By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a gorgeous fall morning with clear skies, bright sunshine and a temperature of 51 (F) 11 (C)

Joyce was getting bored at home after a recent hip replacement so I picked her up for a falcon watch this morning. We started at Summerville as Dana had reported seeing Genesee (G) on the Coast Guard Tower (CGT). We arrived a bit too late to see him so we went down river on the Charlotte side of the river and found him on the Shumway Marina tower, which is on the Summerville side of the river. This was my first time seeing Genesee since last year when he was a juvie in downtown Rochester. The sun was behind him so the back lighting was not so great.

I took a pic of the historic Charlotte Genesee Lighthouse which was right behind us after Genesee flew off hunting near the O’Rourke Drawbridge. He soon came back without breakfast landing on the Shumway tower again. This time he was showing a bit more than his back.

Genesee didn’t stay for long before he was off scaring up pigeons and anything else in the area over by Abbott’s Ice Cream joint at Beach and Lake Avenue. While I was taping him a couple young raccoons walked by in front of me and then ducked under a deck out of sight. I wasn’t fast enough with my camera to photograph them but I can tell you they were very cute! Genesee then appeared up river on the Coast Guard Tower quite a distance from us.

We split up at this time with Dana going down to the Charlotte pier area and Joyce and I went across the river to Summerville, but Genesee was gone when we arrived. We stayed for a bit waiting to see if he came back and enjoying the scenery. I took a pic of the Port of Rochester across the calm waters of the river which made the water look like glass.

We left there and proceeded to check Seneca Towers, Medley Center Mall and Hawkeye with no sightings. We then went downtown and were just about to leave when Joyce noticed Dot.ca (DC) on Xerox. He was on the north side, 4 columns over from the northwest corner looking quite small, quite handsome and quite white!

We left him to check the Brighton site but to no avail. Before taking Joyce home we checked downtown one more time for Beauty but no luck at that either. We were happy to have seen father and son today and ended our watch around 10:45am with smiles on our face! 🙂

Click on the links below to watch a couple videos

https://youtu.be/kp6OEyzenbI

https://youtu.be/dTalGvJavbw

By Rochester Falcon Watch Carol P.

Another beautiful, sunny fall day here in Rochester, NY with temps going up into the mid 70’s (F).

I started my day very early this morning, taking a friend to the hospital.  After dropping him off, I drove through downtown Rochester.  All was quiet and all was dark.  lol  I checked what I could, but could see no falcons.  Later in the morning, Donna reported seeing Dot.ca bowing at the Powers nest box and fellow watchers Brian H and Kathy O, had Beauty on the Frontier Communication tower.

Since it was too dark to see anything, I headed north to the lake (Ontario).  By the time I made my way to the Summerville side of the river, the sun was just starting to rise.  I waited, but Genesee was a no show.  Fellow watcher Dana reported from the Charlotte side of the river.  Genesee was on top of the Shumway Marina antenna.  I headed over to that location and watched Genesee looking over his territory.  He took off and flew low over the river, heading south.  He soon returned, and Dana and I enjoyed watching Genesee eat his early morning breakfast.  It looked like he retrieved a cache of food, half of a pigeon.  Hey!  Nothing goes to waste!

Here are some pics of Genesee from this morning.  Enjoy!

*Be sure to click on any pics to see the larger version.*

Here’s another view of Genesee’s world, looking across the Genesee River.

I also took some video snippets of Genesee from my morning watch. Just click on these two links!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKn4KnNrQSc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onJ0C6ExP98

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Hi all!  I’ve been out and about this past week and have seen all 6 Rochester Falcons during that time. Plus a trip to Buffalo on Saturday with fellow watchers Kathy O, Lisa McK and Dana where we saw Gleig and Diamante at Central Terminal, Yankee and Dixie at UB and  one falcon downtown Buffalo near the Statler.

