By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Saturday – 10/25/14

Went on a road trip with Kathy O, Lisa McK and Dana to Syracuse to visit with Pigott and her unbanded and unnamed mate.  On our way we stopped at the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge.  This is one of my favorite spots.  We weren’t disappointed, in fact we were thrilled to see 10 Bald Eagles and a large assortment of ducks we were able to ID with the help of Lisa’s bird book.  Pintail Ducks were a life bird for me.  They are beautiful.  Two juvie Bald Eagles were hanging out together and chatting with each other.  At the Knox-Marcellus Marsh we saw 8 Bald Eagles; 2 flying over the marsh and 6 on the ground, five surrounding one juvie eagle that was mantling food.  There was only one adult in that mix.

We then spent the day at Syracuse, mostly searching for Pigott and her mate.  We saw no falcons until the male came in to hunt at about 5:00 pm.  It was fun watching him as he stooped after birds over the city and landed on different buildings.  As our light was fading, the Crows started to stream into the city, so like Rochester.  Finally, a 2nd falcon zipped through and landed on the Chase sign.  About 15 minutes later, the male also flew to the Chase building.  By this time it was too dark to see them, so no way to positively ID them.  I do believe that it was Pigott coming in after spending the day elsewhere.

During the day, we checked out the whole city, but were unable to find them.  We were all able to finally see two falcons at the end of the day.

Sunday, 10/26/14

I didn’t get downtown until 5:00 pm.  When I was parking on the Broad St Bridge, a falcon flew in from the east, over the river and landed on top of the Mercury statue.  There was a lot of activity on South Ave across between the South Ave Ramp Garage and the Riverside Convention Center.  Lots of police and fire fighters.  I took a few pics and then moved closer.  I was shocked to see a helicopter landed on the street, blade spinning.  It was a mercy flight copter.  When the engine started to crank, I quickly changed to video as the helicopter took off and flew directly over me heading southwest.  Now that wasn’t something I ever saw on my falcon watch!  Joyce later texted me that there had been an EMT convention downtown and that the mercy flight helicopter had landed there on Thursday.

When I looked back at Mercury, the falcon was gone.  From the Radisson Hotel, I could see a falcon up inside the elevator shaft on the south ledge with its back to me.  Sorry to say, I was never able to ID this falcon as Dot.ca or Beauty. I remained downtown until 6:30 pm, when it was too dark to see anything.  Up until that time, no falcon had landed on top of the Xerox building.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Back to gloomy overcast conditions this morning with temperature of 49 (F) 10 (C)

Truth is there isn’t really much to report today as I saw the back of  Dot.Ca for about 10 minutes. He was on the top ibeam of OCSR southeast side.

One of the times I was returning from the east side, I spotted a falcon on the base of Mercury-it appeared to be eating but when I got down to the hole to watch, it was gone. The rest of my 2 hour watch was spent in search of falcons. Nothing seen or heard at Hawkeye or Seneca Towers either before or after my downtown watch. Keep smiling folks! 🙂

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was 51 (F) 11 (C) with sunny conditions once the morning haze burned away

Click on the pics to see the full version

To my delight I was treated to some falcon flying this morning above Seneca Towers! When I started Billie and 99 were on the west railing-soon after Billie flew off looped around the north end of the building and flew down to the south end where she landed on the same antenna she was on the last time these two flew for me. 99 came off the railing and landed below her on the roof then he was off again.

99 landed on the elevator shaft railing for a moment then did some flying for Buffalo Billie and I. When he was done he landed on a wire/cable that was attached to the antenna Billie was perched on at the south end of the building.

99 hung on for a minute or so then did some more showing off for his girl before landing on the west side railing  near the south end. Soon after Billie flew southeast and 99 followed behind her soon there after and they didn’t return.

I left for downtown around 7:50am but I was detained as I came across Billie and 99 at the closed Kodak  Hawkeye plant- I go right past it on St. Paul St. at Driving Park/Avenue A. They were on the railing near the nest box that’s been up there for years and to our knowledge, has never been used.

<Click

I totally think they were checking it out-they both were hatched in a nest box or tray so it would only make sense for them to choose one. For all I know they may have been checking it before today. Oh boy, this story gets more and more interesting as time goes on! Just to give you an idea of how things are laid out-the Driving Park bridge and Genesee River are on the other (west) side of where I am watching.

