Falcon Watch Weekend – 10/29 & 10/30/11
Monday, October 31st, 2011From Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.
I was out Falcon Watching most this past weekend. You’ll see some familiar Falcons and not so familiar Falcons. No sign on needed. Enjoy!
Archive for October, 2011
Morning watch 10-16-11
Sunday, October 16th, 2011By Rochester falcon watcher MAK
Hi folks! Truly this will be my last morning watch report for awhile as tomorrow is the big day…the beginning of a new life for me with my first of 2 new knees. I can’t wait to ride a bike again!
My dear friend Joyce picked me up to go falcon watching and the falcons came through for us. First we found Beauty on the top ibeam north corner of OCSR. For clarity this is the side facing away from the Times Square building so the cameras can’t see them when they are over there.
It seemed like she was hunkered down for awhile so we headed over to KP to see if we could find Archer since the last time he was seen was on Oct. 12. We had no luck in finding any falcons at KP so we returned to the downtown area to find the Beautyful one in the same spot where we left her. Suddenly Joyce noticed a falcon to the left on the top ibeam from where Beauty had been and now she was flying above us where we were parked on the Andrews St. bridge. 
She flew to the north and we drove over to Bragdon St. by the Radisson Hotel for a closer look. Beauty returned to the OCSR building and landed a couple feet away from Archer.
They both flew off to the southeast and returned to OCSR top ibeam northeast side quite a distance apart but facing each other.
You will have to click on the pics to view a larger version. Sorry! After a few minutes they both flew off together circled around and returned to their previous spots on OCSR. At this point Dana and CarolP joined us. It was getting close to the time I would have to end my watch and get home to take care of some things in preparation for going to the hospital tomorrow. I’m not sure when I’ll get out to see our fabulous falcons again but I know I miss them already! I have a link for an album from this watch at the end of my report. As I said my goodbyes and we were on our way down Main St. one of the falcons flew off the building toward us over the river and then returned to OCSR. It seemed to me like it was giving me a nice sendoff and saying goodbye! Have a great day today, tomorrow and all the days to come until I return and can say it again to all of you! And give a SMILE as often as you can!!! 🙂
Canada watch 10-15-11
Sunday, October 16th, 2011By Rochester falcon watcher MAK
Good morning everyone! Yesterday watchers KathyO,Dana,Lisa McK,CarolP,Joyce and I took a trip to Canada to watch falcons. It was like a last hoorah for me until I can get around again after knee replacement surgery tomorrow. Arriving at the Harlequin location we were treated to some lovely flying from Quest and Kendal.
A few of the CPF folks were there to join in the fun and when we were done watching this fabulous pair we all went to lunch. Tracy told her usual animated stories about the feisty O’Connor and so we got directions to go meet her ourselves. When Joyce and I arrived at the site both O’Connor and her mate Hurricane were on the big blue H of the hospital where there nest site is located. As soon as we stopped they were both off and she was squawking up a storm at him.
The pair did some flying for us and settled back on the H. We observed them for a bit longer and moved along to the next site. Upon arrival at MEC we found the female falcon on the Symcor building just down from the nestbox.
While we were at lunch it was decided that they would give this bird the name Infinity because it had double 8″s that were sideways on top of each other on the legband. On our way home we stopped by the Burlington Bridge location. We saw no falcons but we observed hundredsand hundreds of Starlings gathering under the bridge to roost for the night. They were quite noisy too! I couldn’t get real clear pics cuz the wind was so strong that I couldn’t hold my camera steady but…well you get the picture!
As the sun was setting we left Canada happy watchers having seen 5 falcons and a whole lot more.
Links for an album and video from the day are below. Enjoy and keep smiling! 🙂
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG8fNVB_I0c
I truly am blessed to have the opportunity to go on these road trips and I thank my friend Joyce very much for taking me.
