By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Arriving downtown around 5:50am I had to maneuver through road crews at more than one intersection. Slowly but surely they are paving the way from Main and Broad streets down to the Broad St. bridge. Having found no falcons in the Times Square area I drove through to the east side. At one point I saw one on the south side railing  of  HSBC but when I drove to a better vantage point it was gone. Making my way back I went over by the FCT and saw nothing. Going back to, and parking on the Broad St. bridge  I waited a couple minutes and looking around thought I might get skunked on my last short watch.  With just  7  minutes left before I had to leave there she was…the Beautyful one over on the Frontier Communications Tower 2nd arm on the south side. Woohoo! I sped over to the city hall parking lot tweeted it out and took a few pics.

I then packed up and left for home. Tomorrow I will be leaving early to go to the New York State fair after a 10-15 year hiatus (I’m very excited) so I won’t be going on a falcon watch.

I’d like to say to all the people who will be affected by Hurricane Irene this weekend to stay safe and keep smiling! 🙂

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Ok folks, as the sun doesn’t rise now until about 10 minutes after I have to leave downtown for home, pics are of very poor quality. Unfortunately it was too dark out to ID who was who when I first spotted both Beauty and Archer on the north side of the HSBC  building. The pic is so dark and blurry you couldn’t even tell they were birds up there but here it is anyway!  lol

I know you’re saying “seriously MAK”!?!  HA!HA! This watch WAS a bit of a joke for I drove around in circles trying to find a place to park where I could view our falcon pair unobstructed by buildings and out of the way of the many road crews on the east side. I even drove the wrong way down a one way street for the cause! (Joyce will be proud of me for this!)  So one of them flew off while I was behind the Columbus building. At the time I thought it was Archer and tweeted it out as such, but after tweaking the photo in Picassa I think Beauty left and Archer remained on HSBC based on size and a faint white spot on the right wing.

Beauty or Archer

It quickly became time to call it a watch and head for home. So there you have it people… the lamest report and pics I’ve EVER posted!  I DO have fun all by myself  teehee!!! Keep smiling!  🙂

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

For the second day in a row I found Beauty on the HSBC building. Today she was on the northwest corner.

It was with just about 5 minutes left of my watch that I found the Beautyful one. I barely had time to take one pic and as I was tweeting out her location she departed! I thought she might have gone over to the Times Square building to visit her scrape. So as I drove over to the Broad St. bridge I pulled  to the side to take a quick look around. No sightings so I continued on to make my way home. Now you might ask… MAK why do you get up so early and drive downtown in the dark  just for about a half hour of searching to see a falcon for a few minutes!?! Well, ask anybody that has ever seen one of these captivating creatures live and in person and they’ll probably tell you the same thing I’m about to…they get into your heart and soul and compel you to keep going back for more!  I encourage anyone who has the opportunity to observe them for however long to do so. It might just change your life as it has mine!!!  🙂

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Timing is everything…

I’ve been leaving later and later for my morning watch as the sun takes it’s sweet time waking up (6:25am today). Darkness surrounds me for the most part but the city lights help in spotting Peregrine Falcons if they aren’t hiding. Yesterday I didn’t find Beauty until 6:05am, she was on the jail tower top arm west side when I did.

I shared space with her over on Troup St. until she flew off some 15 minutes later and then I had to leave for home.

This morning I arrived downtown around 5:45am I checked out the nestbox,Mercury,OCSR,the Wilder building and the jail tower from the Broad St. bridge. With no falcons to be found I continued on to the east side  and then to city hall to check the Frontier Communications Tower. Still no sightings and it was getting late, I thought I might be out of luck on this day. I drove back to check the Times Square area and after seeing nothing, decided to give it one more shot on the east side to check out HSBC. Lo and behold Beauty was on the northeast corner!

The Beautyful one flew off  heading north after only a few moments but I was thankful to have seen her at all before I left for home. Now here’s where the timing part comes in…I found out when I got home that she had been at the nestbox arriving right after I had driven through the first time! While I was gallivanting around the city she perched next to the main camera having pulled a fast one on MAK again!  Teehee!