Here are some pics from my week of adventures.  🙂

*Be sure to click on the pictures to see the full version!*

<— Beauty in the OCSR Elevator Shaft 9/28/16

<— Dot.ca on OCSR Top Ibeam North Side. 9/28/16

<— Unbanded Falcon at BS Location.

<— Genesee on Coast Guard Tower. 9/30/16

<— Bye Bye Russell Station.  No more falcon sightings here.  🙁  9/30/16

<— Gleig and Diamante at Central Terminal. 10/1/16

<— Gleig and Diamante at Central Terminal. 10/1/16

<— Gleig at Central Terminal, Buffalo, NY. 10/1/16

<— Diamante at Central Terminal, Buffalo, NY. 10-1-16

<— Genesee on Shumway Marina Antenna. 10/2/16

<— Ghost!  🙂 10/2/16

<— Genesee on Coast Guard Tower after Breakfast. 10/4/16

<— Genesee on Coast Guard Tower after Breakfast. 10/4/16

<— Genesee on Shumway Marina antenna. 10/4/16

<— Genesee on Shumway Marina antenna. 10/4/16

<— Genesee on Shumway Marina antenna. 10/4/16

<— Genesee roust on Shumway Marina antenna. 10/4/16

<— Genesee on Shumway Marina antenna. 10/4/16

<— Genesee on Shumway Marina antenna. 10/4/16

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a mix of sun and clouds with a temperature of 66 (F) 19 (C)

Let’s start with my sighting this morning-as I was on my way to a doctor appointment, I spotted a falcon on the ring next to the nest box at the Hawkeye site. It had its back to me and it looked small to me so it could have been Seth.

Fast forward to around 5pm this evening when I heard a falcon kakking outside my window. I grabbed my camera and went out to the west side balcony here at Seneca Towers on the 16th floor. I found Seth on the south side of the Veteran’s Memorial Bridge. At first he was picking at his talons and I thought perhaps he had food, but that proved to be wrong.

A few minutes later he started kakking again as Billie flew in from the east and joined her mate landing a few feet from him.

Make sure to click on pics to see the full version

They kept looking down toward the river and I wondered if they were watching some gulls that were picking at a large dead fish that was floating along in the river.  They managed to detach the head from the fish. A duck also checked out the situation.

Back to Billie and Seth who had stopped facing each other and were now showing me their back. You can see the size difference in the next picture as Billie (on the right) has much broader shoulders. Female Peregrine Falcons are 1/3 larger than males.

This continued for the next 45 minutes and during that time I took pics of the fall foliage. I figure the west side of the river gorge has changed about 20-30 percent. These pics were taken of the Genesee River’s west side, to the south toward downtown Rochester and to the north toward Lake Ontario from the west side of Seneca Towers.

<Seth Green Park in the foreground heading south

<west side of gorge

<West side directly across from my apartment

<Maplewood Park

<Looking north toward the lake

I watched them until about 6pm when it was time to go make supper. I went back out afterwards but they were gone. So that was a nice little gift to see them that made me smile! 🙂

Click on the link below to see Billie, Seth and part of their surroundings here at Seneca Towers

https://youtu.be/F4vTSSi-Qis

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a dark overcast morning with a temperature of 55 (F) 13 (C) with a very light misty rain coming down at the end of my watch

I started out at 6:30am when it was still quite dark out as the sun doesn’t rise until after 7am. I checked the perimeter of Seneca Towers (ST) but didn’t find any falcons, so I left for downtown. I arrived just in time to see the lights on Tower 280 (formerly Midtown) before they were shut off.

Make sure to click on pics to see the full version

I drove around downtown many times in the next hour and a half checking all the usual spots but didn’t find either Beauty or Dot.ca (DC) so I headed over to the Brighton site (BS). No falcon there either but there were about half a dozen starlings flitting around on the east side of the building. I returned to downtown and as I was making my way through on State St. I spotted a falcon on the northeast cube of the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT). Drove over to the City Hall parking lot just in time to get a couple shots of the Beautyful one before she flew off.

She left while I was checking her pic on my camera’s LCD screen. I found her on the top I-beam northwest side of OCSR-she had her back to me but kept turning her head to have a look around.

