By Rochester Falcon Watcher Joyce

See attached album on Picasa for some shots of the female peregrine on Times Square Monday approximately 4:40 pm.

I didn’t see any disheveled feathers. This female looks quite content. It is obvious that this bird has a black over red band. She didn’t show me her other leg, but I’m convinced this looks like Unity. See if you can read the letter on the red part of the band…

https://picasaweb.google.com/wnyfalconwatcher/2012JoyceSAlbum213#

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

It was cloudy and it was drizzling.  Kind of icy, kind of snowy, a little of both.  After work daylight is still at a premium.  I arrived on the Broad St Bridge at 5:30 pm, knowing it would be dark in a 1/2 hr.  There was a Falcon on the Times Square Bldg, at the NE wing.  This is directly above the nest box.  Too bad the cameras don’t go that high.

The Falcon kept looking back towards the north east.  Something definitely had her attention.  Kathy O joined me just before the Falcon took off heading, yep you guessed it, north east.

I kept my binoculars trained on her as she flew past the old Changing Scenes Restaurant and over the Andrews St Bridge.  That’s when the attack began.  But it was no regular target.  This bird was big and dark and non-moving.  This was not a bird at all, but a big plastic Great Horned Owl sitting on top of a building on the north side of the Andrews St. Bridge.  The Watchers are very familiar with it.

As I watched, she stooped 5 or 6 times on the unmoving figure and then gave up and flew east. 

By this time it was dark.  Kathy and I did a quick search and then we both headed home.

No pictures tonite due to the weather and darkness.

The Watchers will continue to attempt to get a positive ID on this Falcon.

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

I’m happy to say the Beautyful one is still with us in stable condition. <3  Hopefully more details will soon be reported.

Joyce and Brian picked me up shortly before sundown and when we arrived downtown I thought I saw a bump under the northeast wing of the Times Square building. As we drove to  the Broad St. bridge we saw that there was in fact  a falcon under that wing. Joyce drove over to Aqueduct St. for better viewing.

We then drove down and parked in front of the Blue Cross Arena main entrance for a profile shot but the light was just not good enough for very clear pics.

Now if you look at the 2nd pic above, the tail looks a bit beat up to me. Perhaps the sign of a battle with another bird. She certainly seems nervous because she moves around a lot and when she was under that wing her head was on a swivel. I believe on the look out for Beauty to strike.

Now what I am about to say is only speculation – Unity(whom I personally am convinced is the new falcon downtown) may have been scouting Beauty all that time that she wasn’t seen at KP in the past weeks. Watching her patterns, where she stashed food, her favorite perches,etc. Perhaps the male falcon seen the weekend before last, triggered her to move in thinking it was Archer back from migration and the battle started then. Probably a migrating male that kept on going since it hasn’t been spotted since then. Maybe between that weekend and this past Friday Unity and Beauty have been having altercations and finally on Friday Beauty succumbed to the larger Unity. We will never know for sure what took place but this is my thought process with some input from the other watchers. Brian thinks she will go to the nest box soon and claim it while she waits for Archer to return from his migration. I think we are all afraid of if and when Beauty returns what damage may occur. I pray everyone survives. Not much to smile about but I’m going to anyway just cuz that’s what I try to do! 🙂

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I want to start this report by saying that my thoughts and prayers go out to Beauty.  Heal quickly and be well little one.

I got a late start this morning.  My first check was at Kodak Park to see if I could find Unity.  It was very cold and snowy.  Not a nice day to be out.  But that didn’t stop the Rochester Falcon Flakes from getting out.  I searched for Unity for close to an hour at KP, but was unable to find her.  My next stop was downtown Rochester.

Since we had a different falcon downtown, I knew she would probably not perch on the familiar spots that I was used to seeing Beauty on.  I had to check EVERY rooftop.  From Woodbury Blvd, I spotted a Peregrine on the SW corner of the Bausch & Lomb (B&L) bldg.  While I drove around for a better vantage point, the falcon disappeared.  Now where did she go?  Again, I drove around downtown and ended up back at Woodbury Blvd, parking my car in front of Merkel Donahue.

The snow came down harder as I attempted to find the falcon I had seen on B&L.  Due to size, I knew this was a female.  As I settled in, the snow flakes floated down around me, but I noticed something strange.  Mixed in with the snowflakes were feathers!  White fluffy feathers and snow flakes floated all around me!  She had to be nearby, but where?  I got out of my car and looked up at the roofs above me, but I couldn’t see her.  Back into my car, I drove to the next road over and there she was!  A Peregrine was eating on the corner of the Blue Cross/Blue Shield bldg, directly across from the Merkel Donahue bldg, which I had been parked in front of.  I immediately tweeted it out and was soon joined by Joyce, MAK, Brian H and Dana.

