By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

66 (F) 19 (C) at 5am is highly unusual for a May morning in Rochester,NY but that’s what it was when I left for my watch this morning. The day was mostly overcast but the 3 H’s prevailed-hot,hazy and humid!

At 5:10am as I was getting ready to set out for my morning watch I got a tweet from cam watcher Campgee saying a switch had already been made. Dot.Ca (DC) was on the eggs and Beauty had departed so I knew to look for the Beautyful one when I arrived downtown. Thank you Camp! Initially I didn’t find her near the Times Square building (TSB) area so I went for a ride and eventually found her on the jail tower southeast side 3rd arm down. I made it to Troup St. just before she left.

I got the one pic, started taping her then she flew off to the northeast as the video was rolling. Donna notified me as did Camp that a switch was made with Beauty now on the eggs and DC was gone.  I could see from the intersection of  Broad St. and Exchange Blvd. DC was on the Mercury money bag (MMB). Thanks ladies!

I went to the hole for a closer view starting on Bank Place and then moving down to Aqueduct St. for a different angle.

DC did a lot of preening and scratching in the next 45 minutes and then at 6:15am he stretched his wings and flew off  to the southwest.

Please click on my pics to view the full version

I spotted DC 5 minutes later on the 2nd arm southeast side of the jail tower just above where Beauty had been earlier.

DC flew southwest after only a couple minutes so I went to the Brighton site (BS) to look for Pigott after he didn’t come back. I found Pigott on the west end of the south side vent at 6:35am with a feather stuck to her beak.

She was definitely looking to do some hunting as she was watching something above her before taking off  and going into a stoop to the west at 7:10am. One thing I noticed was that the potholes (some of them enormous) had been filled in with blacktop. This is a good thing because it’s hard to avoid potholes when you’re looking up at the building looking for PEFAs. lol

Miss Pigott returned soon after without prey and came to rest on the northwest corner of the southwest extension and she still had that feather stuck to her beak blowing in the breeze.Pigott never fails to be entertaining with her youthful ways.

Around this time cam watchers Donna and Annette started tweeting a series of activities at the nest box as Beauty and DC were in and out  many times as the way I understood it with Beauty being on the eggs at last look. Anyway, thanks again ladies! Just before 8am Pigott flew off very fast to the northeast and returned again with no meal going this time to the southeast corner of the southeast extension.

Pigott flew off again soon after headed east and that was the last I saw of her. Upon returning to downtown around 8:20am I couldn’t locate DC and as I was on the Andrews St. Bridge I spotted a falcon on the base of Mercury. I drove over to the hole to ID it as Beauty right around the 9 o’clock hour and then I checked my phone to see that Shaky and Annette tweeted that DC was on the eggs and Beauty was on the base of Mercury (thanks).

Beauty didn’t give me a chance to get settled for she flew off to the southwest in the direction of the jail tower only a couple minutes after I arrived. I set out for Troup St. and sure enough that’s where she went as she was perched on the 3rd arm southeast side preening away.

I hung out with her for 10 minutes or so and decided to call it a watch just before 9:30am as the humidity was oppressive and all was quiet. I saw all 3 Rochester Peregrine Falcons on my watch making me leave with a smile on my face! 🙂

Click on the links below to view more pics and videos if you wish

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http://youtu.be/3ZUypvwSrik
http://youtu.be/pXhjMl-04fc
http://youtu.be/Y_39lWo-0l8
http://youtu.be/NAesW_GIVKA
http://youtu.be/c4mIFRoMKrs
http://youtu.be/vITLUKUx9jY

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

We’re having a heatwave-it was 64 (F) 18 (C) with clear blue skies and no wind

I began my watch at 5:15am and from the hole I spotted Dot.Ca (DC) on the south corner of OCSR top ibeam. Around 5:30am he flew over to the Times Square building (TSB) and landed under the northeast wing.

He flew east half hour later and that’s when I decided to go find Pigott whom I hadn’t seen since last Thursday. Good thing I went when I did for as I arrived she was on the southwest corner of the southwest extension and she took off into a stoop almost immediately to the southeast. She returned 5 minutes later landing on the west end of the south side vent and flew off a few minutes later to the southwest. I was very pleased to have seen her after a few day dry spell.

Pigott didn’t return so I went back downtown where I found Beauty on the base of Mercury plucking feathers. Campgee and Annette had tweeted that a switch had been made.Thanks ladies!

The Beautyful one spent half hour eating and then she flew off to the back of TSB and cached leftovers on the 2nd to last column on the north side. She then flew back to the base of Mercury where she was joined in the air by DC. Beauty flew to the nest box and DC landed on the heel of Mercury.

DC spotted a few leftover morsels and flew down to the base to eat them.

