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Archive for September, 2011

Morning watch 9-30-11

Friday, September 30th, 2011

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

As I was approaching the Broad St. bridge this morning I got a text from Donna that Beauty was at the nestbox. I did my u-turn so I was facing the Times Square building and couldn’t see her. Donna said she left so I focused my trusty binocs on the FCT off in the distance to see the shape of a falcon on the top arm east side. I drove over to city hall and could verify that it was Archer.

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About 10 minutes later Archer flew off heading north he snuck back and landed on the west side top arm of the FCT.

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15 minutes later Archer flew to the south and I thought he might be going to meet Beauty at the scrape for I got a text from Donna that Beauty was there. So I drove over to the Broad St. bridge but by the time I got there she was gone and Archer wasn’t around either. For the next 20 minutes or so I searched for our downtown duo and finally while parked on the Andrews St. bridge I spotted a falcon on the east (river)side of the cupola over on the KO tower. I sped over to Mill St. and managed to get 2 pics of Archer before he flew off to the north out of sight.

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I thought he might be going to see Unity at KP at  the time. I drove around the city for nearly an hour and during this time I stopped on the Broad St. bridge to take pics of  a juvenile and adult Great Blue Heron fishing down in the river.

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I then proceeded to the Court St. bridge where I spotted Mr. Archer under the southeast wing of the Times Square building. I went over to Aqueduct St. and snapped off a couple rounds of him before he took off.

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At this time my trusty assistant Donna texted me that both Beauty and Archer had been at the nestbox and I missed it! Imagine that! lol Finally after eluding me I spotted the Beautyful one up on the base of Mercury.

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With the sun behind her I decided to leave Aqueduct St. and go up on the Broad St. bridge where I could get a front shot with the sun behind me. Well she was barely peeking out at me and then she was gone!

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Vanished off the back of Mercury and that was the last glimpse of either one of our resident falcons for this watch. I made a video of Archer when he was over on the FCT of which I will include the link to it at the bottom of this report. Enjoy the day and flash those pearly whites with a smile!  🙂

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl_c8t5QI6U

Morning watch 9-29-11

Thursday, September 29th, 2011

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

On a very dark gloomy morning I found the Beautyful one and suddenly the day got brighter! She was on the northeast corner of  HSBC. As I drove to a spot where I could check the north side of the building for Archer she took off. When I next looked Beauty was on the northwest corner and Archer was right above her on the railing.

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Archer soon hopped down onto the roof and it looked like he was eating. I drove to another location for a better view and when I stopped to look Archer was gone and Beauty left almost as soon as I got there. She headed toward the river so I thought perhaps they had gone to Times Square to bond at the nestbox. They did not and it would be half hour before I spotted Archer peeking out from high atop the Xerox tower on the column at the northwest corner.

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He left after 10 minutes and I missed it! As I set out to look for Beauty and Archer on the east side I got a text from Donna that Beauty was next to the main cam “yakking”. I went  to the Broad St. bridge but couldn’t see Beauty or Archer anywhere so I drove down to Aqueduct St. where I found Beauty on Widows Walk east side with her back to me.

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I was parked in the alley next to the Wilder building when Beauty flew off around the back of the Times Square building out of my field of vision momentarily. She suddenly appeared  flying through between the Times Square  and Democrat and Chronicle buildings in my direction going over the parking lot and Wilder building disappearing above me. I didn’t see her but she came back and landed next on the column ledge 1 level above the nestbox.

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She kept looking around as she preened a bit shaking off the light rain that had begun to fall. Occasionally I could hear her whine so I got the impression Archer was somewhere near that she could see him but I could not.

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I ended my watch satisfied that I had seen our downtown dynamic duo. Enjoy the day and smile much!  🙂

Link for a video of the Beautyful one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQwGWPI7FjM

Morning watch 9-28-11

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Let’s see, on my last watch Beauty was very active and this morning was more of the same. Since Archer has not been seen in a couple days and Beauty seems restless I’m thinking he has left the area. Perhaps on a short trip or winter migration and she is looking for him. This is just my opinion.

Now for my report. It took awhile on this dark and humid morning but I finally spotted a falcon on the FCT top arm south side from the Broad St. bridge. I drove over to city hall just in time to check it out and determine that it was the Beautyful one before she flew off.