The snow made it hard to get good pics, so I took only a few and got the scope out.  While she ate, I watched her through the scope.  I was able to see that she had a black over red band on her left leg, but I couldn’t read the numbers.  She wouldn’t show me her right leg, until she eventually took off, carrying her leftovers.  I do believe I caught a glimpse of reddish/purplish color on her right band.

We will definitely continue to attempt to get a positive ID on this female, but we’re starting to believe that Unity may be the new female.  But what about the male we saw on Sunday?  We’ll keep watching and report what we see.

Before I went home, she returned to the SW corner of the B&L bldg.  That’s where I left her.  Joyce, MAK, Dana and Brian remained on watch.

I’ve put a few pictures into a Kodak Gallery album.  No sign on needed.

http://pix.kg/p/5032256331105%3A1198115386/scl

Enjoy!

Carol P.

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Let me begin by saying thank you to all of  Beautys’  fans around the world for your support of her at this time. She is a strong girl and a survivor and whether she flies free again or not she will always be our Mercury girl!

CarolP found a female falcon downtown today as Joyce,Brian and I came to join her and see if we could ID this girl whom we are assuming fought with Beauty and won the territory. The conditions were about as bad as they could be for taking pictures with cold temps and snow coming down. Dana joined us and we all took pics anyway. Carol was able to make out red and black on this female falcons left leg band as she plucked feathers from fresh prey she had caught. At the time none of us were really thinking about the fact that this could be Unity who has black 71 over a red H until Eileen called Joyce and brought it to our attention. We still are not certain because  we didn’t see numbers or letters at that point. And we hadn’t seen the purple band that dons her right leg. I ‘m sure Carol,Dana and Joyce will be looking at their photos very closely to see if we can confirm the true identity but odds are that Unity is the new downtown falcon.

When she was done eating she grabbed what was left of her meal and flew away ending up on the Bausch and Laumb building. It was snowing a bit harder as we drove up into a ramp garage to get a closer look and still it was too difficult to get a good shot. We figured she would probably just hang out there for quite some time since she filled her belly so we decided to call it a watch. Dana had followed us up to the top of the garage and remained there after we left.

I don’t know what the future holds for our Rochester falcons but you can be sure we Rochester falcon watchers will do our best to keep our eyes to the skies so we can keep all of you informed and up to date on the goings on. The past 24 hours have been difficult filled with much angst and tears for the Beautyful one but this is natures’ way and we can only sit back and watch and hope for the best for her. I would like it if you would think of her and smile through those tears! 🙂    <3

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Timing is everything when it comes to Falcon Watching. Sometimes you can spend hours and not find one falcons. Sometimes you can watch a falcon sit for hours. Then there are those days, when you hit the road running, or in this case, you quickly park your car, jump out and watch in amazement. That was today. For an hour and a half, I watched Beauty (I assume Beauty, but I never got a chance to make a positive ID) hunting the Pigeons over the river on each side of the Broad St Bridge. Pretty incredible stuff.

I’ve put some pics in a KGallery Album for your enjoyment. No sign on needed.

http://pix.kg/p/2537472331105%3A293766522/scl

Enjoy!

Carol P.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I’ll let my pictures and report in this KGallery explain what we saw this weekend. So many things happened the visit by a pair of Peregrines to downtown Rochester today and a visit with a Snowy Owl in Downtown Rochester. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Thanks for the assist Donna and Ei. Your posts of seeing Beauty at the nest box were very helpful. Thank you!

If you’re interested and seeing and hearing about what happened today, check out my KGallery album at the link posted below this. No sign on needed.

http://pix.kg/p/7424054231105%3A1911061841/scl

Enjoy!

Carol P.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I do love the weekends.  There is so much to do and see.  This weekend was no exception.  After a long week of work, it was time to play!  🙂

Both Saturday and Sunday, I found Beauty downtown, hunting over the river north of the Times Square bldg. and chasing the pigeons around the Xerox  tower and the shell of the old Midtown Plaza.  She was quite busy and fun to watch.

I did check on Unity a few times, but never spotted her.  I’m sure she’s fine.  We’ve been seeing her on and off near the blue bldg she claimed as her nest site last year.