Morning watch 10-14-11
Friday, October 14th, 2011By Rochester falcon watcher MAK
Hello and boy am I ever missing my morning watches! Thankfully Joyce is helping me out every 3 days or so to get out before she goes to work. This may be the last morning report from me until I can get out again after rehabbing from my knee replacement surgery on Monday.I surely hope I can get out this weekend to see any or all of our fabulous Rochester falcons one more time!
I got a text message from Joyce that she was stuck in traffic on 490 this morning but she was coming to take me on a watch. So I gathered up my binocs and camera and stood at the door ready to go when she pulled in the driveway. We had some trouble finding a falcon until Joyce spotted one on the jail tower. As I looked it flew off to the north. We agreed that it looked on the small side so it could have been Archer but there’s no way of being positive. After no success in locating any Peregrines we then rode over to KP to see if Archer was over there. We really wanted to be able to verify that Mr. Archer was still in town. No such luck but we did find Unity. I spotted her on the north side of the east stack 2nd catwalk down. She was sitting on the railing.
We were at the west end of the complex so it was quite a distance for pics. Almost as soon as I saw her there she spread her big beautiful wings and flew off to the northeast where I quickly lost sight of her.
As always click on the pics for a larger view. It was time for Joyce to be heading to work so we called it a watch. I sooo wish I had seen the Beautyful one this morning but I’m very thankful to have gotten out to see ANY falcons. Have a great day everyone and keep those smiles coming! 🙂
Morning watch 10-11-11
Tuesday, October 11th, 2011By Rochester falcon watcher MAK
Well I was on my 3rd day without seeing Beauty and feeling quite bummed out when a text message came through on my phone from Joyce saying she was on her way to get me for a watch. Once again my friend comes through for me. Thank you so very much Joycie!
When Joyce got to my house she told me I was driving and off we went. When we arrived downtown no falcons were on the FCT or in the Times Square area so I drove onward to the east side. As we approached Xerox Joyce spotted both Beauty and Archer on the HSBC building northwest corner. She said oh MAK look, there they are and as I looked up we heard a loud pop! I had clipped the curb with the right rear tire and blown a big hole in it. Needless to say I felt horrible! I didn’t have my AAA card on me so I couldn’t call for roadside assistance. Wonderful right!? So we began to take out the jack and stuff to change the tire when a nice gentleman came by and assisted us. There are still nice people in this world! At some point we did see Beauty fly off with her prey in talons and go out of sight as Archer was long gone by that time. Needless to say when the tire was changed and we were on our way again I told Joyce she was driving. We went over to the Andrews St. bridge and as we were driving toward State St. I spotted Beauty on the FCT. So we went to the city hall parking lot where we had a few minutes to take pics before we had to leave so Joyce could get to work.
Notice the feathers floating in the air space above Beauty in the last pic. And speaking of feathers while I was taping Beauty Joyce went and grabbed feathers from the pigeon that had floated down to the parking lot.And here’s a pic of them.
It was a sweet watch for me to see Beauty and Archer tho I was feeling bad about Joyces’ tire. We left the Beautyful one on the FCT as she was devouring her breakfast. Go to the links at the bottom of this report to see Beauty preparing her meal. As always have a great day and if you look hard enough you can always find something to make you SMILE! 🙂
Morning watch 10-8-11
Saturday, October 8th, 2011By Rochester falcon watcher MAK
I have to say that my fellow Rochester falcon watchers are the BEST! They have made sure I got in some falcon watching the past few days when I didn’t think I would get out at all. THANK YOU!
This morning CarolP picked me up and we went downtown in search of the Beautyful one and Archer. We weren’t disappointed for I spotted a falcon flying over on the east side of town. At the time we were on the Andrews St. bridge and we sat and watched the show until it stooped out of sight. We then went over to watch from the Broad St. bridge where we saw Archer on the northwest corner of Xerox with Beauty soaring above showing off her stuff for him.
