By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

I started the morning by scraping ice off the windshield and as I looked at the city from route 490 I could see a haze that almost looked like frost surrounding the buildings. A cool sight as I made my way downtown. As I came upon Washington Square Park there were a few crows left in the trees that hadn’t left for their daily ventures.

I found Beauty on the east side of  HSBC but she took off before I could stop. As I checked the Kodak office tower I passed by the pedestrian bridge at High Falls and found it to be frost covered as all the bridges and overpasses were this morning.

I spent the next half hour looking for her to no avail so I decided to try my luck at KP. It was a very bright and sunny start to the morning perfect for taking pics but Unity was no where to be seen. I waited for this gorgeous gal to show up about 20 minutes and then headed back downtown. I drove around quite a bit looking for the Beautyful one and finally found her on the platform railing of the FCT on the east side.

After a few minutes she moved up to the bottom arm north side on the FCT.

Beauty seemed to be watching something below in between scratching herself with her big yellow feet! All of a sudden she lifted her tail feathers and plop out came a white stream of poop! LOL

She soon flew off to the north and I had to leave also.  I’m very thankful for my feathered falcon friends,my family and all my friends both near and far! All of you keep me smiling! 🙂

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

On a very dark and dreary afternoon in Rochester I set out to find falcons after I dropped Sue off at work. I am very happy to say that I will have the truck for the entire weekend and that means sharing space with our Rochester falcons. I left without my camera so when I found Unity over at KP I couldn’t take a pic. She was on the black stripe of the blue building and she had her back to me. I didn’t hang out with her too long because what little light there was would be fading soon and I didn’t know how long I’d have to search for the Beautyful one.

Coming into downtown I checked the FCT first and usually I go to the Broad St. bridge after that but I decided to go to the Andrews St. bridge first to check the north side of OCSR. Not there I scanned my eyes to the statue of Mercury and I thought it looked like a falcon on the money bag hand. I looked in my trusty binocs and sure enough it was Beauty. Being too far for pics I drove to Aqueduct St. and started clicking away.

For most of the time I spent with our downtown diva she had her head tucked down into her chest but she did crank her neck every now and again looking at something down in the river.

As it got darker and darker out and my fingers went numb from the cold I wondered if  I would have enough light left to get a takeoff shot worth posting. Well at just about 5:00pm in the dark she took off from Mercury and as I clicked the shutter I saw her go into the stoop position and then vanish behind the Thomson Reuters building. Unfortunately the takeoff was too blurry to do anything but delete it. My watch ended having seen both of our resident female falcons and a smile on my face! 🙂

From Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

It was a windy, but warm morning. I picked up MAK around 9 am for a morning Falcon Watch, at least I hoped to find some Falcons. We headed downtown ……… you can read the rest of my report and see my pics in this Kodak Gallery Album.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=4076190211105%3A1866144751

No sign on needed.

Enjoy!
Carol P.

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

CarolP picked me up around 9:00am and we headed for downtown. We had quite a time trying to find Beauty. While on the Broad St. bridge I checked the river and found one lonely duck floating on the north side and two on the south side and that was it for shore birds.

We then went to the pedestrian bridge at high falls and surprisingly there was no wildlife of any kind to be found there. We thought it very odd. Anyway, that’s Skyes’ building below on the far right which Genesee Brewery wants to take down.

Carol wanted to show me a nestbox that was put on top of a school off of St. Paul Blvd, so that’s where we went next. After finding our way around with lots of one way streets and ghetto conditions we found a stone parking lot to get a good view of it. As soon as Carol got out of the car she spotted a falcon gliding above. By the time I got out of the car I was only able to get one pic of it. And then I took pics of the nestbox.

We assumed it was the Beautyful one as we watched her fly toward downtown. We went to the Broad St. bridge straight away but never found her again. Joyce and Brian pulled up behind us and I made the switch to go with them for an afternoon watch because Carol had to get home. We made our way over to the old Rochester Psyche Center and found a falcon and judging by size a female on the southeast corner by the tree that grows on the roof.

Suddenly she flew off to the south and went after a pigeon. She missed and came back flying right above us putting on a little display before landing on the roof.

It was time to go look for Snowy Owls and we started at the Shumway Marina. We found no owls but we saw a bunch of Snow Buntings in the grass. They sure did blend in really well. It was my first sighting of these pretty little birds.

