By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Hello everyone!  It sure felt good to get back in the saddle again thanks to Joyce. She picked me up around 7:15am and we went straight downtown.  Unfortunately we couldn’t find the Beautyful one but it sure was fun looking. Joyce had a 8:15 doctor appointment so we had a break in our watch. After she was done we went by the Rochester Psyche Center and lo and behold I spotted a falcon on the southeast corner.

She soon flew over to a window ledge opposite of the corner she was on. I thought perhaps because it was more protected as it started to rain lightly.

At this point we decided to go get some breakfast. When we returned she was back on the southeast corner near a tree that was growing on the roof.

I say she because we think based on size it was a female falcon. We didn’t get any pics of the legs so we don’t know if she’s banded. Joyce was going to compare pics of the wintering pair that was there last year with this one as she thinks it’s one of them and neither one was banded.

She flew off to the south and stooped on something before vanishing behind some trees. 4 pigeons came flying overhead and when I turned to look at the building again I saw her back up on the southeast corner. I thought maybe she had doubled back on us as I’m used to Beauty and Archer doing so to me all the time. Joyce agreed that she thought so too!  We left our mystery falcon to take another shot at finding Beauty. Again we were foiled with no sign of her in all the usual spots. I was disappointed to not see our Beautyful one but thankful to be out and about again and for having seen the RPC falcon. We went over to Kodak Park to look for Unity but she too was nowhere to be seen. My knee was telling me that it was time to go home and ice it, so Joyce brought me home thus ending my first falcon watch since October 16 the day before my knee replacement surgery.  Special thanks to Joyce for getting me out to do what I love best and for making me smile!  🙂

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

As we lose daylight, it’s harder and harder to Watch the Rochester Falcons. I drive by KP on my way to work at 6:30 am most weekday mornings, but it is now way too dark to see much. Evenings aren’t much better.

Today I did my normal drive thru at KP and all was quiet and dark. I could not find Unity in the normal spots.

During the day, Beauty was reported visiting the nest box a couple times. It had been a long time since she’d been there.

After work, around 4:00 pm, I stopped at KP for a quick look and found Unity on the catwalk of the western smoke stack. She took off and flew to the blue bldg where her scrape is located and landed on the black ledge. That’s where I had to leave her.

This evening, after dinner (around 5:45 pm), I headed out to look for both Beauty and Unity. My first stop was KP where I found Unity on the tall still she favors. After about 15 minutes of watching her preen and enjoying what was left of the sunlight, it was fading fast, I decided it was time to head downtown.

It was a busy place tonite. Lots of stuff going on. Frontier Field next to Kodak Office was all lit up. Lots of folks streaming into the War Memorial aka Blue Cross Arena. No parking spots available, so I was unable to check out the Times Square Bldg & the south side of the OCSR. Onward to the south side of Xerox, where Beauty liked to go at night.

As I passed the library, I was greeted by the wonderful music from a fife and drum band. They were dressed up in dark blue Civil War uniforms, northern soldiers. Wish I could have stayed to listen, but I was on a mission. Find Beauty.

As I approached the south side of Xerox, I found a spot to park my car. It was dark already, but I could see a falcon shaped figure up on the tippy top of the Xerox bldg on the SW corner. That was an unusual spot for her. Of course I couldn’t be 100% sure it was her, but I believe it was.

The protestors were milling about in Washington Square Park, which they shared with the 1,000’s of Crows that were streaming in from all directions.

Beauty, high above, must have had quite the view of all this hustle and bustle below her. She must have wondered, what are they up to now? lol 😉

This weekend is supposed to be very nice. Sunny both days, 50 degrees (F) on Saturday & 60’s on Sunday. A nice weekend to get some camera work and maintenance done. Enjoy the weekend everyone and remember to turn your clocks back an hour Saturday nite.

Posted by Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Here’s what was posted today on the forum.

From Mark B @ 9:39 am from the Times Square Bldg. where Beauty & Archer’s nest box is located.

“One of the two, I didn’t see which, just attacked a crow. From above me in the Times Square Building, it dive-bombed the crow into the Thomson-Reuters courtyard before breaking off the attack and flying back to the box. The poor crow then kept running into the walls and windows of the TR buildings before flying off.”

*CPNote: Since we have not seen Archer in quite awhile and we believe that he has migrated, this was probably Beauty who remains on territory in the downtown (Rochester) area. Thanks Mark for reporting this.

At approximately 6 p.m., the following two tweets came in.

“Beauty on south side of Xerox . . Usual evening spot.” – Kathy O.

“At KP. Looks like the lovely Unity preening on top of the tall still.” – Carol P.

*CPNote – So at 6:00 p.m. two different Rochester Falcon Watchers saw both Beauty (downtown) & Unity (KP).

There were no visits by Beauty to the nest box today caught on camera.

It was a gorgeous Fall day here in Rochester, blue sky & wispy clouds with temps in the mid-60’s (F).

One more thing. The following announcement was posted on the forum by Shaky.