Today (Sunday, 1/29/12), Kathy O, Lisa McK, Dana and I decided to visit the Short-Earred Owls of Monroe County.  They had been seen Saturday night by Joyce and Susan C, so we knew they were still there.  We arrived around 3:20 pm and were witness to an unbelieveable evening of SEO antics.  We weren’t alone.  Many other owl enthusiasts were parked along the country road with us, including a family with two young girls who were also enjoying watching the owls hunt and play.

You just need to click on this link to my KGallery album of pics from this weekend.  No sign on needed.

http://pix.kg/p/6055139031105%3A1844016736/scl

Enjoy!

Carol P.

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

I got skunked yesterday (Saturday) having no success finding Beauty or Unity but I did see a good looking Red-tailed Hawk on St. Paul Blvd.

I stopped by the east end of the pedestrian bridge at high falls. The waterfalls were flowing rapidly down into the gorge.

Later in the day I picked up KathyO to go out to Hamlin to have an owl watch. It was very dark and overcast so I elected to put my camera away after taking a pic of a Northern Harrier in a tree.

We saw 2 possibly a third Northern Harrier and 2 or 3 Short-eared Owls. It was hard to tell at times just exactly what we were seeing. A crowd of watchers gathered including-Dana,Lou,Joyce,Brian,CarolP,June Summers and her husband Drew,KathyO and yours truly MAK.

The day dawned with a pretty downtown sky on my way down 490  for a morning watch today(Sunday).

For all the searching I did yesterday and today I saw one falcon and she IS the Beautyful one! She waited until just before sundown to show herself to the MAKster and tho her back was to Joyce and I it was  sweet just to see her up on the northeast corner of the Crossroads building.

We watched her for a short while and then in a blur she shot off and straight down disappearing so fast that it would make your head spin!

Silly to post this pic but that’s just the kind of girl I am! lol When we first stopped to view Beauty I told her that she was a good mom to Callidora and that her baby girl was gone but not forgotten. And that she passed with a full crop and a healthy strong body so she knew how to take care of herself. I’d like to end my report with a couple pics of Callidora (Helga Jean for Janet) as a tribute to the first fledge family I witnessed in person. Fly free with the angels!

Callidora: The name comes from two Greek words, “Kallos” (’beauty’) and Doron (’gift’). Thus, the name means “Gift of Beauty”.

🙂

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

This morning I decided to just sit tight on the Broad St. Bridge and wait for Beauty to show up on Mercury as is her routine lately. Around 7:30am she flew in from the northeast landed on the money bag hand and before I could even get my hand on my camera poof! she was gone! I never found her so I trekked over to KP and couldn’t find Unity either. From there I went to Irondequoit and checked out the Medley Center,bay bridge and Seabreeze with no pefa sightings whatsoever. I took some pics of a lone ice fisherman and some swans in the bay.

From there I made my way to first Summerville checking the pier,Coast guard Station and surrounding area for the Snowy Owl I call Summer. She wasn’t anywhere that I could see her so I left and checked Shumway Marina on my way to Charlotte with no luck in either of those places of finding Summer or a falcon. Sheesh, what’s a girl to do? Take in the other sights on the waterfront that’s what!

I stopped by KP and DT before going home for a lunchbreak and unfortunately couldn’t locate either Unity or Beauty. I had planned to go out to Hamlin to look for the Short-earred Owls CarolP had seen there earlier this week so  Istopped by KP one more time on my way and still no Unity. That girl sure is wandering lately! On the way to my owl prowl I saw 5 Red-tailed Hawks on interstate 390 northbound and 2 more on the Lake Ontario State Parkway westbound. Things were picking up finally! When I arrived at the location on Church Road that Carol had reported seeing the owls I immediately spotted a Northern Harrier on a pile of brush and debris.

After taking that pic I looked over the field and saw white wings flying at the far end so I drove down to where some cars were pulled over to watch the show. First one Short-earred Owl then 2 and the old MAKster got her camera and started video taping the interaction between these two owls. Some hunting took place also, not only by the owls but the Northern Harrier got in on the act! It wasn’t until I looked at my pics and video on my laptop that I found out I had the harrier in there as well!

CarolP joined me at this point and I stopped taking pics and video and just enjoyed the free entertainment! Joyce also showed up to watch these wonderful creatures. For a day that started out kinda slow it sure ended on a high note! I think I may be falling in love with owls as well! And so another watch ends with smiles on all of our faces!!! 🙂

Check out the links below for more from my evening owl prowl and the days sightings. Enjoy!!!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=261151454213%3A180446578

http://youtu.be/P_g2o9yHsMg

http://youtu.be/P_g2o9yHsMg