Billie flew over to a spot on the railing closer to the nest box and then a little after 8am first Billie then 99 flew off to the west out of sight.

<Billie

<Billie <99>

So now I made my way to downtown where I found Beauty under the northeast wing of Times Square (TSB). I parked over by the Blue Cross Arena (BCA) on Exchange Blvd. to get a side view of her since she had her back facing out.

I left to get coffee and when I came back the Beautyful one was gone. I took a ride looking for them and as I got back to the TSB area I spotted Beauty back under the northeast wing so I returned to my spot by the BCA. After a minute or so, I noticed Dot.Ca (DC) on the southeast wing ring high above on the tippy top of the TSB. He was in hunt mode as he stooped 3 times and returned to the wing ring unsuccessfully.

Beauty remained on the northeast wing ledge the whole time until 9:15am when she and DC flew south toward Cornhill.

I had to get going so I ended my watch with a smile at 9:15am after seeing all 4 Rochester Peregrine Falcons!

Click in the links below to see todays videos
http://youtu.be/zW1SsrnZFSw

http://youtu.be/KM7367KHy9c

http://youtu.be/f2sbE_zW_Lc

http://youtu.be/NPo2XVUG928

http://youtu.be/QC9rx83u_jc

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

The day started with a temperature of 48 (F) 9 (C) and it was mostly sunny

Click on my pics to see the full version

There were no falcons seen at Seneca Towers when I left for downtown this morning. After checking the east side for Beauty and Dot.Ca (DC) I spotted him under the northeast wing of the Times Square building (TSB) and Beauty on the top ibeam south side of OCSR from the Broad St. bridge (BSB). I drove down to the hole to get closer but Beauty left while I was in transit, so I got situated over on Basin St. by the Wilder building to watch DC. At first he was feaking which led me to believe he had eaten.

I started taping him when Beauty flew up and landed next to him-he immediately went to the back of the ledge then flew over to the southeast wing ledge.

While I was watching Beauty around 8am she flew northeast and when I looked over to DC he was gone too. A couple minutes later as I was just about to leave I noticed the Beautyful one over on one of the fake chimneys of Irving Place (the building Widows Walk is on. She was plucking flowers and began eating prey-I thought she must have caught something when she flew off TSB but she finished pretty quick so I believe she had cached food.

I drove over to the alley, also named Irving Place, to get as close as I could to Beauty.

Beauty took off at 8:10am flying northeast once again-I heard vocalization coming from somewhere and saw a falcon shadow on the Wilder building so I drove over to the hole to have a look around.

A few minutes later Beauty showed up under the southeast wing of TSB. She had her back facing out so I parked on Exchange Blvd. nest to the Blue Cross Arena to get a side view.

I left to look for DC to no avail, stopping on the Court St. bridge to check out the river life below. The usual gathering of ducks and gulls enjoying the sunshine that has been missing for a few days.

Back to my spot to watch Beauty who was looking especially lovely in the morning sun.

I stayed with her until about 9:10am when she started dozing. I checked for DC one more time before leaving downtown but didn’t find him.

When I got to Seneca Towers there were no falcons to be seen as I checked every side of the building. I took a pic of the east side from the Northwest Church property before heading home.

I closed another falcon watch smiling for not only seeing Beauty and DC but because the sun was shining down on me! 🙂

Click on the links below to see todays videos
http://youtu.be/8BvK-snywLQ
http://youtu.be/4KmQhqFwzD0
http://youtu.be/rERhmMRJWM0

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

My only complaint about morning watches is this time of year there isn’t  much sun and today was no exception. Overcast, dark conditions prevailed with a temperature of 46 (F) 8 (C)

Click on the pics to see the full version

So yesterday I had 3 falcons at Seneca Towers and today-nada! Neither before nor after  going downtown did I see a falcon here. I’m sure they’re all out playing! 😉

My downtown watch today consisted of  Dot.Ca (DC) eating on the OCSR building. I spotted him on the southeast side 2nd ibeam down from the Broad St. Bridge. I went down to the hole-parking on Bank Place where it meets Aqueduct St. This was the closest I could get today.

