By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Hi everyone! Yesterday morning I had a brief watch. I had forgotten my phone and couldn’t tweet plus I never found Beauty either in the little over an hours time that I spent downtown. Today was a different story. About 20 minutes into my watch I found Beauty on the 2nd ibeam west corner of the OCSR building.She left before I could get closer for a pic. I found her 5 minutes later on the northeast corner of the launchpad over on the Kodak Office building.

The red light was still on as it was a dark morning with rain showers. The Beautyful one and I hung out here for a little over an hour when she took off flying south toward the downtown area. It would be another hour before I would see her again. In the meantime, I watched some ducklings,ducks and a Great Blue Heron in the river between the Broad and Court St. bridges.

A gentleman named Ricky stopped to chat about the ducklings. We counted a total of 18 in different spots down on the rocks. We then discussed the size difference between Peregrines,hawks and eagles. He went on his way and a couple minutes later I spotted DebbieH walking up the sidewalk. We chatted about the crane that’s parked in the Thomson Reuters parking lot having been lifted to Mercury on Tuesday while I was in Toronto for Harlies’ banding. Deb and I concluded that they attached a wing onto the bent leg of Mercury matching the one on Mercurys’ straight leg. It looked a bit rusty so I think they are probably made out of some sort of metal.

Make sure to click on pics to get a larger image. We crossed over to the other side of the bridge so she could see the little ducklings for a few minutes and then she left for work. Donna informed me not too long after that Harlie was missing as reported by Kat who was on the scene at the Harlequin nest site. I decided to get home so I could get further updates. As I was ready to leave Beauty showed up under the northeast wing of the Times Square building to bid me farewell.

To watch a video of the ducklings go here:

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

And for a few more pics from my watch follow this link:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=681529952213%3A658758587&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=Share-_-Personal-_-Email-_-Sharer-_-Top

Have a great day everyone! 🙂

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Lynda and Tim picked Joyce and I up at my house and we left at 8:05am for our trip to Toronto for the banding of Harlequin. Our first stop was the Burlington bridge where we saw both adults, Cirrus and MacKenzie and 1 juvie.

We stayed for about 40 minutes and decided to go straight to Harlequin Enterprises for the banding event just in case we ran into traffic issues. When we arrived I went right to work taking pics of the surroundings and buildings there to give everyone at home a better perspective of how things are laid out.

This pic is from the parking lot of Harlequinn and the building in the background is the one the nestbox is located on the 6th floor. We went up to the 5th floor of the Harlequin building where the banding would take place. We were given red bracelets serving as our ID for getting in and out. We took pics and did the meet and greet stuff while we waited for the banding to take place. The CPF folks brought their educational birds to entertain the people attending the banding.

I went back outside to view Quest as the scaffolding was ready to be raised to the nestbox. She got very close to them on either side but didn’t dive bomb them at all. First time jitters perhaps. Next year may be a whole new ball of wax.

At this point I was getting a bit frantic because there had been no sighting of Kendal all day and when I got back up to the banding room I went to Tracy from CPF with my concerns and she knew what I was going to say before I even said it. She said she would be checking the rooftops as soon as the banding was over. Luckily that was not necessary for at the very end when the guys were putting little Harlequin back in the nestbox Kendal showed himself and we all gave a big sigh of relief and a cheer.

After the banding festivities we decided to go see Linn at the yellow pages building where we saw Linn and 2 juvies on the ledge above the nestbox. They will be fledging there anytime now.

Our next decision didn’t turn out so good for it was rush hour in the big city and we went to check out the Sheraton site with Rhea Mae and Tiago. Traffic was bumper to bumper on every street with no parking anywhere. I managed to see one adult flying above the nest site and Joyce saw a juvie hanging out on the ledge but that was it as we drove out of there. It took over 2hrs. start to finish to navigate our way through the big and busy city of Toronto. This was our last falcon sighting of the day before we headed on home with a total of 11 falcons being seen on this day.

I’d like to thank  Harlequin Enterprises for the invitation to the banding and as always all the folks from the Canadian Peregrine Foundation for all their efforts as well as the Ministry of Natural Resources(the Canadian version of the DEC here in the states). It was an honor and privilege to  take part in this banding event. I also want give my warmest thanks to Tim and Lynda who graciously drove Joyce and I to this special banding event. I love this little falcon family with all my heart and I so enjoyed taking pics to share with everyone! Enjoy! 🙂

Here’s the link for my banding day album:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=782993952213%3A611831384&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=Share-_-Personal-_-Email-_-Sharer-_-Top And the link to a short video of Harlequin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzLMa6pmFyg

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

When I arrived downtown this morning as soon as I could see the Wilder building coming down Broad St. I spotted Archer . He was on one of his favorite perches, the top of the fire escape ladder. I took these 2 pics at the intersection of Broad and Exchange streets while stopped for a red light. Good thing cuz he flew off heading north as the light changed.