“We are planning on doing maintenance on the cameras at the Times Square building this weekend starting early Saturday afternoon (11/5). The cameras will be turned off during this period. They should be on again later in the afternoon.

Additional work may need to be done on Sunday (11/6). We’ll make that determination Saturday.”

This completes the summary of Falcon Happenings posted on the RFalconcam Forum on Wednesday, November 2, 2011.

From Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I was out Falcon Watching most this past weekend. You’ll see some familiar Falcons and not so familiar Falcons. No sign on needed. Enjoy!

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By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Hi folks! Truly this will be my last morning watch report for awhile as tomorrow is the big day…the beginning of a new life for me with my first of 2 new knees.  I can’t wait to ride a bike again!

My dear friend Joyce picked me up to go falcon watching and the falcons came through for us.  First we found Beauty on the top ibeam north corner of OCSR. For clarity this is the side facing away from the Times Square building so the cameras can’t see them when they are over there.

It seemed like she was hunkered down for awhile so we headed over to KP to see if we could find Archer since the last time he was seen was on Oct. 12. We had no luck in finding any falcons at KP so we returned to the downtown area to find the Beautyful one in the same spot where we left her. Suddenly Joyce noticed a falcon to the left on the top ibeam from where Beauty had been and now she was flying above us where we were parked on the Andrews St. bridge.

She flew to the north and we drove over to Bragdon St. by the Radisson Hotel for a closer look. Beauty returned to the OCSR building and landed a couple feet away from Archer.

They both flew off to the southeast and returned to OCSR top ibeam northeast side quite a distance apart but facing each other.

You will have to click on the pics to view a larger version. Sorry!  After a few minutes they both flew off together circled around and returned to their previous spots on OCSR. At this point Dana and CarolP joined us. It was getting close to the time I would have to end my watch and get home to take care of some things in preparation for going to the hospital tomorrow. I’m not sure when I’ll get out to see our fabulous falcons again but I know I miss them already! I have a link for an album from this watch at the end of my report. As I said my goodbyes and we were on our way down Main St. one of the falcons flew off the building toward us over the river and then returned to OCSR. It seemed to me like it was giving me a nice sendoff and saying goodbye! Have a great day today, tomorrow and all the days to come until I return and can say it again to all of you! And give a SMILE as often as you can!!! 🙂

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By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Good morning everyone! Yesterday watchers KathyO,Dana,Lisa McK,CarolP,Joyce and I took a trip to Canada to watch falcons. It was like a last hoorah for me until I can get around again after knee replacement surgery tomorrow. Arriving at the Harlequin location we were treated to some lovely flying from Quest and Kendal.

A few of the CPF folks were there to join in the fun and when we were done watching this fabulous pair we all went to lunch. Tracy told her usual animated stories about the feisty O’Connor and so we got directions to go meet her ourselves. When Joyce and I arrived at the site both O’Connor and her mate Hurricane were on the big blue H of the hospital where there nest site is located. As soon as we stopped they were both off and she was squawking up a storm at him.

The pair did some flying for us and settled back on the H. We observed them for a bit longer and moved along to the next site. Upon arrival at MEC we found the female falcon on the Symcor building just down from the nestbox.

While we were at lunch it was decided that they would give this bird the name Infinity because it had double 8″s that were sideways on top of each other on the legband. On our way home we stopped by the Burlington Bridge location. We saw no falcons but we observed hundredsand hundreds of Starlings gathering under the bridge to roost for the night. They were quite noisy too! I couldn’t get real clear pics cuz the wind was so strong that I couldn’t hold my camera steady but…well you get the picture!

As the sun was setting we left Canada happy watchers having seen 5 falcons and a whole lot more.

Links for an album and video from the day are below. Enjoy and keep smiling!  🙂

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG8fNVB_I0c

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=309155733213%3A1676413594&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=Share-_-Personal-_-Email-_-Sharee-_-Top

I truly am blessed to have the opportunity to go on these road trips and I thank my friend Joyce very much for taking me.

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Hello and boy am I ever missing my morning watches! Thankfully Joyce is helping me out every 3 days or so to get out before she goes to work. This may be the last morning report from me until I can get out again after rehabbing from my knee replacement surgery on Monday.I surely hope I can get  out this weekend to see any or all of our fabulous Rochester falcons one more time!

I got a text message from Joyce that she was stuck in traffic on 490 this morning but she was coming to take me on a watch. So I gathered up my binocs and camera and stood at the door ready to go when she pulled in the driveway. We had some trouble finding a falcon until Joyce spotted one on the jail tower. As I looked it flew off to the north. We agreed that it looked on the small side so it could have been Archer but there’s no way of being positive. After no success in locating any Peregrines we then rode over to KP to see if Archer was over there. We really wanted to be able to verify that Mr. Archer was still in town. No such luck but we did find Unity. I spotted her on the north side of the east stack 2nd catwalk down. She was sitting on the railing.

