By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Please continue to PRAY FOR A FRIEND

Watchers: Larry O, Dana and Carol P.

This morning was very cool, almost cold. Dana and I were wearing hoodies. Larry O had a towel wrapped around his shoulders. lol

It was a quiet watch. The highlight of my watch happened when I was parked on the Andrews Street Bridge. A juvie was on top of the OCSR Elevator Shaft. The juvie was too far away to get an ID.

After a few moments, the juvie spread its wings and took off, dropping down the face of the building. Fast! So fast, I actually lost sight of it. When the gulls low on the river started screaming, I knew the juvie was close, really close.

Right in front of me, the juvie raced across the river, chasing the gulls and a couple pigeons. Next, the juvie zipped over the Andrews St Bridge, heading north. I quickly lost sight of it. Well, that was fun! Of course I got no pictures or videos. I just watched and enjoyed. I would not be surprised if both Kanfai Malachim and Blaze have had a successful hunt.

We did check the High Falls area just in case. The only thing of note that we saw was a juvie Bald Eagle heading south.

The rest of the watch was pretty quiet.

Here are a few pics of pics from today’s watch.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Please say a prayer FOR A FRIEND

Morning Watchers: Larry O, Dana and Carol P.

I was going to take a day off, but just couldn’t do it. I’m glad I didn’t because I would have missed some really nice flying by our falcons. All four were seen today.

When I first arrived on the Court St Bridge, there was a juvie on the Old Radisson. The juvie took off and now there were two, talon tagging and having a good time. After awhile, both landed on the Old Radisson and both had food. Not sure where they got the food, but they were both busy eating their breakfast.

Larry O arrived with Gimli. He told me that there was an adult on the Times Square Bldg nest box platform. So maybe there was a food transfer I missed.

Things were quiet for awhile, before the juvies left the Old Radisson, heading west. The adult, I believe was Nova, also took off from the Times Square Bldg. On the way over to the Frontier Communication Tower, I heard the juvies flying overhead vocalizing quite loudly. Dana had joined the watch and reported that one juvie had landed on Widows Walk with an adult. The adult left.

From my view of Widows Walk from Fitzhugh St I could only see a little bit of the juvie. Another juvie flew in and landed on the NW lower corner of Widows Walk scattering 30+ pigeons that had been roosting there. It was Blaze, and Kanfai Malachim was jumping down from the railing to join Blaze on the corner.

They both took off and the air was filled with the loud vocalizations of two playful young falcons. I believe at least one of the adults was joining in on the fun.

Dana found Blaze, Kanfai Malachim and an adult on the Jail Communication Tower. After they all left, we ended our morning watch.

It was so nice seeing them all together again!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P

Watchers: Larry O, Dana, Linda and Carol P.

Another 3 H Day! Hot, hazy and humid with temps near 90F.

While yesterday was a Blaze morning, today was Kanfai Malachim’s morning. We saw Blaze get food and eat on top of the old Radisson yesterday.

Today started with both adults with food. Neander on Powers and old Radisson and Nova on the NE corner of Wilder. Nova was calling out to the juvies, but neither came in to take her offering.

Both adults took off heading towards Xerox/5 Star area.

We searched and searched with no luck finding any of the falcons. All the watchers settled on the Court St Bridge in the shade.

Finally a falcon, flying high above Xerox and heading our way, over the river and landing on the NW wing ledge of the Times Square Bldg (TSB). We’re pretty sure it was Nova and she was carrying food looking for a juvie. Still no takers.

It was time to search again. Dana and I ended up on the High Falls pedestrian bridge. From there, we could see a juvie on the west side of one of the Water St bldgs, overlooking the river. From the Andrew St Bridge, we got a closer look. When the juvie took off, we could see a blue band. It was Kanfai Malachim!

Kanfai Malachim flew low over the bridge and the river. She crossed the river, flew by the Times Square Bldg and headed north, landing on the Frontier Communication Tower below the platform. Linda, Dana and I set up in the shade.

Kanfai Malachim settled in to preen and nap. After a long rest, she took off heading SE.

We all split up to look for her, but we couldn’t find Kanfai Malachim and we didn’t see Blaze this morning.

When we ended our watch, there was an adult eating under the TSB NW wing ledge. We were pretty sure it was Neander.

