By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Storms yesterday ushered in a cold front which got rid of the humidity. The temperature was a cool 57 (F) 14 (C)

I stopped on the Andrews St. bridge (ASB) my usual starting point and spotted Beauty on the base of Mercury and Dot.ca (DC) on the northeast side, top I-beam of OCSR.

Traffic was backed up because of construction all over downtown this morning and of course it was rush hour, which made it worse, but I managed to get to Bragdon Place for a closer look at DC before he flew off. He was preening in all his whiteness.

After a couple minutes I went over to the Court St. bridge to be a bit closer to the Beautyful one. She was just looking around as gulls were flying past her.

The water in the river is very low right now due to just a slow bit of water coming through the lock south of the bridge. Since the last time I checked, the construction workers have built what looks like a walkway that curves around the back of the Dinosaur Grill. Many of the ducks were dunking their heads in the current.

<Click>

I left to go walk Bella and when I returned to downtown I could only find DC tucked in the corner by the elevator shaft on the top I-beam, northeast side of OCSR.

When I got to Seneca Towers I found Seth from the Northridge Church parking lot. He was on the north side window ledge in hunt mode as he kept watching something very intently down below him.

After about 5 minutes he flew off into a stoop and didn’t return.

I ended my watch at 9:45am smiling after seeing 3 of our Rochester Peregrine Falcons! 🙂

Click on the link below to see a short snippet video

https://youtu.be/Hr7-PuglITg

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

What a gorgeous pre-eclipse day here in Rochester, NY.  Tomorrow we will have a partial solar eclipse (70%).  Here’s our schedule:  The moon will begin to cover the sun at 1:14 pm.  Our greatest eclipse will be a partial coverage of the sun at 70% at 2:36 pm.  The eclipse will end here in Rochester at 3:52 pm.  In seven years (2024), we will have a total solar eclipse!  One of the questions is, how will the animals behave during the eclipse?  It will be very interesting to read the different observations.

I started my watch a little before 9:00 am.  It was sunny, with a temperature in the 60’s (F).  Since the young ones have left, I usually find Beauty and Dot.ca on the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT).  Today was no exception, both were there.  Dot.ca was on the top arm and Beauty was on the framework below the platform.

<— Dot.ca on Frontier Communication Tower.

<— Beauty on the Frontier Communication Tower.

They seemed settled in, so I drove around downtown, hoping to find another falcon.  No such luck.  By the time I returned to the FCT, Dot.ca was gone.  Beauty was still in the same spot I left her.

I stayed for a little while, but there was no further activity.  All was quiet and peaceful downtown.

It was time to continue my watch.  My next stop was Maplewood Park, where I had a nice, far away view of the west and north sides of the apartment building.  There was one adult up on the north end window ledge.  I was way too far away to get an ID.

<— Billie or Seth?

At Medley Center (aka “the old Irondequoit Mall”), I found no falcons and no evidence that they had been there.  Brian H had reported seeing one there on the glass pyramid a couple weeks ago.

I next decided to head down to Irondequoit Bay to see if I could see any Eagles.  I didn’t seen any Eagles, but there were some other birds of interest.

<— Osprey in a tree on the west side.

<— Cormorant drying its wings.

I stopped again at Maplewood Park for another look and found that Billie or Seth had moved to the other end of the north side window ledge.

<— Billie or Seth at Seneca Towers.

I was very happy to have seen 3 of our 4 Rochester Falcons during my watch.  I sure would love to get a glimpse of one of our young ones again.  🙂

On my way home, I spotted this molting Mockingbird.  It was hunting grasshoppers in the grass below this sign.  Love Mockingbirds!

<— Molting Mockingbird.

Enjoy the eclipse tomorrow everyone!  Would love to hear about your observations of the behavior of the animals around you.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

A warm. muggy morning with a temperature of  73 (F) 23 (C)

I only had a short time to check on our falcons this morning and they cooperated as I spotted Beauty on the Frontier Communications tower from the Andrews St. bridge. I quickly drove over to the City Hall parking lot for closer viewing. She was on her northeast cube looking beautyful as ever!

I started searching the structure for Dot.ca (DC) and after a few minutes I spotted him near the red light below the southeast cube but I didn’t have a good angle on him so I drove down Fitzhugh St. and parked in front of the Sister Cities parking garage. He was gone when I got there but after a few minutes I saw movement inside the structure behind where he had been. They sure are hard to find when they go to the interior of the tower.