I walked down to Aqueduct Park to get up close and personal with Mr. DC and it was a very peaceful place today that I really enjoyed watching from. Of course at 7am the city hustle and bustle hasn’t quite kicked into high gear yet. I watched DC until he flew off to the north at 7:40am. I thought since it was such a beautiful  morning  instead of driving down State St. to look for DC I would walk across Main St. down the Genesee Riverway behind OCSR. The following pic is a stamp on the sidewalk by OCSR just before you walk down the steps to the river side sidewalk.

I found DC on the 2nd ibeam north corner of OCSR directly above me he was cleaning himself up after eating-he has such good etiquette.lol

You must click on my pics to get the full version

I plopped myself down on a cement pillar type thing and had a look around-it had been a long time since I had been down there to watch our beloved falcons.

<This pic is under the Broad St. bridge to the south side of it

I walked up on the Sister Cities Pedestrian Bridge that connects the east to west over the river. Someone had poured potato chips and popcorn in the middle of the bridge for the pigeons and gulls. I think cracked corn would be better! So everything was calm with DC  watching the north part of the territory and Beauty on their eggs. I called it a watch and headed home smiling for having had such a nice little morning watch with nature in downtown Rochester! 🙂

Below I have provided links for a photo album and many videos for your viewing pleasure

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http://youtu.be/DvygyPnOLbk
http://youtu.be/eRRWc9FqIco
http://youtu.be/BLBnvH6zlUI
http://youtu.be/G8L6v_xee08
http://youtu.be/5-9a71wBhhY
http://youtu.be/VAqIz3JQ7HY
http://youtu.be/QxK4o6xAHro

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Peaceful and Boring, just how we like it, while we wait for the eggs to hatch in the nest box on top of the Times Square Bldg (TSB).

I actually had two falcon watches today.

Falcon Watch – Part 1:

I arrived downtown at about 10:30 am.  It was a beautiful morning with sunshine and blue skies.  By the afternoon, it was in the 70’s (F).  I joined MAK and Kathy O on the Broad St Bridge (BSB).  Kathy had found Dot.ca on the north side of the OCSR when she arrived, and Beauty was in the nest box on the eggs.

About an hour into my watch, our very special guest Bobbie from Ireland arrived.  I was very happy to see her again.  Other watchers joined us to say hello to Bobbie; Brian H, Joyce, Carrie and Shaky.  Just before Bobbie left, both Beauty and Dot.ca appeared.  I believe both were at the Mercury statue.  Beauty returned to the nest box and Dot.ca flew over us, heading south.  It wasn’t long, but at least they made an appearance.  lol

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After Bobbie & MAK left, the rest of us watched the work being done at the Main St Bridge.  There was a whole mess of trees and logs jammed up against the base of the bridge.  They were slowly working on the left side of the bridge (west end).

At 12:30 pm, we saw that a falcon was up on OCSR on the top IBeam at the west end.  It looked like Beauty, but we had not seen Dot.ca return.  Many thanks to Annette and Ei for keeping us informed about what was going on at the nest box through the cameras.  We were informed that Dot.ca was now on the eggs and that it was Beauty on the OCSR.

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We saw Beauty stoop off of the IBeam, heading northwest and out of sight.  Everyone had left but Joyce, Brian and I.  I left them on the BSB and drove over to the Andrews St Bridge.  At 1:00 pm, I spotted a fast moving falcon flying in from the north.  Heading south down the river, she landed on the base of the Mercury statue.  I tweeted it in and then headed home for the afternoon.

Falcon Watch Part 2:

It was such a nice evening, I decided to head downtown for another falcon watch.  When I left, Beauty was snoozing in the nest box.  My first stop was the Andrews St Bridge.  From there I could see a white chested falcon on the OCSR on the top IBeam, north side.  It was Dot.ca and he was eating his dinner up there.  White feathers were cascading off of the IBeam, caught in what appeared to be spider webs.  All those plucked feathers would probably remain trapped there for awhile.

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I watched for awhile and then joined Dan S on the Broad St Bridge (BSB).  We sat in our chairs enjoying the beautiful evening.  After awhile, Dot.ca finished his meal and made his way to the north side of the OCSR top IBeam south corner. (6:55 pm)

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Dot.ca then flew by the Mercury statue and then towards the Times Square Bldg landing on the NW Wing ledge.  (7:10 pm)

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At 8:00 pm, Dan and I left for home, leaving Beauty in the nest box and Dot.ca on guard under the NW wing above her.  Two peaceful and boring watches in one day.  It doesn’t get much better than that!

I’ll leave you with a few pics of the progress they made on the log jam at the Main St. Bridge today.  Goodnight everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a mild 59 degrees (F) 15 (C) when I headed out the door this morning and partly cloudy as the sun rose in the eastern sky.