As always, I apologize for the poor quality of my pics of pics.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

For those that have been wondering how Billie and Beau did this year. They successfully raised four juvies from their undisclosed nest site. We have been asked by the DEC to not say where they are nesting.

We’ll hopefully add some pictures soon.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

When I first arrived downtown at 6:30 am, something told me to check out the downtown buildings first and I’m glad I did. I parked near Geva Theater. From there, I could see two juvies flying and talon tagging over Five Star Bank. This went on for a long time.

Both juvies settled on top of the Five Star Bank Bldg. Blaze on the corner and Kanfai Malachim on top of one of the antennas. Blaze flew over Kanfai Malachim and around the back of the building. Kathy O and Dana joined me in front of the Martin Luther King Park.

It rained on and off while we were watching Kanfai Malachim on the antenna and it was very cloudy. Temps were going up into the high 80s, with high humidity. Really bad lighting conditions for pictures.

An adult flew past with food and the chase was on. Both Blaze and Kanfai Malachim chased the adult. One juvie was successful and landed on the SW side of B&L with the food. The 2nd falcon followed the adult, flying east.

It wasn’t long before the juvie on B&L took off. Kathy, Dana and I split up and searched for the falcons. Having no luck, we ended up on the Court St Bridge. From there we saw a juvie land on the NE corner of the old Radisson with food. Time to move again!

From Bragdon, we had a very nice view of Kanfai Malachim eating on the old Radisson in the rain.

From there, we could see an adult on the Times Square Bldg NE wing ledge. After Kanfai Malachim finished her breakfast, she took off heading towards the Times Square Bldg, vocalizing to the adult.

On the way back to the Court St Bridge, Dana saw Kanfai Malachim land on the Widows Walk. When we arrived on the CSB, she was gone and so was the adult.

As we were ending our watch, an adult landed on the Jail Communication Tower, Kathy drove over to verify it wasn’t a juvie.

We are doing a lot of driving around to find the falcons now. It was so much nicer when we could sit in one place to see them. Now that they’re getting older, they’re spreading out. I’m happy that we can share their adventures with all of you.

We didn’t see Red today. I kind of hoped we would. I hope this traveling juvie is doing well.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P

Collage of Pics by Dana

During our morning watch yesterday, we actually did see our red banded visitor (Red) a 2nd time during our morning watch. After Dana went through her pictures, she saw that it was Red that flew up to the NE wing ledge after an adult (Nova) took food up there.

Kathy, Dana and I were on the Court St Bridge when a juvie flew over heading towards the Times Square Bldg. The juvie landed on the NE wing ledge and came face to face with the adult that was already up there. The adult stood its ground and the juvie flew off without the food.

In Dana’s pictures, you can clearly see the red band on the juvie. Nova was not willing to give up the food. So the visiting Red was interacting with our downtown Rochester family.

The behavior we see while watching the Peregrine Falcons is always fascinating!

I hope we see Red again and positively ID him/her. Be safe Red!!!!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

WE HAD A VISITOR AND WE SAW RED!

My morning watch was shared by Kathy O and Dana. Larry O was out for a short time, but he did not join us.

When I first arrived on the Court St Bridge, there was a juvie on the roof of the Old Radisson. Another falcon flew through and the juvie gave chase heading NW, maybe towards the Frontier Communication Tower. Not sure if it was an adult and juvie or two juvies.

Kathy, Dana and I split up, searching the downtown area. I found a juvie on the south end, lower ledge of the Cross Rds Bldg. Again, I could not verify if it was Blaze or Kanfai Malachim.

We continued our search. Kathy texted that there was a juvie on the NE corner of City Place. This is a building just south of the Frontier Communication Tower. Dana and I joined Kathy. We hoped to get a look at the bands. This juvie was NOT being cooperative at all. Then, finally, it spread its wings and took off!

Dana and I quickly checked our pictures. Would we see the bands? Was it Blaze or Kanfai Malachim? Blue or silver? RED! I see RED!

What! Had Zara been released? Had she escaped and we hadn’t been notified? A quick call to June. She checked with the rehabber. Zara was sitting peacefully in her flight cage.

Soooooo, who is this mystery visitor with the red tape over the USFW band and Black over Green band? Neither Dana or my pics gave us a clue.

We saw no aggression towards, let’s call this juvie Red for now. Blaze was seen later in the watch, but we were not able to find Red again.

This mystery will only be solved if we’re lucky enough to read Red’s black over green band. Hopefully one of the watchers will.

