as I had gotten a tweet from cam watcher FlaDonna that she thought she saw a falcon on the statue. Nobody was on it when I got there but thanks for trying to help me out from Florida! After an extensive search around the city the only thing I saw hanging out on  a building was the OCSR window washers who are still working on the northeast side.

I left for the Brighton site, arriving at 8:45am I found Pigott on the northwest corner of the west extension eating. She was quite wet but it had stopped raining momentarily.

Miss Pigott got spooked and stopped eating soon after I got there looking southeast cranking her neck up to see something. I didn’t see anything from the ground. She picked up her food and dropped it once so I knew she wasn’t done eating yet.

I hung with her for about an hour and returned to downtown around 9:45am. As I was on the BSB looking at the Times Square building I thought I caught a falcon fly up in the OCSR elevator shaft out of the corner of my eye. I drove over to Main St. by the Radisson Hotel to look and there was one up there on the north side.

It was raining hard at this time but I could see white  so I figured it was Dot.Ca (DC). I was surprised that a falcon would go up in there while there were window washers right below the elevator shaft but I guess he wanted shelter from the rain more than avoiding people.

At this point I wasn’t positive  this was DC so I set out to check for a second falcon. I found one on the northeast cube of the Frontier Communications Tower and it was none other than Beauty so now I knew DC was in the elevator shaft.

I was content having seen all 3 of our Rochester Peregrine Falcons so I ended my watch at 10am happy and smiling! 🙂

P.S.  HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Click on the links below to watch our wet falcons on video

http://youtu.be/uH-I6i3TELw

http://youtu.be/1_UvaSlxlNM

http://youtu.be/5QSzzrrcXwY

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

There is one word that describes this falcon watch report.  Inseparable!  That’s what Beauty and Dot.ca were, inseparable.  Where one went, the other followed.  It didn’t matter if it was Beauty or Dot.ca that left first, the other followed.  I spent close to 2 hours watching these two and I enjoyed every moment of my Watch.

It was a circus downtown, literally!  Larry O and his dog Harold joined me for a short time when I was over on Aqueduct St watching Beauty and Dot.ca on the base of Mercury.  When the sun started to go down, it got cold. Brrrrr!

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When I first arrived, they were both on the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT).  Beauty took off first and Dot.ca followed.  Donna, a camera watcher/reporter tweeted out that both Beauty and Dot.ca had entered the nest box on the Times Square Bldg.  She described it as a “chup fest!”   They were bowing to each other, strengthening their bonds.  After they left the nest box, they both returned to the Frontier Communication Tower and both landed on the top arm.  Beauty again took off and a few minutes later, Dot.ca followed and so did I.

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I followed them downtown and found Beauty eating on the base of Mercury.  The roads were congested with rush hour traffic and folks coming in to see the Circus at the Blue Cross Arena.  I ended up parking down on Aqueduct St, where I was able to get out of my car and get good view of Beauty.  It wasn’t long before Dot.ca flew in and landed on Mercury’s moneybag hand.

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After finishing her meal, Beauty cached the remainder on top of the base of Mercury.  She then took off heading north, over the river.  Dot.ca followed.  They flew together in front of the OCSR, then headed back towards the Times Square Bldg.  I really thought they were both going to land up there, but Beauty turned back and landed on the SW corner of Wilder building.  Of course, Dot.ca landed just behind her.  They ee-chupped a bit and I thought maybe they would copulate, but it didn’t happen.

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* To see Dot.ca, you have to click on this one.

They didn’t stay there long.  Both returned to the base of Mercury, where they both found food and ate.

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Dot.ca took off and then Beauty took off.  Dot.ca landed on Mercury’s money bag hand and Beauty landed on Mercury’s heel.  This is where I left them at the end of my downtown Watch.

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I had checked on Pigott earlier in the Watch, but could not find her.

The sun was setting and it was cold.  Time to head home, via Charlotte/Summerville and Russell Station route.  By the time I drove down to the lake, the sun had set and there wasn’t much light to see by.  I could not find any falcons at any of these locations.  While I was parked by the pond on the north side of Russell Station, I spotted a gull that had the tip of its wing tangled up in fishing line.  Thankfully I was able to release the gull.  I really do hate when I find fishing line and always collect it when I see it and properly dispose of it.  It’s just too easy for wild life to get tangled up in it.  I was happy to have been able to help the gull.  Now it was time to end my Watch and head home.

Goodnight everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was overcast and 37 degrees (F) 3 (C) when I started my watch today but the sun did eventually come out and make for a nice autumn day in Western New York

I can think of no better way to start a watch than with Beauty perched atop the Mercury money bag (MMB) and that’s just what happened this morning. 🙂 She was looking left and right and all around for a meal ticket.

Remember to click on my pics to view the full version

The Ringling Brothers-Barnum and Bailey circus is in town at the Blue Cross Arena filling up the Court St. bridge with their cargo trucks and some on the Broad St. bridge (BSB)as well. The purple lights on the Rundell Library were still lit.