DC was on the move as he ate turning several times and when he finished eating he did a lot of feaking as he started to walk toward the south corner. He would take a few steps then feak, take a few more steps then feak-he did have a feather stuck to his cere as well. Around 8:30am I was about to tweet that DC had finished his meal and ws sporting a full crop when I got a tweet from Pat, who works in the Thomson Reuters building, saying she saw a falcon near the southwest corner. Thanks to her I was able to report that it was Beauty-she had her back to me.

I stayed in the hole for a bit longer and when it seemed that DC was going to remain on his ibeam I decided to drive over to State St. across from the Rochester Plaza Hotel where I could see the front of the Beautyful one and share space with her before heading home. She was snoozing on and off with a depleted crop, so I knew she hadn’t eaten yet. Perhaps DC shared his leftovers with her after I left.

<DC>

<Beauty

I left downtown and when I got home to Seneca Towers and didn’t find any falcons at home after checking all 4 sides of the building I called it a watch at 9:40am. Thanks for putting a smile on my face Beauty and DC! 🙂

Click on the links below to see todays videos
http://youtu.be/p2xgvDwuzp4

http://youtu.be/DGrIaWTJtKs

http://youtu.be/_aXc6TvBeWA

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P. (6:00 to 6:45 pm)

My evening watches are getting shorter and shorter.  It gets dark so quickly now.  🙁

Today the falcon activity in and around Rochester picked up, reported by Rochester Falcon Watchers throughout the day.  This morning MAK reported 3 Peregrine Falcons at the ST location.

At 4:00 pm, Dana reported the following, “RS falcon rpt- on my way home from work, I had a falcon in adult plumage on the top of antenna west side of RS? It flew south.”

Between 5 & 6:11 pm, Joyce reported seeing two falcons at ST and one at the Irondequoit Mall.

Joyce’s Tweets:

(5:02 pm) ST: Billie is on the SE corner railing.

(5:17 pm) ST: Billie flew east. Drove around block to follow. No luck, but upon return falcon on ledge above windows on south end of building.

(5:34 pm) Falcon on peak at Irondequoit Mall. Very white chest.

(5:59 pm) Falcon on peak flew west. Returned to ST to find 2. Lots of flying activity by female and tiercel. She had food and he was chasing.

(6:02 pm) Both on west side, She is on antenna and he is on railing.

(6:07 pm) Looks like Billie is preparing food. Tiercel has similar markings to one seen at Medley Center. Just caught small feather south of bldg.

(6:11 pm) Getting dark. Leaving the couple on the west side of ST.

My watch started at 6:00 pm.  As I approached Broad St, I could see a falcon on the west side of the jail communication tower on the 2nd arm down.  From a very busy Broad St Bridge, I could only see this one falcon.  I was losing light quickly, so I drove over to the Xerox Tower, hoping to find a 2nd falcon.  At 6:25, a falcon flew in and landed on the southwest corner of the Xerox Tower.  Ee-chupping vocalization filled the air.  A 2nd falcon had arrived on the south side of Xerox on the 5th column in from the southeast corner.

By this time it was too dark to see if the falcon on the corner was still there and I could just make out the falcon on the 5th column.  There was no way for me to positively ID them as Beauty and Dot.ca, but based on behavior I do believe it was.

I ended my watch at 6:45 pm.  The Rochester Falcon Watchers will definitely be out keeping an eye on things and reporting what we see.  Goodnight everyone!

I’ll leave you with a picture of the Xerox Tower showing where Dot.ca and Beauty were located this evening.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

A chilly 47 (F) 9 (C) degrees with overcast dark conditions

Click on my pics to see the full version

Right off the bat, I had a falcon on the west side railing of Seneca Towers showing its back as I parked in my spot on Seth Green Drive. It flew north after a few minutes and didn’t return. It was banded and I believe it was Billie.

Downtown now at 8am- as I waited at the traffic light at Exchange & Broad St. I spotted Dot.Ca (DC) on the head of the Mercury statue! I pulled over on the south side of the Broad St. bridge (BSB) to watch Mr. Entertainment as he thrust himself up to the money bag after a couple minutes!

I decided to make a u-turn to the north side of the BSB to see the front of him better and before I could complete it DC flew off. I watched him as he was meeting Beauty over the river with prey in her talons. She flew to the Rundell Library, landed on a ledge below the roof line and got right to work on her meal. DC disappeared and I wasn’t able to locate him any where in the vicinity. I returned to the south side of the bridge.

