By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

I started my watch a bit later than I normally do today for a special guest watcher all the way from LA,California was going to join local watchers at 11:00am on the Broad St. bridge. Watchers that turned out to meet Barb from Los Angelos were LarryO,CarolP,Jeanne,Lisa McK,Joyce,Shakymon, Judy and a gentleman I didn’t get the name for(sorry),KathyO and yours truly me,MAK!

I was by myself for the first hour of the watch and our downtown Peregrine pair were present and accounted for as Beauty was at the nest box and Dot.Ca(DC) was under the northeast wing of the Times Square building(TSB) when I arrived on the Broad St. bridge(BSB).

For the next 45 minutes Beauty was on the move keeping me very busy going from the top of cam 4 to the base of Mercury, then next to the main cam and back to Mercury. Phew she gave me a workout there for a while.

Beauty actually laughed at ole MAK at one point! If you don’t believe me just take a look!!! lol

See,she likes to smile too! 🙂

And it didn’t end with Beauty for DC had ants in his pants too flying off that northeast wing ledge multiple times only to show up back under it again.

Beauty eventually settled on the little ledge under the nest box at the northeast corner of the TSB opposite of Archers’ nook.

LarryO joined me at Falcon Watcher Central(FWC) at this time followed by CarolP a few minutes later. At about 11:15 the guest of honor arrived with her brother Rich who works at the Federal Building on State St. at Andrews St. as a security guard. He told me about how often he sees falcons flying around near the Andrews St. bridge when he does an outside building check. I pointed out the different buildings and took Barb for a walk down on Exchange St. to see Beauty closer up and to point out He’s chinese restaurant and Tim Hortons at Main and State St.

Barb-click pic for full version

You know-to give her a lay of the land so to speak. We all had a nice visit and fortunately for Barb, Beauty and DC stuck around so she could see them the entire time she was with us on watch. Our local watchers started leaving along with Barb who had a family function to attend. She is a very nice woman who will be returning to California on Tuesday.  When I ended my watch only Carol and Joyce remained. I departed downtown smiling for having had a really nice falcon watch with friends old and new as well as near and far!  🙂

To see more pics and videos click on the links below

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http://youtu.be/KAOA5uO-olU
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http://youtu.be/P36nkSIMTh4
http://youtu.be/2zN4B7Vz62Q

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Today after leaving work, I first checked out the KP area.  I could not find any falcons in the area, so I my nest stop was downtown, Rochester.  After checking KO, FCT and the north side of OCSR and finding no falcons, I headed towards the Broad St Bridge (BSB).  On the way, my phone tweeted!  It was Ei and she said the B&DC were on the top IBeam, south side of the OCSR.  Thanks Ei!

There was only parking on the south side of the BSB, and it was getting really crowded, so I ended up down on Aqueduct St aka the hole.  This area gives you a great view of the south side of OCSR, the Wilder Bldg, the Widows Walk, the Mercury Statue and the Times Square Bldg (TSB).  You lose the falcon really quickly when it flies away from the TSB. Both Beauty & Dot.ca took off from the OCSR.  She flew to the nest box and he flew to the base of the NE wing on the TSB.  Beauty left the nest box quickly and landed at the base of the SE wing on the TSB.  A closer look at DC showed that he had food and he was eating.  After finishing his meal, he walked in towards the bottom of the wing to cache the remainder.

After preening a bit, Dot.ca took off and went back to the top IBeam of OCSR.  After awhile, Dot.ca sounded the alarm and kakked all the way up to the top of the NE wing on the TSB landing on what we call the “wing ring”.

Dot.ca settled down and preened for awhile, although he remained vigilant.  I have no idea what upset him.  Maybe a hawk passing through?  During all of this, Beauty was not bothered at all.  In fact, she walked around the corner of the base of the wing and laid down for a nap.  All I could see was her tail feathers as she soaked in the last of the late day sun.  DC on the other hand, took off yet again.  This time heading SE.  Maybe towards the BS location?  After he left, I was approached by Amerks fans asking if I were watching the falcons.  They wondered what happened this year and I explained and they continued on their way.  It was the Amerks (Rochester’s hockey team) home opener.  I wished them luck.