We were at the west end of the complex so it was quite a distance for pics. Almost as soon as I saw her there she spread her big beautiful wings and flew off to the northeast where I quickly lost sight of her.

As always click on the pics for a larger view. It was time for Joyce to be heading to work so we called it a watch. I sooo wish I had seen the Beautyful one this morning but I’m very thankful to have gotten out to see ANY falcons. Have a great day everyone and keep those smiles coming!  🙂

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Well I was on my 3rd day without seeing Beauty and  feeling quite bummed out when a text message came through on my phone from Joyce saying she was on her way to get me for a watch. Once again my friend comes through for me. Thank you so very much Joycie!

When Joyce got to my house she told me I was driving and off we went. When we arrived downtown no falcons were on the FCT or in the Times Square area so I drove onward to the east side. As we approached Xerox Joyce spotted both Beauty and Archer on the HSBC building northwest corner. She said oh MAK look, there they are and as I looked up we heard a loud pop! I had clipped the curb with the right rear tire and blown a big hole in it. Needless to say I felt horrible! I didn’t have my AAA card on me so I couldn’t call for roadside assistance. Wonderful right!? So we began to take out the jack and stuff to change the tire when a nice gentleman came by and assisted us. There are still nice people in this world! At some point we did see Beauty fly off with her prey in talons and go out of sight as Archer was long gone by that time. Needless to say when the tire was changed and we were on our way again I told Joyce she was driving. We went over to the Andrews St. bridge and as we were driving toward State St. I spotted Beauty on the FCT. So we went to the city hall parking lot where we had a few minutes to take pics before we had to leave so Joyce could get to work.

Notice the feathers floating in the air space above Beauty in the last pic. And speaking of feathers while I was taping Beauty Joyce went and grabbed feathers from the pigeon that had floated down to the parking lot.And here’s a pic of them.

It was a sweet watch for me to see Beauty and Archer tho I was feeling bad about Joyces’ tire. We left the Beautyful one on the FCT as she was devouring her breakfast. Go to the links at the bottom of this report to see Beauty preparing her meal. As always have a great day and if you look hard enough you can always find something to make you SMILE! 🙂

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeXKjMhGd8Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5ee36N3jkk

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

I have to say that my fellow Rochester falcon watchers are the BEST! They have made sure I got in some falcon watching the past few days when I didn’t think I would get out at all. THANK YOU!

This morning CarolP picked me up and we went downtown in search of the Beautyful one and Archer. We weren’t disappointed for I spotted a falcon flying over on the east side of town. At the time we were on the Andrews St. bridge and we sat and watched the show until it stooped out of sight. We then went over to watch from the Broad St. bridge where we saw Archer on the northwest corner of Xerox with Beauty soaring above showing off her stuff for him.

Beauty was really giving us a show gliding and kiting(hovering) right above the Xerox tower. Archer was enjoying the show as well! When she left our view we turned our attention to the river where we found 2 adult Black-crowned Night Herons.

There were also a couple of Great Blue Herons one of which chased the other one away.

After an hour or so it was clear that Beauty and Archer had left us for parts unknown so we decided to go to Kodak Park and look for Unity. We found the gorgeous girl on a black part of the complex at the west end. We thought at first that it was too big to be her but we were able to confirm it was Unity.

She eventually stooped off the back of the building and we watched her fly down to the tall still and land on the north side of the top catwalk.

Dana came along and we all went up to lot 77 to view Unity. We had some geese fly by as we chit chatted.

Unity stayed there for awhile before flying off and around the back of the power plant and returning to the tall still catwalk.

Miss Unity moved further over on the north side of the catwalk where we couldn’t see her. Dana decided to go downtown and look for our dynamic duo and Carol took me home thus ending a very nice watch. For more pics and a video go to the links at the bottom of this report and have a glorious day so you can smile!  🙂

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http://youtu.be/0YjUJMX-v3w

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Wow, 2 days in a row Joyce got up early and took me on a falcon watch. Thank you my friend!

Joyce relinquishes the keys to me cuz she doesn’t want to deal with downtown traffic. Pffft piece of cake!  So we get downtown around 7:30am and from the Broad St. bridge I spot a falcon on the base of Mercury. Before we could ID or get a good look it flew off in the direction of FCT. So I drive over to city hall where we find Beauty on the FCT on her favorite perch under the platform.

5 minutes later the Beautyful one flies off towards Times Square and sure enough Donna texted that both Beauty and Archer were at the nestbox. They didn’t stay long for when we got over there we saw them flying together to the east. Archer came back in our direction and landed under the northeast wing of the Times Square building. The sun was shining magnificently on his bright white chest!

5-10 minutes later I noticed Beauty on top of the main cam. I told Joyce and we both laughed and said when did she sneak in? We both were so transfixed on watching Archer we missed her arrival completely!

And there you have it folks…another fast,fun fantastic falcon watch with Joycie. For more pics and a video go to the links below. Have a fabulous Friday and smile away! 🙂

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5TzsodtH9w