I figured he was going over to Kodak Park to be with Unity. That would be the one and only time I saw Archer on my watch about 30 seconds worth. 10 minutes passed  before I found Beauty. I spotted her way up on the northwest corner of the Crossroads building as I was driving down State St. southbound toward Times Square. As per usual she had her back to me.

I took the pic and went to another location to get the front shot so I could be sure it was the Beautyful one. She didn’t stay there for long and it was a few minutes later that I spotted her on the south ledge of the Times Square building. The one directly across from the nestbox where Jemison made his first flight.

Beauty was there only long enough for me to click off one shot of her and then she went over to the jail tower landing on the second arm on the east side.

She perched there and preened herself for  20 minutes or so and off she went to the north. She loves to play cat and mouse with me lately.  I found her over on the Frontier Communications tower on the platform eating a small morsel of cached food. She made short work of it then flew up to the platform railing on the west side.

I parked on N.Plymouth Ave. right across the street from the Frontier building that holds the communications tower. The sun was in the wrong place so the pics are basically silhouettes.I watched a security guard come out of Frontier and take off his security jacket, so I figured he was getting off his shift. His car was parked across from me and he walked over to ask if I was watching the hawks. I told him they were Peregrine falcons and some facts about M&K and Kodak and Beauty and Archer. He said his father tried finding the website with no luck so I gave him one of the business cards Joyce gave me to hand out with the pertinent information on it and showed him a pic of Beauty on my camera. He seemed quite pleased,thanked me and left. I love telling people about our Rochester falcons. Anyway, Beauty flew off as I was getting ready to end my watch. 🙂

For a few more pics go to this link:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=546739752213%3A1772952401&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=Share-_-Personal-_-Email-_-Sharer-_-Top

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

I’m afraid this mornings watch was a bit of a bust. As I approached the Broad St. bridge I saw a falcon on the heel of Mercury but it flew off just as I passed thru the intersection. I thought it was Beauty but it could have been Archer because Donna informed me that he was at the nestbox around that same time. Nobody was on cam in the nestbox when I left this morning. I parked on the bridge and saw Beauty over on OCSR 2nd ibeam west corner.

She didn’t stay there for long heading over to the Frontier Communications tower.

The Beautyful one left after about 10 minutes and I was unable to locate her again before ending my watch.

I had a terrific time yesterday in Buffalo with Joyce and Brian on our fledge watch. It was the first time I’d ever seen more than 2 juvies at one time. It truly was a wonderful experience that left me hungry for more. We began at the University of Buffalo where we saw BB in the nestbox and Yankee over on the VA hospital with 2 or 3 juvies. Next we went to the Statler building downtown where we saw all three juvies. 2 had fledged and the other one was perched at the nestbox that wasn’t quite ready yet. We pushed forward to Central Terminal(my favorite spot) where all four juvies are in the nestbox and won’t be ready to fledge for about another week. It sure was crowded up there! Stella and Stash were both on site flying and bringing in food for their noisy bunch. Sage and Roger stopped by to see us before we left to make our last call back at UB. We managed to see all the  juvies over on the VA hospital with dad Yankee watching over them. To conclude this report at each site all juvies and parents were accounted for and safe. A good day for this falcon watcher! 🙂

Here’s the link for my Buffalo photo album:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=756931752213%3A1031089986&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=Share-_-Personal-_-Email-_-Sharee-_-Top Here’s the link to a short video of the 4 juvies at Central Terminal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wFlrb9joDs

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

It was a pretty uneventful watch with the Beautyful one this morning. She was in the nestbox when I left home and still there when I arrived downtown. I watched her from the Broad St. bridge for about 15 minutes when she flew off to the north. I waited a few minutes for her return and then drove over to FCT where I found her on the platform eating something. It must have been cached food for she only spent a few minutes eating and there were no feathers flying as when it’s a fresh kill they have to prepare it.

When she was done she went up to the railing briefly and took off to the northeast.

It was nearly 45 minutes later when I found her again but while I was looking I got pics of the cleanup crew on the Broad St. bridge. While parked on the Court St. bridge I observed them lifting the logs out of the river with a crane. Saw some ducks down on the rocks too.

