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Archive for April, 2011

Morning watch 4-30-11

Saturday, April 30th, 2011

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Hi folks! I checked the nestbox cams before I left for downtown to find Archer on the eggs. Half an hour or so into my watch I saw a falcon fly into the nestbox. It looked small to me but nobody came flying out so I was puzzled as to whether Beauty had relieved Archer from incubating the eggs or if he had flown out when I wasn’t looking. I texted Donna to solve the mystery. She said Archer had flown in and out.  It’s so helpful to us watchers to have someone keeping track of who is in the nestbox on the cams so we can report accordingly. For all I knew Archer had left while I was commuting downtown from home.

For the next hour plus, I took a couple trips around the city to look for  Beauty with no luck, returning to the Broad St. bridge each time. Donna texted to find out if I’d seen Beauty(she worries ALOT) and I told her I’d drive around again. As they say… 3rd times the charm! I found the Beautyful one on the bottom arm of the Frontier Communications Tower scoping out her territory.

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She took off  heading  in the direction of the Times Square building. On my way over Donna texted that Beauty had switched with Archer on the eggs. I spotted Archer on the heel of Mercury as I drove through the intersection of Broad and Exchange Streets. As soon as I got up on the bridge and parked he stooped straight down the  face of the Thomson Reuters building(river side) on a Starling and they both went back behind it. I don’t know if he caught it but he was very close as they flew out of view. It’s so amazing how fast these birds can turn on the speed. I can never get enough! I waited for him to show up again to no avail. As I drove home to get some breakfast I wondered if he had flown over to the power plant at Kodak Park to visit with Lady Pefa. Dana was on duty over there and if he did she would surely answer my question with a tweet!  🙂

Morning watch 4-29-11

Friday, April 29th, 2011

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Hi all! Well this morning it wasn’t until about 7:00am that I finally spotted Beauty. I drove around in search of her for quite awhile and noticed her on the top ibeam north corner of the Old Changing Scenes Restaurant as I was driving from the Frontier Communications Tower to the Andrews St. bridge.

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She took off and didn’t return so I went to the Broad St. bridge. I wasn’t parked for but a moment when she flew in from the east with a small package in her talons landing on the base of Mercury.

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She plucked out a few feathers ate her lite meal and preened herself before she flew over to the nestbox. She went in and Archer came out flying due north. I waited a few minutes to see where he might show up. After he was a no-show I decided to drive to the power plant at Kodak Park to see if he had gone to visit Lady Pefa the “other woman”.  It took me 11 minutes to get there from the Broad St. bridge. As soon as I got off the phone with security to let them know I was there I saw Lady Pefa first and then Archer flying between the tall still and the still to the left. It appeared Lady Pefa landed on the back of the tall still as I followed Archer fly due south in the direction of downtown Rochester and out of sight. The time of my tweet on my phone was 8:08am. I called Donna a few minutes later to see if Archer showed up on the cams and sure enough at 8:11am he returned to the nestbox and parked himself on the eggs.  He certainly is a quick little guy! We figure he must have brought take out to Lady Pefa cuz he had leftovers on his beak when he returned!  I stayed about half hour after that without seeing Lady Pefa again ending my watch. 🙂

Toronto watch – Quest and Kendal 4/25-26/11

Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Greetings to everyone who follow the Rochester falcons! This report however is about Quest and Kendal in Toronto Ontario Canada. Joyce and I joined CarolP and KathyO at the Harlequin headquarters parking lot on Monday where we met Mark Nash,Tracy,Kathy,Big Frank and a few other members of the Canadian Peregrine Foundation. My apologies for not remembering everyones names. Immediately we were treated to a view of Kendal plucking prey on the corner of a rooftop.

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Before entering the building we were given instructions by Mark to speak in hushed voices when we got to the viewing room for it was next to the vice presidents office and after all it was a work day. When we got off the elevator on the 9th floor their was a receptionist there to greet us and show us to the viewing room. There was a mirrored wall behind her desk to the left and straight ahead was a mural of all the published books for the month of April. On the wall just outside the viewing room was a sign informing people this was the falcon room.

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It was standing room only as everyone went to the windows to see Quest on her eggs in the nestbox. There was a large glass bowl full of money on the desk for donations to help CPF pay for the nest tray and other work they do. Harlequin said they would match all monies collected. There was a scope set up behind the desk pointed right at our transmitter girl Quest. KathyO was so touched to see her that she cried tears of joy. I must admit it put a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye as well. Our wandering falcon had finally found a home of her own after almost 3 years of searching .