Click on my pics to see the full version

I drove straight down to the hole (Aqueduct St.)- it was still pretty dark with the clouds at 5:20am when I arrived. I heard a falcon whining 10 minutes later, then another and then Dot.Ca (DC) flew in from the north landing on the deck. Beauty flew out to the base of Mercury and DC went in to lay on his eggs.

Annette confirmed that the switch had been made-thank you very much! The Beautyful one did her usual morning stretching exercises until just before 6am when she flew to the nest box and DC flew to the base of Mercury briefly then off to to the Widows Walk railing north side. I think he may have been  looking for cached food and then he took off flying northeast.

These were brief stops so he certainly wasn’t trying to hunt. I drove down State St. and parked in my usual spot across from the Rochester Plaza Hotel where I go to check the northwest side of OCSR. DC was on the north corner of OCSR top ibeam. I believe he goes there to watch the northern part of the territory where we think UT and/or UT2 hang out.

He left this spot in less than 5 minutes as well flying northeast again so he may have seen  a falcon-UT2 may still be watching from somewhere.

I took this opportunity to go check the Brighton location but I was unable to find Pigott. I haven’t seen her since drama Thursday when DC slept all day. She has been seen by other watchers since so not to worry.  As I crossed the Ford St. Bridge on my way back downtown I had to stop and take pics of the gorgeous sunrise .

I found DC on the top ibeam southwest side of OCSR and he was making the feathers rain down from prey he had up there.

He worked fast and furious to prepare his meal and half way thru eating it Beauty flew over and landed about 10 ft. away from him. I guess we had a couple hungry Peregrines this morning for when she started to walk toward him he flew off immediately.

Beauty went back to the nest box to sit on her eggs and DC returned to the OCSR landing on the 2nd ibeam this time to continue eating.

DC stopped just short of finishing it off when he stopped and flew to the deck by the well wall at which point a very loud food exchange occurred with Beauty grabbing the small chunk of meat he saved for her and flying to the base of Mercury to eat.

It took Beauty only 5-10 minutes to finish off DCs leftovers and at 7:36am she flew the short distance across to the Times Square building and relieved DC from egg sitting duties. DC in turn flew to Mercury coming to rest on the money bag.

<Beauty taking off           DC landing >

I was going between the Broad St. bridge (BSB) and the hole and noticed the City Crews over on the Main St. Bridge ready to start clearing out the log jam that was under the bridge with a crane. Thankfully it didn’t keep our Mercury falcons from eating.

DC flew off around 7:50am when I wasn’t looking so I drove back to BS to look for Miss Pigott. Once more she eluded me but I was far from by myself over there because people were filling up the parking lot to go to the last day of the Lilac Festival. I departed through the access road behind the complex to return downtown after checking around the building 3 times. I found DC back on the north corner of OCSR top ibeam at 8:30am.

I left DC to go watch the log jam production from the BSB and then I walked down to Aqueduct Park to have a closer view.There were quite a few other people there watching to whom I eventually started talking to about our beloved falcons being sure to hand out rfalconcam business cards and pointing out the nest box at Times Square and Mercury.

Fellow watcher and friend KathyO called to say she was coming for a watch so I asked her to check the north side of OCSR to see if DC was still on the north corner on her way thru since I was on the south side where I couldn’t see him. She went to the BSB after finding that DC was indeed still there. I saw her talking to a log jam crew member and snapped the last pic of my watch.

I joined her on the bridge at 10:40am just as CarolP arrived. Mike and Gladys-2 bird watchers from Canada were talking to her and we all got introduced before they were on their way. Bobbie Ireland visited us on the BSB for a quick watch around 11am. DC somehow snuck in onto the Mercury money bag and then somebody yelled falcon as Beauty flew in and knocked him off and returned to the nest box and DC flew south. Joyce,Brian,Shaky and Carrie also came by and after Bobbie left I followed suit and ended my watch around noon. So we had some international flair today with visitors from Canada and Ireland which certainly is something to smile about! 🙂

Click on the links below to view more pics and videos

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http://youtu.be/c1_sc8AXaXc
http://youtu.be/BnAMq3oRxSs
http://youtu.be/oDPOMahIkEE
http://youtu.be/lyP2O9vs8qY

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Todays starting temperature was 44 (f) 7 (C) with sun and very little wind.

I arrived downtown about 5:20am and took a look around before going down to the hole to wait and see if Dot.Ca would show up after the last couple of tumultuous days.  Around 5:46am I saw Beauty fly out of the nest box and go across to the base of Mercury briefly then back to the eggs. Cam watchers Campgee and Annette let me know about it-thanks for the backup ladies!  At 6am Dot.Ca (DC) flew in from the north and landed at the northeast wing. A very good thing!

DC seemed to be looking for something to catch. He walked back and forth a couple times and just perched looking like our DC. At 6:28am  DC flew over to the base of Mercury and Beauty joined him with one little bow from both. He stayed on one side of the green and she started opposite from him, there was some discussion and then she jumped up on the green base and he took off. I figure she told him to go hunting and then she left too returning to their eggs. DC appeared on the Mercury money bag then he took off when I wasn’t watching.

