By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

6:30 – 7:40 pm

Yet another lovely fall evening in Rochester (NY).  Temps again in the 70’s (F).  I am really enjoying the continuing mild temperatures.  The weather people have them continuing through the weekend with a chance of rain.

At 6:30 pm, I started my Watch, by first checking out ST and Hawkeye.  I saw no falcons at either location.  I pulled into the YMCA to check the west side of the Hawkeye plant and spotted a Red-tail Hawk sitting on the YMCA bldg near a security camera.

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I headed downtown and could not find Beauty or Dot.ca on the Kodak Tower or the Frontier Communication Tower.  From the Andrew St Bridge, I could see that the OCSR elevator was down, so drove over to Main St and checked up inside the elevator shaft.  Although it was getting dark, Dot.ca was very visible on the north side ledge because he was facing out.  Beauty was up there too, on the south side ledge with her back to me.  Her tail was hanging over the ledge, otherwise it was really hard to see her.

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While I was watching Beauty and Dot.ca, Kathy O was over at the BS location with Pigott. Joyce had seen her earlier, so I decided to stay downtown for what little time I had before it would be too dark to see anything.

Kathy joined me on the Broad St Bridge until 7:40 pm, when it was time to end our evening Falcon Watch.

I’ll leave you with a few pictures of Rochester at night.  It was especially lovely this evening.  Goodnight everyone!

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By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

My watch started with a temperature of 63 degrees (F) 17 (C) and overcast skies

As I checked the north side of HSBC  at 7am I got an instant feeling of deja vu as Beauty and Dot.Ca (DC) were up there and she had food while he was begging from a few feet away just like Monday morning. I parked on Chestnut St. just south of the Hotel Cadillac to watch the festivities. DC walked over to her and  unlike Monday he got a chunk and started eating.

<Click it <Find them

They ate together back to back but keeping an eye on each other and I heard eechupping a couple different times. So instead of the normal Peregrine way of bowing and eechupping in the nest box these two do it over a meal. When DC finished his tiny morsel and started begging for more Beauty flew off with her leftovers and he went right along with her.

Beauty landed on the northeast corner and began eating again while DC landed on the northwest corner. Then he started running down the ledge toward Beauty. When he got a third of the way across he flew off and landed behind her on the east side and then jumped up on the ledge above her to really get in her face.

DC started whining again while Beauty finished off her meal and cleaned off her beak. DC went down on the ledge a few feet in front of Beauty as she had enough of him and flew off to the west. DC ran over to the corner to see if she left a crumb behind which she didn’t, and stood there for the next 10 minutes.

<Click it <DC

I left him there to see where the Beautyful one had gone. I stopped to take a pic of the front of Manhattan Square Park.

<Click it

I found Beauty on the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) perched on the northeast cube. I parked on Fitzhugh St. in front of the Sister Cities parking garage for the best view of her.

I stayed about 15 minutes and left to check our Brighton site-Pigott wasn’t home. I returned to downtown around 8:30am and from the Andrews St. Bridge I spotted Beauty still on her cube and DC right above her on the east side platform railing.

I left to check Hawkeye and Seneca Towers and had no luck finding a PEFA at either location so back to downtown I went. It took me a while but I finally located Beauty on the inside of the southeast cube from Church St. as I was parked in front of the Hochstein school of music.

Beauty preened and rested  as I shared space with her for about 10 minutes and then ended my watch around 9:30am. Once again our dynamic downtown duo entertained and kept me smiling! 🙂

Click on the links below to view videos from my watch

http://youtu.be/SQbqKX5XC_0
http://youtu.be/VjD0eEHpMk8
http://youtu.be/Qt7foNmK51E
http://youtu.be/qFvfbxzPMw8
http://youtu.be/WwheldLwzZ0

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Today was another gorgeous fall day with temps near 70 degrees (F).

I first checked Seneca Towers and Hawkeye.  No falcons seen at either location.  But, there was a visitor at the nest site at Hawkeye.  Sitting on the railing near the nest box was a Red-tail Hawk.  As I was driving down St Paul heading toward Hawkeye, I thought the juvie might have been up there, but no such luck.  Love to see RTH’s too though.

