By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

The strong winds were blowing the rain that was falling sideways making for a soggy watch with a warm temperature of 44 (F) 6 (C)

My watch started with Seth on the north window ledge of Seneca Towers. He was facing me and the wind was ruffling his feathers pretty good.

I didn’t stay with him for long as the rain was blowing right at my camera. When I got downtown I made one trip around and as I was about to check the east side again I spotted Beauty flying above Xerox from the Broad St. bridge around 8am.

I wanted to get closer so I drove over to Court St. by the parking garage to observe her. She spent most of the time hovering and riding the strong wind currents. She stooped to the south toward the Cornhill area quickly leaving my field of vision. I went over to the Court St. bridge where I had a more open view and then she showed up over Xerox again. This time I parked on Chestnut St. by the Martin Luther King Jr. park. More hovering with some wing flicks mixed in to give her a fast change of direction and speed.

After about a half hour of flying Beauty eventually went into another stoop on the north side of Xerox where I lost sight of her and she didn’t resurface so I went in search of her. From Bragdon Place next to the north end of the Radisson Hotel I spotted the Beautyful one on the top I-beam northeast side of OCSR and I also could see Dot.ca (DC) up in the elevator shaft on the south ledge.

I hung out with them until about 9am and then left to check the Medley Centre (MC).

As I was crossing the Veteran’s Memorial Bridge I could see Billie up on the north end of the roof eating and Seth below her on the north window ledge of Seneca Towers so I pulled off to check them out before going over to MC.

Feathers were flying fast from the strong wind as Billie plucked them from her prey-I left them after a few minutes and went over to the mall. No falcons seen there so I ended my watch at 9:14 smiling after seeing 4 of my favorite falcons doing just fine in the rainy, wind driven weather! 🙂

Click on the links below to check out some high flying by Beauty

https://youtu.be/eMm-LddU1UE

https://youtu.be/kSE6E7V0bes

https://youtu.be/0seAFGFG5n0

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Another nice, sunny day!

When I arrived at the Brighton Site (BS) location, I found a falcon on the east end of the building.  I quickly parked my car and grabbed for my camera.  While I was waiting for it to turn on, the falcon took off.  I quickly checked around the building, but could not find the falcon.  Larry O had seen it earlier and thought it might have been a female based on size.

My next stop was downtown Rochester.  After circling downtown twice (yes, Rochester is pretty small – lol) I could not find any falcons.  I decided to check the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT) from all sides.  That’s where I found a falcon on the southwest corner of the platform.  Again, I grabbed for my old, slow camera and attempted to get a picture.  Again, the falcon took off, but this time I captured a partial picture.  Pretty sure it was Dot.ca.

Beauty was no where to be found.  Starlings had taken her place on the Mercury statue.

I found no falcons at Medley Center.  At Seneca Towers I found one falcon home on the north end window ledge.

My route home after falcon watching usually takes me along the lake (Lake Ontario) where I check out Charlotte and Russell Station.  I was very happy to find a falcon at Russell Station on the east side stack lowest catwalk.  I was too far away and looking into the sun to tell if it was an adult or juvie.  After a few moments, the falcon stooped low over the buildings then back up to fly between the two smoke stacks.  I lost sight of it behind the west stack.

On my drive along the lake shore, I found a huge raft of Long-tailed Ducks.  There were 1,000’s of them out there!  What a great way to end my watch.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

I started my watch with no falcons at Seneca Towers (ST) but things picked up when I got downtown. At first I didn’t find anyone but after a ride around downtown I spotted a falcon on the 2nd arm of the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) from the Andrews St. bridge (ASB). It looked small to me so I suspected it was Dot.ca (DC).

I drove over to Fitzhugh St. for closer viewing and found that it was indeed DC. At first the sun wasn’t shining on him as he was raising his big yellow feet (BYF) quite a few times.

The sun hit him and then DC flew off to the southeast rather nonchalantly.

I set out to look for him and after a trip around downtown I ended up on the ASB where I spotted 2 falcons on the northeast corner of the Ellwanger & Barry building. Beauty was eating and DC was watching.

I made my way over to the exit driveway of the Holiday Inn on State St. right across the street from them for a nice close place to share space with Rochester’s resident downtown pair of Peregrine Falcons.

DC did his best to look away and lull Beauty into a false sense of security as he always does when he wants her food. He acts like he’s not interested and then he springs into action! Gotta love his tactics!!! Beauty played right into his hands/talons by turning to face him. Now he had a better shot at grabbing the leftovers.

Sure enough, at 8:32am DC moved in-there was a struggle with lots of vocalization, with each of them clutching  the remnants of a pigeon they dropped off the edge a couple feet down the side of the building before breaking apart with DC the clear winner. He flew off to the southeast with his prize and the Beautyful one followed right behind him.