Beauty was really giving us a show gliding and kiting(hovering) right above the Xerox tower. Archer was enjoying the show as well! When she left our view we turned our attention to the river where we found 2 adult Black-crowned Night Herons.
There were also a couple of Great Blue Herons one of which chased the other one away.
After an hour or so it was clear that Beauty and Archer had left us for parts unknown so we decided to go to Kodak Park and look for Unity. We found the gorgeous girl on a black part of the complex at the west end. We thought at first that it was too big to be her but we were able to confirm it was Unity.
She eventually stooped off the back of the building and we watched her fly down to the tall still and land on the north side of the top catwalk.
Dana came along and we all went up to lot 77 to view Unity. We had some geese fly by as we chit chatted.
Unity stayed there for awhile before flying off and around the back of the power plant and returning to the tall still catwalk.
Miss Unity moved further over on the north side of the catwalk where we couldn’t see her. Dana decided to go downtown and look for our dynamic duo and Carol took me home thus ending a very nice watch. For more pics and a video go to the links at the bottom of this report and have a glorious day so you can smile! 🙂
Morning watch 10-7-11
Friday, October 7th, 2011By Rochester falcon watcher MAK
Wow, 2 days in a row Joyce got up early and took me on a falcon watch. Thank you my friend!
Joyce relinquishes the keys to me cuz she doesn’t want to deal with downtown traffic. Pffft piece of cake! So we get downtown around 7:30am and from the Broad St. bridge I spot a falcon on the base of Mercury. Before we could ID or get a good look it flew off in the direction of FCT. So I drive over to city hall where we find Beauty on the FCT on her favorite perch under the platform.
5 minutes later the Beautyful one flies off towards Times Square and sure enough Donna texted that both Beauty and Archer were at the nestbox. They didn’t stay long for when we got over there we saw them flying together to the east. Archer came back in our direction and landed under the northeast wing of the Times Square building. The sun was shining magnificently on his bright white chest!
5-10 minutes later I noticed Beauty on top of the main cam. I told Joyce and we both laughed and said when did she sneak in? We both were so transfixed on watching Archer we missed her arrival completely!
And there you have it folks…another fast,fun fantastic falcon watch with Joycie. For more pics and a video go to the links below. Have a fabulous Friday and smile away! 🙂
Falcon watch 10-5-11
Thursday, October 6th, 2011By Rochester falcon watcher MAK
I didn’t think I’d be getting out so soon to enjoy our Rochester falcons but my fellow watchers whom I adore came through in a BIG way yesterday. First Lynda came and got me around 7:45am. We headed straight downtown but couldn’t find a falcon so we left to go to KP and try our luck there. Nope nobody around there either. We sat and chit chatted and then I scanned the stills with my trusty binocs and found Unity on the 2nd catwalk of the tall still. She was on the east side railing just barely visible at first. We moved farther east in the parking lot for a better angle and voila!
After a while she flew over to the blue building and landed on the corner of the black strip by the nook. And ended up scooting around the corner into the nook.
This is where we left her to go back downtown and look for Beauty and Archer again. We didn’t find either one of them and Linda had to get going so she dropped me off home. Joyce called and asked if I’d like to go sit with her while her car got some maintenance done and of course I knew we would go watching so I said you know I do! When her car was ready we went to her house and picked up her dogs Casey and Abby,checked downtown for falcons with no luck and picked up Brian. Over to KP we went where we spotted Unity on the blue building towards the top.
While we were in lot 77 we got to see a Merlin fly over us and check out the dogs in the tall grass and then land on a pole.
What a beautiful background for this smaller version of a falcon! I love the fall colors! CarolP came by and as we were all standing around I saw Abby flush a bird out of the tall grass and alerted everyone to it. It landed at the other end of the parking lot on top of a pine tree. Woohoo my first ever sighting of a Meadowlark!