Another example of good timing, with the sun rising so late I have been torn about even going out in the morning for much longer.   Sue came home yesterday to announce starting next week she will be starting her split shift at work going in at noon. Yes…I won’t have to get the truck back by 6:30am anymore and will be able to stay out much longer! Have a great day and don’t forget to smile! 🙂

By Rochester Falcon Watcher – Carol P
It was a beautiful evening. Cooler than it had been in awhile with a stunning blue sky. After all the rain we had yesterday, I had to get out and check on Archer, Beauty & Unity. Here’s an album with some pictures and my report from tonite. No sign on needed.

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Enjoy!

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

On a very dark and showery morning I made my way downtown,  parking on the Broad St. bridge after making the rounds. It wasn’t until 40 minutes into my watch that I spotted a falcon up at the nestbox. It was so dark out that I couldn’t even tell after I zoomed the pic on my camera who it was up there.  I got a text later on from Joyce that it was in fact Beauty at the nestbox. (thanks Joycie) After 10 minutes Beauty flew out of the NB then back in quick and then left again.

After a quick run to check the east side I spotted her on the 2nd arm of the FCT as I made my way back to the bridge. As I arrived at city hall she made her way across the arm to the center pole of the tower. This was a spot I’ve never seen her go to previously.

The Beautyful one stayed there for the next 45 minutes before flying off to the east. I waited a few moments to see if she would return and then I went on my rounds to try to find her. Parking on the Andrews St. bridge facing the FCT I could just barely make out a bump on the platform. It was Beauty and she was eating cached food.

As soon as I got over to her she flew off and up to the railing and perched on the north side. I had to drive over to Plymouth Ave. and park across the street from the Open Door Mission to get a front view of her.

This is where she stayed preening and occasionally going into hunt mode bobbing and turning her head for the remainder of my watch.

Archer continues to be mysterious these days not showing himself over at KP in well over a week now and very little downtown too. I assume it is his way of preparing for migration soon. I can’t believe how fast this summer has flown by but not as fast as our Rochester Peregrine Falcons can fly by!  lol Enjoy the day everyone!  🙂

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Well folks there isn’t a whole lot of  falcon news to report this morning but I thought I’d touch base with everyone anyway. As I approached the Broad St. bridge today the road crew was  hard  at work  paving  the intersection of Exchange and Broad streets directly below the Times Square building. They had very bright lights on the scene that were blasting me as I passed through. It was no surprise that I saw no falcons anywhere near this area so I drove directly to the east side. I found Beauty on the northwest corner of  HSBC.

Unfortunately I had just the one pic that was good enough to post due to dark conditions and my inability to find a suitable place to observe the Beautyful one. She remained there for my entire watch.

I want to voice my opinion about the fact that Archer has been practically non-existent  over at KP lately. In the last week there has been only 1 or 2 sightings reported of him being there. I believe he may be spending his nights downtown near Beauty these days perhaps strengthening their bond before he sets off on migration in a month or so. I say this because he has been downtown so much lately not only first thing in the morning when I get there but at other times during the day too! We continue to learn as we go from our Rochester falcons.

Tomorrow morning I won’t be out for a watch as I am going on a transmitter retrieving trip with Joyce,KathyO,Dana,Lisa McK and CarolP.  If you’ll recall last winter a gull with a transmitter was spotted in Charlotte. Carol received  an e-mail from the professor in Montreal that another gull of his is showing no movement and requested help in retrieving the transmitter. He has given the co-ordinates of where it may be near and so being the adventurous bunch that we are will be going on a road trip about 80 miles southeast of Rochester to hopefully help him out with this matter. Wish us luck and have a great Friday everyone!  🙂

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

There wasn’t any reason to write a report yesterday morning for I saw Beauty when it was still dark out on the railing of  HSBC for a brief moment and then she was gone.There were no more sightings for the remainder of my watch.