I left her after a while to look for DC but no such luck. I stopped on the Andrews St. bridge (ASB) before leaving downtown and got a better angle of Beauty on OCSR albeit from a longer distance. From there I could see she food in her crop and she was snoozing on and off.

As I approached ST from St. Paul St. I spotted the tail feathers of Billie on the southwest corner and she was eating. Below her on the southwest corner of the railing was Seth looking up at her occasionally and watching below for prey.

Soon after, Seth flew off and then Buffalo Billie followed. They went south at first then came back to the west side of the building where I couldn’t see them. I drove down to check the north end when I saw who I believe was Seth with Billie’s leftovers in his talons. After he went out of view I saw Billie go to the west side after him. I then doubled back to Seth Green Dr. where I found Billie on the west side railing.

She kept looking over her shoulder and then Seth flew up to the railing with his back to me. I believe he finished off the leftovers on the roof behind his mate beforehand. After a short stay, Seth flew off vocalizing and after a failed attempt to land on the south roof antenna came to rest on the top window ledge of the south end of ST. I left Billie on the railing to go back out on St. Paul St. for a closer view of Seth.

I left to check for Genesee from the Summerville side of the river to no avail-he wasn’t on the Coast guard antenna where the other watchers have seen him. I’ve looked for him several other times but haven’t had the pleasure of seeing him yet-his regular time is early morning and early evening. Perhaps luck will be on my side soon.

As I approached ST from Seth Green Dr. I could see both Billie and Seth on the west side railing.

<Click it

This made me smile as I ended my watch at 10am! 🙂

Click on the links below to see today’s videos (they’re a bit shaky as I’m a bit rusty lol)

https://youtu.be/jAviDHjCcho

https://youtu.be/a6fsJbicYlk

https://youtu.be/abP137WCVLo

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Made the rounds today to check on the Rochester Falcons and found all six of them enjoying the beautiful fall day.

Here they are!

<— Genesee on the Coast Guard Tower.

<— Billie and Seth sharing a meal at Seneca Towers.

<— Beauty Up Inside the OCSR Elevator Shaft.

<— A Dot.ca Fly By below the Powers Bldg Flag.  Look below the flag on the left side of the pole.  🙂

<— Falcon (female) at the BS Location.

I thought I’d share a couple pics I took of Genesee when he visited with us in a tree on the Charlotte Beach.  (9/5/16)  Enjoy!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Happy First day of Fall!  It may be Fall, but it sure feels like mid-Summer with temps hitting the mid 80’s this afternoon.

I arrived  for my morning Genesee watch on the Charlotte side of the Genesee River just as the sun was rising.  Genesee was on top of the Coast Guard Tower.  According to Dana, who was watching from the Summerville side, he had just finished his breakfast.

<— Genesee on the Coast Guard Tower (CGT) after finishing his breakfast.

<— First Fall Sunrise.

I was taking a few pictures of the sunrise and hadn’t noticed that Genesee had left the CGT.  My first clue was when I heard the river gulls start to scream!  Genesee was swooping up and down the river, diving on all the gulls located there.  As he swooped low, just missing the gulls, they would scream and attempt to take off.  It seemed like it went on forever, but it was only a few moments.  lol

At one point, Genesee flew low, just above me looking down.  I really got the feeling that this was just a whole lot of fun for him.  🙂

<— Genesee Chasing Gulls on the Genesee River.

<— Genesee Flying Over the River.

When he was done with his “game”, he returned to the top of the Coast Guard Tower.

<— Genesee on top of the CGT.

He remained there for quite awhile before taking off and heading south, following the Genesee River.  Some day we’ll figure out where he goes.

<— Genesee Taking off from the CGT.

<— Looking South Down the Genesee River.  The direction Genesee has been taking when he leaves the CGT in the morning.

Dana joined me on the Charlotte side and we waited to see if Genesee would return.  After an hour, when he didn’t return, we ended our Genesee morning watch.