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I followed her with my binocs as she flew over to the Kodak Office tower and landed on the launchpad. I waited a couple minutes to see if she would fly off and when she didn’t I headed over there. Unfortunately she left while I was in transit and it would be nearly an hour before I caught up with her again. I parked on the Broad St. bridge to see what was happening down in the river and I found the juvie Black-crowned Night Heron fishing and then it flew up to a tree right in front of me.

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After that I spotted Beauty on the 2nd arm of the FCT. She stayed just long enough for a few pics and then she was off again.

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20 minutes later I could barely make out the shape of a falcon over on the jail tower and just as I pulled up and took a look through my binocs Beauty flew off and headed north. I backed the truck up and pulled out onto Plymouth Ave, where I was able to watch her fly over to the FCT and circle above it before flying off to the east and of my field of vision. I decided to leave at this point but as I was stopped at a traffic light I spotted her up on the platform of FCT and naturally I had to investigate. I found a spot where I could get a shot  of her and then I ended my watch.

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Have a super day everyone and don’t forget to smile often! 🙂

Morning watch 9-26-11

Monday, September 26th, 2011

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

I have one word to describe the Beautyful one this morning…BUSY! I first found her in the semi-darkness next to the main cam.

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Less than 5 minutes later she was gone. I just happened to spot her flying across in front of the Times Square building when I was checking the nestbox area with my binocs. She flew down Exchange St. heading south and then I lost her behind the Blue Cross Arena. I thought she might have gone to the jail tower since that was the general direction she was headed and so I drove up to a spot on the Broad St. bridge where I could see it. Sure enough there was the bump of a falcon on the north side and just as I put the truck in gear to head over there it was off and flying toward me. Over the river and past me flying due east. I could tell it was Beauty by the size and so I drove to HSBC where I found her on the northwest corner.

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She flew off almost as soon as I found her going to the west toward the river.  Back to the bridge I went spotting her next on the top ibeam west corner of the OCSR building.

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The Beautyful one stayed there for half hour and let me catch my breath. Suddenly she dropped off the back of the building.

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5 minutes later she returned to OCSR same spot. 5 minutes after that she flew off again flying across directly in front of me above the parking lot by Aqueduct St. where I was parked and behind the Times Square building out of view.

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Beauty flew back to the same spot on OCSR once again staying put this time for about 10 minutes before she was off again around 8:00am only to return 5 minutes later to OCSR where I observed her for the remainder of my watch.

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Some 25 minutes or so later I said goodbye and headed home. Beauty did very little preening this morning she was either looking around for prey or maybe flying off to protect her territory or looking for Archer. Perhaps a little of all three but she was a girl on the move and kept this watcher BUSY! I won’t be doing an early morning watch tomorrow as I have an 8:00am pre-test appointment for the first of my upcoming knee replacement surgeries. I have included a link at the end of my report for an album of Unity from last night at KP with Joyce,Brian and CarolP. Enjoy and keep smiling! 🙂

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=590699223213%3A342461436&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=Share-_-Personal-_-Email-_-Sharer-_-Top

Morning watch 9-25-11

Sunday, September 25th, 2011

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Well apparently as I drove through looking for the dynamic duo they were in the nestbox bonding and I didn’t even know it. Nothing new! Even when it’s light out I can’t see Beauty and Archer when they are deep in the nestbox. I drove to the east side after failing to spot them and checked Xerox and HSBC. Upon my return to the Broad St. bridge some 5 minutes after they were caught on camera in the scrape I found Beauty on the 2nd ibeam west corner of the OCSR building. I went down to Aqueduct St. for closer viewing.

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It looked to me like she had a full crop. She flew off after about 15 minutes  behind the Times Square building.

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I had a feeling she was headed to the jail tower. On my way over to Troup St. I saw her on  on the 2nd arm west side.

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The sun was shining on the Beautyful one nicely and I couldn’t resist taking a pic of it!

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She left the jail tower when I was taking the pic of the sun and I had no idea what direction she was headed so I went back to Broad St. Now as I read my tweets I see I made an error posting that she was on HSBC. (bad week for me with mistakes) Beauty was in fact on the OCSR building top ibeam at the west corner.