Pat stopped briefly on her way to work at Thomson Reuters just before 8am. About 10 minutes later Beauty vocalized and a couple minutes later stretched her wings and flew off across the river past the Hyatt Hotel and headed to Bausch&Lomb where she landed and picked up cached food.

The Beautyful one flew back across the river and ended up on the Times Square building (TSB) under the northwest wing where she began eating. I went down to the hole next to He’s Chinese to watch.

I decided to go look for Dot.Ca (DC) around 8:30am and as I was waiting for the light at State and Church streets I saw a falcon flying toward Times Square. I cut across to Fitzhugh St. and stopped near Widows Walk where I could see Beauty under the northwest wing and she was not alone. DC had joined her and no doubt wanted a piece of her cache. She left seconds after I arrived empty taloned-so she was nice enough to leave a chunk for her mate at the back of the ledge.

I left him to see where Beauty might have gone but I couldn’t find her. When I returned to TSB there was no sign of DC. After a check around downtown with no sightings I switched gears and went to the Brighton Site (BS). On the way I took some more foliage photos as the trees are losing their colorful leaves fast now.

Arriving at BS at 9:15am, I spotted Pigott on the front edge of the cubby with her back to me. In the hour that I shared space with Miss Pigott she never turned around but she did have a busy head as she watched some crows that were in the area giving she and I a show with their antics.

I left her and returned to downtown-as I was on the Andrews St. bridge I spotted a falcon on the northeast cube of the Frontier Communications Tower. As I pulled up it flew off heading west around 10:30am. I checked around the Times Square area and then headed toward Kodak Office (KO) where I found both Beauty and DC on the launchpad. She was on the east side just a few feet away from DC who was on the northeast corner with his back to her as i was on State St. to the south of the tower by Platt St.

These 2 crack me up how they act like they’re ignoring each other when close with their backs to each other. Beauty turned facing the east so I drove down to Mill St. for better viewing.

<Click it <Click it

I then decided to drive to the north side of KO so I could see the front of DC and after a few minutes I called it a watch at 11am.

Anytime I can say I saw all 3 Rochester Peregrine Falcons safe and sound on my watch I just have to smile! 🙂

Click on the links below to see more pics and some videos

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqi42

http://youtu.be/t7I8Tr4XRwo

http://youtu.be/DeP_V3KFW_0

http://youtu.be/Fe5tDAsTk10

http://youtu.be/l9vArnj_1-w

http://youtu.be/DPxZmbBvlvs

http://youtu.be/FVUEeWsyU_E

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

A very short and sweet falcon watch report tonight.

I first checked downtown – Nothing.

Then I checked the BS location – Nothing.

Back downtown.  Finally a falcon!  Woohoo!  🙂

Beauty was on the outstretched hand of Mercury.  Here are a few pics.

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While I was downtown, Dana reported seeing an adult Peregrine Falcon eating on the glass pyramid on the roof of the old Medley Center in Irondequoit.  Both Lisa McK and Kathy O were at the BS location and neither had seen Pigott there.

I searched all over downtown for a 2nd time and could not find Dot.ca.  At 5:00 pm, it was time to move on.  My next stop was the Charlotte/Summerville area.  Again, no falcons found.  Russell Station was my last stop. By 6:00 pm, clouds were moving in and I was quickly losing light.  No sightings of any falcons there either.  The only raptor I found was an adult Red-tailed Hawk hunting on the south side.  It was time for me to call it a watch.

This weekend we start Daylight Savings Time.  So next week, it will get darker even faster.  Darn.  🙁

On my way home, I passed Buck Pond in Greece, NY.  The sun was setting, making for a beautiful view.  Goodnight everyone!

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By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

We had a killing frost last night-as I left for my watch the temperature was a cold 27 degrees (F) 3 (C) but the sun came up and shone brightly

My first sighting was Dot.Ca (DC) on the Mercury money bag (MMB) at 7:29am. He left soon after flying east across the river and going behind the Hyatt Hotel where I lost sight of him.

I drove to the east side looking for DC but I didn’t find him. At 8am I found a falcon on the northeast corner of the 20th floor of Kodak Office (KO). Parked on State St. near Platt St. I was having trouble identifying it as it didn’t seem dark enough to be Beauty and not white enough to be DC. I ended up tweeting that it was Beauty because I didn’t see a heart shape on the malar stripe.

About 5 minutes later cam watcher Donna (thank you) reported a falcon on the MMB so I drove over to check it out thinking if I found out who it was then I’d know who was on KO. It was Beauty and she flew off going southeast so I returned to KO and parked on Mill St. to observe who I thought was DC.

<Beauty>   

The more pics I looked at of the KO falcon the more doubt I had that it was DC-it didn’t perch like him, there was no heart, it had a very dark helmet and I had never seen DC or any other falcon on this particular corner.

Finally around 8:22am I got the proof I needed when this PEFA gave me some leg shots-there were no bands on either leg.

20 minutes later this unbanded male judging by size walked around the corner out of the sun and into the shade and showing his back. I had to drive down past Brown St. on State St. to find him-he blended in well.

He turned around to face me and stretched, then he got settled for a while.

