By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Todays temperatures were much more comfortable than the last few days with clouds to begin my watch. As the bus made it’s way down Main St. I checked the jail tower,Frontier Communications tower,Widows Walk and the back of the Times Square building. No pefa bumps so when I got off the bus just before 8:00am I walked straight to the Broad St. bridge. Nothing on the Wilder building,Mercury,OCSR,Xerox or Bausch & Lomb. As I looked down river to the north toward the High Falls area I spotted a bump on a brick stack that is located further down river from High Falls.

After zooming the pic on my camera I still couldn’t be sure if it was a falcon or a hawk but it did seem to be perched like a pefa to me. I thought perhaps it was Beauty and I had found her hiding place when I can’t find her as I knew Dot.Ca(DC) was on the eggs since Donna helped me out with that info. Thank you! About 20 minutes passed when DC flew out of the nest box and another 20 minutes went by before he returned and landed on cam 4.  I couldn’t tell at the time but he had prey with him.

DC flew off a few minutes later, circled above the Philipone building and landed under the northeast wing only to take off again behind the Times Square building out of view.

Less than 5 minutes later DC came flying in from the west and landed next to the main cam. I was so hoping he would get back on the eggs as it had been a half hour since he was on them.

Well he didn’t do that, instead he flew back out again and went behind the building out of view once more before returning to land on the other side of the main cam.

I was right below the nest box at this point and my view of things was very limited so I walked back up to the bridge to better keep track of things. I was really wishing the Beautyful one would show up and get on those eggs to rid me of my anxiety about them not being covered for close to an hour at that point. I thought maybe DC was trying to lure Beauty to the nest box by flying around the area cuz he wanted to take a break to eat since he was carrying prey around with him. Next he flew in the nest box with his small bloody morsel and plopped himself near the eggs with it. He soon flew out landed on the roof of the nest box and quickly went back into the scrape and back out again and came to rest under the southwest wing. I blinked and he was gone from there and next thing I knew Donna was texting me that he was back on the eggs! We were both relieved to have him back on incubation duty. Boy he sure had me hopping for an hour. I walked further east on the Broad St. bridge to check that stack which had the bird on it earlier to find it was not there anymore.

I went down by the Rundell library at the east end of the bridge and sat down at one of the picnic tables. After an hour I texted Donna to see when DC relieved Beauty this morning and she said at 5:43am, so it had been a 4 hour break for her at this point. I noticed the Powers building was getting it’s windows washed as I peered in that direction and then I stretched my legs out and checked down in the river to see a Great Blue Heron looking to catch some breakfast. Around an hour later as I looked up toward the scrape I caught DC flying out from the nest box and disappearing behind the Times Square building. I kept my eyes on the nest box area hoping to see Beauty fly in to take over when I got a tweet from Ei that my favorite female falcon was on the eggs. Oy, she had snuck in there on me again! lol I figured she would be in there for a while and DC probably went to see Pigott over at the Brighton site so I decided to end my watch and head down to the bus stop. I was thankful to see DC do some flying as my last few watches didn’t produce any action to speak of and so I left downtown smiling. 🙂

Click on the link below for a few more pics from my watch

http://pix.kg/p/230162195213%3A975905425/scl

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Date : 5/29/12 (Tuesday)
Time: 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm
Weather: The day started out really hot, high 80’s, but after a cold front went through, it was way more tolerable, in the 70’s. Still sunny and warm.
Watcher: Kathy O & Carol P.
Places: Downtown Rochester (Times Square Nestsite) (TS)
Peregrines Seen: Beauty (at TSB), Dot.ca (at TSB) & Pigott (at BS)
Beauty = B
Dot.ca = DC
Pigott = P (the female falcon formerly known as SA or Sub Adult at BS Location)
Times Square Bldg = TSB
Brighton Site = BS
Broad St Bridge = BSB
Baush & Lomb Bldg = B&L Bldg
Old Changing Scenes Restaurant = OCSR

After getting out of work, I first drove over to the BS location to find Pigott in the shade on the east side of the building. Sitting on a windowsill preening. She looked great. If she laid eggs at the scrape, we will never know. Although we saw them mating and visiting the scrape, that has pretty much stopped now. Over the weekend, Dana and I did see Pigott at the scrape for awhile, sitting on the windowsill there. I think it’s been awhile since D.C. has been seen there, although there are recent reports that he has headed in that direction from downtown.