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Beauty stayed there for a half hour before dropping off the back side of the building in a stoop. I lost sight of her as soon as she stepped off the building. I spotted her flying to and landing next to the main cam echupping. I thought maybe Archer was up there, then she went into the scrape.

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Beauty quickly left according to my trusty assistant Donna manning the cams for me. I left and found both Beauty and Archer over on the FCT east side. She on the bottom arm and he on the top arm.

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This is where I left our downtown Rochester pair ending my watch. I made an album of the day for your viewing pleasure and the link is at the bottom of this report. Enjoy the day and smile once in awhile!  🙂

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=553154223213%3A2052020604&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=Share-_-Personal-_-Email-_-Sharer-_-Top

Morning watch 9-24-11

Saturday, September 24th, 2011

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Sorry to say I don’t have much of a falcon watch to report about this morning. I found Archer on the top ibeam of the OCSR building near the north corner. I first spotted him from the Andrews St. bridge but the distance prevented me from ID’ing him so I drove over to Bragdon St. next to the Radisson Hotel.

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Isn’t it wild how the lighting and distance changes the pictures. The 1st pic above is from the Andrews St. bridge,the 2nd from Bragdon St. and the 3rd from the pedestrian bridge. You can’t really see it in any of these pics but I could see the white spot on his wing with both my scope and binocs. I’m sure I’m not mistaken today as I was yesterday.I walked out on the Pedestrian bridge just in time to hear him vocalize and fly away to the northeast and out of view behind buildings. This would be the ONLY falcon sighting for me on this day. A Great Blue Heron passed over so I snapped off a shot of it.

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Apparently Archer met the Beautyful one over at the nestbox and did some bowing before I could get over there as reported to me via text message from Donna after the fact. After driving around our fair city many times with no sightings I parked on the Broad St. bridge thinking someone would show up. I got out and checked the river to find a 2nd year Black-crowned Night Heron or Green Heron (not sure which)and a Great Egret fishing .

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I waited around for awhile, took a couple more trips around the city and decided to call it quits. I wish everyone a good day and flash a little smile! 🙂

PS: I forgot that I’m waiting for a short video to download of the  Heron preening itself, I will add the link to the bottom of this report as soon as it’s done. Sorry my mind is shot lately! lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLoj8JMsGUA

Morning watch 9-23-11

Friday, September 23rd, 2011

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Today marks the start of  fall  here in Rochester my favorite season! I found Beauty on the HSBC building east side and I could see that she was eating on a chunk of red meat.

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She finished it off and flew to the west toward the river. On my way over to the Broad St. bridge I looked at the Times Square building at each red light and could see the Beautyful one flying above it. When I arrived and pulled over I saw her fly to and land at the nestbox area. Next I spotted Archer fly in from the south and then they went into the scrape for some bonding. I saw Archer fly out when they were done and fly over to the OCSR building landing on the top ibeam at the west corner. So I drove down to Aqueduct St. for a closer view.

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Archer didn’t stay there for long and then he was off flying toward the FCT. I never saw Beauty again after she went into the scrape with Archer. I went over to Fitzhugh St. parking in front of the sister cities parking gargage first and then moving up to in front of city hall. Archer was on the 2nd arm east side of the FCT.

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I watched Archer for more than an hour look around his surroundings and preen himself. Close to the end of my watch he moved in closer to the middle of the tower before leaving.

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Of course I missed him flying off being distracted by people on the sidewalk but I certainly enjoyed sharing space with Archer. At the bottom of this report are the links for a video of Archer and a photo album with more pics from my watch. Enjoy and keep smiling!  🙂

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=951053123213%3A173870401&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=Share-_-Personal-_-Email-_-Sharee-_-Top

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIglv4XPt1o

Morning watch 9-22-11

Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

It’ was another dreary overcast morning in Rochester and the best cure for that is watching falcons! I found both Beauty and Archer on the HSBC building and in the darkness there was no way of telling who was who. After I tweeted it out  and  looked back up there they were gone. Thinking they went to the nestbox I drove over to the Broad St. bridge and parked. I couldn’t see any figures near the nestbox or on the Times Square building,no bumps on the FCT or jail tower. Nobody on Mercury but as I kept panning I did spot a falcon on the top ibeam south corner of the OCSR building. I couldn’t ID it from where I was for I was too far away and it was still rather dark out so I drove down to Aqueduct St. for closer viewing.