I drove up to the bridge to see where he went and found Dan sitting in his lawn chair facing south so I knew he had a bead on DC. He said DC had stooped after a small bird in front of the Blue Cross Arena down to river, missed it and continued to fly south landing on the Time Warner Communications Tower. I wonder how many times he or other PEFAs has been on that and we didn’t know because it’s a good distance and you would never know there was a falcon there if you didn’t see it land.

Click pics for full version

Around 7am DC stooped successfully and flew to the OCSR with his small package and came to rest on the top ibeam S corner. He must have been very hungry because he didn’t rest at all before making the feathers fly. He moved further down on the ibeam and started eating.

Half hour later Dan left (he leaves at 7:30am to go to church services everyday)Annette reported Beauty left nest box momentarily and returned. TY She was probably getting impatient thinking DC was going to share his kill. DC had other ideas-he finished it and  took off to the south stooping down toward the river. I decided to go look for Pigott at the Brighton location at this time since I lost DC. Miss Pigott was nowhere to be found so I went back downtown after hanging out 15 minutes or so. I had to go searching the city and finally found DC as I was on the Andrews St. Bridge checking the north part of the territory. He was on the north corner top ibeam of OCSR so I drove to State St. and parked across from the Rochester Plaza Hotel for a closer look. I wanted to make sure it was him and not UT2.

I recognized the full crop from his meal earlier. lol I sat there for a while watching DC stretch a bit and look over his territory. All was peaceful in PEFA land so I ended my watch at 9:20am exactly 4 hours after I started, and yes I was smiling! 🙂

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

http://youtu.be/zRPT1nmle5o
http://youtu.be/Gu9n_CVEkGE
http://youtu.be/mzGPZCQL0C0
http://youtu.be/haRTD0wFxxk
http://youtu.be/Z8gLeQnQCtE

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

After reading the tweet that Dan witnessed two tiercels fighting downtown this morning, my goal, find Dot.ca.  After getting out of work, I drove the short distance to the Kodak Park area where we watched Unity.  Tall stacks and lots of buildings.  I checked them all and found no falcons.  Just one Red-tailed Hawk on the tallest still.

My next stop was the east end of the KP complex, where we’ve seen falcons before.  Nothing.

I headed down Lake that turns into State that turns into Exchange where the Times Square Bldg is located.  I checked out all the buildings on the way, no luck.

I circled the Kodak Office Tower, hoping to find a falcon on one of it many cliff like ledges.  There weren’t any.  I looked south towards the Times Square Bldg (TSB) and saw a small dot under the NE wing.  Definitely a falcon.  I was just getting ready to tweet out that there was a falcon up there when I received a tweet from Joyce, who had been at the BS location watching Pigott at the cubby.  Debbie H, one of our downtown watchers had also spotted the falcon on the TSB.  Next stop, Aqueduct St. (aka the hole) which is directly across the street from the TSB.

By the time I got there, the falcon was gone.  My phone lit up with texts and tweets.  There was a tiercel in the nest box.  Beauty left.  Soon it was confirmed that Dot.ca was home and he was settled on the 4 eggs.  Yes!  Now where had Beauty gone?

At this time of day, I am looking directly into the sun.  It’s really hard to see anything up on the TSB.  I decided to head up to the Broad St Bridge (BSB), parking on the north side, facing west towards the TSB in the middle of the bridge.  It took me awhile before I spotted a dark gray shape in front of the SE wing at the top of the TSB.  It was Beauty!

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It was really hard to see her because she had her steel gray back towards me, against the dark gray metal art deco wing.  But, I was very happy to finally find her.  So at this point (5:10 pm) Dot.ca was on the eggs in the nest box and Beauty was under the SE wing at the top of the building.  She looked very disheveled and was busy preening and fussing with all her feathers.  It had been a while since she had any significant time outside the nest box and she making good use of it.  I wondered if she would go into hunt mode after a good preen, but she did not.  Downtown Falcon Watcher Pat walked by on her way home.  She was so excited that Dot.ca was back.  I pointed out where Beauty was and she left with a big smile on her face.  lol

Soon after Kathy O joined me on the BSB, Dot.ca left the nest box and Beauty went back in.  We did not see what direction he went, but Ei (watching the live streaming video) said he headed north towards the OCSR or Wilder Bldg.  While Kathy took a walk to see if she could find Dot.ca, Joyce arrived.

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Kathy returned, having no luck finding Dot.ca and our good friend and fellow long time falcon watcher, Dan S, pulled up and set up his chair next to Joyce’s car.  Now there were four of us watching with no falcons in sight.  All we knew was that Beauty was inside the nest box, again on the 4 eggs.