After spending some time with Pigott, I headed downtown. On my way there, Kris G informed me that D.C. was on the eggs. So, I started my search for Beauty. Where could she be. Not on the TSB. or the Wilder Bldg. or OCSR. or the Widows Walk. I expanded my search grid to the Andrew St Bridge where I could see the Kodak Tower, the Cross Rds Bldg and the north side of OCSR and ….. there she was! Beauty was on Frontier Communication Tower below the platform on a square box shaped structure she always favored. It had been a long time since I’d seen her there.

At 5:00 pm, Beauty spread her wings and took off heading south, towards the Times Square Bldg. I followed, but heavy traffic kept me from keeping her in sight. By the time I got to the Broad St Bridge, she was nowhere to be seen. Donna and Joyce verified that D.C. was still on the eggs. First I found some shade down on Aqueduct St, the temps were creeping back up into the 80’s and it was still really humid. Certainly not as bad as it had been over the Memorial Day weekend.

Nothing was happening, so I drove up to the Broad St Bridge and parked my facing into the sun. At 6:00 pm, Beauty came flying in from the east (Xerox/Midtown area). She flew over me and up to the nest box. D.C. was out and Beauty was in. Shift change!

I had not seen where Dot.ca went, so I went in search. Once I didn’t have the sun in my face, I was able to see him up on the base of the SE wing of the TSB, preening and cooling down from his hours on the eggs.

So far, I had all three Rochester Falcons, so it was a good Watch. But, there was one more place I needed to check. On the way home I stopped to check Kodak Park (KP), hoping for a glimpse of the small Peregrine I saw there last Friday. Kathy O was already there and reported that she had not seen him. I never did post a Watch Report about this did I? Here it is!

Tiercel spotted at Kodak Park on Friday, May 25, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.

Some of you may have heard that I spotted a sub-adult Tiercel (male) at KP on Friday, May 25th around 7:30 pm. Kodak Park is on my way home, so I try to stop there every night. I was hopeful that maybe Archer would go there to recuperate from his injuries. It was a familiar spot for him. So, imagine my surprise, when I saw a small falcon on the catwalk of the west smoke stack. It was windy and warm and the falcon was facing away from me. At first I thought, was this a Peregrine or a Kestrel? After a better look through my binoculars, I could see that it was definitely a Peregrine, dark hood, white chest. Could it be?

Once I put the scope up and got an even better view as the falcon turned towards me, I could see the heavy streaking on the belly and juvie brown feathers mixed in with adult dark gray. Another sub-adult, with almost the same coloring as Pigott. and before you ask, no this was not her. This was a very small male.

I quickly tweeted out that I had a Peregrine at KP and I was first joined by fellow Watcher Dana and then Joyce and Lisa. But, before they got there, the tiercel took off heading east. Strong, fast, steady wing beats. He was on a mission or a hunt. Hunt it was! Within a minute, he returned with prey almost half his size. I really couldn’t tell what it was. He carried it up to the black strip on the blue bldg that contained the old scrape used by Unity and Archer. He was very close to it. That’s when Dana joined me. He started to pluck and eat.

Through the scope, I could see that he had black/black bands. So yet another Canadian Peregrine had made his way down to Rochester. At 8:30 pm, he had eaten his fill and cached the remainder somewhere on the north side of the bldgs where we could not see. The tiercel returned and flew in front of the blue bldg and back to the east end where we lost him. We assumed he landed somewhere down there, but we were never able to find him. Joyce and Lisa joined us to help try to find him, but no luck.

I still check there daily, along with others, but no one has spotted him again. Was he a young male just migrating through? Or will we see more of him? I hope so!

It’s just another reason to keep your eyes to the sky!