I left the river view and found Beauty over on the 2nd arm of the Frontier Communications tower.

This is where I left Beauty ending my watch. I am going to Buffalo today with Joyce and Brian for a fledge watch and I had to get home, put my report together and get ready to shuffle off to Buffalo! Keep your eyes to the sky people! 🙂

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Hi everyone I had another busy watch today.No Beauty in the nestbox this morning before I left for downtown. As I approached the intersection of Broad and Exchange Streets I could see Beauty up on the base of Mercury. When I drove down the Broad St. bridge eastbound and did my u-turn to park facing Mercury and Times Square she had flown off. Soon after I spotted her perched in the nestbox.

I could see only her just like yesterday but Donna informed me that Archer was up there as well. 20 minutes later I had Beauty on the heel of Mercury and Archer was on the base.

15 minutes later Beauty flew off followed by Archer. I found Beauty over on the Frontier Communications tower and then she was off again.

I returned to the Broad St. Bridge to find they had returned to Mercury switching their previous spots with Archer on the heel and Beauty on the base this time. Hehe thought they would mess with old MAK again today. They tried to pull a fast one on me yesterday morning too!  I’m onto them now and they’ll have to get up pretty darn early to put one over on me! lol

Next Archer flew off circled above Mercury and flew down attempting to copulate with Beauty before flying off to the north toward Kodak Park.

Beauty flew off too and after waiting a few minutes for her return I decided to go to Kodak Park and see if Archer went there.

The Beautyful one spreading her wings to take off

Upon arriving at KP I immediately spotted Archer on the black stripe in front of the nook(one of his favorite spots). And Unity was in the scrape with 2 eggs visible.

Unity flew over to the west still landing on the northside of the 2nd catwalk down. She began whining while Archer remained in his spot sleeping.

After a while Archer dropped down to the scrape and Unity came over to join him as I heard echupping coming out of there.

Maybe a minute passed before Archer left and went to the north side of the catwalk on the still east of the tall still. Unity hung around in the scrape a few minutes and then flew to the north side catwalk of the west still.

At no point while Unity was observed in the scrape did she try to incubate the eggs and I would say they are the original 2 eggs that she laid some weeks ago tho I can’t confirm it. Unity began whining again and soon after they both flew over with Archer landing on the ibeam in front of the scrape and Unity going into the scrape.

I watched a few more minutes until KathyO stopped by to see the eggs and then she left quickly to go to work and I left to go home. Just my opinion but it looked like there was some pigeon poop cleared out of the scrape from how it originally was. I believe Unity is too young still to know what to do with her eggs. I took pics of a Northern Mockingbird and a female Red-winged Blackbird which are included in my album this morning which I will enter the link below. As always no sign is needed and make sure to click the pics above in my report for a larger image. Enjoy, I know I did! 🙂

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=640938552213%3A1461866237&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=Share-_-Personal-_-Email-_-Sharer-_-Top

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Beauty was in the nestbox when I checked the cams before leaving home this morning. She was still there when I arrived on the Broad St. bridge at 5:30am.

1 falcon visible

About 20 minutes later a large bird flew near the Times Square building and got chased away by who I thought was Beauty at the time. Apparently Archer was in the nestbox as well but I could only see the Beautyful one. So I tweeted that Beauty went after this bird when in fact it was Archer. Donna set me straight on things. Thank you my friend! Anyway, I lost sight of any falcons at this point and it would be 15 minutes before I spotted Beauty on the Jail tower 3rd arm southeast side..

She flew off heading west and didn’t resurface until 15 minutes later when I spotted her toward the middle of the jail tower. She stooped shortly after that without success and flew back to the jail tower 2nd arm down on the southwest side this time.

She surely was keeping me hopping today! Soon after she stooped once again and once again she missed returning to the east side of the jail tower on the top arm.

Beauty let me catch my breath for about 30 minutes before she left the jail tower and headed toward Times Square.

I found her back at the nestbox perching for just a couple minutes and then she flew to Mercury and perched on the heel.

Now here’s where it gets confusing. Next I see her on the base of Mercury on the east side as I’m looking from the Broad St. bridge. Meanwhile,Donna calls and tells me Archer was up in the nestbox with Beauty again around 7:00 and I could only see Beauty up there at the time. I then watch Beauty disappear to the other side of the base that I can’t see and comes back into view but it looks more like Archer to me at this point! Here’s Beauty in the first pic and then the next 2 look like Archer.

Was Archer on the blind side of the base and came into view after she went over to that side? Were these 2 playing tricks on old MAK or what?! lol Then Archer is gone and I see Beauty hop over near the foot on the base of Mercury.