Well, now that DC was gone and Beauty was snoozing, I decided it would be a good time to check out the BS location to see if DC headed that way.

At the BS location, I circled twice, finding nothing.  All was quiet.  One last time around.  I was on the south side when a bunch of Crows landed on the building and they were CAWING very loudly.  In the middle of all the CAWS, I heard a very loud answering EE-CHUP KAK KAK KAK.  It got louder and I kept looking around for the source of the sound of a very irate Peregrine Falcon.  Finally, I found one sitting on a window near where the Crows had landed.

Just as I was trying to get a good look at this falcon, another, smaller Peregrine flew in fast!  It was Dot.ca and we all know how much he dislikes Crows!  He was off like a shot!  Chasing Crows here and there and before long he had them cleared out of the area.  Pigott remained on the windowsill, until it was all done.  Then Dot.ca took off, but I didn’t see where he went.

100’s of Crows continued to stream in from the south, heading north towards the city and their nightly roosts.  Every now and then, some of them would come down to check things out, but they all eventually continued on their way.

Kathy O joined me earlier in the Watch and we settled in to watch as Pigott came off of the windowsill and and landed on the corner of the building above us.

We were losing light when Dot.ca returned.  He landed on the south side of the building and Pigott went to the cubby on the west side of the building.  She was vocalizing by ee-chupping softly.  Maybe calling Dot.ca.  Pigott is very grown up now.  No more whining continuously when DC was around.  She has turned into a very lovely adult.

Pigott left the cubby and ended up on the corner closest to where Dot.ca was located.  As it got darker, P took off and stooped to the west.  She returned empty taloned.

Dot.ca again took off.  He did not return as far as we know.  Maybe heading back to downtown Rochester?  It was getting dark, so Kathy and I decided to go home, leaving Pigott on the SW side of the building.

It was nice seeing Pigott again.  and Beauty and Dot.ca too!  No sightings of KPF today though.  Hopefully the Watchers will see all of them this weekend.

Have a nice weekend everyone and keep your eyes to the sky and stay warm.  Temps down in the 20’s overnight here in Rochester.  Make sure to grab an extra blanket?  Goodnight!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Just a quickie report today since there wasn’t much action. And because of the dark,rainy conditions I have only one semi decent pic of Beauty to show.

I checked the Brighton site first before heading downtown with no luck finding  a falcon. As I parked on the Broad St. bridge I could clearly see the Beautyful one perched atop cam 4.  She flew over to OCSR and did some preening of her wet feathers during a break in the on and off rain showers.

I was parked down in the hole and walking around in that area watching Beauty and looking at Times Square in case Dot.Ca decided to show up. She then went to the nest box which I managed to miss and only knew because Donna told me. I went back up on the bridge and caught a glimpse of DC under the northeast wing before he left for parts unknown. It was then that Donna let me know that he had been on cam 4 briefly and Beauty had bowed to him before he left for the wing where I saw him. Hmm, seems like maybe Donna had more of a watch than I did sitting in her home in New Jersey looking at the cams on her laptop! lol Thanks for your help D!

Beauty returned to the top ibeam south side of OCSR with her back to me not moving so I took a ride back over to Brighton thinking perhaps DC went there to meet or just look for Pigott but all was quiet with no falcons to be found. While I was on my way back to downtown Shaky tweeted that Beauty was on the money bag hand of Mercury which I was sorry to have missed and left before I got to the bridge. When I did return she was back on the top ibeam of OCSR again in pretty much the same spot as before I left. And that my friends is all she wrote for this day. I ended my watch a little over 3 hours after starting it looking at my favorite falcon Beauty who makes me smile whenever I see her! 🙂

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

After Carol and Kathy had a falcon at the Brighton site(BS) last nite that Dot.Ca(DC) chased out of there I thought I’d better go check that site first. The last 2 mornings I have started my watch at BS as well because of the juvie that Joyce and I saw Monday night and today bagged the same result-no falcons found. I left for downtown and as I parked Angel Car(AC) on the Broad St. bridge(BSB) I noticed Beauty and DC on the top ibeam of  OCSR southeast side just a few feet away from each other.