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I was not prepared for that and it happened so fast that all I could do was watch, so sorry, no pics of it. I expected them to be on OCSR but when I got up to the Broad St. bridge to look I found Beauty on the Mercury money bag (MMB) and no sign of DC.

She started preening and cleaning her BYF’s as I looked on from the north sidewalk of the bridge. Her crop was half full.

I left her and did a quick run around town to look for DC but never did find him so I continued on to the Medley Centre. I didn’t see any falcons there and when I got home to Seneca Towers at 9:40am I spotted a falcon on the west side railing thru the trees but it was gone when I pulled over to check it out. Today, the biggest reason I ended my watch with a smile was because of DC and his silly food antics! 🙂

Click on the links below to see today’s videos

https://youtu.be/YCQNeOMoiWg

https://youtu.be/aS_Clf_xKQg

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

It was a beautiful, sunny February afternoon with temps in the 40’s (F).

I only had a couple hours, so I headed over to the Brighton Site (BS) location first.  When I drove around to the southeast corner of the building, I could see that there were two falcons up there, just above the tree ledge.  They both had their backs to me, and I never did get a good look at them.  The male was whiter than the female and did show me that he had bands when he stretched. I could not positively ID either of these falcons.

I missed seeing them both take off.  I found them flying together to the west.  They both flew back towards the building and over to the west side.  I heard a little vocalization.

The darker female returned to the southeast corner of the building for a short while then flew around to the west side.  I circled the building a few times, but had no luck finding either falcon.  It was time to head downtown.

From the Broad St Bridge (BSB) I immediately found the dazzling white Dot.ca on the south side of OCSR on the top IBeam.

I drove around looking for Beauty.  When I couldn’t find her, I returned to the Broad St Bridge.  There were only Ring-billed Gulls on the river rocks below.  When I looked back up, I saw that the sky was filled with pigeons in panicked flight.  They swirled and dove towards the river, then back up again.  There had to be a bird of prey on the hunt.  Yep!  Flying above me, watching all the pigeons below her was Beauty in hunt mode.

I just relaxed and enjoyed Beauty’s graceful flight.  She soared higher and higher, until I lost sight of her heading north. Dot.ca was watching her too.  lol

Beauty eventually returned, landing on top of the Mercury statue.

She was swiveling her head back and forth, constantly watching the gulls and pigeons around her.

I ended my watch when Beauty took off.  I did attempt to find her, but couldn’t.  Dot.ca remained on the OCSR.

Soon after I ended my watch, fellow watcher Pat tweeted that both Beauty and Dot.ca were on the top IBeam of OCSR.  Thanks Pat!

All was peaceful and quiet downtown, just how I like it!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Another overcast morning with a temperature of 41 (F) 5 (C)

I was very happy when I made the u-turn on East Ridge Rd. and saw both Billie and Seth up on the north end of Seneca Towers. She was out on the northwest corner with her back to me and he was in his spot on the north window watching her.

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At 7:30am Seth left the building and flew down into the river gorge as Billie watched him. She pooped and I thought she would take off after him but she settled back down, so I left for downtown.

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Another nice surprise when I got downtown as I found both Beauty and Dot.ca (DC) on the top I-beam southeast side of OCSR from the Broad St. bridge (BSB). I could see that Beauty was eating and DC was watching her. I opted to go down to the end of Bank Place where it meets Aqueduct St. in the hole to watch and while I was in commute the Beautyful one stopped eating and DC turned his back on us. I snapped off a couple pics of her before heading over to the Radisson Hotel by Main St.

I could clearly see that DC had a full crop and Beauty had very little so I assumed she ate his leftovers. They were both feaking at this point too.

<Click

DC shook his tail, stretched and strutted his stuff as he took a walk a few feet further away from Beauty. I just love to watch Peregrine’s walk/run!

Beauty continued to wipe her beak off and did a little preening while the boy wonder stood there looking all white and handsome.

<DC>

I left them to it around 8:20am and set out for the Medey Centre mall. I was lucky enough to catch Big Frank(ie) on the glass peak from the south side of the mall.

She looked like she was in hunt with a depleted crop and yet she let many gulls fly right past her without even giving them a look. I guess she wasn’t in the mood for gull-perhaps she had her mind set on an eagle or hawk for breakfast. After all, she does like a big breakfast-she has gull on a regular basis and I’ve seen her eating an adult female Mallard Duck as well.

So I left her to get a cup of coffee and when I got back she was still there-I watched a few more minutes then I packed up my equipment and got ready to leave. When I looked up she was gone and to my right I could see her zeroing in on a Red-tail Hawk over the northwest end of the parking lot. The hawk maneuvered upside down with its talons up ready to defend Frankie’s advances. This action was repeated a few more times until the hawk was quickly and efficiently escorted out of the area and then the big girl returned to the peak. There was no contact between them, just some posturing. WOW! I must say that little display got my blood pumping better than the coffee!