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Well I must say things sure have quieted down on the falcon watching front here in Rochester,NY. I thought I would say a few syllables in case those of you who look for my reports were wondering why you haven’t seen any in a while. I was in Canada 2 days last week and had some festivities over the Memorial day weekend to attend. My last 3 watches produced 1 brief sighting of Beauty on the deck of the nest box last Friday. And from the top of the South Ave. garage yesterday I could barely see the bump of Dot.Ca laying on the eggs in the nest box. Today I saw nothing. Pretty exciting stuff eh?

I had a chance to see them this morning as Beauty left the nest box and Dot.Ca  relieved her of  incubation duties but I missed it cuz LarryO and Cleo stopped by for a few minutes. The switch was made while Larry and I stood on the Broad St. Bridge chatting and not paying attention. Such is the life of a falcon watcher-you can sit for hours staring and the moment you look away bam that’s when they do something. Oh well, better luck next time as they say! The heat yesterday(low 90’s) and today(85 when I left downtown) were too much for me to stay much more than a couple hours. A cold front is coming through sometime today and the temperature for the rest of the week looks outstanding- in the 70’s so I will no doubt stay out watching a bit longer. I can handle that and hopefully the birds will be a little more active too. Nature did come to the rescue providing other things to entertain me for example yesterday I was treated to a swan family and several goose families. And today I watched a crow catch a crawfish in the rocks of the Genesee river and proceed to battle it without being grabbed by it’s claws. The crawfish finally succumbed to the relentless poking and wrestling of this crow.  The crow  filled  it’s beak with this protein enriched shellfish and took the morsels back to it’s nest in Aqueduct park to feed it’s young. So you see there’s always something to make you smile when nature is involved! 🙂

Click on the links below to view a few non-falcon pics and a video

http://pix.kg/p/245901095213%3A2078215008/scl

http://youtu.be/wZIT-efohDU

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Let me just start by saying this was the best falcon fun I’ve had to date. From seeing some tandem flying at the Burlington bridge to holding a real live eyas while it got banded to watching a couple of fierce moms defend their nest and seeing one of my favorite pefas- Quest again. Holy flying falcon I had the time of my life and I owe Joyce a great big thank you for taking me with her for this adventure.

We started out Wednesday morning for the Burlington Bridge banding at 10:00am. The resident pair-Cirrus and MacKenzie were both present and in defense of their nest site as Mark Nash placed a board between them and the banding crew.

These two gave quite the show and quite a start to our trip! Our next stop was the Sheraton in downtown Toronto where we saw Rhea Mae and Tiago sitting on the ledge 43 stories up and inside at the banding Joyce got to hold Marlee, the first male to be banded. We also met up with Kathy, Dana and Carol who rode up together.

Two males named Marlee and Cosmo and two females named Journey and Fef were banded at this site. The 5 of us Rochester falcon watchers decided to go see Quest when we left the Sheraton. Joyce and I arrived a little before the rest to find Quest on top of the Harlequinn building keeping an eye on her babies across the street in the nest box. Kendal didn’t show up until much later when Joyce and I returned to the site after going for a bite to eat. The other ladies had left for home and missed him.

This was the end of day one for Joyce and I as we got a hotel room across the street from the Yellow Pages building where Linn and Reuben reside. In the morning we were lucky enough to see both pefas present and a food exchange made.We didn’t spend much time with them for we had to get to the Canada Square site for their banding at 10:00am. Traffic was horrendous as usual in and around Toronto and we were almost an hour late but lucked out as they were just getting ready to go up and extract the eyasses from the roof. Mark Nash had brought a nest box to place up there as they were nesting on the roof  without the benefit of a proper home. We watched from about 6 feet away as Haven(named by CPF) the unbanded female did her best to defend her babies and nest. Wow what a show we got here as well!There weren’t many people at this banding and what a surprise when Marion Nash called out MAK would you like to hold an eyas? Are you kidding me? Of course I would, and so I held Solar whilst he got banded.After this banding we left for the next one in Etobicoke at the Sunlife building where Jack( dad to Dot.ca) and new female replacing Angel the infamous O’Connor reside. We caught one brief glimpse of him as the males usually don’t get involved with protection during banding festivities. They protect the territory and leave the nest to the females and in this case left it in good hands or shall I say talons. O’Connor proved to be just as fierce and fiesty as Tracy described her on many occasions. She pulled a net out of the hand of Mark Nash and thumped a guy on duty twice on the top and back of his head. He should have been wearing a hard hat so that he wouldn’t have lost any blood from the experience. Sheesh! Kathy known to us on the forum as Carly a regular watcher at this site said she heard him yell OW! all the way down on the street some 200 ft.