I decided to check out our other Rochester Falcons.

I first found who I believe was Billie on top of the antenna on the Kodak Research Labs building.

<— Billie, I believe, on the Kodak Research Labs.

From Maplewood Park, I could see a smaller falcon on the north end window ledge of Seneca Towers.  Seth?

<— Seth, I believe, on Seneca Towers, North End Window Ledge.

My next stop was downtown Rochester, where I found a falcon on the south side, top Ibeam of OCSR, facing the building.  I could not tell if it was Beauty or Dot.ca.  I do believe it was Dot.ca.

<— I believe this was Dot.ca on north side of OCSR.

After looking all over for a 2nd falcon and not finding one, I headed over to the BS location.  On the east side of the building, I found the unbanded falcon on the 4th window down, Others that have seen this falcon believe that it is a female.  I have to agree, based on size.  She was sitting in a little bit of shade, dozing on and off.

<— Falcon at the BS location, snoozing in the shade.

After spending a little bit of time with her, I headed back to downtown Rochester.  From the Andrews St Bridge, I could see that Beauty had joined Dot.ca on the top IBeam of OCSR on the north side.

<—Beauty on OCSR.

I reported that it was DC that took off, flew over the Powers Bldg and then returned to OCSR.  But it was actually Beauty that took off and landed on the 2nd IBeam down, below Dot.ca.

<— Dot.ca and Beauty on OCSR.

<— Beauty on OCSR below Dot.ca.

It was getting really warm, and I was happy to end my morning falcon watch after seeing 6 of our Rochester Falcons.  Tomorrow it will be much cooler with temperatures going into the mid-60’s and a chance of rain.  Happy Fall Everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

It was a gorgeous Tuesday morning here in Rochester, NY.  Cool, but sunny, with temps going up into the  80’s later today.

I really do love watching this young falcon.  🙂

When I arrived on the Charlotte side of the river this morning, Genesee had already successfully hunted and was eating on top of the Coast Guard Tower (CGT).  Dana had arrived before me, but had also missed his hunt.

<— Genesee on CGT after finishing his meal.

After finishing his meal, Genesee preened and stretched, watching everything around him.  When a Coopers Hawk flew through the area, Genesee watched it, but remained where he was.

<— Coopers Hawk Fly By.

After awhile, Genesee took off, stooping over the river towards Charlotte Beach.  With the bright sun behind him.  We could see the gulls that had been on the beach take off as he passed over them.  It wasn’t long before he returned to the top of the CGT.

Again he settled into a good preen, making sure all his feathers were back where they needed to be.  lol

After all was in order, Genesee was again in hunt mode, alert to all that surrounded him.  A small bird flew by below him heading south down the river.  Genesee went into a stoop and the chase was on!  The very lucky small bird dove into the trees and Genesee decided to swoop low over the river, scaring up all the gulls that had been on the water.

<— Genesee stooping off of the CGT, chasing a small bird.

Genesee continued south, over the river and then headed west.  We did our best to find him, but couldn’t.

We waited about an hour hoping he would return.  When he didn’t, we ended our morning Genesee Falcon Watch.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

It’s not very often that we are given the gift of watching a Peregrine Falcon just starting its 2nd year.  So many do not survive their first year.  This young falcon is very special to the Rochester Falcon Watchers.  His name is Genesee, son of Beauty and Dot.ca and he hatched in the nest box on top of the Times Square Bldg, downtown Rochester in 2015.

I had the honor of watching him hatch, grow and fledge.  Now I am very happy to have seen him change from his juvie brown to his adult dark steel gray and white plumage.  Like I said, a gift. 🙂

I and other watchers have been spending a lot of time watching him.  He has been spending much of his time at the north end of the Genesee  River where it flows into Lake Ontario.  He is so appropriately named.  Watching his behavior is fascinating.

Genesee’s diet consists of mostly Mourning Doves and small shore birds.  He usually hunts early morning and late evening.