At 7:05 pm, a tiercel (male falcon) returned to the NE wing ledge at the top of the TSB.  Joyce drove closer to the building and returned, reporting that it was definitely Dot.ca up there.

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Beauty came out of the nest box at approximately 7:40 pm and Dot.ca went in.  Beauty flew low over Aqueduct St and we lost sight of her.  Dan and I watched two pigeon fly over the river in panicked flight.  I’m sure Beauty had something to do with that.  I told the others I was going to walk up closer to the TSB to see if I could find Beauty and I did.  She was up on the base of the Mercury statue.  She did not have food.  Beauty circled to the river side of the Mercury base and I rejoined the other watchers after tweeting where she was.

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We could tell that she had an empty crop and we hoped she would have a successful hunt.  It was getting late, going on 8:00 pm, and there weren’t too many pigeons flying over the river.  Lots and lots of small swallows and swifts, but they were so small and so fast.  Beauty needed a pigeon.  That’s when one flew over us heading north down the river.  It U-turned in front of the Riverside Convention Ctr and turned directly towards the Mercury statue and Beauty.  All four of us held our breath as the pigeon passed Beauty.  Would she go for it?  The pigeon flew past her position and over the BSB heading south down the back side of the Blue Cross Arena (aka War Memorial).  I was looking back and forth between Beauty and the pigeon, like watching a tennis match.

Beauty stretched out her legs, her wings went out, extended fully and she leaped from the base of the Mercury statue.  The race was on!  We all watched in awe as Beauty easily caught up to the pigeon and then broke off the chase.  She quickly turned towards the library where two other pigeons had appeared.  One of the pigeons flew under the BSB, the other was not so lucky.  It flew up to the ledge below the top row of windows on the river side of the library and landed.  This was a fatal mistake for the pigeon.  Beauty flew up to the ledge and grabbed the pigeon, carrying it over the river, losing altitude.

We watched her fly back towards us attempting to keep control of her prey.  She flew under the bridge and through the old subway bed located there.  Beauty came out the other side and continued north down the river towards the Main St Bridge.  She struggled with her heavy burden, but she was determined to keep hold of it.  At first we thought she might land on the large pile of logs and tree limbs jammed up against the base of the Main St bridge, but she beat her wing harder and faster and just skimmed over the bridge, now flying around the OCSR Bldg where Larry O had repelled down earlier.  She disappeared from our sight as she again gained altitude and flew over State St.

Dan, Joyce, Kathy O and I let out a sigh of relief.  Wow!  That is not something you see every day, even while watching these beautiful birds.  As far as we knew, Beauty had not eaten in two days while protecting her eggs from the unbanded tiercel that showed up at the nest box.

Dan had to leave, so Kathy, Joyce and I decided to find Beauty.  To see if she was able to find a place to safely eat her meal.  I was driving down State St towards Main, when I noticed movement on the lower ledge of the structure we call the Widows Walk on a building just to the northwest of the TSB.  We parked in the lot on the north side of the TSB and saw that it was Beauty and feathers were flying everywhere.  For about a 1/2 hour, Beauty ate her fill, filling up her empty crop.  🙂

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At 8:30 pm she took off with the remainder of her meal and cached it (we think on the building next to the Widows Walk.  She then took off heading towards the OCSR, where she landed on the top IBeam at the west end.

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By the time we crossed the street, Beauty was back in the nest box and Dot.ca was on the Mercury Statue’s moneybag hand.  Such a wonderful sight.

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At 8:40 pm, it was getting late and it was time for 3 weary, but very happy watchers to head home.  Joyce and Kathy left me to leave one last tweet.  While I was slowly tweeting that we were leaving, Dot.ca flew from the Mercury statue to the top railing, NW corner, of the Widows Walk.  I had to wonder if this was his nighttime roost or maybe he was going to do a little hunting.  I was too tired to stay and see what he did.  lol

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Goodnight Dot.ca!  Welcome home.  I truly hope that all will be peaceful and boring from now on.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

I’m so tired I don’t even remember what the temperature was this morning when I started my watch. Let’s just say it was slightly cooler than yesterday and less windy.

I got downtown at 5:15am hoping against hope that I would catch Dot.Ca (DC)fly to the nest box with food and to relieve Beauty on egg duty. No such luck!  10 minutes later I spotted UT2 who I so named because we can’t say for sure if it’s the same Unbanded Tiercel that courted Beauty before DC came back from migration. He was on the southeast column where Orion fledged to last year.

He flew north and came back to land under the southeast wing where he would stay for about 10 minutes and then he was off straight down the Times Square building  (TSB) after a sparrow.

