By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

This mornings weather was a carbon copy of yesterday only with a slight breeze. Hot and humid up and down the east coast and even north of the border in Canada!

As  passed by the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) I spotted a juvie on the northeast cube. I couldn’t ID it and after looking over the rest of the structure and not finding any more PEFAs I went north to check Kodak Office (KO). There I found an adult on the northwest corner of the launchpad.

With the distance and lack of daylight at the early hour I couldn’t ID this falcon either, but at least I was seeing falcons.  From Verona St. which is behind KO I could see the FCT and suddenly 3 falcons popped out from it and started talon tagging-I didn’t need to ID these 3 Falconeers to know who it was-our 3 fledglings of course! I lost them as they made their way toward the Times Square (TSB) area, so I drove to the hole where I could see Beauty and one juvie on the base of Mercury.

Click on my pics and the full version will appear

Out of nowhere Baron came screaming in knocking Beauty off the base. She flew around and landed again only to be chased off again by Baron so she retreated to the northeast wing ledge as Voyager and Baron started eating on the base of Mercury.

25 minutes later Beauty once more landed on the base only to be booted off by Baron a third time, so she went up to the money bag (MMB). He seems to really enjoy giving his parents and siblings the boot from perching spots! He’s been an unruly child right from the get go and I wouldn’t have him any other way!

15 minutes later Beauty flew down and started eating leftovers and this time Baron left her alone, but he had lots to say-always does! As a matter of fact Voyager joined in as well!

<Click them>

She had a few bites and then started feeding Baron beak to beak-I guess he just wanted some tender loving care. Meanwhile, Voyager did some walking and winging.

<Voyager click it

This only lasted a few minutes for Rosetta was on her way over and being the big girl she is, Beauty opted for the MMB to make room for her. She took over the food immediately!

<B sees R coming <R eats

Beauty would soon get a show from her offspring as they all flew off and played talon tag-one of them landed on the heel of Mercury and the other 2 knocked it off. They continued to circle around Mercury being their juvenile selves and squawking up a storm. They would repeat as one went back up to the heel and then all 3 were in the air again.

Sorry for the silhouetted pics as I was in the hole and the sun was behind them in the wrong spot. When they were done flying they all went back to the base. I then went up to the  Broad St. Bridge (BSB)with the sun at my back which shows what a difference the position of the sun makes.

click it

Beauty had joined them and soon after 2 juvies went to Widows Walk (WW) leaving 1 with mom. DebbieH joined me as I was by He’s Chinese watching the 2 on WW.

click it

Just before 8am Beauty started alarm calling and circling Mercury. Deb and I went up on the bridge where we found out a man was up on the Thomson Reuters roof. Beauty dispersed all the kids from the area then went under the northeast wing. She kept kakking on and off until the man left. All the juvies were gone and Deb went to work.

Juvie leaves WW

Back in the hole now with no juvies, I went to City Hall and found all 3 fledglings on the FCT. Rosetta was on the northeast cube, 1 was below her on the top red beam and the other on the south side railing sleeping.

<Rosetta on cube not sure who is who

I went to the Brighton site to see if Pigott was home at this time since I figured they were settled and what a surprise I got when I arrived by the cubby. Echupping was ringing out from it and after a minute Dot.Ca (DC) appeared at the front of the ledge.

Pigott started whining and after another minute passed DC flew off to the northwest.  Miss Pigott showed herself after a few minutes and then I went back downtown.

Upon my return I found DC on OCSR top ibeam near the north corner, the Beautyful one was up at the nest box and I found 1 juvie on the bottom arm of FCT as I headed home thus ending my watch at 10:30am. What a great watch that sent me off smiling! 🙂

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

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http://youtu.be/IFEK6g3Z-5g
http://youtu.be/nnfGPyk78D8
http://youtu.be/QafJIn-ipVI
http://youtu.be/9CHICBq10L0
http://youtu.be/A2_YIek1F2s
http://youtu.be/saGMMAabgBY
http://youtu.be/ccsoiSrlUUU
http://youtu.be/fRALGJan910

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was 72 (F)  22 (C) when I started out this morning at 5:30am and when I quit for the day at noon it was 85 (F)  29(C). Humidity was high with almost no breeze and wall to wall sunshine!

