FalconWatchEyes to the Skies |
From Rochester Falcon Watcher ~Joyce
Taking advantage of the sunny skies, I stopped downtown for an hour to check on Beauty and Archer. As many of you saw on the webcam, Beauty was perched at the nestbox platform. Archer was on Old Changing Scenes.
Here are some shots taken on Wednesday morning from ground level.
I spent some time downtown on Wednesday afternoon learning how to navigate the much different environment than I’ve been used to in my ten years of watching the Rochester falcons. As a bonus I got to see a nice intruder chase, and take some pretty shots of Archer and Beauty to boot.
Read all about it in my latest Peregrinations post.
From Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.
Most of you have probably seen the wonderful news that Archer returned to Rochester this morning. Many of the Watchers gathered to see Archer and Beauty renew their bonds with each other at the Times Square nest box. It was a wonderful day.
Below is a link to some pictures I took during my Watch. Enjoy!
http://picasaweb.google.com/libbymybird/TheReturnOfArcherToRochester32110?feat=directlink
Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.
This is not about the Peregrines of Rochester, but it is about their smaller cousins. At about 4:00 pm, I was on my way home after checking out the downtown area (no luck finding Beauty) and I decided to drive by the Kodak Tower after reading Joyce’s tweet that a Peregrine had been seen flying around it earlier. Well, I think I know why Beauty is heading in that direction.
I met Dana near the old visitor’s parking lot and we got to talking. Something caught my eye, a bird flying off of the lily’s at the top of the tower! It flew over us heading towards the river gorge, crying it’s distinctive call. It was a Kestrel and a very noisy one.
Then a 2nd Kestrel flew from the tower. This one landed on top of the High Falls Stack. The 1st came back towards us, heading towards the High Falls Stack and his mate. They copulated and then stood next to each other at the stop of the stack. That’s when yet another Kestrel flew in from the NW.
This one flew back and forth over the first two and then landed on top of the stack on the north side. Dana and I walked over to that side. We thought we might have seen a 4th Kestrel fly off of the Catwalk, but we can’t be sure.
For those of you that have followed Mariah & Kaver and read the reports from the earlier years, you might remember that there were Kestrels nesting somewhere in the BeeBee Plant. There were constant battles between the Peregrines at the top of the Kodak Tower and the feisty Kestrels at the BeeBee Plant. Mariah would stoop off of the tower and chase the Kestrels around the lower buildings. The Kestrels would follow Mariah back to the top of the tower and harrass her, until they were again chased off. It’s what we watchers called Kestrel Runs. There have been no Kestrels nesting near the tower for a couple years that we know of.
Now that there are no Peregrines nesting on the Kodak Tower will the Kestrels return? Should be interesting.
So, is Beauty flying out to the Kodak Tower because she’s been seeing the Kestrels flying near it? We know that she had been seen chasing a Kestrel around Midtown Plaza earlier. So it could be the reason I’ve been seeing her head in that direction the past few days.
Also, this morning Beauty was seen on camera at the Times Square Nest Box three times. Some of you may have seen her.
From Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.
It was mostly all about Beauty with a couple of visitors to Rochester this weekend. Here’s a link to my pictures from the weekend Falcon Watch.
Enjoy!
http://picasaweb.google.com/libbymybird/FalconWatchWeekend22022110?feat=directlink
From Rochester Falcon Watcher – Dana M.
I missed the morning sightings of two adult peregrine falcons. I arrived downtown around 1:00pm with no falcons in sight. It was quiet for the 1st 2 hours of watch. Around 3:00pm a falcon was finally seen flying over the HSBC, Xerox, Midtown area. From my pictures, this bird appears to me to have juvenile plumage. See what you think in the attached album below. So, did we have at least 3 falcons in the downtown area today ? I also watched Beauty (I believe) grab food from the Crossroads Building and store it at the nestbox around 3:25pm. There was e-chuping in the air but I was not able to see a 2nd falcon at that time. I ended my watch around 4:00pm with a falcon on the Northeast corner of Midtown, but viewing conditions did not allow identification of which falcon this was.
Here’s the pictures from my watch. Thank you for signing in and I hope you enjoy.
http://tinyurl.com/ylpfj9r
From Rochester Falcon Watcher – Carol P.
I picked up Brian and we headed downtown arriving around 10:45 am. The closing of the Broad St Bridge is really creating havoc with the Rochester Falcon Watchers. This was a prime spot to watch the nest box on the Times Square Bldg. Brian and I ended up checking the Midtown Plaza area first. No Falcons in sight.
Brian told me that Joyce let him know that there was a Falcon in the nest box for quite a while earlier. That was the first I heard about that, since I hadn’t been on my computer.
We drove back towards the Times Square Bldg., down Broad St. While stopped at the light at South Ave, I took a quick look at the nest box. I was very excited to see two Falcons there. I made my way, as quickly as possible to the parking lot directly across from the Times Square Bldg. We had a great view of a Falcon eating on the platform next to the base of Main Camera.
I got my scope out, and Brian and I took turns watching this Falcon. Brian finally got a look at the legs and it looked like this bird was unbanded. Not Archer.
The other Falcon (later verified as Beauty), flew out of the nest box and started chasing the other bird (assumed to be a Tiercel/male), who had grabbed the food and was playing keep-away. Beauty was not happy. Brian and I heard vocalizations we had never heard before.
We got busy calling and texting the other Falcon Watchers. Soon we were joined by Larry O, Dana, Lisa McK, Kathy O and Joyce.
From the top of a nearby ramp garage, we saw the new Falcon aggressively attack a Red-tailed Hawk that flew by too close. At this point, we had lost track of Beauty, but the other Falcon was showing a lot of interest in the buildings south of the Times Square Bldg, flying around them and landing repeatedly. Could Beauty have been on that building?
We drove around the area trying to spot Beauty and the other Falcon. We had no luck finding them. I left around 2:30 pm.
Where was Archer? Would he return to find a new Tiercel in Beauty’s life?
Only time will tell. We’ll keep Watching.
Carol P.
From Rochester Falcon Watcher – Dana M.
Just catching up with some pictures from this past weekend, Feb. 6th and 7th, 2010.
The attached album and report includes Beauty downtown, and another adult Peregrine Falcon further north on Lake Ave. Hope you enjoy.
http://tinyurl.com/yayfgfv
From Rochester Falcon Watcher – Carol P.
As January comes to an end, can Spring be far behind? I cannot wait! Although the temperature had dipped into the single digits, I still wanted to get out for a Falcon Watch. Was Beauty still hanging out downtown? How about all the other Falcons we had been seeing? When the clouds parted and the day brightened, I headed out. First Irondequoit, then downtown. You can see what I saw here in my album and report from today. No sign on needed.
Enjoy!
Carol P.
http://picasaweb.google.com/libbymybird/WinterFalconWatchPlusOtherCritters13010?feat=directlink
From Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.
Today we found not one, not two, not three, but four adult Peregrine Falcons. You can read all about it in this album.
Enjoy!
http://picasaweb.google.com/libbymybird/AFourFalconDayInRochesterNYJanuary92010?feat=directlink
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