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I checked the west side of Hawkeye, just to make sure the juvie wasn’t over there and then headed downtown.  Driving south down State St gave me a great view of a falcon on the corner of Kodak Office.  I went around to the west side to get the sun behind me, which was starting to lower and was quite intense.  After getting a closer look, I found out that it was Beauty on the SE corner of the launchpad.

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From where I was parked on the west side of the Kodak Tower, I had a good view of the downtown area.  I was able to spot a falcon on the NE corner of the Time Square Bldg at the base of the wing.

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While I had Beauty and Dot.ca in view, I received a tweet from fellow Falcon Watcher Kathy O that she was watching Pigott at the BS location on the east side.  I drove down to the Broad St Bridge to get a closer look at Dot.ca on the Time Square Bldg.

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Both Beauty and Dot.ca were busy preening, so I headed over to BS to see Pigott.

I joined Kathy on the east side of the building where Pigott was located on a window 4 down from the roof.

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We were quickly losing daylight.  Like B&DC, she was preening.  lol

At 7:00 pm, she started to ee-chup loudly.  Kathy and I were looking around and finally saw what had Pigott vocalizing.  A falcon streaked over the top of the building heading over to the west side of the building.  Pigott stayed where she was and continued to vocalize, not as loudly as she had when the falcon arrived.  Kathy drove around the building, but could not find the falcon that we both assumed was Dot.ca.

We left Pigott on the east side of the building at about 7:15 pm.  It was too dark to continue our Watch.  Both Kathy and I did check out the downtown area on our way home, but again, it was too dark to see anything.  Oh, I miss those days when it was light until 9 pm.

The sky was beautiful this evening.  Red sky at night, sailors delight.   and it was delightful to us too!  Goodnight everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

This morning was mostly cloudy to start but the sun burst thru as time went on making for a lovely morning with a starting temperature of 58 (F) 14 (C)

Todays watch was all about Beauty as I did not see any other falcons during my watch. I found her on the HSBC building at 7am where she was eating on the northeast corner.

She finished after 10 minutes or so wiped her beak on the ledge, which is called feaking, spread her wings and flew off to the west.

I drove to the Broad St. Bridge to have a look around and found the Beautyful one on the top ibeam south corner of OCSR. i went down to Graves St. by Aqueduct Park for a close view.

While I was there fellow watcher and good friend DebbieH stopped by before work to visit with Beauty and I. Beauty snuck off as Debbie and I were talking and not paying attention but we rode over to the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) and found her on the northeast cube.

I dropped Deb off at work and left downtown to check the other sites but there was no sign of a falcon at either Brighton, Hawkeye or Seneca Towers. I re-joined Beauty around 9am as she was still on the northeast cube of FCT and after a couple minutes she hopped across and flew under the platform. I noticed her crop was bulging a bit more than it was earlier so she must have eaten while I was gone for that hour.

I left my spot in front of the Sister Cities parking garage on the south side of FCT to check from the City Hall parking lot which is on the north side. Beauty had her back facing out just to the inside of the northeast cube and that’s where I left her to check around for Dot.Ca.

I didn’t find DC so I ended my watch at 9:30am. I left downtown smiling for having spent my watch with my favorite Peregrine Falcon the Beautyful one! 🙂

Click on the links below to view some videos of Beauty

http://youtu.be/tS430UNcoZs
http://youtu.be/86U7W7GyMu8
http://youtu.be/y0iAkxXB0sI

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Clouds were the weather story this morning-it was very overcast with a temp of 57 degrees (F) 14 (C)

I checked Xerox and HSBC from Woodbury St. on the east side like I do every morning and saw a falcon on the northwest corner of HSBC at 7am. So I drove to Chestnut St. near the Hotel Cadillac which is the best spot to view that corner and to my surprise I saw 2 PEFAs up there. Dot.Ca (DC) was on the corner and a few feet behind him was Beauty.