It took me 20 minutes to find a falcon this morning which was weird to me since there are 5 of them. The girls Rosetta and Voyager eluded me for much of the watch but Baron would show up at every turn. I found Dot.Ca (DC)on the Kodak Office tower (KO) launchpad northeast corner. As I drove down Platt St. in the High Falls area to get as close as I could to ID the KO bird, I spotted Dan sitting down on the east end of the Pont de Rennes pedestrian bridge. I drove around to that side of the river and joined him. he told me he had seen all 3 juvies playing talon tag near the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT). I spotted Beauty on the northeast corner of HSBC soon after I arrived.

Click on my pics to see the full version

Meanwhile DC went up to the cupola of KO and soon after Beauty flew to the jail tower.

From  this distance it can be tricky to tell who’s who, but with a veteran watcher like Dan it can be done.  We saw Beauty stoop on something and then noticed 2 juvies playing talon tagging near FCT. DC flew south and turned it into a long stoop near the Times Square building then to the north corner top ibeam OCSR before flying off and disappearing. We had all 3 juvies talon tagging at one point near the TSB while an adult landed on the top arm north side of FCT. Larry joined us as we could see 2 juvies under the northeast wing.

In the next half hour we witnessed a female juvie stoop with great speed for a fledgling after a pigeon by the Andrews Place apartments. And we had a very long flight by Baron and one of his sisters playing talon tag all over the downtown area. DC flew off FCT and 2 juvies appeared on Widows Walk (WW).

Around 7:15am Larry and Dan left so I decided to go downtown to be closer to our fabulous falcon family but before I left I took pics of every direction to give you an idea of what we see from the pedestrian bridge. Check out my photo album to see them. Upon my arrival in the hole I found Baron on the north side railing of WW and DC on the top ibeam south corner of OCSR.

<click it

I would do a lot of driving around our fair city today looking for our elusive girls and busy Baron. DebbieH joined me around 7:40am as Baron flew above us headed toward FCT. After Deb left for work I went to the Andrews St. Bridge (ASB) and found DC on the north corner of OCSR top ibeam and a juvie on the 2nd ibeam west corner as another juvie flew past it and behind Crossroads. For the next hour juvies would appear and disappear in various spots and around 8:45am I found 2 of them on the base of Mercury

One of them was Rosetta and they touched beaks a few times melting my heart in so doing. This family really gets along very well and we humans could learn from them. After they left Mercury I saw Beauty on WW  just before she took off to the north.

I next found Baron on the apparatus on the lower roof of Crossroads as it was starting to get warm I fully expected to see our PEFA family to be hanging out on the north side of buildings in the shade. They were surprisingly active considering the weather.

I made my way to City Hall where I was right below the FCT and could see Baron next to the large sattelite dish,Beauty under the paltform and another juvie moving around under the platform.

I am still adjusting to find falcons in the FCT inner structure so I had some trouble finding them when they were in there but htere wad=s no problem hearing them when they squawk.  Around 10:30am it was sleepy time as I caught PEFAs with their eyes closed.

Many of the city hall workers stopped to talk about the falcons-they are very aware of them and showed great enthusiasm as I said we had 3 fledglings this year. I decided since I was having such trouble locating our fine feathered friends from the ground that I would go up on the Sister Cities ramp garage. From there I could see a more level view of FCT and I could also see the north side of the downtown buildings. I could see a fledgling on the east side of the platform and Baron on the top arm of FCT.

DC flew in from the south (behind me ) right over my head to the south side rail and as he arrived I heard a juvie crying out but couldn’t locate it. Baron left the arm and then I saw a wing pop up from the east side of the platform. DC then disappeared inside the structure.

I came down from the garage as Joyce arrived and was seeing juvies on the platform from Montgomery Alley next to Hochstein School of Music. I found DC and the 2 juvies before handing the watch over to Joyce thus ending my watch just before noon.