There were 3 females and 1 male for this site and one heck of a show put on by Miss O’Connor, who by the way is quite big and beautiful!

After helping Mark  and Marion load their equipment into their car we said our goodbyes and left for the states. Joyce wanted to check the Niagara Gorge before it got dark on our way home. Unfortunately the mist from the falls and the lack of light made for very poor camera conditions but we did see the babies and 1 adult in the scrape. All together on this 2 day excursion Joyce and I saw 13 adults and 22 eyasses for a whopping grand total of 35 Peregrine Falcons. I’d say that’s enough to make anyone smile! 🙂

There’s many pics in 2 albums and many short videos from this trip so make some popcorn and click on the links below

http://pix.kg/p/651053585213%3A1006727641/scl

http://youtu.be/FAOZaVJUCqo

http://youtu.be/93qVETb7Eyk

http://youtu.be/0J1PAGZ5su0

http://youtu.be/s_D4vXJ_Pac

http://youtu.be/YzpwvJGLbG4

http://pix.kg/p/781053585213%3A1192550195/scl

http://youtu.be/xJcK9klOBnI

http://youtu.be/YdaPLz-N6ek

http://youtu.be/XPXyClU9f0c

http://youtu.be/SLGwMLjrnWo

http://youtu.be/KC5DREWnH70

http://youtu.be/Exoo6GRvEEM

http://youtu.be/LV8CH2vAM8o

http://youtu.be/69uhQOOhg08

http://youtu.be/_yuUylAn8xE

http://youtu.be/C1tJdZHZrmw

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

I had the good fortune of having the use of a vehicle this morning and so I took full advantage of it. I landed on the Broad St. Bridge(BSB) just before 8:00am. After a look around and not seeing a pefa I contacted Donna to confirm that Beauty was in the nest box on her eggs. She’s always happy to help and I appreciate it tremendously! Having the use of a vehicle afforded me the opportunity to go check on the Brighton Site(BS). Since I didn’t see Dot.ca(DC) downtown I thought perhaps he was hanging out there with Pigott. I didn’t find him but I did find Pigott on the front of the building(north side) 4 windows down perched on a ledge with her back to me. She did turn her head so I could see her very cute face!

I didn’t stay long since DC wasn’t around returning to the BSB and finding out a switch had been made in the scrape while I was gone. DC was now on the his eggs. I drove down to the hole(Aqueduct St.) to see if  Beauty was on the Wilder building or Widows Walk. As soon as I turned onto the street I looked up and could see the Beautyful one perched near the northwest corner of the base of Mercury a place that can’t be seen from the bridge.

After 15 minutes Beauty managed to bring up a sizable pellet  making room to eat cached food she had up there.

After her talon licking good meal she had a poop for herself and just relaxed for a bit with a full crop.

Beauty flew off Mercury after over an hour spent there and went to the deck near the main cam to patiently wait for DC to give up his spot in the nest box on their eggs.

He wasn’t budging so she went into the nest box to be more convincing to him. DC finally gave it up and flew the coop flying behind the Times Square building to the Widows Walk flying off seconds after he arrived to the south. I had to be on my way at this point but I was smiling for I had seen all 3 of our fabulous Rochester Peregrine Falcons! 🙂