Next stop was the Summerville pier where Brian checked  for evidence that Snowy Owls have been there. He found a pellet with a bone sticking out of it and many other pellets and a gull head that was ripped off the body.

Make sure to click on pic to see full version

We made our way over to the Charlotte pier which is on the opposite side of the Genesee River from the Summerville pier. Joyce,Brian and the dogs went for a walk to the beach and back. I waited in the car cuz I didn’t  think I could walk that distance yet. When they got back I spotted a Coopers Hawk on the ground. It was trying to spook a sparrow out of the bushes for a tasty treat!

It flew up into a nearby tree and when the sparrow flew out the Coop flew after it and out of view. We ended our watch at KP without seeing her loveliness Unity but CarolP had seen her earlier so all Rochester falcons were safe and sound for today.   I wish to thank Carol and Joyce for including me on their watches today and for sending me home smiling!  🙂

Click to view album:

Morning/afternoon watch

From Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I got a really late start today, arriving at KP to check on Unity (no luck), and then heading downtown. After much searching, I found a falcon on the Kodak Tower. I am fairly certain it was Beauty.

You can check out my pics and report by clicking on this link to my Kodak Gallery album. No sign on needed.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=5192618111105%3A2002780329

Enjoy!

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

First time in a long time I was awakened by my alarm clock because I wanted to be downtown on watch at sunrise. I so have missed getting out every morning to see the Beautyful one and having the truck for one day I took full advantage of it!

When I arrived in our fair city I had to drive around to all the usual spots for Beauty was nowhere in sight. Upon arriving at the intersection of Broad St. and South Ave. I spotted our girl on the money bag hand of Mercury. With a big old smile on my face I crossed over and parked on the bridge,set up my camera on my window mount and started clicking away!

What a Beautyful sight for me to see with her back on her favorite perch and mine too!

Although I spent only 15 minutes with Beauty I felt quite content. It was good  getting out and seeing the people walking down the sidewalk to work and greeting them with hi how ya doin’! After 2 months of being absent it was nice to be remembered.

Beauty flew off really fast after a pigeon stooping behind the Thomson Reuters building where I lost sight of her and after searching the city twice with no luck I had to end my watch. I don’t know when I’ll get out again to see our resident downtown Peregrine but until I do I want you all to keep smiling!  🙂

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

I had the opportunity to get the truck today and I went for it. KathyO was kind enough to take me to pick it up. I went straight downtown to look for Beauty.  She was no where in sight so I decided to go to KP and look for Unity. Lo and behold KathyO was there when I arrived but Unity was not. We chit chatted for a few minutes and left. She went home and I…well I went back downtown of course! Having a vehicle available to me for the first time in about 2 months I intended to make full use of it while I had it. While sitting on the Broad St. bridge a helicopter passed overhead. It was going downriver toward High Falls!

I found the Beautyful one under the northeast wing of the Times Square building so I went down to Aqueduct St. to be closer to her.

The parking attendant didn’t like where I was parked and asked me to leave and since there was nowhere else to park I decided to go park in front of the Blue Cross Arena on Exchange St.

I shared space with Beauty for over an hour. It felt just like old times and as darkness fell she took off heading east. Another watch in the books and another smile put on this watchers face! 🙂

I have to give thanks to fellow watcher KrisG and her husband Bill for the kindness they have given to me both before and during my recuperation from knee replacement surgery. I feel terrible that I forgot about their good deeds when I thanked others in another report. I appreciate ALL of my falcon family but I must admit that I  have a terrible memory! Sorry Kris and Bill I hope you can forgive me!

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Joyce picked me up this morning for a watch and upon arriving downtown about 11:00am we found the Beautyful one on the Times Square building under the northeast wing and she was plucking feathers from prey.

After watching Beauty for an hour or so we checked out the old Rochester Psyche Center but there was no falcon to be seen at this location today. We then went back downtown and found Beauty on the top ibeam north side of  the OCSR building. We left her soon there after to go to my house to wait for fellow falcon watchers Bobbie from Ireland and Dawn with her dog Bullet to come for a visit.

Joyces’ dogs Abby and Casey were there too and they all had some good doggy play time in my backyard. Unfortunately all the pics I took with all 3 dogs were blurry cuz they were moving too fast! lol

After Dawn and Bobbie left, Joyce and I went over to KP to find Unity. We found her on the north side of the tall still on the second catwalk railing and she had a full crop.