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I still couldn’t be sure but it looked like Archer to me and seconds later it flew off and then I saw 2 falcons flying off to the northwest. Heading in the general direction of FCT I drove to Fitzhugh St. and spotted Beauty immediately on her favorite perching spot on the FCT.

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She spent alot of her time looking around the area. I thought perhaps she was looking for Archer since he was nowhere to be found. I believe he probably went over to KP. The Beautyful one did some preening and picking at her feathers as it started to rain lightly.

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I moved to the city hall parking lot to view Beauty and had a gentleman stop and ask if I was watching the hawks. I chuckled to myself and said no I’m watching a Peregrine Falcon. He said yes of course, they are phenomenal!  I work nights at city hall and I see them all the time and again he said they are phenomenal! I said they certainly are and that’s why I get up every morning to come downtown and watch them. He said sorry to disturb you and I said no problem handed him a rfalconcam business card and away he went after thanking me.

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It had stopped raining and the sun was trying to peek through the clouds as I left Beauty to go home. Another falcon watch in the books sent me on my way with a smile on my face and I hope all of you that read my report are smiling too! 🙂

.

Morning watch 9-21-11

Wednesday, September 21st, 2011

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Driving straight through to the east side after seeing no falcons near the Times Square area I spotted who I believe was Beauty on the southwest corner of HSBC. At 6:30am it is still a bit dark out these days and so I didn’t bother to take any pics of her. I drove around to check each side for Archer with no luck. When I got back to a spot to view  Beauty she was gone so I drove immediately to the Broad St. bridge thinking she had seen Archer and headed to the nestbox for their bonding time. Sure enough I could see a falcon up next to the main cam. It was the Beautyful one!

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I couldn’t tell if Archer was in the scrape and Beauty had disappeared while I moved the truck closer . I texted my trusty assistant Donna to ask if Beauty was in the nestbox and she let me know that she was not. I then drove down to Aqueduct St. and found Archer on the base of Mercury.

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Archer was  watching  some Starlings down in Aqueduct park in one of the trees very intently. He was definitely in hunt mode! H e took a little time out for preening but mostly he was watching for the right moment to strike.

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For the next hour I shared space with Archer while he looked around for a suitable breakfast. I thought it strange that  he never went over to join Beauty in the scrape for some bowing. That probably explains why she left and I never saw her again. I had the camera fixed on Archer the whole time waiting to get a takeoff shot but he never went after anything. He spread his wings one time then pooped and I thought he might go but just settled back down into observing his surroundings.

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I had to leave earlier than usual for an appointment but I was happy to have spent some time with Archer as he had eluded me the last couple days. The sun is shining on us in the fair city today so I shall be smiling and I hope you will too! 🙂

Morning watch 9-20-11

Tuesday, September 20th, 2011

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Oh my what a dark, dreary morning in Rochester! Add some fog and misty rain to the mix and it makes for some difficulty locating our fabulous falcons. But with the help of my good friend Donna at home manning the cameras I was able to find Beauty when she came out of the scrape to perch next to the main cam. Of course sneaky Archer eluded me once again (leaving the scrape without me seeing)but he was up in there bowing to the Beautyful one (as Donna told me)while I sat down on the Broad St. bridge clueless! lol

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So just like yesterday I went Archerless but I did get to spend the rest of my watch with Beauty which is always a good thing. After 5 minutes next to the main cam she flew up to the ledge 1 level higher than the nestbox on the opposite side above where our beloved Jemison first fledged.

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The above pics are taken from below the Wilder building by Aqueduct St. The next pics were taken from Exchange St. in front of the Blue Cross Arena.

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After this she turned around so I went back to Aqueduct St. to finish my watch with a better view. In the next hour Beauty looked around quite a bit and seemed to be in hunting mode for there was no preening involved. At one point she was trying to bring up a pellet and I took a video at the tail end of it (link at the bottom of this report). As she spread her wings to leave the ledge I snapped off a pic and then she dropped out of sight behind the Times Square building.

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I hope everyone has a good day and as always keep smiling!  🙂

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smFhLbIg2M0


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