Click on the links below for more pics and a couple videos

http://pix.kg/p/404247285213%3A1741739262/scl

http://youtu.be/bgmOhxhOtc4

http://youtu.be/0TMMOBKo7Aw

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Date : 5/21/12 (Monday)
Time: 4:00 pm to 7:30 pm
Weather: Sunny and warm. Temps in the 80’s. Cold front went through late afternoon with rain, wind and cooler temps in the 70’s.
Watcher: Dan, Kathy O, Brian H, & Carol P.
Places: Downtown Rochester (Times Square Nestsite) (TS)
Peregrines Seen: Beauty (at TSB), Dot.ca (at TSB) & Pigott (at BS)
Beauty = B
Dot.ca = DC
Pigott = P (the female falcon formerly known as SA or Sub Adult at BS Location)
Times Square Bldg = TSB
Brighton Site = BS
Broad St Bridge = BSB
Baush & Lomb Bldg = B&L Bldg
Old Changing Scenes Restaurant = OCSR

Boy, do I wish there was more time in the day! So many pictures to go through, so many things to report. Remind me to tell you the story of Dot.ca and the Crows! Oh, well. Here’s what happened this afternoon.

I arrived at the BS location at 4:00 pm. Traffic is much more manageable now that the Lilac Festival is over. They had incredibly nice weather for the festival this year, but due to earlier warmth and then freezing, most of the lilac bushes were lilac-less. But, even without the main attraction, the flowers and their incredible fragrance, a fun time was had by all that attended.

OK, back to the report. I circled the building, checking all the windows and roof lines and finally found Pigott sitting on a window sill on the east side in the shade. Couldn’t blame her, it was another very warm day in the 80’s and the sun was intense. I found a spot to park my car and settled in to watch her. The bright sun on her back showed me a mixture of juvie and adult feathers. She has a very dark head and her back has a combination of dark chestnut brown and dark gray feathers. Soon she will have the steel gray and white feathers of an adult. It always amazes me to see this transition to adulthood.

After awhile, I decided to head downtown to check on Beauty and Dot.ca. Brian H was there and reported seeing both Beauty and Dot.ca flying together above the Times Square Bldg. I love to watch them fly. Someone reported that Beauty was back in the nest box and that she was “chatting” with someone above her. I tweeted that it was not Pigott since she was quietly preening here at BS. OK, time to go.

When I arrived downtown around 4:40 pm. Beauty was inside the nest box and I couldn’t find Dot.ca, so I drove around looking for him. No luck, so I parked on the Broad St Bridge and was soon joined by Brian H. We moved to the south side of the bridge and watched the cold front move in. Very dark black clouds were moving our way and the winds were picking up. Rain was coming and slightly cooler temps.

The river below was teeming with life. Gulls, ducks, a Great Blue Heron and a turtle, sunning itself on a rock. We saw a gull flying over the shallow water, chasing a fish that thrashed below him. I looked for momma duck and ducklings but could not find them. They had been out last night along the east bank of the river on the north side of the bridge.

We saw Beauty take off from the TSB, at first I thought it was DC, but he was in the nest box, so it was definitely Beauty. She flew south, over the Blue Cross Arena and just past the jail communication tower. We watched as she circled back, now heading north. That’s when a small Kestral zipped in and started letting Beauty know she was not welcome. He dove on her a few times, which did not faze her at all. She continued towards the TSB with her little shadow following. That is until a Crow decided to get mixed up in it. The Crow flew past Beauty and went after the Kestrel! Well, the Kestrel wasn’t going to have any of that. He flew after the Crow! Chasing it north, past the TSB. By that time Beauty had landed on the platform in front of the nest box, with Dot.ca inside, over the eggs.

Soon after she landed, the Kestrel returned and started diving on her. Again, she wasn’t much bothered, more annoyed. After a few passes, the Kestrel gave up and flew off. Not sure where he came from or where he went. Could there be a Kestrel nest somewhere nearby?

The cold front finally arrived and it started to rain. Brian and I got into my car and I took him home. He had been out in the heat for quite awhile today. I returned to the Broad St Bridge and sat in my car in the rain. Kathy O arrived and joined me in my car. We watched for about an hour, but neither falcon moved. At this time, Beauty was in the nest box on the eggs and Dot.ca was on the left side of the platform keeping guard. At 7:00 pm, we decided to call it a day. Just as we were about to leave, Dan S arrived. We let him know what had happened and said our goodbyes.