Sometimes one set of eyes is just not enough! Beauty suddenly stooped down the face of the Thomson Reuters building after a pigeon to the surface of the river missed flew back up above me and stooped again on the other side of the river. I had no time to get pics of any of this because it all happened so fast. She missed again and flew north up river and veered off to the east behind the Radisson Hotel. I had 5 minutes to collect myself and get my blood pressure back to normal when I spotted a falcon on the 2nd ibeam west corner of the OCSR building. I assumed it was Beauty and then drove down to Aqueduct St.to get a closer look and take pics. Is it Beauty or is it Archer?

You be the judge but I believe it is Beauty. This is where I ended my watch. Oh, the games falcons play! 🙂

For more pics of my watch go to this link and as always no sign in is needed:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=224313552213%3A1213621889&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharer

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Good day everyone! Beauty was perched at the nestbox when I left for downtown this morning but she left while I was in commute (the little stinker) so I had to look for her when I arrived. Parked on the Andrews St. bridge I spotted her on the roof of the Radisson Hotel as she took off VERY fast! This is NOT a usual building for her to go but then, she is not exactly acting like herself these days(in my opinion). I  followed her with my binocs until she disappeared behind the Thomson Reuters building upriver heading in the direction of the Cornhill area. I thought for sure she had gone to the jail tower which is located over that way but to my dismay she wasn’t there when I got over there.  She sure does like to play hide and seek with me lately!  I took some pics of the Genesee River between the Broad and Court St. bridges. It has receded quite a bit in the last few days and the rocks are now visible for the shorebirds to hang out on again.

After searching around the city for an hour and a half going places I have never been before, I finally located the Beautyful one on the jail tower. She was on the 3rd arm down southeast side.

I drove over to Troup St. to be closer to Beauty. We spent 20 minutes together before she took off headed toward downtown.

I drove back to the Times Square area with no sign of her and subsequently I was not able to find her again before I ended my watch. As always I am happy to have seen her at all on this bright, sunny morning in Rochester,NY! See ya! 🙂

For pics from last nights watch at Kodak Park and more of this mornings watch click on the link below:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=238305452213%3A1025344187&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharer

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Happy Flag Day to all of us in the USA!  I’m afraid I don’t have much to report today as Beauty has been eluding me very much of late. 10 minutes into my watch I found the Beautyful one on the west side of the Frontier Communications Tower below the platform.

Please forgive the dark pictures as it was a very dark,gloomy morning in western New York. She gave me the same routine today as yesterday spending maybe 20 minutes with me. She worked on bringing up a pellet and then she scampered over to the other end of her perching spot spreading her wings to catch her balance before flying off to the west and out of sight.

For the next 2 hours I drove around searching for our elusive Peregrine Falcon with no further sightings. One of these days I’m going to find her hiding place! lol  While I was parked on the Broad St. bridge DebbieH came by for a chat saying how she misses seeing Beauty and Archer flying around the area. Me too! That’s all folks! 🙂

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Hello to all of our Rochester falcon fans! After 3 days away I thought I should write a little something even though my watch was very uneventful this morning. As usual before leaving the house I checked the cams to find Beauty perching in the nestbox. I went straight to the Broad St. bridge and parked. Looking up at the Times Square building I could see that Beauty was still perched up there in the nestbox.

15 minutes later she took off and so did I. Going in the direction she headed I found her over on the second arm of the Frontier Communnications Tower.

I hung out with the Beautyful one there for almost an hour. In that time she tried  bringing up a pellet several times and she pooped so it’s safe to say everything was working properly. lol  Sometime just before 7:ooam she quickly flew off to the west and left my field of view. First pic below shows her hunched over trying to cough up that pellet I mentioned. In the 2nd pic she is semi-hidden in flight after she took off.

I waited a few minutes to see if she would return with no such luck. I made my way around the city looking in all the usual spots without success so I decided to go over to Kodak Park. After searching there and finding no falcons I returned to downtown Rochester. Sadly the only thing I saw on Times Square was a man near the south ledge opposite the nestbox. This is where Jemison had first fledged last summer. The man was only there briefly and I didn’t get a pic and I have no idea what he was doing. I thought that it wasn’t too smart to  not be wearing a hard hat. I made 2 more trips around the city and called it quits to go home for breakfast and meds. I’m sure all 3 of our resident falcons were fine, probably eating somewhere or just hunkered down somewhere digesting their morning meals. It was really good to see Beauty after my trip to Canada over the weekend. I hope everyone has a great day! 🙂