Please click on my pics to view full version

DC turned around and started to walk toward Beauty noticing that she had food underneath her. She was determined to keep it from him and he was determined to get her to share. Many times DC flew off and returned to beg some more but Beauty was having none of it.  This was quite possibly the funniest series of events I’ve ever witnessed in the falcon world.

click it

DC tried sneaking up behind her to grab it but she had enough of his nonsense and flew off herself and landed further over on the ledge.  DC kept running on the ledge toward Beauty from the east end too-so funny!

click it

This all went on for half hour-DC flew off 4 or 5 times and Beauty 3 times until she’d had enough and left for good. As she flew off to the west DC checked along the ledge for scraps but there were none. He ran down to the northwest corner looking for the Beautyful one and took off.

I went after them and as I stopped on the Broad St. Bridge to have a look around I spotted a falcon on the middle arm of the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT). Upon arriving at City Hall I could see that Beauty was on the arm and DC was on the platform railing northeast corner. I parked on Fitzhugh St. in front of the Sister Cities parking garage at first and moved down in front of City Hall at one point for a closer view.

<click it

10 minutes later DC disappeared from the railing and I thought he had left but he re-appeared 10 minutes later. Beauty left the arm while I was watching DC around 8am.

I opted for going to the Brighton site at this time and as I rounded the west side to the back of the building I caught a glimpse of Pigott cruising across the top of the building westbound around 8:25am. She went into a stoop and missed then flew to the southwest extension and came to rest on the northwest corner right above the cubby.

I watched her preen and search the area for a meal for the next 25 minutes and then she flew around the building and landed on the southwest corner of the southwest extension.

As I shared space with Miss Pigott a chipmunk came along to check me out. Around 9:15am Pigott flew southwest and never came back.

It was time to check the Hawkeye and Seneca Towers locations and as I drove thru downtown on State St. I spotted Beauty on the northeast cube of FCT. Parked at the YMCA I saw a Red-tailed Hawk on the southwest corner of the lower roof on Hawkeyes west side. I drove to the east end of the Driving Park bridge and parked on Carthage St. for the closest look at this gorgeous raptor.

I hung out with Red for 20 minutes until he flew off to the west across the river out of sight.

I ended my watch at Seneca Towers at 10am with no juvie sightings there or at Hawkeye, but I did see all 3 Rochester Peregrine Falcons today. And let me just say that the antics of Beauty and DC on HSBC this morning made me smile oh so much! 🙂

Click on the links below to view my photo album and some pretty funny videos of Beauty and DC

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqiuI

http://youtu.be/FGOkFnDrBIQ
http://youtu.be/iEl0tRvgVZc
http://youtu.be/1ayccgUw-Cw
http://youtu.be/CfTdOjwzx8E
http://youtu.be/rqLWEF2fMl0
http://youtu.be/hE84mOUJ5Y4
http://youtu.be/sPNtOebecy0

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

At 10:50 am I received a tweet from fellow watcher Dana that there was a Juvie Peregrine Falcon flying above the Seneca Tower apartments, just north of the Hawkeye Plant where we were seeing the juvie hang out.  Dana reported that the juvie had landed on an air conditioning unit on the west side of the building.  Joyce and I joined Dana on the Watch.  Dana was able to confirm that the juvie was banded; one green over black and silver on the other leg, with no colored tape.  Again we were not able to read the numbers/letters on the band.  This juvie is staying high up on the buildings which is a good thing.

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At 12:50 pm, the juvie took off heading west over the river.  The search was on.  Joyce checked under the Rte 104 bridge and Dana and I checked out Hawkeye, Lake Ave KP and then walked out onto the pedestrian bridge at Maplewood Park.  Kathy O joined the search, but we were not able to find the juvie.

Dana and I did find a falcon while we were on the pedestrian bridge, but it wasn’t a Peregrine.  It was a Merlin on a dead tree on the east side of the river.

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It will be interesting to see if this juvie stays for the winter.  We Rochester Falcon Watchers love to keep track of our falcons during the winter!

I’ll leave you with a few pictures I took while we were on the pedestrian bridge at Maplewood Park.  The leaves are just starting to change.  In a few weeks this area will be gorgeous.  Enjoy!