Here are a few pics of pics of Red from the morning watch.

FLYING FALCONS!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Today’s falcon watch was located on the Court St Bridge with watchers Kathy O, Dana, Larry O and Carol P.

The watch started with one juvie falcon on the south end of the Cross Rds Bldg. It ended with lots of flying around downtown by this juvie, that we were never able to positively ID. Judging by size, this juvie was probably Blaze.

We saw a lot of flying, but never more than one falcon at a time. So, no way to tell if we had more than the one falcon or not.

Here are some pics of pics (can’t wait until I can go through my pictures and videos!). Enjoy these flying falcon pictures from downtown and ? Enjoy!

Plus a couple of really good memories!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

This is my report from yesterday, 7/31. Today is the first of August. My, how time has flown. Not sure how many future reports I’ll post since it’s getting harder to find our young juvies, Kanfai Malachim and Blaze. I want to thank my fellow watcher Dana for sharing her watch report pictures and videos. They’ve been so much to watch! I wish more of our watchers would share their pictures/videos here for all to see.

It was very quiet Sunday morning, my favorite time to drive around downtown Rochester and search for falcons.

My first falcon of the morning was Neander. He was on the old RG&E Bldg on a lower ledge. Thanks Neander for this flag shot!

Dana and I searched for a good part of the morning not finding any other falcons. Larry O and Gimli joined us on the High Falls pedestrian bridge. The view was beautiful but falconless, not even a Red-tail Hawk. Larry left us and Dana and I continued our search, splitting up to drive around downtown.

I was sitting in my car in front of Kodak Office when two falcons flew in from the north. I knew they landed somewhere on the building, so I drove around to the west side and heard the glorious sound of a juvie cry filling the air. Good thing it was a Sunday and no one was working in the office Kanfai Malachim was sitting outside of. Directly above her was Nova, trying her best to ignore her noisy daughter.

Kanfai Malachim took off and flew all around the building, first landing on the west side peak, just in front of the door we used on Mariah and Kaver banding days and then on the Philadelphia Tower on the NW corner.

Nova took off heading south and Kanfai Malachim soon followed.

Dana and I parked on the Andrews Street Bridge and watched as all four falcons arrived. There was food in the mix and Blaze arrived to talon tag with his sister. When these two get together they are so much fun to watch! Just wish Zara could be there too!

After this, it got very quiet. The only falcon we could find was Nova hiding on the Old Radisson.

We left Nova, ending the Sunday morning watch.

As always, I apologize for the poor quality of my pictures.

The watchers will not be out this morning due to the services at the Blue Cross Arena for RPD Officer Anthony Mazurkiewicz who was shot and killed in the line of duty. 😕🇺🇲🙏

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Today our juvies took their watchers to Kodak Office. But when I first got there, both juvies flew up to the Powers Bldg screaming. One landed and one continued on. By the time I drove over to the Andrews St. Bridge and parked, both were on the north side of the Cross Roads Bldg. At first I reported it as an adult and a juvie, but after checking my pics it was both juvies.

Both flew over to the old Radisson, lots of talon tagging and vocalizing. They both flew low over the trees along the river where I lost sight of them. I drove over to Bragdon for a closer look, but could not find them. Larry and Gimli joined me and we both checked out the area.

Dana and Kathy were over on Main St, at the Convention Center, so we joined them. Dana had seen the juvies talon tagging near the Radisson and saw one land on the east side of Cross Rds with a small morsel of food. By the time Larry and I joined Dana and Kathy, there were no falcons in view. It was a long time before we saw another falcon.

Just as Lisa joined us, we saw a falcon heading north and landing on the NE corner of the netting on Kodak Office. We saw there was also a 2nd falcon lower on the building on the SW corner. Time to head to Kodak!

When we arrived at Kodak, we saw two falcons flying around the top of the tower and out of view. There are security cameras on the corner of the building just north of the tower. I noticed a falcon sitting there. It was Blaze.

He sat there, intently watching a bee buzzing around him. Then Kanfai Malachim flew in and they were both off, flying together and talon tagging over the Kodak buildings. This brought back such good memories.

They both left the area, so we ended up driving around. Dana did see an adult and a juvie on Wilder while driving around. We gathered on the Court St Bridge before ending our watch.

Here are some pics of pics from today’s falcon watch.