Carol said she was going downtown to check for Beauty and Archer before it got any darker so Joyce said why don’t I ride along with her and she’d catch up with me after she ran an errand with Brian. Carol said come on MAK and off we went! As we approached downtown on State St. near KO we spotted a falcon on the FCT top arm. As we drove to the city hall parking lot we had Archer and the Beautyful one flying around and landing on the second arm. Beauty landed on the east side and Archer on the west facing each other. What a sight to behold when 24 hours earlier I didn’t know when I would next see our gorgeous pair or if I’d even see Archer again before he migrated.
They flew off in a hurry to the eastern sky and out of view. We took a ride over to the east side and found one of them on the railing of the HSBC building northeast corner and this is when we decided to end our watch. As a parting gift here are a couple pics I took on our way down Broad St. as we were leaving the city from the east that I thought were pretty..
I want to thank Lynda,Joyce and Carol for giving me the falcon fix that I needed yesterday. You guys are the BEST and you and our Rochester Peregrine Falcons made me SMILE! 🙂
Morning watch 10-4-11
Tuesday, October 4th, 2011By Rochester falcon watcher MAK
It is with great sadness that I must tell you this will be my last report for sometime to come. I will not have access to a vehicle and I will be having knee replacement surgery on Oct. 17 and won’t be able to drive for awhile after that anyway. That being said on to my report.
To my surprise I found Archer on the Xerox tower this morning on the southeast corner column.
Less than 5 minutes later he was gone and I missed it! And that’s how it goes in the life of a falcon watcher sometimes. It would be some 45 minutes later before I spotted both Beauty and Archer on the top ibeam of the OCSR building west side. They flew off almost as soon as I saw them. About 10 minutes later I spotted a falcon on the jail tower from the Broad St. bridge. I whipped over to Troup St. for a closer view and could clearly ID it as Archer.
Donna texted me at this time to let me know that Beauty had been in and out of the nestbox quickly. I had seen a falcon fly up to, land and then go in the nestbox shortly after they both flew off the OCSR building but I missed anybody come back out. So it was the Beautyful one that I had seen up there. 5 minutes later as I approach the Times Square building northbound on Exchange street I could see both Beauty and Archer on the south side of Times Square. He was on the corner and she was on the next column over to his left 1 level lower than the nestbox.
click on pic for full view
It had begun to rain making for bad photo taking but I clicked away just the same!
Our downtown Rochester pair remained perched there for the remainder of my watch. I took a video of them which I will post the link for at the bottom of this report as well as the link for an album from my watch with some surprises I found along the way. Plus a bonus video of the raging Genesee River with some of it’s inhabitants. I hope you enjoy these. As always I hope you have a great day and keep smiling until we meet again! 🙂
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kfVbEmkGxY
Morning watch 10-3-11
Monday, October 3rd, 2011By Rochester falcon watcher MAK
The morning started out dark,rainy and foggy once again today but by the time my watch ended the clouds and fog were breaking up and the sun was shining! As I drove over to the east side and went to the parking lot of the Strong Museum of Play I spotted a falcon flying between Xerox and HSBC and then it landed on the south side of HSBC. It flew off less than 30 seconds later and disappeared into the fog. I drove over to the north side of HSBC where I could see Beauty perched on the northwest corner.
5 minutes later she flew off in to the fog again. I drove around and checked each side of HSBC without finding her and then headed over to the Broad St. bridge. After 20 minutes of searching without a sighting I returned to the east side and found the Beautyful one on the southwest corner of HSBC. She had given me the slip and doubled back after I drove away! lol
Beauty and I watched the changing weather for nearly an hour as the light rain stopped and the sun started to burn off the fog and peak through the clouds. Just as I was getting ready to call it a watch and pack up my gear she flew off going south. I watched until she became a speck in the sky and disappeared. I never saw Archer and wondered if perhaps he has gone on his migration for Carol didn’t report seeing him at KP this morning either. I went on a short evening watch last night with Joyce and have a couple pics of Unity and the black sky that was behind the complex to share before I end this report.
Enjoy the day and keep smiling! 🙂