This guy did 2 loop de loops between the TSB and Democrat & Chronicle to catch the sparrow but missed it and then flew toward the river. I drove up to the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) and saw UT2 on the Crossroads building  so I did a u turn and went down to Aqueduct St. by Main St. after I noticed Dan just getting out of his car on the bridge so I stopped up there and gave him the scoop first.

Just before 6am UT2 flew to the OCSR top ibeam southwest side.He didn’t stay there long before he was off  flying behind the Wilder building. I then found him next to the main cam up on the deck.

UT2 left when I wasn’t looking so I went up and joined Dan on the bridge. He told me he saw UT2 go after 2 ducks over by the Blue Cross Arena. UT2 was now on the elevator shaft and I thought since Dan would be there until 7:30am I would go to the Brighton Site (BS)  to look for Pigott and DC.

I drove around BS 3x with no luck,there were no PEFAs present that I could see. I stayed until 7am and then I left for downtown. As I approached from Exchange Blvd. I stopped by Cornhill to check the south side of the city and I spotted a falcon flying east bound above the Crossroads building and out of sight. As I rejoined Dan on the BSB he told of a battle he witnessed high above the TSB explaining how one of the tiercels seemed to not be able to keep up and they did some stooping on each other. Dan said it lasted 15 minutes until they flew so high he couldn’t see them anymore. Dan left half hour later with no falcons in sight. At 7:45am I saw UT2 land on the deck with his back to me.

He ended up going over to the well wall and walking all the way around to the north end and back to the column just before you get to the deck.

UT2 stooped off of it straight down the front of the TSB and flew over toward OCSR where I lost him. Around 8:20am UT2 circled the TSB 3 times before landing under the southwest wing for less than a minute.

Then off he went circling TSB again a couple times before landing on the deck.

UT2 didn’t stay very long before he was flying over to the  southeast column across from the nest box.

UT2 stayed put for 10 minutes this time giving me a little break and then he flew off to the east. Beauty flew out after him and returned landing on the southeast column across from the nest box one level up.

<UT2   Beauty> Always click on my pics to see a full version

UT2 came flying in from below and looked like he wanted to mate with Beauty but she must have gave him a look because he stopped a few inches shy of her and started flying around the TSB. Beauty went back to the nest box as he continued to circle the area and then he was gone. 30 minutes later he showed up under the southwest wing of the TSB.

He flew northeast at 9:30am and Beauty flew out following him then she returned a minute later to her nest box and eggs.  A minute later I heard echupping. It was time for our local watcher Larry O’Heron to rappel down the OCSR so I walked to Aqueduct Park to check it out.

I didn’t see a falcon until 11:45am as I was driving down State St. from the Andrews St. Bridge. Beauty flew above me near Church St. headed toward the TSB area. When I got up Exchange Blvd. where I could see Mercury I spotted Beauty on the Mercury money bag and another falcon was flying over the Thomson Reuters building. I turned onto Bank Place to go to the hole but both PEFAs were gone. I ran into Pat who was out on her lunch break. I parked my car and walked up to the Rundell Library and parked myself on a picnic table where I sat for the next 2 hours in which time I saw no falcons. Of course Beauty was on her eggs in the nest box. Joyce came by and then DebbieH stopped on her break. I decided to end my watch and Joyce took off to check north of the city. Another long dramatic watch of 9 hours in the books. No DC sightings but Joyce did see Pigott with a full crop over at BS so that was something to smile about! 🙂

Below are links for some videos from my watch if you wish to look

http://youtu.be/HQC4i2jTbVw
http://youtu.be/2vCgVUYn3Ws
http://youtu.be/WggwqOPnPyo
http://youtu.be/fK1Wxw8u55g
http://youtu.be/PpruQpHNZUA
http://youtu.be/3FdN2V5YXvQ

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

All day long at work I kept getting tweets.  Dot.ca  is not downtown.  He’s at the BS location and it looks like he is injured.  Another tiercel (male) was downtown with Beauty, who barely left the eggs except for a few moments.  She did not trust this tiercel and she was not going to leave her eggs.  Needless to say, I could not wait to leave work and check on the falcons.

I arrived downtown at about 3:45 pm and went immediately down to Aqueduct St (aka the hole).  The last tweet said that the new tiercel was on the nest box platform.  From there I had a good view of him.  Here are a few pictures I took from there.

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While MAK and Joyce were at the BS location keeping an eye on Dot.ca, Brian H was keeping watch downtown, so I joined him at the picnic tables next to the Rochester Public Library on the east end of the Broad St. Bridge (BSB).  From the library picnic tables, we could see the unknown tiercel on the nest box platform, but we were not at the right angle to see Beauty inside the nest box.

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The thought was that this unbanded tiercel might be the same tiercel we called UT or unbanded tiercel that was hanging out with Beauty before Dot.ca arrived from migration.  I cannot tell for sure.  There were similarities in their behaviors but I wasn’t convinced it was him.  Guess we’ll never know for sure, because he is not banded.