I left to park down in the hole to be closer to our downtown pair and while I was in transit DC moved down to the east corner by the elevator shaft. The sun was shining on them and I knew how warm it was making them as it was a very chilly fall morning with a busy breeze. The shade was too cold for me I’ll tell ya! I walked down to Aqueduct Park to enhance my viewing pleasure as it is right across the street from OCSR.

Beauty looked very light colored with the bright sun shining on her. It always amazes me how different they look in  different lighting.

While observing  DC he spread out his wings and got ready for take off, something his son Orion almost always did when he flew off.

He passed below Beauty and then she took flight following him over to the Times Square building. I watched DC land under the northeast wing. When I got back up to the hole he was gone and Donna had texted that Beauty was in the nest box. I noticed some guys working on the Thomson Reuters roof so I figured that’s why our fabulous feathered friends flew to Times Square. It is their job to protect their nest site after all. DC flew back to the northeast wing after a quick bowing session with Beauty in the nest box as reported by Donna and he looked like he meant business!

So I think it’s safe to say that when they feel threatened they strengthen their bond by bowing in their nest. As I recall after DC  chased out her last gentleman caller they met at the scrape and did some bowing. They both left so I walked up to the BSB for a panoramic view of the area and found some pigeons hiding out on the river side of the Thomson Reuters building and a Great Blue Heron came in for a landing but I could find no falcons. I trekked back down to the hole and fired up AC to drive over to BS for another check. Nothing but a Blue Jay over there so I returned to downtown and had a look around. Parked on the Andrews St. bridge I could make out the dark back of a pefa on the north side of OCSR top ibeam. I then whipped over to Bragdon St. next to the Radisson Hotel parked AC and fed the meter this time as the last time I didn’t and got a parking ticket for my trouble(I do learn from my mistakes lol). I took a walk out on the pedestrian bridge that crosses the Genesee River linking the Radisson  and the OCSR building for some picture taking. I found the Beautyful one with her head tucked into her wing fast asleep.

After a few minutes she suddenly started echupping as DC came flying in and landed at the north corner of the top ibeam. I consider echupping their love call.

DC

I had a homeless man by the name of Glen stop and chat with me for 20 minutes or so. He really liked how the lens on my camera went in and out and said this was the most interesting conversation he’s had since he returned to Rochester. We talked about the falcons of course, among other things. I like talking to peeps but sometimes I am relieved when they move on and this was one of those times! Beauty and DC seemed settled so I told them goodbye  and left for home smiling as I always do after spending time with them! 🙂

Pics and videos can be seen by clicking the links below

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http://youtu.be/CflW3dPS8wY
http://youtu.be/h2YXfGQrQWE
http://youtu.be/rnj3Gy06kB8

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Earlier today, I saw KPF(alcon) flying towards the stacks at KP at a high rate of speed.  Could not tell if she was hunting or not.  Good to see her.

After work, I first checked the KP area.  Nothing.

Next stop downtown, where I found Beauty and Dot.ca on the top IBeam of OCSR, south side.  I stayed and watched them for awhile from the Broad St. Bridge.  I was joined by Aaron, our photographer/watcher friend for a short while.  He was there to get some pictures of the ducks in the river.  After he left, I decided to head over to the BS location to see if I could find Pigott.

At the BS location it took me awhile, but after a couple loops around the building I found a falcon on the east side on the tree ledge. at approximately 5:40 pm.  At first I thought this must be Pigott, but this bird seemed to have different markings and was whiter.