Anyway, I would have liked to stay longer but I had to go do a favor for a friend so I ended my watch at 9am after seeing all 5 resident Rochester Peregrine Falcons with a big fat smile on my face! 🙂

Click on the link below to see today’s snippets

https://youtu.be/0HERmvACV3s

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was overcast with light rain falling for most of my watch and a mild temperature of 37 (F) 3 (C)

It took a while to find a falcon this morning as nobody was at Seneca Towers and when I got downtown I drove around 3 times before I noticed Beauty flying above Xerox.

She hovered up there for a couple minutes then she put on the after burners and flew off into a stoop toward Cornhill to the southwest. Beauty was unsuccessful in her attempt to catch breakfast and ended up over on the top I-beam southeast side of OCSR. I observed her from the hole parking lot.

At 8:13am the Beautyful one spotted something to the south and flew off over the river. She didn’t return and so I went looking for Dot.ca (DC).

When I didn’t find DC I decided to check out the Brighton site. As I pulled into the driveway around 8:30am I spotted a falcon on the northeast extension in on the roof a bit eating. Based on size, I believe it was a female Peregrine.

When she was finished she came out to the corner and revealed her unbanded legs and then she flew northwest.

I left and a few minutes later Larry reported seeing a falcon on the northwest extension. Downtown once again I was unable to find DC but I spotted Beauty on the northeast cube of the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT). I watched her for a few minutes from the Hochstein School of Music parking lot at Church and Fitzhugh St.

I left after 9am to check the Medley Centre. I didn’t find a falcon but I did spot a big, beautiful Red-tailed Hawk (RTH) on a light pole at the west end of the mall in hunt mode.

<Click

She took off around 8:25am and flew east and didn’t return.

It was time to go home and when I pulled over on East Ridge Rd. I saw a  large bump of a falcon on a transformer at the northwest corner of Seneca Towers with her back to me.

I took a shot of her and then I drove around to Seth Green Drive where I could see the front of Billie. She was looking to and fro, obviously in hunt mode.

I shared space with Buffalo Billie, albeit long distance, until 10am. I ended my watch smiling after an all female watch! 🙂

Click on the links below to see today’s videos

https://youtu.be/-HCgteoRVYM

https://youtu.be/-jIZlef7WRg

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Sunshine and temps in the 40’s (F).  It was a very nice afternoon.

I’ve started to check out the west end of Kodak Park again.  This is a location where we usually see some Peregrine activity during the winter.  So far, I’ve only seen the local Red-tailed Hawks.  Today was no exception.  There was one Red-tailed Hawk near the west end of the complex.

My next stop was the Rochester Airport.  A Snowy Owl had been spotted there recently, so I wanted to see if I could find it.  Sorry to say, I had no luck.

At the Brighton Site (BS), I found a Merlin (at first I reported it as a Kestrel) hunting off of an antenna on the south side of the building.  It stooped towards the wooded area on the south side.  The first time it returned to the antenna.  After the 2nd stoop, it did not return.  I hoped that it had a successful hunt.

Larry O tweeted a reminder that he had seen a Peregrine Falcon at BS yesterday.  Today, I had no luck finding her.

I headed downtown to find Beauty and Dot.ca.  From the front of the Raddison, I found both Beauty and Dot.ca on the OCSR. Beauty was in the elevator shaft on the south side ledge.  Dot.ca was on the north side top Ibeam at the north corner.

I found a spot to park my car, where I could watch both of them.  Dot.ca was attentively watching all of the activity on the river below him.  It was like watching a cat ready to pounce.  lol

Beauty flew out of the elevator shaft and landed just to his left on the top Ibeam.

I thought that Dot.ca had flown from the building, but he popped up now and then at the north corner.  From the Andrews St Bridge, I was able to get a better view of him.

I remained for a little over an hour.  During the time I was on watch, it was very peaceful and quiet.

My next stop was Medley Ctr where I did not find any falcons.  I slowly drove around the area looking for prey remains.  I couldn’t find any.  There was a lot of Ring-billed Gull activity and a few pigeons and crows.

Seneca Towers was my last visit.  From Maplewood Park, which is across the river to the north, I was able to see both Bille and Seth on the north end window ledge.  The first picture below shows my view from Maplewood Park.

I was happy to end my watch after seeing Beauty, Dot.ca, Billie and Seth at their nest sites and that all was quiet.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was overcast with a chilly breeze and a temperature of 26 (F) -3 (C)

I started my watch with Seth, who was in his usual spot on the north window ledge of Seneca Towers. I was in my usual spot on East Ridge Rd. where I can see the north and east sides of the building. Seth was intent on looking at something to the northwest near the Veteran’s Memorial Bridge.