While Brian and I watched, the tiercel would leave the nest box and do a lot of flying and hunting over the river and the downtown area.  One time he stooped over the river in front of us and hit a pigeon.  The pigeon recovered and escaped.  The tiercel continued his flight and skimmed the front of the library and continued over us and back to the Times Square Bldg. (TSB)

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He flew over us and headed back to the Times Square Bldg.  He landed on the Times Square Bldg on a ledge below the nest box.

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While Brian and I watched, he did a lot of flying and would always return to the Times Square Bldg, most of the time to the platform in front of the nest box.  Just before 6:30 pm, the tiercel landed on the NE Wing Ledge, just above the nest box.  He seemed to be checking for cached food, but we didn’t see him get any.

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Brian had to leave at 6:30 pm.  I decided, since it was quiet downtown, I would head out to the BS location to check on Dot.ca.  When I arrived, I found Joyce and Larry O (MAK had just left) on the SE end of the building.  Dot.ca had just flown there before I arrived.  Joyce described his landing as a little awkward.  His back was to us, but he was standing tall and actively checking out the surrounding area.

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We decided to move to the east end of the building where we would have a better view of him.  I set up my scope to get a close up view of Dot.ca.  He looked good except that he seemed to be favoring his left side just a little bit.  His eyes were clear and bright, I could see no obvious blood or injuries on him.  As I was looking at him through the scope, he lifted his tail and pooped.  It wasn’t much, but I was happy to see it.

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Dot.ca was watching the fields east of the building intently, bobbing his head now and then.  Then he was off!  He stooped low over the field and then pulled up, gaining altitude effortlessly and heading back towards the building.  Joyce, Larry and I were thrilled to see him soaring on the gusty winds above the building, kiting in place and then we lost sight of him as he flew towards the north east over the top of the building.  We weren’t sure where he went, so as I was tweeting what happened, Joyce circled the building a couple times and Larry O headed downtown just in case Dot.ca was heading in that direction.  In my tweet, I warned the on-line Watchers to keep watch for Dot.ca’s possible return and return he did.

My phone lit up with texts and tweets.  Dot.ca was in the nest box for a short visit and when he left, he was heading north.  Joyce and I left BS and headed back downtown.

Here is a picture of Dot.ca in flight when he was at BS.  It’s not a great picture, but I was so happy to see him flying so well.

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Larry O reported seeing a falcon stoop over the river and then head north.  He had just missed seeing Dot.ca at the nest box.  Kathy O joined the search.  She, Joyce and I chose different routes when coming back into the city.  That way we could cover more ground quickly.  I came in from the north, checking out Kodak Office first.  None of us saw any falcons on our way downtown.  We joined Larry on the Broad St Bridge.

Larry had to go, leaving Joyce, Kathy and I to continue the watch.  Joyce decided to check out the downtown area while Kathy and I remained on the BSB.  At 8:10 pm, Joyce tweeted that she found a falcon on the SW corner of the Chase Lincoln Tower and that she did not believe it looked like Dot.ca.  Kathy and I could see the falcon now, but I truly have no idea if it was Dot.ca or not.  As the sun set, it was more of an orange color and cast that color onto the chest of the falcon.  When the sun went down further, the chest seemed whiter.  Funny what lighting will do.

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By 8:30 pm, the sun was setting and it was getting colder.  It was time to call it a day.  Kathy and I left at 8:30 pm and Joyce stayed til 8:50 pm, leaving the tiercel at the top of the Chase Tower.

Tomorrow is another day and I’m sure the Rochester Falcon Watchers will be out keeping an eye on the situation.

Have a nice evening everyone and always remember to keep your eyes to the sky!

Oh, before I end my report, I want to thank all the Rochester Falcon Watchers that were out today on the streets keeping an eye on “our” falcons.  Also a big thanks to the folks that watch from afar.  Your help is invaluable to us.  Thank you so very much!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

The starting temperature was 51 (F) 11 (C) for a long 13 hour watch that started calm and ended windy with a little wild in between.

I was determined to be downtown when Dot.Ca (DC) arrived for the changing of the guards on the eggs with Beauty. I arrived at 5:15am and got confirmation from Campgee that a switch had not taken place so I got settled down in the hole (Aqueduct Dr.) to wait with Beauty for DC. It was not to take place on this day. My first pic of the day brought a jet thru town-this would be a clue for what would come streaking into downtown later.

Remember to click on my pics for a full version

I watched and waited until 7:20am and then I headed over to the Brighton Site (BS) to see if DC was there. As I arrived I found him on the east end of the south side vent sleeping of all things right!? Pigott was on the southeast corner of the southeast extension whining for food.

5 minutes later Pigott flew off to the south only to return 15 minutes later landing on the southwest corner of the southwest extension still whining while DC continued to rest.