Joyce texted that from the live streaming video, it looked like Dot.ca took off heading SE from the OCSR downtown.  A couple moments later, Dot.ca flew in, sort of buzzed the large female, who by the way had a very large crop, and landed on the back of the building.  Well, that was a little strange.  At first I thought he might have been trying to mate with her.

Kathy O joined me and we settled in to Watch.  Kathy pointed out that Dot.ca was gone, but he soon returned with a Kestrel (we believe) hot on his tail.  They flew around to the front of the building and back.  Dot.ca landed on the same place he had just vacated.  The Kestrel took one last dive on him and then flew off to the south.  The female Pefa never moved or made a sound during this.

At 6:10 pm, Dot.ca took off again, this time heading towards the female’s position.  He looked like he was either going to land on her or the top of the building above her.  He did neither.  DC again swooped on her and this time she took off.   He chased her to the front of the building.  They soon came back and he was diving on her, causing her to defend herself.  This time she did vocalize with a kind “yelp”.  New sound to both Kathy and I.  He was very aggressively trying to get her to leave.  She was reluctant, and she was much larger than DC.  Finally he “convinced” her it was better that she go.  He chased her off to the SE, until we lost sight of them.  This was so reminiscent of how he treated Beauty after he lost Unity.  I knew that Beauty was safely downtown during all of this on the OCSR.

Dot.ca soon returned and landed on the same east tree ledge the female had been on.  He stayed on guard there til around 6:45 pm when he took off heading north towards downtown.

So, another interesting Watch from the BS location. Due to behavior, I do not believe this was Pigott, and the coloring and markings were wrong.  Dot.ca was definitely aggressive against this other falcon.

There was no kakking, whining or ee-chupping by either falcon.  Just that strange vocalization made by the female when under attack.

We’ll definitely keep Watching and letting you know what we see.  There is always something new to learn!  Although I do wish things would be more calm.

I’ll leave you with a picture of the now totally wrapped High Falls Stack.

REMEMBER TO CLICK ON ANY PICTURE TO SEE THE FULL VERSION.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Starting at the Brighton site this morning with no pefa sightings. Got a tweet from Shaky that there was a falcon on the Frontier Communications Tower(FCT) so off I went to City Hall. Thankfully she stayed until I got there as I found Beauty on the northeast cube of FCT.

Less than 5 minutes later she took off flying south toward the Times Square building (TSB).

As I left for the Broad St. bridge BSB) I got a text from Donna that Beauty was at the nest box. Thanks for your help this morning Donna and Shaky!  I saw Dot.Ca (DC) under the northeast wing as I approached the TSB but couldn’t see Beauty so I went to the BSB so that I could.

I parked AC in the hole and kept walking back and forth between the there and the BSB for the best angles. It was quite chilly this morning and the wind was brisk getting gustier as time went on. Breezes fluffing up our Peregrine friends’ feathers is a good thing. Beauty and DC preened and napped.

After better than an hour Beauty was the first one to fly off and I missed it while I was taping DC. Then, as I was looking for Beauty DC disappeared. The trials of falcon watching! lol I wouldn’t have even know  the Beautyful one left if it hadn’t been for Donna informing me. We surely do have good teamwork here in Rochester whether it be the local watchers in the field or the long distance watchers on the cams. We all play a part and it works like a well oiled machine. So a few minutes later I spotted Beauty on the base of Mercury with a prey item and DC was now visible under the northeast wing again. Beauty appeared to kiss the base of Mercury at one point.