It was a busy morning watch that took me from one end of the territory to the other and lots in between but I came out of it smiling yet again! 🙂

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

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqiUs

http://youtu.be/a-NmVTdVo_I
http://youtu.be/2sB69fhlVS0
http://youtu.be/6nXyX-KxJqc
http://youtu.be/Yul8iYT2jOk
http://youtu.be/m8_ShJl6t2k

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Today starts a week of oppressive weather conditions as in hot and humid! With daily high temperatures in the low 90’s (F) Low 30’s (C)

I travel interstate 490 to go downtown in the morning getting off at Plymouth Ave. where the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT can be checked before going to the Times Square area (TSB). This morning I saw a falcon on the south railing as I turned onto Church St. I was surprised to see Dan sitting in his chair in the parking lot next to Hochstein School of Music at the corner of Church and Fitzhugh St. He is after all the Mayor of the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) and doesn’t usually go anywhere else in the morning.  We had all 3 juvies on the tower.

Beauty came in with food and the kids all got in a tug of war on the platform with it. Beauty retreated to the northeast corner of the platform railing.

Remember you must click my pics to view a full version

Dot.Ca (DC) flew in and was met by one of the girls with both of them landing on the top arm northeast side. All present and accounted for with the our entire falcon family on the tower. Rosetta and Voyager flew up to the south side railing after finishing up their meal on the platform. Larry joined us around 6:30am and Beauty left.

<Rosetta & Voyager     Baron>

Baron flew off the north side almost like a stoop and returned to knock DC off the top arm taking his place as DC flew across to the northwest  top arm.

A few minutes later Baron flew down and knocked Rosetta off her railing spot. He is a little spitfire!  Baron and Rosetta did some flying together and talon tagging with Baron catching her from behind and tapping her on the back side a few times. Larry and Dan left a little after 7am and the kids dispersed shortly after. Rosetta went to Widows Walk (WW) before disappearing. I drove to the BSB and found Rosetta and Voyager under the northeast wing with food and I would spot Beauty up there at the back of the ledge as well.

Beauty left some food behind for the kids and flew over to the northwest wing with her food package, picked at it a bit then cached it to the back of the ledge.

Our 3 young fledglings flew around a bit before settling on the Widows Walk railing. They spent quite some time up there together before Rosetta left.

<click them>

Baron spent quite some time with his sister Voyager on WW  as she liked to jump down to the roof and explore as Baron watched.

DC flew in and landed on the southeast wing ring and Beauty was on the jail tower before joining DC to look after the kids landing under the southeast wing.

Meanwhile Voyager and Baron remained on WW and Rosetta flew past dad squawking before going to roof of OCSR. Voyager would fly off WW followed by Baron.

I next found a Baron on the FCT east railing and Voyager went back to WW. Rosetta vanished and so did DC and Beauty. A while later Rosetta showed up under the northeast wing. Baron flew in and knocked her off. It was getting really hot with the sun peeking thru the clouds on and off so everyone settled in the shade. DC to northeast side of OCSR top ibeam, one of the juvies to the northwest top ibeam pancaked out and one juvie to roof of Crossroads. I left to check for Pigott at the Brighton Site. She was on the front ledge of the cubby for the 3rd day in a row.

I went back downtown in search of our falcon family but I could only find one fledgling on the top ibeam near the west corner of OCSR. I ended my 8 hr. watch just before 2pm as I decided everyone was hunkered down in the shade due to the heat. The kids continue to amuse and make me smile as I savor every moment spent with them! 🙂

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

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqiUO

http://youtu.be/3au6-ZLpQzg
http://youtu.be/8bFOH5aA-7c
http://youtu.be/nE1aqg-V1m0

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

This weekend turned out to be a wonderful mixture of  Falcon Friends and Falcons Flying.  It doesn’t get much better than that.  I have to go through the Guest Book which Lynn from NH so nicely supplied to list the names of the folks that attended this year’s Falcon Watch Weekend.  There were a lot of old friends and new.  Thanks to all that were able to make it to Rochester (NY) this year.