The Beautyful one was facing the other way so I drove over to the Court St. bridge for a better view.A crow flew in around 8:30am squawking at Beauty and landed above her on the roof. It then flew down and landed on the ledge she was on- (I have the crow on video-no pics) The crow walked toward Beauty then thought better of it and flew off-it was squawking the whole time, Beauty didn’t seem too concerned as she went right on eating. She was right below a B on the library-she knows her place! lol

Next, I heard a squabble behind me on the bridge-some gulls and crows were fighting over a piece of paper in the road. Beauty had herself a good,warm meal and when she was done  she walked away from her leftovers and started cleaning up and feaking.

Beauty pooped and went back to feaking and cleaning up and roused-then DC came whizzing in, landing next to the leftovers, grabbed them and started eating.

<Click

DC picked those leftovers clean til nothing was left but feathers and bones. He feaked a bit then he rested a couple minutes and flew off while I was tweeting.

Beauty had turned her back to me and seemed settled so I left her on the library in a food coma. When I stopped in my spot on Seth Green Drive at Seneca Towers I saw 1 falcon on the west side railing near the northwest corner. As I scanned the roof line I was shocked to find 2 more falcons on the top window ledge (22nd floor) at the south end of the building. I wanted to see Billie and 99 again as I hadn’t seen them for a few days but 3 was too much!

I quickly went to the back of my parking lot to get closer to the window birds-I was able to get shots of partial leg bands. Yellow tape on the the corner bird made that one 99 and a black over green band on the other one (plus I recognized her) made that one Billie. So, who was the west side bird and were they all aware of each other because they couldn’t see each other from their locations.

<Click 

Once they were identified I went back out to Seth Green Dr. to try and ID the the west side railing falcon. Billie and 99 flew off the window when I was watching and after a while the railing bird stood up to show that it had no leg bands. I wondered if this could be Veteran (he had no bands) returning-we may never know since he, and I say he because the falcon looked small to me can’t be positively identified with out bands. It flew north out of sight a few minutes later and didn’t return.

I had quite a watch for myself this morning as I spent 4 hours observing 5 Peregrine Falcons, ending it at about 11:30am smiling but hoping no bad battles are occurring with all the falcons in the area! 🙂

Click on the links below to see a photo album and todays videos
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqkAc

http://youtu.be/_RY8isrf3Jg

http://youtu.be/f7Xav_yfjzg

http://youtu.be/XWVSs4M8DlA

http://youtu.be/Sz86Q-COkX4

http://youtu.be/CdPDVVQGoHM

http://youtu.be/x8M-TCdil30

http://youtu.be/c2ROIdeYiCc

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a bit warmer this morning but the clouds were locked in and light rain fell throughout my watch with a starting temperature of  50 (F) 10 (C)

Click on the pics to see the full version

Neither Billie or 99 were around again this morning-I saw Billie a couple days ago but haven’t seen 99 in a few days. I wonder if maybe he migrated  and Billie is spreading her wings. Off to downtown where I didn’t find a falcon until almost 8:30am. In my travels I came across some tents in Washington Square Park which were advocating the homeless and the need for more housing-Thanks Donna for that info!

Parking on Bragdon Place by the Radisson Hotel I peered up thru the rain to barely make out the form of a falcon on the south side ledge of the OCSR elevator shaft. It was Dot.Ca (DC) with his back to the world.

A couple minutes later I spotted Beauty on the 3rd ibeam north corner of OCSR while stopped on the Andrews St. bridge. I drove down to State St. across from the Rochester Plaza Hotel to check her out.

She turned around showing my back so I returned to the east side of the river on Bragdon Place where I could have a front view of the Beautyful one and also keep track of DC in the elevator shaft.

Beauty was looking at something below her on and off and generally seeming to be in hunt mode in between preening and rousing(shaking her feathers).

At 8:43am Beauty flew southeast past the elevator shaft which stirred DC as he stood up,stretched, turned around and flew out and over to the top ibeam north corner of OCSR(got it all on tape). I could have wrote that script!