10 minutes later Beauty flew back to the deck and came to rest next to the main cam. DC disappeared again and from down next to the Wilder building and He’s Chinese joint I found him way at the back of the ledge under the northeast wing by the gridwork. Trying to hide from me no doubt! lol

Beauty left to return to pick at her cached food on the base of Mercury, which she really didn’t seem too interested in.  It was at this time I ended my watch as Beauty and DC sent me on my way smiling! 🙂

Click the links below if you would like to see more pics and some videos

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http://youtu.be/RzY44E7MoLs
http://youtu.be/SH9wPLz51pU
http://youtu.be/RO9BxHHr9G4
http://youtu.be/fOJg1aoyeJ8
http://youtu.be/1j2Hf_5rE-4

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

I thought after last nite at BS I would check there first today but I didn’t get there before sun up and so I could find no falcons present when I arrived at 7:15am. I then shot right over to the Broad St. Bridge and like yesterday morning could see a pefa bump on the KO launchpad. I scurried down to Mill St. for closer viewing. Now at the time I only noticed 1 falcon on the northeast corner. When I looked at my video I saw that both Beauty and Dot.Ca were up there! He was on the northeast corner and she was near the southeast corner blending into the steel gray color of the building with her own gray color.

click the pic for full version

I also found that they both flew off the tower- DC first and then Beauty flying north initially and then I saw them come thru flying south. Wow they sure had old MAK fooled this morning! lol

As I drove back down State St. when the Times Square building(TSB) came into view I could see the Beautyful one big as life perched on the main cam. When I went down to the hole and parked AC I noticed DC up under the northeast wing of the TSB.

15 minutes later I’m looking under the wing but don’t see Mr. DC. I believe he tucked back near the building out of my view because every once in a while Beauty would look up and vocalize. I watched Beauty for 30 minutes or so and in that time she tried to hack up a pellet on 2 separate occasions but I never saw anything come up and out of that Beautyful mouth of hers. She also did some preening and wing stretching besides just being the Beauty that she is.

DC suddenly appeared back under the northeast wing again and so I watched this pair for another half hour until Beauty flew down to the deck and then shot out flying east over the river and out of sight. DC took off soon after that flying west behind Widows Walk and out of my view.

He returned a few minutes later with prey and started plucking feathers sending them into the atmosphere around him.

He worked on that meal for about 20 minutes before disappearing without me seeing his departure. It looked like he had leftovers hanging over the edge up there that he left behind. A few minutes later a hawk flew in and landed on the southeast ledge below the southeast wing. It left after a minute or so-probably knew a Peregrine would be showing up soon! lol

And that’s my watch in a nutshell, I had to leave to go to a doctors appointment. One thing that made me smile this morning was the sun shining bright on a crisp fall day and of course our resident downtown Rochester Peregrine Falcon pair! 🙂

Click the links below for more of what I saw on my watch

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http://youtu.be/iepNO_sae2A
http://youtu.be/vSkzyQviqXY
http://youtu.be/_d7XO3RN9pQ
http://youtu.be/R7hPoNm2IKM

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

I met Joyce over at the Brighton site(BS) this evening for a falcon watch and boy did we have some action! We could see a falcon on the vent south(Back) side of BS from where we were running Joyces’ dogs. When we got over to the building there were 2 falcons. 1 adult on the vent and a juvie on a southwest corner. All was quiet between them for a while as Joyce and I had fits trying to ID them. The adult on the vent was too light to be Pigott but we couldn’t get the band legs or other clues to tell us it was Dot.Ca(DC). We thought it was a new bird at first but there was no problem deciding on the juvie. Such a little cutie!

DC J J

After an hour or so the peace and quiet ended abruptly when Pigott came streaking in to chase the juvie off the corner and DC joined right after her. They both were going after the juvie not really making contact but dive-bombing it to scare it outta there. DC left it to Pigott and retired to a southwest corner where he remained the rest of the night to watch the show along with Joyce and I. The juvie didn’t leave in fact she(pretty sure a female after seeing her fly with Pigott) flew over to the vent and landed. Pigott was beside herself with having this young sweet thing on her building with her mate! She made attempt after attempt to chase that little girl off that vent but the juvie held her ground and backed herself up to the building. All Pigott could do is fly in at the juvie ,land and squawk up a storm,rush the juvie and leave again. She did this many,many times without success. At one point she was bowing and echupping! Don’t really understand that behavior toward a juvie but hey we’re all learning as we go right!