With daylight quickly fading we took one more trip downtown but couldn’t find Beauty and this is when we called it a watch. There are links at the end of my report for more pics and a video of todays observations. I hope you enjoy them and they make you smile!  🙂

http://youtu.be/Ef7XY6YQGsY

www.kodakgallery.com

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Joyce picked me up this afternoon for a watch and we got Brian to go along with us. We found the Beautyful one hanging out on the top ibeam north side of the OCSR building. She had her back to us but she did keep turning her head so we could see her face.

We didn’t stay long for we wanted to check on Unity at KP and then go to the Charlotte pier to look for Snowy Owls and the amount of daylight would be working against us. We didn’t find Unity right away because she was on the north side of the tall still and we had to do some driving around to locate her. I was happy to see this gorgeous girl for I hadn’t seen her in even longer a period of time as I went without seeing Beauty. And she was looking pretty big to me!

We went to Charlotte pier after finding Unity at KP and had no luck finding a Snowy owl but we did see a migrating Brant Goose.

We left the shore of Lake Ontario in Charlotte and took a ride next to Seabreeze and Irondequoit Bay. There were many Mute Swans on the bay. With daylight quickly leaving us I took a few pics of them.

There’s 2 swan with their tail feathers in the air in the second pic above so make sure to click on the pic for the large version. And that would be all for todays outing. Until next time keep smiling!  🙂

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Let me start by thanking all our veterans for without their sacrifices I might not be able to enjoy the pleasures of falcon watching. I salute each and every one of you!!!

So I was laying in bed doing my knee exercises this morning at about 6:40am when I got a text from Joyce saying that she was heading out the door to take me on a falcon watch before work. Nothing makes me move faster than the chance to see falcons! So I finished up my exercises and threw on some clothes(my shower could wait ’til later) plopped my tye-dye cap on my head and waited for her arrival. I told her she must really love me cuz even work doesn’t get her up this early in the morning! lol Anyway, we headed downtown on route 490 and it was a breeze with very few commuters as it’s Veterans day. We searched all the favorite spots with no luck and decided to just sit on the Broad St. bridge and wait for Beauty to come to us. I got out and checked the river on both sides looking for something to take pics of but all was quiet. Up on Mercury was a bunch of starlings just hanging out.

All of a sudden they were off and what looked to me (cuz I’m a little rusty) like a crow chasing them at first turned out to be the Beautyful one! As she flew up to the Times Square building with that gorgeous wing span of hers there was no doubt that I was seeing my feathered friend that I had been missing for nearly a month. Joyce drove down to the alley by the Wilder building and parked as tears of joy and gratitude streamed down my face I thanked her for getting me back to where I belong. At first the sun was shining on Beauty and then it clouded up and started to snow.

Next thing we know Beauty was plucking feathers out of something. We didn’t see anything in her talons when she flew up there so we assumed it was cached prey. I took a short video of her eating as the snow fell down on our heads through Joyces’ sunroof. The link will be at the end of this report. It is a bit shaky since I was holding my camera up in the sunroof but I hope you will enjoy it none the less.

We sat there in the cold and wind and snow content with the fact that we were watching one of the most extraordinary animals on the planet! I count my blessings every time I see a falcon for it isn’t something that everyone has the chance to do.As the clouds rolled in making it darker and darker the pics became less and less clear but she still looks BEAUTYFUL!

As time was ticking away and Joyce had to be thinking about getting to work we said goodbye to Beauty and went to KP to look for Unity. This gorgeous gal was nowhere in sight. As a matter of fact there were no birds of any kind around. Since there’s no great need to defend territories right now we figure Unity is wandering as Peregrines are famous for. Joyce dropped me off home and another watch was in the books.

I’ve thanked Joyce many times for her contribution to my happiness and well being but I need to thank some other folks that have been here for me too throughout my recuperation. Special thanks to CarolP, KathyO and Jeanne Jeanne the dancin’ machine!  They have texted me with encouraging words, they have visited me when I was in the hospital and rehab and they have come to my home with cards, balloons, flowers,goodies and food! I have not gone hungry that’s for sure! I soooo love my falcon family both far and near. You all keep me SMILING! 🙂

http://youtu.be/kRE_q2ff6W4