10 minutes later Pigott flew around the front of the building and ended up back on the southeast corner of the southeast extension. Yes she was whining still.

DC kept sleeping opening his eyes briefly here and there and it was becoming apparent that something was wrong with him. Miss Pigott moved back on her corner 45 minutes later where I couldn’t see her and at first I thought she had left but after going out farther I was able to see her. 10 minutes after that DC awoke and flew to a window across from where he was on the southeast extension and at the same time Pigott flew past him to a window kiddie corner from DC and yes, whining!

Pigott stayed there only 5 minutes then flew past DC whining loudly to the opposite end of the extension DC was on and landed on a window ledge.

It would stay this way until 10:50am when Pigott flew off to the southeast and that was the last she was seen for the rest of the day. DC continued to conserve energy sleeping the day away. It was reported that a PEFA was at the nest box so at 11:35am when Joyce relieved me at BS I took a ride downtown to check things before going to run an errand. I spotted a falcon on the Crossroads building with a bright white chest and dark helmet.

This male flew off shortly after I made my way to the hole where Lisa joined me and he went into a stoop in front of the Times Square building. He came back up where we could see him, did some fast flying around the area then left our field of vision. I left at that point for an hour or so and when I returned I saw the same male fly to the deck.

At 1:35pm I headed back to BS to show Joyce the pics of the mystery tiercel. We were convinced that it was UT from back in the winter before DC returned from migration but I’m starting to rethink that now that I’ve seen my pics on the computer. Anyway, DC was still sleeping and around 2:35pm as the sun had finally made its way to him he flew off to a window on the south side corner below the vent back in to the shade.

From this point on DC started opening his eyes more frequently for brief periods of time. He even stretched his right wing and leg a couple times making us think that perhaps he had injuries to his left side. Right around 6:30am DC flew off and around to the east extension landing kinda awkwardly on the southeast corner seemingly favoring his left side. Larry came by right after this and I decided it was time to call it a watch leaving Joyce and Larry with DC. It was a long 13 hour watch with much drama but I was able to muster up a smile anyway! 🙂

Click on the links below for more pics and videos  from the day

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqiCw

http://youtu.be/jREqP7R5hPg
http://youtu.be/MBA-DpalArQ
http://youtu.be/iUHcDVrnMyU
http://youtu.be/iUHcDVrnMyU

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I arrived downtown at my usual time around 3:50 pm.  1st stop the Broad St Bridge (BSB).  The sun was shining, but dark, threatening clouds were approaching from the northwest and the winds were gusting strongly.  Thankfully those dark clouds never made it downtown, and I was able to enjoy a very warm, sunny, but windy afternoon watch.  When I left work, it was 81 degrees (F)!

I parked in the middle of the bridge facing west, where I had the best view of the surrounding area.  From there I could see all the “falcon” spots.  I checked all over and could not find any falcons.  A big thanks to Donna and Ei for letting me know that Beauty was in the nest box.  Dot.ca was no where to be found, so I decided to head over to the BS location to see if he might be there with Pigott.

The traffic was heavy today, so it took me a bit longer to get over there, arriving at about 4:15 pm.  I only had to go around to the south side of the building to find Pigott.  She was on a east facing window on the SW extension.

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She didn’t stay long, so I’m glad I got there when I did.  She vocalized a loud KEEEE! and then took off heading southeast.  She flew over me and over the wooded area before I lost sight of her.  She was not in any hurry.  When she didn’t return, I headed back downtown.  Parking in the middle of the Broad St Bridge.

Again, I could find no falcons.  I knew that Beauty was in the nest box.  Where was Dot.ca?

I spent my time watching all the birds that called the Genesee River their home at this time of year.  There were 100’s of swallows/swifts skimming the water below and flying high above, looking for insects.  Some of them would skim over the surrounding buildings.  They are fascinating to watch.  Also, there were lots of mallards on the river and flying all over.  Some were in pairs and others seemed to be groups of males hanging out.  Pigeons were landing on the rocks below to drink the water and bathe.  Life on the river has gotten quite lively!   So much to see there when there are no falcons to watch.  Never a dull moment.

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Fellow Falcon Watcher Pat walked by on her way home and asked me if anything exciting was going on.  She caught me trying to take flight shots of the swallows, which is just about impossible to do.  But it’s good practice for falcon flight shots.  lol

It was going on 6:00 pm and I had to get going.  I was sorry that I hadn’t seen Dot.ca.

When I arrived home, I had a tweet from Ei.  Just after I left, there was a shift change at the nest box.  Beauty came out at 6:00 pm and Dot.ca went in to take his turn brooding the eggs.  I just knew he was going to do that.  🙂  So, all three Rochester Falcons were accounted for this afternoon.  Love when that happens!

Here are a few pictures of the shift change at the nest box at 6:00 pm.

From the RFalconcam Main Camera