I left him after 10 minutes or so and headed downtown. I found Beauty on the top I-beam southeast side of OCSR and she appeared to be in hunt mode looking every which way.

At exactly 8am she spotted something upriver and took off to the south going into a stoop just before I lost sight of her.

The Beautyful one did not return and so I went in search of Dot.ca (DC). I didn’t go far, as I checked the OCSR elevator shaft from Bragdon St. I could just make out the shape of a small falcon tucked way in on the south side ledge. DC turned his head a few times showing the whiteness on the side of his face as I captured a couple pics of him.

The wind was coming out of the south at a pretty good clip as I watched the international flags being blown on the Sister Cities Pedestrian Bridge.

I left DC sometime after 8:30am to see if I could find Beauty but I was unsuccessful in my attempt. I stopped on the Court St. Bridge to check out the mighty Genesee River. It was flowing hard and much of the rocks and shoreline had ice but not like it should have at the end of January. This is one of the warmest winters I can remember. There were a few ducks on the south side and gulls on the north side.

<Click>

From there I headed over to the Medley Centre Mall in Irondequoit where I saw a few pigeons, gulls and crows. No falcon but I was happy to see the regulars there after finding no birds of any kind the last couple of days. I hung out for awhile and then left for home-neither Billie nor Seth were at Seneca Towers when I got there. I ended my watch at 9:30am smiling after a nice little morning watch! 🙂

Click on the link below to watch today’s snippet video

https://youtu.be/2NEPkmlHmv8

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was 23 (F) -5 (C) with wind blown light snow showers and overcast skies

As I pulled into a parking spot out in the visitor’s parking lot of Seneca Towers (ST) on Seth Green Dr. I spotted Billie and Seth on the south window ledge. After tweeting my findings and barely getting my camera rolling, Seth decided to hop off the ledge and fly southeast out of view. He didn’t come back as Buffalo Billie and I anticipated his return.

<Seth is highlighted

I stayed with Billie a few more minutes then left for downtown after checking the perimeter of ST for Seth.

Arriving downtown around 8:15am I spotted Dot.ca (DC) on the top I-beam southeast side of OCSR as I pulled into the Radisson Hotel driveway by Main St. Once again, I barely got set before he flew off and ended up on the 2nd I-beam at the east end of it near the elevator shaft. Little did I know that Beauty was back in out of my view eating.

The Beautyful one quickly came out where I could see her and there was a half hearted bow between the two of them and then she went back to eating. He waited just so long and then moved in to try and take a hunk but Beauty wasn’t having any of that!

Soon after his failed attempt, DC flew off and back up to the top I-beam landing at the south corner and then walking over a couple windows worth. When I looked back at Beauty she was finished eating and doing some feaking so that explained why DC jumped ship.

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Half a minute later Beauty flew off and went east out of view-she didn’t return. I stayed with DC until about 8:30am then I left to look for Beauty. He was napping a bit when I left him.

I was unable to locate Beauty so I moved on to the Medley Centre mall, where to my surprise there was not a bird to be found for the second day in a row. Kind of strange as there are usually gulls flying around at the very least. Larry had reported no falcon at the Brighton site on his way to work but he did see one there later in the day around 4:15pm on the east side by the tree. I ended my watch there at 8:45am after seeing our 2 bonded pair of Rochester Peregrine Falcons, which, as you probably guessed-put a smile on my face! 🙂

Click on the links below to view today’s videos

https://youtu.be/l1mT56L3d78

https://youtu.be/vzEdF9li73A

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

It was a very nice day, with temps in the 40’s (F).  During my watch, it started to lightly rain and the winds picked up.  Some snow is expected overnight.

From in front of the Raddison, I found Beauty on the north side of OCSR on the top IBeam.  Now where was Dot.ca?  Within moments of asking that question, Dot.ca flew in towards the building carrying prey.  He flew directly in front of Beauty and she took off, joining him to fly together in front of the Times Square Bldg and back.  To me it looked like he was making an offering to her.  They both landed on a south side Ibeam, ee-chups filled the air.

Beauty took off and flew back around to the north side, landing on the top Ibeam.  I could see that she had a full crop, so she probably wasn’t hungry.  Dot.ca settled in to plucking and eating.  No sense letting it go to waste.  I believe that I had witnessed a bit of courtship behavior between Beauty and Dot.ca.

I checked for falcons in the other locations, but found none at KP West, Brighton Site (BS), Seneca Towers (ST), Medley Center (MC) and Russell Station.  Although I did not find any other Rochester Falcons, I was very happy to see Beauty and Dot.ca together.