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By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Beautiful blue skies and sunshine continue to grace us here in the flower city as I started my watch with a temperature of 51 degrees (F) 11 (C)

I thought I was going to get skunked this morning as I searched and searched for 2 hours and could find no falcons downtown at Hawkeye,Seneca Towers or the Brighton site. As a last resort I went to the Pont De Rennes pedestrian bridge at High Falls-I saw a Great Blue Heron and some gulls there.

I stayed there just a few minutes and then I checked the river from the Broad St. bridge finding a Great Blue Heron there as well and a Cormorant and lots of gulls and ducks.

Finally, I spotted a falcon under the northeast wing of the Times Square building with its back to me at 8:45am. I drove to Irving Place-the alley that runs behind Times Square for the best view of Dot.Ca (DC).

DC did a little preening and stretching but mostly he was looking for breakfast.  He stooped on a pigeon going between the Wilder and Telesca buildings chasing it as low as 10 feet above Exchange St. before breaking it off and flying back up under the northeast wing of Times Square. He not only thrilled me but scared me as well by going so low! Phew!

DC was facing east when he returned to his spot so I went over to the hole by He’s Chinese to see the front of him. A couple minutes later Larry came by hoping DC would stoop again so he could see it but instead DC just flew off toward OCSR. Larry said he was going up on the BSB to check and I went to the Andrews St. bridge.

Larry didn’t find him but I did as he was on the top ibeam north corner of OCSR and he wasn’t alone. Beauty was farther down toward the middle of the ibeam on the northwest side with her back to me preening.

<Beauty DC> <Click it

I watched them until about 10am when DC left the building and Beauty remained with her back to the world resting. I called it a watch and left smiling for having finally finding our downtown Peregrine pair thus  proving the saying “better late than never”. 🙂

I have provided 3 links below-just click and view my videos

http://youtu.be/FNe09TNC0QQ
http://youtu.be/I7iDZdWG5QQ
http://youtu.be/iR0SOfgKRCc

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

2:45 – 6:45 pm

Today was a most gorgeous fall day here in Rochester, NY.  Bright blue sky and temps near 70 degrees (F).

I first checked out the Seneca Towers and the Hawkeye Plant, but had no luck finding the juvie we have been seeing there.  Next stop downtown, where I found both Beauty and Dot.ca on the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT) a few feet apart; east side under the platform.

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They stayed like that for awhile, vocalizing softly now and then.  Dot.ca turned around and took off, heading southeast.  He returned and landed on the City Place bldg just south of the FCT.  He walked back from the ledge.

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Beauty ee-chupped from the FCT and Dot.ca returned to the edge where I could again see him.  Dot.ca took off and flew over to City Hall, landing on the base of the roof-line on the west side, south end of the building.

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I could see that he had bathed on the City Place roof where we have seen Beauty bathe.  Dot.ca then flew up to a higher perch on city hall.

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Joyce had been watching Pigott out at the BS location and she joined me on the downtown watch.

Beauty took off from FCT and flew over City Hall, floating above it before flying down and landing on a window near the top on the south side.

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While Joyce and I watched Beauty and Dot.ca, a wedding party pulled up and had pictures taken on the front steps of City Hall, just below Beauty.  It was actually kind of amusing, at least to us, that they had no idea there were two Peregrine Falcons above them.  lol

Dot.ca spread his wings and took off heading south east towards downtown.

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Soon after Beauty took off in a blur heading in the same direction.

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They both returned to the Frontier Communication Tower and then both took off again, heading towards downtown.  Joyce went to BS to check on Pigott again and I went in search of Beauty & Dot.ca.  I found them both on the HSBC building.  Beauty on the south west corner and Dot.ca on the south east corner.

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Dot.ca took off and Joyce soon reported that he had joined Pigott and they both went into the cubby there, ee-chupping.  Beauty remained on HSBC.

It was time to end my Watch.  On the way home, I checked HE and Seneca Towers.  Again, I could not find a falcon at either location.

It had been a beautiful day for a Falcon Watch and all three adults were seen by the Watchers this afternoon.  Goodnight everyone!

Addition – Just realized I forgot to mention something that happened during this Watch.