I kept the truck to go to a doctor appointment yesterday and after I dropped Sue off at work I checked KP with no sightings there. I decided to go check out the Osprey nest site in Hilton after the doctor and talked my friend Tesa into joining me. We  saw only the male adult and one other in the nest and they both left within an hour but we saw a little bit of flying from them first. They are just gorgeous in flight!

Fast forward to this morning…seeing no falcons around the Broad St. bridge area I drove to the east side as is my usual routine. No sightings over there either but as I made my way back to the bridge I spotted someone up on the base of Mercury.

Due to the darkness at that time I was having trouble getting a positive ID but I could clearly see that this falcon was looking for some breakfast after a little preening first!  Looking down at some birdies below Mercury and then eye-balling some pigeons flying over the river.

It wasn’t until 5 minutes before I had to leave that I found out  it was Archer that I was observing.  I got a text message from Donna telling me that Beauty was at the nestbox.

I immediately looked up at Times Square and sure enough there she was the Beautyful one! I was so intent on watching him that I totally missed her sneak in.  Once again MAK gets to play games with these two! lol I soo love it!!! That’s all there is and there ain’t no more!  🙂

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

With no sightings in the Broad St. bridge area I drove through to the east side and found Beauty on the southwest corner of HSBC. Still dark out I drove down Clinton Ave. past Washington Square park and while stopped at the traffic light at Court St. she flew off to the southeast corner. I went down Court St. eastbound,made my u-turn in front of the post office and parked in my usual spot facing west to watch the Beautyful one.

Notice as the sun gets closer to rising the pics get lighter. I had the sun  behind me and the moon in front of me with the bonus of Beauty!

She flew off in the direction of Times Square so I beat feet over to the Broad St. bridge.  While in transit Beauty and Archer met in the nestbox (thanks to Donna for letting me know) and as I arrived I saw Archer fly from there to the Wilder fire escape ladder.

He was barely there long enough for me to get down to Aqueduct St. and snap off a pic. I don’t know if Beauty was still in the nestbox at this point for I wasn’t aware that Archer had met her there until I was on my way home and got a text from Donna of the fact. Our Rochester falcons being their usual sneaky selves!! Anyway, Archer flew from Wilder to the OCSR building and landed on the south corner 3rd ibeam down.

It was time to get the truck home thus ending a watch that kept me on the move! Enjoy the day everyone!  🙂

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Well I must say that after a little over 2 hours into my watch with no sightings I was getting a bit perplexed! I drove to the pedestrian bridge at high falls to see what I could find there and just as I started to get out of the truck I spotted a bump under the platform waaay over on the Frontier Communications Tower. Patience is a beautiful thing to have when you’re a bird watcher of any kind! So I drove over to the City Hall parking lot to see who I would be sharing space with…The Beautyful one!

I watched Beauty preen and just perch there being her usual pretty self  when she decided to move in further under the platform.

I thought she was all cinched in for a nap and since it was just about time for me to go home I was going to wrap it up. One nanno second before I tweeted it out she flew off to the southeast out of view and then reappeared landing on her favorite perch under the platform. Then out of nowhere Archer flew right in front of her going southeast also and came back to land directly above Beauty on the platform railing.

It had been a quiet Sunday morning up until this point. Beauty started whining at Archer while he did his best to pay no attention her. Aggravated by his ability to ignore her she flew over to the other side of the tower under the platform where I couldn’t see her and continued with her barrage of whining getting louder as time went on.

I left the parking lot and drove down on Fitzhugh St.to my spot in front of the sister cities parking garage to try and locate Beauty with no luck but she was in there somewhere under the platform whining. After 15 solid minutes of this Archer left flying in the general direction of the Times Square building with Beauty shooting out right behind him. I thought they had probably gone to the nestbox so I tweeted that I was leaving,  made a u-turn to head up to Main St. to go home and then I spotted Beauty on Widows Walk.

Yup, she was still WHINING!!! I tweeted it out saying goodbye again and as I started driving again she flew over to Times Square where she met up with Archer as I went the opposite direction to go home. There was a bit of sunshine this morning so I took advantage and shot many pics of our Rochester Peregrine Falcons. You’ll find them at the link below. Have a great day everyone! 🙂

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