Falcon Sighting – Southend of Kodak Park – Sunday, June 13, 2010 – Falcon Watcher: Carol P.

After a busy weekend of Falcon Watching at the Times Square bldg, it was time to head home around 3:00 pm.

I was on Lake Ave heading north.  Just after crossing Rte 104, I looked over at the southend of KP.  There was a familiar shape on top of one of the buildings.  Could it be?

I quickly found a place to park and clicked a few pictures before grabbing my binoculars.  Hmmm, it looked suspiciously like a Falcon.  So, far away, darn.  All I could hope for was a 1/2 way decent picture, so I clicked away.

The Falcon took off and zipped around the buildings, scaring up pigeons as it passed, finally landing again, even further away. Drats!

I made an attempt to get closer, but by the time I parked my car, the Falcon was gone.  After an hour of looking around the area, I gave up and headed home.

Here are a couple of pictures I was able to get, zoomed in and lightened.  I’m pretty sure it was a Peregrine Falcon and based on size, a female.

Last fall we saw Mariah and at least two other Peregrines hanging out in the Kodak Park area, including a juvenile.  So was this Mariah?  There is no way of knowing.  But, you can bet the Watchers will be keeping an eye on the area and we’ll report any further sightings. 

http://picasaweb.google.com/libbymybird/PeregrineAtKodakPark61310?feat=directlink

Lots of pictures and a couple of video clips from today’s banding of Callidora and Jemison:

http://birdblog.marchlords.com/2010/06/new-bangles-for-calli-jemma.html

Jim

Here are some pictures I took on Memorial Day while Beauty enjoyed a cooling drink.

Scouting some shady falcon watch spots.

I was out over the weekend for a little falcon watching, and I also managed to squeeze in a couple of trips downtown over my lunch breaks the past couple of days.  All three visits featured one or the other of the falcons chowing down, along with the obligatory flight shots, of course…

http://birdblog.marchlords.com/2010/04/beauty-in-spotlight.html

http://birdblog.marchlords.com/2010/04/archer-grabs-lunch-two-days-running.html

From Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I spent a few hours watching Archer and Beauty on Sunday.  It was a beautiful, sunny day and they were quite active.  Twice on Sunday, Archer hunted successfully and brought in food for Beauty while she remained at the nestbox guarding the eggs. 

The first time Archer brought in prey and prepared it on top of the Times Square bldg.  When he finished, Archer flew down to the nestbox and Beauty accepted his offer.  She flew over to the Wilder Bldg across the street to enjoy her meal while Archer remained at the nestbox.

The 2nd time was early afternoon.  Archer flew in with prey and landed on top of the Times Square bldg, this time at the NW wing.  Archer had barely landed when a very vocal Beauty flew out of the nestbox and landed next to him.  Well, you can see what happened in this video. 

I apologize for the jumpiness of the video.  My next camera will have image stabilization.  🙂

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d43KB98b1rg

Sorry it took so long to post this but I’ve had a busy few days.  I got a couple of chances to get out and watch the falcons over the holiday weekend.  Here’s the first of two falcon watches, this one from Good Friday.

http://birdblog.marchlords.com/2010/04/good-friday-for-falcon-watching.html

Jim

From Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

It was another very warm, beautiful day in Rochester, NY, temps in the 80’s (F).  I headed downtown for a morning Watch.  Beauty was on the Mercury statue’s outstretched hand (which holds what appears to be a bag of coin/gold).  Archer was on top of Xerox near the NW corner.  Soon after I parked my car on the Broad St. Bridge, Dana and Lou joined me.

Archer and Beauty flew around the area landing on different buildings, including the nest box on the Times Square Bldg.

At one point, Archer chased a small bird over the river (Genesee River), successfully catching it over the RG&E building on the east side of the river.  He carried it to the communication tower just south of the Times Square Bldg.  Beauty was  inside the nest box at this time.

After awhile, Beauty flew out of the nest box and landed, once again, on Mercury’s hand.  Her tail lifted and I quickly switched my camera to video, focused it on Beauty and waited.  I wasn’t disappointed.  Dana, Lou and I witnessed Archer and Beauty copulating on top of the Mercury statue.  Here’s the link to my video posted in YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_Mqo6LTOjM

We walked back to our cars and were joined by MAK.  We talked for awhile and saw Beauty and Archer fly up to the Times Square building.  Beauty landed under the NE Wing and Archer under the SE Wing.  Beauty had food and feathers were flying.

The temps were rising and by 11:30 am, it was time to leave.

I came back for an hour between 5:00 – 6:00 pm, joining fellow Watchers, Joyce, Brian H, Dana, Lou and Marcia.  Beauty was preening and dozing on top of the Times Square building and Archer flew in to land on the top I-Beam of the old Changing Scenes Restaurant (OCSR) aka First Federal building.

Beauty flew off of the Times Square building and landed on the south end of the Cross Rds building.  Archer took off and copulated with Beauty.  He returned to his spot on the OCSR and Beauty remained where she was.

It was time for me to head home with plans to return early Easter Sunday morning.

I spent the lunch hour downtown watching Archer and Beauty today.  It wasn’t wall-to-wall action, but there was a bit of excitement.  Read about it in my latest blog post:
http://birdblog.marchlords.com/2010/03/aborted-ardor-marks-midday-peregrine.html

From Rochester Falcon Watcher ~Joyce

There was lots of flying and courtship activity this weekend. Saturday was nice and sunny, but Sunday afternoon became windy, cloudy and rainy.  Despite the change in weather, my watch was rewarding.  Here are some pictures from Saturday and Sunday’s afternoon watches.

http://picasaweb.google.com/wnyfalconwatcher/ArcherBeautyMarch27March282010

Or, enjoy them in a slideshow http://tinyurl.com/yj5ds9s

~Joyce (aka wnyfalconwatcher on Picasa)