The juvies are flying high and fast.  All three are doing incredibly well.  For the next month or so, they will continue to learn how to be Peregrine Falcons before heading out on their own. This is the fun part.  lol

Here are a few pictures from this weekend. Click on any pics you would like to see in a larger format and hover your cursor over a picture and it will describe what it is.  If my internet had not gone down last night I would have had these pics out earlier.  Enjoy!

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and my favorite picture of the weekend.  The whole family together on the Frontier Communication Tower.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Our fledglings slept on the OCSR roof last nite. Voyager didn’t spend another night by herself.They were well fed early this morning making way for some nice flying mid to late morning followed by quiet time for the afternoon. Our young falcons seem to like OCSR and Crossroads best to hang out on. Both parents have been flying with them. This afternoon Beauty took all 3 of them to the Kodak tower area for some flying and playing. All juvies are flying exceptionally well and making pretty darn good landings too.

Watchers weekend has begun with the arrival of some out of town watchers-Lynne and Bob,Eileen,Bonnie,Wendy all arrived tonight. I’m sure everyone will enjoy the show from our Rochester Peregrine Falcons this weekend and all will go home smiling from the experience! )

Click on the links below to view my photo album and some videos-some of the pics are from last night

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqiSW

http://youtu.be/dB-tIVJjySk
http://youtu.be/zRAzLzaiY4c
http://youtu.be/tYruXwUNftQ

By Rochester Falcon watcher MAK

Today our falcon family was pretty quiet. Voyager stayed on the Crossroads building for nearly the whole day. She doesn’t fly as much as the other two but when she does it’s good flying and landing. Baron and Rosetta continue to hang out with each other much of the time. They all make me smile quite a bit these days! 🙂

Check out my pics and videos by clicking on the links below

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqiR4

http://youtu.be/mumBXj-Chk0
http://youtu.be/SdIdYXkzMBw

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

No time to write a report but I do have links below for a photo album and videos. This day featured a superb flight show by Dot.Ca and the kids. Beauty sat back and watched. Voyager spent the night on Crossroads. I soo was smiling at the end of the night! 🙂

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqiRa

http://youtu.be/ZI4buyxkwyg
http://youtu.be/uz5UGOOW8zk
http://youtu.be/EZfjHyXKavw

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

The weather again was hot,hazy and humid with a starting temperature of 71 (F) 21 (C).

Donna and I started our watch at 5:30am in the hole with Baron on the column above the NB and the girls were on the wall. Beauty was found 15 minutes later on the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) and Dot.Ca (DC) was nowhere to be found.

This was a long fun watch as all 3 of our young Rochester Peregrine Falcons have fledged successfully and they will no longer be referred to as eyases-they are now officially juveniles (juvies). Rosetta was the first one around 8:46am flying quite strong out to Mercury and sticking the landing when she dropped in on Baron. They were on the roof 1 level above nest box at the back of the Times Square building west side.

Click my pics to see full version

Rosetta found a square bar apparatus off the back of the building and thought it was a balance beam. She maneuvered it quite well.

A little after 8pm Voyager finally made the plunge and fledged to the fledge ledge which is across from the nest box to the south. It’s called fledge ledge because Calidora from 2010 and Orion of last year both took their 1st flights to this place. She flew off and had a wonderful flight but missed the landing next to Beauty and fluttered all the way down to the well.  Not injured and right back up outta there.

So the 3 of them are no longer babies and 1 step closer to adulthood and going out on their own. They all are good steady strong flyers so far with mostly good landings.

Some random pics from today

Click em

There isn’t enough time in the day to do reports and the alarm clock will be going off in 3 and a half hours so I bid you goodnight as I head off with a smile in anticipation of tomorrows flights! 🙂

Click on the links below for more pics and videos

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqiQ8

http://youtu.be/4GoCIBlmPFk
http://youtu.be/znbf02kkB-I
http://youtu.be/Wdh9ZoebVNU
http://youtu.be/FUFbV3Fvjc8
http://youtu.be/MUJOHTQvAoA

By Rochester Falcon watcher MAK

More hot humid conditions and a couple pop up t-storms were the weather story today with a starting temperature of 71 (F) 21 (C).