I looked at his back for a while then went looking for Beauty. I was about to call it quits for the day when I spotted her on the northeast corner of the lower roof on Widows Walk. I pulled over on Exchange Blvd. in front of He’s Chinese to spend  a little time with her.

A bunch of little birds lined the railing above her and a few minutes later 4 courageous pigeons appeared behind Beauty near the northwest corner.

I had been taping all of them, wondering if Beauty would go after them if they flew off and right after I stopped taping I got my answer. All 4 pigeons flew off to the north and Beauty stayed right where she was-interesting. I left her to head home- checking OCSR on my way out of downtown I found DC to still be on the top ibeam north corner. After checking all 4 sides of Seneca Towers when I got there-I saw no falcons. Not liking that but still smiling because I saw our downtown Rochester Peregrine Falcons on this day! 🙂

Click on the links below to view todays videos
http://youtu.be/MlboRqU7T5E

http://youtu.be/5Q7xZsZQqws

http://youtu.be/CSRObC6YI0E

http://youtu.be/Chq3YeWVm4w

http://youtu.be/agemrJYKRrM

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Same weather as yesterday with a starting temperature of 43 (F) 6 (C) mostly overcast with a short showing of the sun

Click on the pics to see the full version

Starting at Seneca Towers the only bird I saw was a brave pigeon on the west side roof. I made my way downtown driving around for a good half hour before spotting Beauty under the northeast wing of the Times Square building. She looked to be eating something at first and when I went down to Basin St. in the hole to observe she started feaking. And, I spotted Dot.Ca (DC) under the northwest wing doing the same thing so it would seem they shared a meal this morning.

DC soon finished cleaning up and at 8:05am flew up to the medal work between the northeast and northwest wings of  Times Square.

It stayed this way for about 15 minutes then Mr. ants in his pants flew off, circled around back past Beauty (she was watching him the whole time over her shoulder) and landed under the northwest wing again.It was at this time the sun shone for a few minutes.

5 minutes later after some feaking and a poop, DC flew off heading northeast in the direction of OCSR.

When he didn’t return I drove over to Exchange Blvd. in front of the Blue Cross Arena so I could see more than the Beautyful one’s back. She had been gaping on and off the whole time she was up there on Times Square. Gaping is the term for when they open their mouth and throw their head back-one theory is that they do this to move food around in their crop and with a full crop and having just eaten this makes perfect sense. If you watch my snippet video from todays watch there are several snippets where she is gaping.

I shared space with Beauty for about 15 minutes then I took off to find DC-after checking all the usual haunts I went to Bragdon Place by the Radisson Hotel to check the south ledge of the OCSR elevator shaft. DC was there in the shadows where I could barely see his white face. It started to rain lightly and just as I began to video tape him he came out to spread his wings and settle down on the ledge edge with his back to me.

I decided to head out at this time and go home to Seneca Towers-there was no sign of Billie or 99 once again. I ended my watch at 9:30am with a smile as I always do because I’m lucky enough to see our falcons every day! 🙂

Click on the links below to see todays videos
http://youtu.be/UXLFT1M5EFw

http://youtu.be/dADp44m3O8M

http://youtu.be/YCYUDXH3q7s

http://youtu.be/3rXVSxKKLMQ

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P. (5:00 t0 6:00 pm)

Arrived downtown a little before 5:00 pm.  I found Dot.ca on the Wilder Bldg green stripe and Beauty on the Times Square Bldg (TSB) southeast wing ledge.

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At 5:40 pm, Dot.ca spread his wings and took off heading southeast over the river.  Seconds later, Beauty followed.  Neither of them vocalized.

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Beauty returned to the southeast wing ledge on the TSB.  I went out looking for Dot.ca, but could not find him.  At 6:00 pm, I ended my watch.

During my watch, fellow falcon watcher Dana had tweeted the following:  “RS falcon rpt- juvie falcon eating on east side stack center catwalk north side.”

On my way home I checked out Hawkeye, Seneca Towers and the KP Research Labs.  No falcons seen at any of those locations.

I arrived at Russell Station just in time to see the juvie falcon take off from the center catwalk of the east stack.  She flew west and then turned back, landing on the north side of the west stack top catwalk.  It was too dark to get any pictures.

It was much colder today than it has been, with temps in the 40’s (F).  Have a nice evening everyone!