Be sure to click pics for full version

There was whining coming from the juvie every time Pigott landed next to it on the vent.  Miss P did lots of kakking,echupping and fanning her tail feathers and poofing herself up to look big and bad. Thankfully she didn’t hurt the juvie at any point as far as we could see. This all went on for 2 hours until it got too dark to see. DC left and when I departed Pigott and the juvie were still at it. Boy what a watch and what a big smile it put on this watchers face! 🙂

Click the links below for more pics and videos from the watch

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http://youtu.be/D1_bjgfDgcM
http://youtu.be/eGfbjLtJJrU
http://youtu.be/X8p1nj58t0U

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Not much of a watch this morning but I did see a falcon. I parked on the Broad St. Bridge and with my binocs was able to spot a bump on the launchpad of KO. It’s a considerable distance but I have a blurry pic of it.

I pulled over on State St. and got a shot of it but the back was facing me.

From down near Mill St. on the east side of the Kodak Tower I could see the front of this falcon and it didn’t seem dark enough to be Beauty so I’m guessing it was Dot.Ca.

I started videotaping it just before it flew off from the northeast corner of the launchpad heading north and then I lost it.  I decided to go check BS before heading home. I couldn’t find a falcon there anywhere on the building so I ended my watch to go take care of something. I saw a Peregrine and so I’m smiling! 🙂

The link for a poor quality video is below click it it you dare! lol

http://youtu.be/OqDhL0V4IZs

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

I took my time getting around this morning and made my way down to the Broad St. bridge(BSB) about 8:30am. To my delight I found both Beauty and Dot.Ca(DC) on the Times Square building(TSB). She was on deck and he was under the southeast wing.

Larry stopped long enough to say hi and then he was on his way. About half hour later Donna texted that a couple gulls were reported injured and seen at Charlotte Beach. I decided to leave our lovely pair of Peregrines to search for and perhaps rescue these 2 gulls. I knew it was a long shot but I had to try. There were gulls everywhere as I made my way thru the parking lots  by the Port of Rochester and eventually over to the pier and beach area. The clouds over Lake Ontario were awesomely cool including one that was hooking up with the water to create lake effect rain.

When I got out on the pier far enough to see the beach I thought, boy there’s a lot of gulls out there. I checked,checked and re-checked with my binocs and didn’t see any obvious injured gulls.

I made my way out to the end of the pier asking people along the way if they’d seen a gull with a missing foot or leg and a gull with fishing line coming out its mouth. The first couple I asked said they had seen the footless one with a little fishing line hanging from its leg so I’m thinking the line severed the poor things foot off. They saw it a couple days ago but everyone else I spoke to hadn’t seen either one of them. I watched one fisherman catch a Rainbow trout and bring it up out of the lake onto the pier.

I chatted with him as he retrieved the hook from the fish and I asked him to please be responsible with his hooks and fishing line as they threaten wildlife. He said no problem as I resumed my search. I spent almost 2 hours looking without finding either one of these gulls. There were lots of pumpkins at a pavillion in the park and it looked like they were setting up for some kind of  Halloween event.  I left Charlotte to check at KP before returning to the downtown area. No pefa at KP but when I returned to the BSB I found Beauty on the top ibeam southeast side of the OCSR building.

My camera was acting up  when Dawn joined me by Falcon Watcher Central. 20 minutes later Bobbie Ireland joined the watch and we walked up on the BSB to check the river. Bobbie asked me where the Green Heron hangs out and I pointed to the rivers edge below the Thomson Reuters building when suddenly she said what just moved down there? It was the Green Heron and she and Dawn were just thrilled to see it.  Bobbie had to leave and then it started to sprinkle so Dawn and I left as well.

My first trip to Charlotte in my Angel Car made me smile as I drove off ending a very busy watch on this seventh day of October!

There are a couple surprise pics at the end of my photo album-click the links below to see it along with 2 videos

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http://youtu.be/Rf7qjtKHNaY
http://youtu.be/5e97D69gcQo