<Click to see the full picture

That’s all she wrote- I left after sharing space for about half an hour with our downtown Rochester Peregrine Falcons. Any time spent with them is enough to make this watcher smile! 🙂

Click on the link below to share your own time with Beauty and DC

https://youtu.be/NdboujhXVbs

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was partly cloudy with a temperature of 62 (F) 17 (C)

I was happy to find Billie and Seth together at Seneca Towers to begin my watch. They were on the top window ledge at the north end of the building. I only shared a few minutes with them as they both seemed to be looking over their shoulders for a breakfast item to go chase.

<Click all three

I arrived downtown around 7:30am and after searching around I spotted Dot.ca (DC) on the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) under the southeast cube from the City Hall parking lot. He was preening.

I drove down to park on Fitzhugh St. for another angle of him as he was half napping and looking around. He soon seemed to spot something to the southeast and flew off after pooping.

I thought perhaps he had seen Beauty and flew off to meet her but no such luck. I found him on the top I-beam west corner of OCSR from State St.

I took a trip around downtown and ended up with no Beauty sighting. I stopped on the Court St. bridge and found a preening Great Egret in the tree by the Broad St. bridge and the Rundell Library where we have often found a Black-crowned Night Heron hiding. Under the BSB was a seemingly headless Great Blue Heron that was snoozing and down in the river were lots of Ring-billed Gulls.

One more unsuccessful trip around to look for the Beautyful one before checking from the hole to see that DC was still on OCSR.

Not a bad little falcon watch in which I saw 3 out of 4 Rochester Peregrine Falcons that gave me reason to smile! 🙂

Click on the link below if you wish to check out my snippet video

https://youtu.be/hbuvhVjVLWo

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

It was a beautiful Sunday morning with temps in the 60’s when I arrived downtown.  The sun was shining and Frank Sinatra was crooning “I Did it My Way” on my radio.  After receiving some bad news this week, I really needed a couple of relaxing hours searching for our downtown falcons, and that’s what I got.

I found an adult falcon on the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT), in the red section below the platform.  It was facing north and at first I thought it was Dot.ca.

Eventually, the falcon turned to the right and walked towards the east side.

Finally a front view.  It was Beauty!  I found a parking spot in front of Rochester’s City Hall that gave me a better view.

<— Beauty on FCT.

Beauty was snoozing in the morning sunshine.  I left her to search for Dot.ca.

I drove all over downtown, looking for him.  Even checking the OCSR elevator shaft.  Sorry to say, I could not find him.

I returned to the Frontier Communication Tower and found Beauty in the same spot I left her.  After about a 1/2 hour of watching her sleep, it was time to move on.  On my way out of downtown, I checked all sides of the Kodak Tower, hoping to find Dot.ca there.  No such luck.  While searching for one tiercel, I found another tiercel’s favorite spot to hunt from.  So many good memories here.

—> Kaver’s favorite hunting spot.  The lilies on top of the Kodak Tower.

On my way home, I checked out the following areas; Medley Ctr (and the surrounding area), Seneca Towers (from Maplewood Park) and the east end of Kodak Park.  I saw no falcons at any of those locations.  It was time to head home.  🙂

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I keep checking out the downtown area in hopes of seeing and hearing a juvie Peregrine.  So far, I’ve had no luck.  But I love seeing Beauty and Dot.ca hanging out together too.

Saturday morning (8/5/17)

When I first arrived downtown, it was sunny and cool.  But coming in from the west was a mass of dark clouds.  For just a couple minutes, a beautiful rainbow came into view behind the Times Square Bldg.

It took me awhile, but I finally found our downtown pair sharing a meal on a chimney on Irving Place.  This is Rochester’s old City Hall.  At first I didn’t see Dot.ca, until his head popped up behind Beauty.  He was eating a small piece of the pigeon that Beauty was standing over.  Her crop was already full, but she reached down now and then to take a bite and pluck a feather or two.

After Beauty finished eating, Dot.ca moved in to take the remainder of her meal.  He flew off with it heading north.  Beauty followed a few moments later.

<— Beauty after Dot.ca left.

I drove over to the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT).  There I found Dot.ca eating on top of the large white drum on FCT.  Beauty was up under the platform over the northeast box.

This is where I left them at the end of my Saturday morning falcon watch.

Sunday morning (8/6/17)

It was a quiet and cool morning.  After checking most of the downtown area and not finding any falcons, I decided to check out the OCSR elevator shaft.  Yep!  There he was!  Dot.ca was up there on the south side ledge.

<— Dot.ca OCSR Elevator Shaft.