On my way out, I stopped down on Aqueduct St. and watched Dot.ca on the platform. The rain had almost stopped and he was moving around a bit. At 7:15 pm, he took off, heading south east. I waited to see if he would return with food, but he never did. It was time for me to go.

It was a good day today, with all three Rochester Falcons seen! Remember to keep your eyes to the sky. This way you’ll be prepared when the rain moves in! 🙂

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

As I approached the Times Square building after getting off the bus around 7:45am I spotted DC on the northeast corner just above the nest box and well.

15 minutes later he flew off and went to the nest box briefly then shot back out flying above the Wilder building. Half way back to the Times Square building he spotted a Starling and stooped on it only to pull back before running into the Phillipone building! Sometimes you watch these birds with your heart in your hand because of their daring escapades. DC then landed under the northwest wing.

After a 15 minute perch he flew off to the northwest over Widows Walk(WW) and out of view. KathyO came by and asked if I wanted to ride over to the Brighton Site (BS). Dana had tweeted that DC was over there but when we got there he was gone and Pigott was on a northwest corner in the front of the building.

We didn’t stay long returning downtown where I spotted Beauty on the northwest corner of the Crossroads building.

20 minutes later the Beautyful one flew off and ended up on the northwest corner of Widows Walk out of the sun which was heating things up quickly this morning.

We couldn’t see Beauty and thought she left but she may have gone in farther where we couldn’t see her. Kathy left about 10am and I stopped to check the river before going down to the hole(Aqueduct St.) to find some shade. I fpund a Great Blue Heron fishing and captured a pic of it flying from one spot to another.

Click on the pics for full version

I hung out a while longer and decided to go home and get out of the heat. Although it was a short watch by my standards it was a good one that made me smile! 🙂

Here’s the link for my album

http://pix.kg/p/360091085213%3A1241834970/scl

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Carol picked me up for an early morning watch and boy did Dot.ca(DC) keep us busy.When we arrived on the Broad St. Bridge(BSB) we saw a pefa on the main cam but it left before we could ID it. 5 minutes later Beauty was on the southwest corner of the Wilder building and DC was on the southeast side of the Times Square building(TSB) on a column one level higher than the nest box.

Beauty flew to the nest box and DC took flight over us before settling on the well column south of the nest box.

He then flew over to the Wilder building landed on the southwest corner where beauty had just vacated and then went to the nest box.

A couple minutes later he shot out and headed south to the jail tower perching on the very top. At this point we decided to go check the Brighton Site(BS) for Pigott before the traffic for the Lilac Festival got to be too much. We found her on a northeast window ledge with a white feather on her head, she is so cute.

We were informed at this time that Beauty was laying her 2nd egg. Yipee! Congrats to Beauty and DC!! 10 minutes later DC flew in with a food package for Pigott. They both flew around the back of the building. She landed on a window ledge kitty corner across from the scrape and began eating. DC landed on a south corner and started preening.

He then flew to the scrape echupping as Pigott ate her breakfast.We heard geese flying in and all of a sudden Pigott flew after them coming real low just missing giving one of them a thumping. Then both DC and Pigott flew in the scrape and did some echupping. DC then flew out and left the area while Pigott flew to a north window about half way down the building to keep an eye on the geese who were on the grass eating dandelion seeds. She then flew to a higher spot on the front of the building and this is where we left her to see if DC had gone back to downtown.

On our way downtown Donna let us know DC was checking his newest egg out and when we arrived on the BSB he was in the scrape incubating. Dana and Dan came by to watch with us but I had to leave.  I had a rather large smile on my face from the mornings events to say the least! 🙂

http://pix.kg/p/649594975213%3A907976664/scl

http://youtu.be/256wXFl7y5Q

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

I arrived downtown just before 10:00am and found Dot.ca(DC) on top of cam 4 preening himself and looking quite comfy and at home. I set up on the Broad St. Bridge(BSB) and went back and forth between watching for falcons and the rapellers going down the southeast face of OCSR.

While I was watching the activities at OCSR DC went down to the nest box and 20 minutes later Beauty showed up on the deck.