In the morning, he will take full advantage of the rising sun on the east side of the piers (Charlotte and Summerville).  Many times I have witnessed him take off from the Coast Guard Station tower, heading north to the end of the piers.  He will then turn left (west).  The sun is now at his back.  He usually heads back towards the beach and the trees and buildings there.  His prey would have a very hard time seeing Genesee flying towards them due to the bright morning sun.

Up until this weekend, his only aggressive behavior has been to stoop on and hit a passing Ring-billed Gull.  But something changed this weekend.

Early Sunday morning, 9/18/16, Dana and I set-up for a watch on the Charlotte side of the Genesee River (west side).  From there we had a great view of Genesee on top of the Coast Guard tower (CGT).  He was looking around, aware of everything.  No duck would fly by that he didn’t notice.  During the 6 hours of our watch, Genesee was very active.  He was in hunt mode, successful once that we know of.  The most exciting part of the watch was seeing Genesee becoming very territorial.

Turkey Vultures filled the sky, but he totally ignored them.  When a Merlin came through on a hunt, Genesee began kakking loudly.  He took off and flew over us heading west.  At first we weren’t sure what he was after, but then a Merlin flew over after chasing a bunch of pigeons.  Genesee chased the Merlin out of the area and settled back on the CGT.  He continued to kak and then finally was quiet.

It wasn’t long before Genesee started kakking again.  He took off and stooped over the trees near the Charlotte beach.  This time it was a Red-tailed Hawk that was Genesee’s target.  KAK KAK KAK!  The Red-tailed Hawk attempted to escape as Genesee stooped on it over and over again.  We saw the Red-tail fly to the east and Genesee again returned to the CGT.  This same territorial behavior was repeated one more time with another Red-tailed Hawk.  This was my first time hearing Genesee KAK and chase away other raptors.  Very interesting.

Here are some pictures I took of Genesee from this past weekend.  Enjoy! (Be sure to click on any pictures you would like to see larger.)

<— Genesee on the Coast Guard Tower.

<— Genesee Flying Over on a Hunt.

<— Genesee Chasing a Gull.

<— Genesee Stooping on a Red-tailed Hawk.

<— One of the many Turkey Vultures Flying Over. Genesee ignored them.

<— Genesee is gaining lots of fans! 🙂

<— Genesee Fly Over.

<— Genesee on the Coast Guard Tower.

It will be very interesting to see if Genesee will hang out here during the winter.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was overcast with a temperature of 68 (F) 20 (C) with a few sprinkles of rain on and off

I checked the Veterans Memorial bridge from the west side balcony and found a falcon on the south side ledge. It had its back to me-it had white on the tips of its tail feathers which usually indicates a juvenile. However, it had the steel gray colored feathers of an adult so maybe a sub adult. I left it to eat my breakfast and when I returned it was gone.

When I arrived downtown on the Andrews St. bridge, I spotted Dot.ca (DC) on the southeast cube of the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT). I drove over to the City Hall parking lot for closer viewing.

While I was scoping out the rest of the tower with my binoculars DC left. Next stop was the Court St. bridge (CSB) where I checked out the river between CSB and the Broad St. bridge (BSB). Ducks and gulls only were present.

I spotted a falcon on the top I-beam of OCSR near the west corner so I left for the hole (Aqueduct St.) in order to ID it as DC. He had a full crop.

I was pleasantly surprised when I spotted Beauty on the Wilder building green strip. She was snoozing on and off.

The Beautyful one woke up on and off to watch sparrows zipping around below her. She didn’t appear to have anything her crop so I’m sure breakfast was on her mind.

While I was checking on DC over on OCSR Beauty flew off and half a minute later DC followed.

I wasn’t able to locate them again and when I got home to Seneca Towers I spotted a falcon fly from the north end of the building to the east. I ended my watch around 10:40 smiling as I hadn’t seen Beauty and DC for a while and was happy they both showed up for me! 🙂

Check out the link below to see snippets from today’s watch

https://youtu.be/9l_u-MSqZ5w