I continued my search for Beauty.  She was being very elusive.  While parked on the Court St Bridge, I found three fisher birds down on the river.  A Great Egret, a juvie Black-Crowned Night Heron and a Great Blue Heron.

I moved over to the Andrews St Bridge to watch from there for awhile.  I could see Dot.ca in the elevator shaft, but still couldn’t find Beauty.  After about an hour, I decided to end my Sunday morning watch.  Just after I texted that I was leaving, Beauty took off from the FCT platform.  She headed south chasing a flock of pigeons.  Beauty then turned back and again landed on the Frontier Communication Tower.  So nice of her to show herself to me before I ended my watch.  Thanks Beauty!  lol

On July 17th, Kathy O, Lisa, Dana and I took a road trip to Montezuma.  I finally took some time to look through my pictures.  It rained on and off, but it was still an enjoyable ride through this lovely area.  Here are some of my favorite pictures from that day.

<— Montezuma Eagle sculpture.  Awesome!

<— Young Bald Eagle drying its wings.

<— This was the best pic I could get of a Red Headed Woodpecker we found.  Only the 2nd one I’ve ever seen!

<— Osprey Fly Over.

<— Swallow Nesting at the Audubon Ctr.

I’ll leave you with some beautiful views from Montezuma.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

There clouds and sun with temps in the 70’s

Click on the pics to see the full version

Yesterday Joyce and I planned to go to Syracuse to look for Pigott and her mate, George. As we passed our exit for Syracuse Joyce decided we would go to Utica after I said I’d never been there and loved the resident Peregrine Falcons at that site, Ares and Astrid. We were treated to the presence of one juvie to start our watch on a good note. Soon after arriving, around noon, Joyce spotted it flying near the nest building, Adirondack Bank (AB) and the Utica State Office building (USOB). We drove around looking for it and 45 minutes later we found the juvie on the west side of USOB.

This juvie had a full crop and he soon pooped and flew off over the Utica Hotel and back to the north side of the USOB. He was whining so we knew there had to be an adult somewhere near there. I then spotted one on the west side of the Adirondack Bank. This adult also had a full crop.

Soon after that I spotted the other adult below the other one with its back to us. Joyce got out the car to walk down for a closer view and I joined her soon after. We had found Astrid and Ares!

As I was walking down the sidewalk to see the front of the lower adult I noticed some women in a second floor window all dressed in the same dresses so I signaled to them to wave-they were more than happy to pose for me! And I also liked a mural on one of the buildings.

<Click>

All 3 PEFA’s were napping with full crops to digest so we decided it was time to head to Syracuse to try our luck there.

We found the empty apartment building called the Harrison House where Pigott and George have been seen hanging out this year. The State building where they nested the last couple years has been under renovations and the nest box was moved so they didn’t use it and as a result no brood for them this year. We spent about 3 hours checking the city and sitting at the Harrison House waiting to see a falcon. There was no shortage of pigeons on this building! Suddenly in a very quick flash Joyce saw a small falcon appear out of nowhere and hit a pigeon. I only saw the falcon for a split second before it flew behind the building never to return. We believe it must have been George due to the size. Sorry, no pics at this site.

We left there around 6pm and stopped by the Montezuma Wildlife Refuge on our way home to try and find some eagles. What we found instead were 10 Osprey-adults and juvies in nests, trees and flying. What a treat for me as I haven’t seen a whole lot of Osprey in my bird watching history. The first bunch were along the stretch of highway where there are several nests on power line poles.

Next, we checked Mudlock where we’ve seen eagles before but again there were juvie and adult Osprey with fish. The sun was setting behind them which made for terrible back lighting to take pictures but I managed to give a few some help and make them good enough to keep.

On our way to Armitage to look for eagles we came across 3 Sandhill Cranes hanging out in a field with a bunch of Canada Geese.

<Click

We never did see any eagles but as the sun went down and the moon appeared we left for home smiling after a very nice day spent with nature! 🙂

If you’d like to see more pics from the day click on the shutterfly link below and as always there’s also a link for a snippet video

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqkic

https://youtu.be/8pYESUL2Cj0

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was 68 (F) 20 (C) degrees and sunny when I first drove through downtown. A couple t-storms passed through followed by more sunny skies when I returned to downtown

I stopped on the Andrews St. bridge real quick and saw a falcon on the crossbeam that joins the northeast and southeast cubes on the Frontier Communications tower (FCT). I drove over to Fitzhugh St. to identify it as Dot.ca (DC).