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The cameras were off and clicking! Tracy and Mark had plenty of stories to tell us, some of which were posted by Big Frank on the CPF website. These Canadians love their birds and are VERY dedicated to them to say the least. We share their passion and devotion as well. There were Harlequin employees stopping in every few minutes to take a look in the scope and ask us questions quite enthusiastically about Quest and Kendal and peregrines in general. We watchers soo like to act as ambassadors to these magnificent birds whenever someone acts interested. There was a rack of romance novels in the viewing room that we were told we could take if we wanted.  Carol,Kathy and Joyce were only to happy to make a few selections. While the four of us went to lunch Mark went to the presidents room and got a clear shot of the nestbox as Quest and Kendal were standing on either side of their eggs. This is his pic which I took a pic of off his camera screen with my camera as I was the first one back to the viewing room.

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Joyce came in next and I said look at the great pic I got and she was flabbergasted at how clear and bright it was. You see the windows in the viewing room are smoked and the presidents are not so we all got a big chuckle over that one. I did ask Marks permission to post his pic in my report.

We were informed there was an intruding falcon that Quest and Kendal went after with Kendal returning to the nestbox and Quest escorting it out of the area before returning. We also saw Kendal go after a goose and shortly after that 2 of them landed on the roof of the building the nestbox was on. Surprisingly he didn’t go after them.

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Kendal is quite the provider for he was seen alot of the time we were there either bringing in prey, cleaning prey, caching prey or guarding it. Quest and their young will undoubtedly be well fed. Here’s a link to a video of him on the same corner as the geese were on plucking feathers from a Northern Flicker.                http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5mBCb1CL_0

The day flew by as it was 5:00pm and quitting time for the Harlequin folks. We said our goodbyes to the CPF gang and Harlequin people and thanked them all for their hospitality. CarolP and KathyO had to return to Rochester as they had to go to work the next day. Harlequin told us we were more than welcome to come back to view Quest and Kendal as Joyce and I stayed over for another day of falcon watching. We stayed at the Weston hotel right around the corner. After checking in we took a ride to downtown Toronto to see if we could find Rhea Mae or Tiago but unfortunately after having some difficulty finding the Sheraton it was dark and raining quite hard. So we rode around taking in the night life and lights of Toronto.

On Tuesday we arrived at Harlequin to have  the viewing room all to ourselves. On this day we met Donna Hayes, CEO of Harlequin Enterprises who came in several times throughout the day to check on Quest and Kendal as did many other employees. Everyone there is really into it watching the falcons and very friendly. We finally got to see Quest fly in between and around the 2 buildings landing on a building kiddie corner from where we were watching to the right of us. I watched from inside while Joyce was outside watching at the time.

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We ended our watch at 3:00pm because we wanted to check out the Burlington bridge falcons on our way home. Unfortunately it was so foggy and raining so hard we could not see any falcons but we did come across a couple small islands along the shore of Lake Ontario that were packed with cormorants and gulls. Onward we trudged and as we approached St. Catherines the fog lifted and the sun came out. Such is the luck of a falcon watcher. Joyce decided we would stop at Niagara Falls as it was still light out.

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I will end my report by saying thank you to the members of CPF, the staff at Harlequin and my friend Joyce for making it possible for me to see Quest and Kendal in their Canadian home. May they live long and have lots of chicks in the future. I know they are being looked out for by ALOT of caring folks! Here’s the link to pics of my stay in Canada. Enjoy, I know I did!!!  🙂

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=782797122213%3A1921471000&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharer

Easter watch

Sunday, April 24th, 2011

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Happy Easter and I hope everyone has a blessed day!

I’m not sure what time I arrived downtown but Donna reported Archer leaving the nestbox at 6:30am. I missed it while I was putting peanuts and bird seed along the cement below the railing on the Broad St. bridge.  It was a lack luster morning watch for me falcon speaking but I did have some crows and starlings come along to grab up the goodies I left.

It wasn’t until about 8:00am almost 2 hours after I arrived that I saw Beauty fly to Mercury and land on the outstretched money bag hand. She preened, looked around for less than a minute and then flew over to the nestbox and entered it to resume egg sitting duties.

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I had to leave at this point for a breakfast date with one of my nephews. I never did see Archer.

After breakfast Sue and I stopped by Kodak where we found Dana and Lady Pefa hanging out with each other. Lady Pefa was on the tall still second railing down on the west (left) side.

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We stayed only a few minutes and headed out. Below is a link to pics from today. Enjoy!  🙂

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=774043912213%3A1592132975&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharer

Morning watch 4-22-11

Friday, April 22nd, 2011

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Let me begin my report by saying Happy Earth Day to everyone around the world who follows our Rochester Peregrine falcons! Before I left home I checked to see that Beauty was on the eggs. I arrived about 5:55am on the Broad St. bridge. After a quick drive over to the east side to look for Archer I returned and waited with the Beautyful one for him to show up. Finally around 6:35am Archer flew in from behind me and landed on the heel of Mercury.