DC flew back up to under the southeast wing once again focusing his attention on OCSR. Beauty went in the nest box and plopped down on their egg. What little I saw of her back end she looked pretty heavy with egg to me.

Katie (birdgirl814) stopped by to say hi real quick while on her lunch break. DC left the building while we chatted. I needed to charge my phone and it was about noon so I went to the library for a lunch break. Upon my return I could see no pefas in sight. I checked the activity down in the Genesee River and then resumed watching the rapellers over at OCSR. Joyce informed me that Beauty snuck into the nest box and was incubating the egg . 20 minutes later DC returned to his post under the southeast wing.

All was quiet so I decided to call it a watch and head down to the bus stop which is right near the OCSR building. The boyscouts had a table set up out front and a tent was off to the side with camping gear displayed. Across the street in front of Aqueduct Park a small band made up of boy scouts was playing music and there were lots of people on the Main St. bridge and surrounding area watching and cheering the rapellers. Oh did I mention that the rapellers were paying for this thrill of a lifetime to donate to the boy scouts of America. Everyone was having a great time and smiling! 🙂

Check out the links below for pics and videos from my watch

http://pix.kg/p/648295875213%3A171433746/scl

http://youtu.be/6oQ-kPVodWA

http://youtu.be/2WXyyxI0T1E

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

The plan today was to go to Niagara Falls and check to see how many hatchlings there were for Sage. She had asked Joyce if she could do this as she and DEC watcher Jackie would not be able to for a couple days. As of  yesterday 2 of the 5 eggs had hatched. Naturally when Joyce asked if I wanted to join her I said yes. Our first mission was to find out where Dot.ca(DC) was for he hadn’t  been downtown all morning to see Beauty or his new egg.  When we arrived downtown we found DC under the northeast wing and Beauty was in the nest box with their egg. 10 minutes later Beauty flew up under the southeast wing and DC went down to the deck of the nest box and got his first glimpse of the egg.

A minute later he was in the nest box touching and rolling the egg to form his bond with it. It was a tender moment to say the least. Next thing we knew he was out the box and mating with Beauty under the southeast wing. I guess that’s what you call celebrating Peregrine style! lol When they were done he flew around the area doing his happy dance flight before leaving. Joyce and I stayed about 20 minutes waiting for him to return and decided we better get going to Niagara Falls as it was after 11:00am already. We left the Beautyful one under the southeast wing soaking in the suns rays.

When we arrived at Goat Island on the U.S. side of Niagara Falls about 1:20pm it was sunny with blue skies as far as you could see. The resident female Diamond was in the scrape incubating.

Make sure to click on pics for full version

The unbanded male, named Gorge’s George by Sage brought a food package and mom fed the eyases. Joyce was able to determine that there were 3 little fuzz ball heads being fed looking through my scope. So 1 egg hatched since yesterday with 2 remaining.  She flew out and cached the leftovers and returned. A while later he flew in to relieve her and take over the incubation duties. I spotted her on a window south of the scrape after she flew around a bit.

The mist from the falls started drifting over to us from a shift in the wind so we packed up and headed to Buffalo. First stop was the south Grand Island bridge where I spotted a pefa under the bridge in a couple different spots.

We left for downtown as the day was getting shorter stopping at the Statler building nest site. From the 26th floor of the Rand building we could see a pile of white fluff in the scrape but no adults were in our view.

Next stop was Central Terminal where we were disappointed to see no falcons. We did see a man on the lower roof below the scrape and thought it odd that no pefas were at least checking him out. Maybe one was in the nest box with the babies and couldn’t see him. We left not feeling good about not seeing anyone there. Our last stop was the grain elevator where we saw nothing also. After a long day we headed home as the sun was setting in the western sky. Another fantastic day of falcon watching in the books giving Joyce and I something to smile about! 🙂

Check out the links below for more pics of the days events and 4 short videos of  the falls

http://pix.kg/p/544498775213%3A159481372/scl

http://youtu.be/AlfPGmGnGa8

http://youtu.be/59IOVf1-Htk

http://youtu.be/wjYBfAKtaos

http://youtu.be/KF7MwlaiorE