Dark clouds with lightning were coming my way from the west so I left to get over to fellow falcon watcher and good friend, Jeannes’ place to walk Bella before it started storming. We got our walk in just before the skies opened up and began to pour of rain. I returned to downtown with gray skies finding Beauty on her northeast cube of FCT. There was nowhere to park close to her but I did manage to get a couple quick pics with bad lighting.

You could see that the Beautyful one had been in the rain as her head feathers were wet. I checked the rest of the tower for DC but couldn’t find him. I thought perhaps he was over in the OCSR elevator shaft as he goes there when there’s inclement weather. I drove over to the Radisson Hotel and checked the north ledge first, he was not there so I went to Bragdon Place where I spotted his whiteness on the south side ledge.

I wanted to get to Seneca Towers before it got too late to see if anyone was home there and I was in luck as I found Seth on the north end window ledge from the Northridge Church parking lot. He was watching something intently down behind him as he kept looking over his shoulder. He stood up and I thought he would take off but then he settled back down into his over the shoulder stance.

A minute later Seth pooped, which is usually a tell tale sign that a falcon is going to fly off but nope, he just stretched and went back to watching over his shoulder.

A few minutes later Seth stooped straight down into the gorge at break neck speed and returned to his spot with nothing to show for his efforts.

I wished him good luck with his hunt and ended my watch at 9:40am with a smile after seeing 3 of Rochester’s resident Peregrine Falcons! 🙂

Click on the link below to see today’s snippet video

https://youtu.be/SelS8nXp4no

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

A much better morning weather wise as it was partly sunny and a chilly 58 (F) 14 (C)

Click on the pics to see the full version

The days are getting shorter making for a later start for my morning watches. I arrived downtown about 5:30am and checked the east side first from Woodbury St. It was still dark out but I managed to spot Beauty on the south side of Xerox, 6th column over from the southeast corner.

The crows were being vocal as they gathered on the railing of the Blue Cross building from the trees in Washington Square Park. Beauty flew out and back to land on the 5th column (her favorite) then she hopped back over to the 6th column before flying off to the west over the river.

I didn’t see the Beautyful one from the Court St. bridge so I had a feeling she and Dot.ca (DC) were in the Powers nest box bonding. I checked the river real quick but didn’t see any ducklings. I did see a Great Blue Heron.

Next stop was the Andrews St. bridge where I spotted Beauty on the Powers camera. As I checked the archives I found that my suspicions were correct.

<Click

From there Beauty flew to the Frontier Communications tower (FCT) to perch on her northeast cube. I drove over to Fitzhugh St. for a closer look and also found DC on a crossbeam below the southeast cube.

I went back and forth from the City Hall parking lot where I could see the front of DC to Fitzhugh St. in front of the Sister Cities parking garage where I could see the front of Beauty. They were both preening on and off with DC pulling white down feathers out of himself, so he is also molting now.

DC pooped while his mate watched him from above. lol I decided to leave them to it around 6:45am to see if I could catch any falcons at Seneca Towers or Hawkeye.

Unfortunately, no PEFA’s were seen so I ended my watch at 7am. Keep smiling! 🙂

Click on the link below to see today’s snippet video

https://youtu.be/U1GrzqHY2EI

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

A heavy mist was falling this morning with dark, overcast conditions and a chilly temp of  62 (F) 17 (C)

So, I’m thinking our downtown juvies have left us. Ontario was last seen by Dan on 7-19-17 and Rachel was last seen by me on 7-21-17. They may show up again but I’d say the chances are slim now. The last time the Seneca Towers brothers were seen was 7-23-17 by Joyce and I. I’m hoping to see them again but not counting on it. That said, we still have 4 adult PEFA’s to keep an eye on which brings me to this mornings watch. The weather was lousy but in the darkness and misty rain I managed to find Dot.ca (DC) in the OCSR elevator shaft on the north ledge staying high and dry from the elements.

I left him to go have a look around downtown and after a couple trips I found Beauty on the Kodak tower. She was on the west side arch ledge above where the old Mariah & Kaver nest box once was located.

I shared space with her for a bit and then made a couple more trips around the city with no luck finding any other falcons and DC was gone from the elevator shaft. When I returned to observe the Beautyful one she had her head tucked in under her wing. She was napping on and off.

I made one more trip around and when I came back through DC was on the northeast corner of the netting on Kodak. I tweeted it out and when I looked back up he was gone. He’s a sneaky little tiercel!

That’s all she wrote folks as I didn’t see anybody at Hawkeye or Seneca Towers as I passed through there. Even though it was a dismal morning watch Beauty and DC still put a smile on my face! 🙂

Just a short snippet video link below

https://youtu.be/0Wi_FfXya7g