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He flew off when I wasn’t looking and I saw him with prey on the base of Mercury but he didn’t eat any, instead  he flew to the nestbox and relieved Beauty from her egg warming duties. Beauty flew out over the river and then back behind the Old Changing Scenes Restaurant. I thought she was going to the Frontier Communications Tower so I took off down to Exchange St. and as I turned the corner I spotted her flying straight down ExchangeSt. I followed her through the intersection at Main St. where Exchange changes to State St.(thankfully the traffic lights were working with me)It was the coolest thing to have her in my sights in between the buildings while driving after her. I lost her behind buildings when she veered left near Church St. Sure enough when I got to the City Hall parking lot and looked in my binocs there she was big as life on the north side of the Frontier Communications tower under the platform.

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Half hour later Beauty flew from the tower headed toward the river so I took off  to find out where she went. I got to the Broad St. bridge just in time to see her land on the base of Mercury and eat a little of the cached food Archer had left there earlier.

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After a minute or so Beauty was off again headed toward FCT with her small morsel of food in talons. Once again I took off to follow her to the Frontier Communications Tower. I found her in the same spot as before only this time she was finishing up her breakfast. She then flew up to the platform railing on the north side of FCT and preened  herself for an hour or so.

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I just love how she almost always has her back to me. I swear I’d know that back anywhere! Beauty took off very fast in the direction of the Times Square building and so I did too! I arrived on the bridge to see 2 falcons flying above Midtown headed toward me. I didn’t know at the time it was Archer with Beauty. I thought perhaps it was an intruder. They flew over the river and the  Thomson Reuters building where I followed Beauty to the nestbox and lost track of Archer. I called Donna to see when Archer left the nestbox so I could figure out if it was him or another falcon flying with the Beautyful one. My thoughts on what happened was that there may very well have been a hawk or something in the area and Beauty took off after it with Archer joining her to escort it out of their territory. In any case all was quiet when I ended my watch with Beauty on the eggs and Archer headed to parts unknown. Have a great day everyone!  🙂

Morning/afternoon watch 4-21-11

Thursday, April 21st, 2011

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Friend and fellow watcher Lynda picked me up for a falcon watch this morning. We went directly downtown to see what we could see. Upon our arrival on the Broad St. bridge I spotted Archer just taking off from the top ibeam southeast side of the OCSR building. We jumped out of the car and watched him fly due east. When he didn’t come back we took a ride over by HSBC with no luck. I suggested that maybe he went over to KP and so we headed there next. This was Lyndas first introduction to Lady Pefa and she wasn’t disappointed. I found her on the tall still second railing down.

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She soon flew off of there and headed southeast over Mt. Read Blvd. to Ridgeway and back around coming close to flying overhead landing on the still to the east(right) of the tall still. Now mind you Lynda is a very excitable gal and so she was elated to see Lady Pefa fly so close. We had to hug and jump up and down in a happy dance! We stayed there awhile discussing an upcoming trip to Toronto on Monday with Joyce to see Quest. She will be joining us hopefully, along with CarolP and KathyO and possibly Dana.

It was close to lunchtime so we decided to head back downtown in search of falcons on our way to the Highland diner. We saw Beauty fly up to the nestbox and enter it. We left for lunch and returned afterwards to see no more falcons before we ended our watch.  While at KP I took a short video of Lady Pefa which was totally luck that I got her because I could not see her in the camera screen because of the sun shining on it! 🙂

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VK9zgBx18I

Morning watch 4-19-11

Tuesday, April 19th, 2011

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Hello everyone!

I checked the cameras before I left home this morning to see that Archer was on the eggs. The first half hour of my watch I got skunked! After a quick trip around the east side behind Bausch and Lomb,HSBC and Xerox I drove back to the Broad St. bridge. I parked at the east end north side where I could see the Frontier Communications tower the best and sure enough there was a dark figure on the top arm of the FCT. I drove over to city hall to get a closer look and ID it. There she was… the Beautyful one!

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I stayed with her there up close and personal for awhile and then I went back to the bridge and watched from afar. She flew off the FCT when I wasn’t looking and I next saw her fly in front of the nestbox and over to the base of Mercury. Archer flew out hot on her trail landing first on the opposite side of the base from her and then up to heel of Mercury. They weren’t there for more than a minute or two when Beauty took off flying in my direction over the river, the Convention Center,South Ave. garage,Midtown and back to the west side(the side facing the nestbox at Times Square) of the Bausch and Lomb building. She appeared to have a small morsel of food with her which I think she had while on Mercury as well. She flew from near the south end of the west side of B&L to the northwest corner.