Suddenly around 9:10am I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye. On the east side (where the unbanded tiercel had been) was 2 pigeons marching toward that northeast corner of the 20th floor on Kodak Office. I’m saying to myself-self, they’re going to walk right in front of that falcon! Sure enough, the lead pigeon hit that corner where they could see each other and off went the first pigeon followed by the 2nd pigeon as the PEFA took off as well. The pigeons were flying in a frenzy as they do when a Peregrine Falcon is within inches of them and the poor tiercel just wanted to get away. He flew right between them heading north and didn’t come back.

I drove down Lake Ave. in that direction and never found him-checked Hawkeye and Seneca Towers as I was close by but found nothing. Drove thru downtown and saw nothing except the Ringling Brothers-Barnum and Bailey Circus is in town and the Court St. Bridge was blocked off for their trucks. On my way to the Brighton site (BS), I witnessed a fender bender accident on Mt. Hope Blvd. Onward to BS where after a few days Pigott was finally gracing me with her presence.  She was perched on the southeast corner of the southeast extension preening.

I shared space with Miss Pigott for about 20 minutes when a double propeller military helicopter came flying toward BS from the east. I zeroed in on a spot to shoot the copter and as I panned it across the building I noticed Pigott was gone and so was the helicopter. It amazes me how close aircraft fly over the BS building (the airport is very close there) and I’m sure that’s probably why Pigott took off. I sure would if I saw something like that coming at me! So after Pigott didn’t return I left for downtown-stopping at a drug store on the way for a couple things when I witnessed a woman stick a candy bar down the front of her shirt. I was having quite the watch-sheesh!

So when I got downtown I searched but came up short on finding a falcon but I found window washers on the northeast side of OCSR to end my watch at 11am. I saw all 3 resident Rochester Peregrine Falcons, a bonus unbanded tiercel and some different stuff. After a watch like that how could I not be smiling!?!  🙂

Click on the links below to view more pics and videos

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqi4U

http://youtu.be/JlFITTj4ygI

http://youtu.be/rcn5G42R-_4

http://youtu.be/hO1Yos4DGMQ

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Cold start today at 37 (F) 3 (C) with mostly cloudy skies

So it looks like we have a new routine in the morning-we are hanging around the Times Square area instead of the east side the past few days. We’ve had a couple visits to the nest box and some pair bonding too, making me think Dot.Ca (DC) is getting ready to migrate. We shall see! Anyway, I found Beauty under the northeast wing of the Times Square building for the 3rd or 4th day in a row to start my watch at 7:30am.

I was parked in the hole next to He’s Chinese watching Beauty when cam watcher Annette tweeted there was a falcon on the Mercury money bag (MMB). I turned around to see DC up there but not for long as he flew off after a few minutes and went under the northwest wing of TSB across from Beauty with his back to both of us. He was in hunt mode.

<Click it

2 minutes after arriving DC flew off to the north and I followed right behind. As I was stopped at Fitzhugh and Main St. for a red light I noticed city workers putting Christmas lights up on the trees along Main St.

I continued on down Fitzhugh St. coming to rest in front of the Sister Cities parking garage where I could see DC on the northeast cube of the Frontier Communications tower. Wait-did I just say that!? That cube is Beautys’ perching spot! I took a couple pics to be sure that it was him and then I whipped back to TSB to see if Beauty was still there and she was.

From there I went to Brighton and once again Pigott was not there. I think this is like the 5th day in a row I haven’t seen her there in the morning but she has been seen in the afternoon and evenings by other watchers. I exited thru the back service road so I could check the PEFA tree and cell tower. There was a raptor on the cell tower but it was a Red-tail Hawk.

Returning to downtown I found the Beautyful one still under the northeast wing of TSB. I took one pic to be sure it was her and then took a drive around to look for DC. As I drove down Pleasant St. I spotted this painting on a building. We have some fine artists here in Rochester sharing their talents to make the urban jungle more appealing.

I didn’t find DC and ended my watch at 9:15am as I had a busy day ahead of me. Keep smiling! 🙂

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

http://youtu.be/0ok9hsZIp8Y

http://youtu.be/-pzlKeRVInI

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

It was another wonderful weekend of falcon watching and I am happy to report that all 3 resident Rochester Falcons were seen, plus we are pretty sure we had Billy, the juvie from Buffalo, granddaughter of Mariah and Kaver. We couldn’t read her numbers, but she did have the black over green band.

Watchers that were out during my Watches: Dana, Kathy O, Lisa McK, Joyce & Larry O.

Most of my reporting will be through pictures.  Hope you enjoy!  Oh, and remember to click on any you would like to see in full size.

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Pigott at the BS Location

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Billy, the juvie Peregrine Falcon at Russell Station

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Sunday, October 27, 2013

Beauty (Times Square Bldg) and Dot.ca (OCSR) Downtown, Rochester

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Billy on the Antenna at the Coast Guard Station & Hunting at the Port of Rochester on the Charlotte Side.  Dana and I watched her just miss catching a pigeon there.

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It was great seeing all of the Rochester Peregrines doing well.

I’ll leave you with a few other pics I took this weekend.  Goodnight everyone!

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Duck Season Has Started