Donna and I started our watch at 5:25am from the hole. We could see 2 young falcons up on the deck but no adults from there so we went up to the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) where Dan was sitting in his chair. He let us know Beauty was on the jail tower and as I turned to look she stooped off only to return with no catch. This is how the day started.  Some of the days highlights for me were 1st finding Beauty on HSBC trying to hunt while ducking from a small bird who obviously didn’t want her there.

Click pics for full version

I think the biggest thing I noted was how  much the girls Rosetta and Voyager hang out with each other since Baron started flying and leaving them.

The next feature of the watch was Baron taking control of dad as he knocked him off ledges  3 or 4 times today and taking dads spot. I think Dot.Ca (DC) is enjoying his only son this season with the best yet to come.

Baron is flying really well and his landings are good for the most part. I think it’s amazing that he can land on the gridwork. Not to many other falcons have been seen on it. I also got a big kick out of  Beauty getting mobbed by the girls a few times when she landed on the deck. It was like she barely got her big yellow feet planted before the Rosetta and/or Voyager would rush her sending her right off again. This falcon family is fun and they haven’t all fledged yet!

Click it> Beauty on-Beauty off

Click it

It was another great watch with good friends and good falcons. We smiled a lot today and downright belly laughed! 🙂

Check out the links below to view more pics and videos

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqiQe

http://youtu.be/YB_DfQ4jdwI
http://youtu.be/ZoqSQLXMCaA
http://youtu.be/8esiaAFN8jk

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

This morning was a carbon copy of yesterday-temperature 72 (F) 22 (C) with some clouds and humid conditions.

Donna and I arrived on the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) at 5:30am finding Dan in his spot. He pointed out that Beauty was on the jail tower. All 3 kids were out and about where we could see them practicing their wing flapping when all of a sudden just before 6am Baron flew off!

Click on pics to see full version

He had a strong flight circling above the hole a few times and continued over to the Crossroads building east side roof-we didn’t see the landing but he was up and running.

He ran down to the south corner and on to the south roof running up and down it like it was his playground in the half  hour that he was up there. We watched him fly off around 6:25am heading toward the Times Square Building (TSB) but we lost him behind it. We went driving around looking for him and 20 long minutes later I drove Donna and I to the Andrews St. Bridge (ASB) where I spotted him on top of the gridwork of the TSB.

Baron was between the northeast and southeast wings in that gridwork and he didn’t stay long before he took wing flying to the OCSR roof south corner with Dot.Ca (DC) below him on the top ibeam. He looked like a real champ up there!

He stayed there about 20 minutes then he was off to return to the TSB by the northwest corner 1 level up from nest box on the north side.

Click it

Most of the afternoon was pretty quiet and uneventful. Joyce drove Donna, Pat and I over to Brighton to check on Pigott around 2:30pm who was home for us to have a quick visit before going back to our fledge watch.

Some more quiet time before another flight by Baron just before 6pm. taking himself out around Mercury and back to the top of the gridwork of TSB for a minute. He then flew out over the river and on the way back to TSB he started to get tired. Jeanne and I were the only ones watching at the time and we got concerned that he might not make it. Well he made it flying to the well wall where one of his sisters was nearly taking her out and missing the landing. We do believe he went down in the well. A few minutes later all three kids were seen in the nest box area.

<Voyager> <Beauty>

Watchers on duty today on my watch were:Linda(Braveheart),KrisG and hubby Bill,DavidJoyce,Carol,Kathy,Donna,Larry,Dan,Lou,Dana,Pat,Jeanne,Shaky and Carrie.

Another long watch ending at 7:30pm making for little time for detailed reports. Keep smiling everyone!

Click on the links below for more pics and videos

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqiPm

http://youtu.be/OdJScf4ZCvU