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I lost track of Archer while following Beauty and I assumed he went back to sit on the eggs. Donna confirmed that he had indeed returned to the nestbox to resume his brooding duties. It was time to end my watch and leave them to it! 🙂

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Morning watch 4-18-11

Monday, April 18th, 2011

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

I started the first 30 minutes of my watch waiting for Beauty to appear when I decided to take a ride around in search of…  I found the Beautyful one on the HSBC building southeast corner eating prey.

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It wasn’t long after, that she flew off to the north(right looking at pic) out around to the other side where I lost sight of her.

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I drove back to the Broad St. bridge where I witnessed a crow fly down to and tap 1 of 2 ducks that were flying over the river and then chased them both away from the Rochester Convention Center area. Donna let me know that Beauty and Archer had switched in the nestbox. I then noticed a little white spot over on the OCSR building top ibeam southeast side.

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I drove down to Aqueduct St. for a closer look and spotted the little white feather on his right wing…it was Archer and he was plucking feathers and eating something.

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He flew off over the river then back between the OCSR and Thomson Reuters buildings out of my view. I thought he went to the nestbox because when I looked in that direction I saw a falcon fly up to and over the nestbox but it looked like Beauty to me judging by size. Meanwhile DebbieH had come by so I was a bit distracted and it was time for me to be getting the truck home for Sue. So when I saw a falcon fly to the base of Mercury and land on the side of it that I couldn’t see I decided to leave before I got a look at who it was for sure. Donna said Archer and Beauty switched at 7:42am so Archer would have been in the nestbox and Beauty the one that flew to Mercury. Phew, sometimes it can be quite challenging to keep track of who’s who and what’s what when they fly behind buildings.   🙂

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Morning watch 4-17-11

Sunday, April 17th, 2011

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Hello everyone! This morning I arrived on a windy Broad St. bridge about 6:15am. Donna reported that Archer was in the nestbox sitting on the eggs since 6:15am so I missed the changing of the guard by seconds!

Approximately 8:00am LarryO and his dog Cleo stopped by for a minute to get the scoop. Practically as soon as they left I spotted Beauty. She was flying above the Times Square and Reuters Thomson buildings when she suddenly flew back over the river and stooped on something by the Rochester Convention Center. I lost sight of her momentarily and next thing I knew she was flying above the Rundell Library with another falcon. Up,up,up high into the dark clouds that were moving in. I lost sight again and when they came out of the clouds they were on the east side flying above the Geva Theater and Washington Square Park area. My next sighting was of Beauty circling above me and flying straight up Broad St. eastbound to Midtown and out of sight. After a few minutes she reappeared flying over the river and landing on the top ibeam south side of the OCSR building.

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I drove down to Aqueduct St. for a closer look of Beauty and saw that she was nibbling on something small(cached food I thought to myself) for just a few minutes. I decided to end my watch and of course after I left she and Archer changed off on egg sitting duties. Such is the way of a falcon watcher! 🙂

Morning watch 4-15-11

Friday, April 15th, 2011

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

My last report started with me feeling bad for Beauty watching and waiting for Archer from the Frontier Communications Tower. This morning I find myself feeling the same way for Lady Pefa at Kodak Park. When I first spotted her she was on the tall still railing facing and looking toward downtown.

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Archer had undoubtedly just left her for I had come to KP looking for him as he was not anywhere downtown that I could see. I had arrived on the Broad St. bridge about 6:15am and after an hour of seeing no falcons decided to check out Kodak Park for Archer and Lady Pefa. Upon my arrival there Donna texted to me that he had indeed showed up at the nestbox on the Times Square building right after I left the downtown area. He is a sneaky little guy that Archer.

From the still Lady Pefa flew to the southwest corner of the blue building and sat awhile.

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Lady Pefa flew back to the still and as she landed on the railing I caught a glimpse of a male Kestral which landed on the chain link fence in front of me. He soon took off as I was trying to line my camera up in my scope for a pic.  Shortly afterwards LP stooped off the still and I failed to see her come back up so I waited. She suddenly appeared on the corner of the blue building again. Her next move was to the ibeam in front of the pigeon poop hole(possible nest/scrape site) for a couple minutes and then back to the tall still.

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I had to leave for a doctor appointment at this point but when I was done I headed back downtown. I decided to stop on the Andrews St. bridge for a change and it turned out to be a good call for as soon as I got my binocs to my eyes I spotted a falcon flying between the OCSR and Crossroads buildings. It was Archer and he flew to the west corner of the OCSR top ibeam where Beauty was waiting for him. They mated and both flew off around to the south side of OCSR where I couldn’t see them.

I then drove to Aqueduct St. where I found Archer on the top ibeam near the west corner of OCSR. Donna texted to me that Beauty had flown back to the nestbox. After a few minutes Archer flew to the south corner top ibeam of OCSR and that is where I left them as I ended my watch.  🙂

Here’s a link to more pics from my morning watch:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=433958312213%3A794327277&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharee


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