While Joyce and I were watching both Beauty and Dot.ca on City Hall, DC took off and flew over the building.  He flew down to where Beauty was on the window ledge.  There was vocalization and Beauty lowered her head.  Dot.ca attempted to land but pulled back at the last second.  Joyce and I believe that he attempted to copulate with her, but the space she was in was too small.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

We are getting spoiled here with the lovely weather we’ve had this past week-wall to wall blue skies and sunshine once more. It was 51 degrees (F) 11 (C) when  I left for my watch at 6:40am

I found Dot.Ca (DC) on the south side of Xerox 4 columns over from the southeast corner, a spot Beauty usually is on when she isn’t on the 5th column over. These two love trying to confuse us watchers!

DC flew west at 7:18am and I gave a quick check from the Broad St. bridge (BSB) finding no PEFAs on the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT),south side of OCSR,Times Square,Mercury or the jail tower so I drove over to the Brighton site. Arriving there just after 7:30am, it was a good thing I went there when I did for Pigott was out in the front of the building on the northwest corner. I literally had time for 4 pics as she stood up, pooped, stretched her fantastic looking wings then flew off to the southeast.

Miss Pigott never came back while I was there and so I returned to downtown around 8:30am. I found DC on the north side of FCT under the platform with a full crop which was making him sleepy.

Initially I was parked on Church St. so I could see the front of DC but I moved to Fitzhugh St. for a different angle.

Since DC was napping I left to look for Beauty and as I approached the BSB Larry was just walking up the stairs from behind the Blue Cross Arena with Harold. I pulled over and got out to chat with him for a few minutes and then he was on his way.

After a good look around the city for Beauty I thought perhaps she had gone on a day trip or something so I went back to hang out with DC. As I sat in the City Hall parking lot where DC had  his back to me I suddenly noticed movement in the lower white section of FCT at the northeast corner. Beauty then stepped out into view for only a moment or two before flying off to the northwest. I was pleased to have seen all 3 Rochester Peregrine Falcons.

When she didn’t come right back I thought I would end my watch so I tweeted it out, packed up my equipment and pulled out of the parking lot. As I passed below the tower I heard echupping-well, I couldn’t leave after hearing that sweet sound so I doubled back and saw Beauty was on the same beam under the platform as DC only a couple feet away from him.

Now I was truly ready to leave with a smile on my face after this short but sweet bonding session between our downtown PEFA pair! 🙂

Only one link today to click on and view

http://youtu.be/zaAhy86DPac

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

As I stepped out the house today it was 44 degrees (F) 7 (C) with mostly cloudy conditions.

My watch started about 6:45am on the east side of the river where both Beauty and Dot.Ca (DC) were perched high up on the south side of Xerox. She was on her favorite 5th column from the southeast corner and he on the 2nd column from the southwest corner.

<Beauty  DC>

At 7:30am DC flew southwest followed by the Beautyful one and so I went that way myself to look for them.

<Beauty

I found Beauty on the 2nd arm of the Frontier Communications Tower but DC was not there at first. I parked at the end of Montgomery Alley so I could see her from the front. 15 minutes later she vocalized, spread her wings and flew out and down to the east side by the large satellite dish.

I drove to Fitzhugh St. in front of the Sister Cities parking garage where I saw why Beauty flew down there-DC had landed there with food. Beauty quickly moved to the north side across from him to watch.

DC ate for maybe 10 minutes and while I was talking to a gentleman who stopped to ask about our falcons he feither left FCT or was hiding on it where I couldn’t see him.

<Click it<DC

I left for the Brighton site to check for Pigott arriving there around 8:15am. After quite a few days without seeing the elusive one I was pleasantly surprised to see her on the west end of the south side vent looking pretty as ever.

She did some stretching which showed that her tail and wing feathers have all grown back and are looking good from her incident back in the summer. She was checking out her talons for maybe some food morsels tho her crop was quite full.

I stayed with Miss Pigott til about 8:45am ending my watch early today to go to the Montezuma Wildlife Refuge with Joyce. We hope to see Baron as he had been spotted there recently. I saw all 3 of our Rochester Peregrine Falcons on my watch and that my friends  makes me smile every time! 🙂

Click on the links below to view a couple videos

http://youtu.be/EuE-SWK-234
http://youtu.be/t3HIrlSIMmo