From Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P. – 12/31/11

Happy New Year everyone!

My New Years Eve Falcon watch started out with my neighborhood Church Hawks. This is a local pair of Red-tail Hawks that nest near where I live. Every now and then I’ll find one or both on the cross of a church down the street from where I live. I’m pretty sure they had only one baby last year.

Next stop was Kodak Park. No luck finding Unity. Kathy O had seen her yesterday afternoon, so she was definitely still in the area.

Onward to downtown Rochester. At about 10:30 am, I found Beauty on the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT) under the platform. This was a favorite perch for her. I was soon joined by Dana. Between 10:30 am and 1:00 pm, when I left, Beauty remained on the FCT except for flying off once to chase some pigeons and return. Shaky turned pancam towards FCT to allow the Rfalconcam friends to view Beauty.

I had to do some grocery shopping and when I left a very busy Wegmans, my cell phone rang. It was a very excited Dana. She was down at Charlotte and there were two Peregrine Falcons on the old railroad swing bridge. Well guess where I headed next? 🙂

I soon joined Dana and Kathy O at Charlotte and for a couple hours we watched this obviously bonded pair tandem hunt pigeons and ducks and an occasional thump on a gull.

We believe this is the same pair we had previously been watching at the Irondequoit Mall. They are both unbanded and their coloring is very close to Mariah and Kaver’s. White over the cere and flattish head on the female and a very dark helmet on the Tiercel (male).

Could this be Charbay, our wintering female that hung out in Charlotte last year? We even started wondering if the Tiercel might be Mr. T. I know that we’ll be looking to see if there are any similarities between this Tiercel and Mr. T. Stay tuned!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=5272637321105%3A59414375

Click on the link above to see my KGallery album of pictures from today’s watch. No sign on needed.

Enjoy!
Carol P.

From Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I decided to go out for a Falcon Watch even though rain was heading our way. On my way to downtown, I pass Kodak Park, so I checked there first. No luck finding Unity.

When I go downtown, I have a certain route I take to check out all the different areas we are used to seeing Beauty. Kodak Office is my first stop and I didn’t need to go further this time. There she was. Beauty was on the NE corner of what the Watchers call the launch pad, which is above where the old nest box was located. You can still see netting covering the playpen area. The playpen is the level just below the old nest box. It was called the playpen because very often some of the eyases would find their way down there. It was a safe area that allowed them to run and flap their wings under the watchful eye of their parents.

I drove over to the street on the east side of the tower next to the condos that were built over what used to be the Kodak Visitor’s parking lot. This area has changed so much.

It started to rain and I was joined for a short time by Joyce and her dad Herb who was visiting from Florida. It was very nice meeting him. We stood in the rain, until it started to turn to ice pellets. Joyce and her dad had to leave, so I got back into my car to warm up and dry off and continue my Watch.

As I watched, Beauty sprinted across to the SE corner of the launch pad. Have you ever seen a Peregrine run before? Well, it’s pretty hilarious. They may be the fastest creature on the earth, but they were not made for running on those big yellow feet! lol

She picked up a small piece of leftover prey she must have cached there. It didn’t take her long to finish and obviously she was still hungry. She took off and flew around the tower, again landing on the NE corner of the launch pad. I was taking video at this time and watched her walk back out of sight. It wasn’t long before she returned dragging a large wing portion of what looked like it came from a pigeon.

On the NE corner of the launch pad, she started to pluck feathers and eat her fill. She is definitely using the Kodak Tower to cache food and eat her meals.

After finishing her lunch, she settled in to preen, stretch, doze and poop. Ah, the life of a Peregrine Falcon. 🙂

About a 1/2 hour later, she again took off, this time flying around the north side of the tower where I lost sight of her. I drove around to the north and found her on the NW corner of the launch pad. It was time for me to leave.

On the way home, I made one more stop at KP to look for Unity. She was again absent. I had seen her on Christmas Eve, so I knew she was still visiting this area. It was just sometimes hard to find her.

Kathy O, Joyce and her dad joined me for a short while, before we all headed home.

I wanted to share two videos I took of Beauty eating on the Kodak Tower. Sorry for the quality of the video. Just click on these two Youtube links.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGxdVrnlhtY&list=UUkL-m83o7PVaDyTQPEbi-aw&index=2&feature=plcp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGFQd3u-v9M&list=UUkL-m83o7PVaDyTQPEbi-aw&index=1&feature=plcp

Enjoy!
Carol P.

Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Today I spent time with Beauty and yesterday some time with Unity, so both Rochester Lady Pefas were accounted for this Christmas Weekend.

All was peaceful at both sites, Downtown and Kodak Park. Sunny days with no snow. No white Christmas for Rochester.

I’ve put together a KGallery Album of pics and my report from this weekend and also included a few at the end of the pair of Pergrines we had been seeing at the Irondequoit Mall aka Medley Center.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=7820001221105%3A51858279

Enjoy! No sign on required.

I hope everyone enjoyed this holiday weekend. Merry Christmas!

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

On another brisk and bright sunny December morning in Rochester CarolP picked me up for a watch. We started downtown and couldn’t find Beauty anywhere so we wandered over to Irondequoit  mall but before we got there we had to stop and take a pic of a Breast cancer pink bulldozer. On one side of it was this caption: Clearing a path for a cure.

Having found no pefas at the mall and surrounding area we headed to KP for a look with yet again no sightings. We had to be getting back downtown for I was going to join Shaky,June,CarolP and Ravi in the Times Square building for some camera maintenance. When we arrived on the Broad St. bridge we spotted a couple Chinook helicopters to the south and then the Beautyful one on the northeast corner of the Crossroads building eating.

It was time to go up to the nest box as the others had arrived. We went most of the way in an elevator and then we had to climb 2 flights of spiral stairs.

My knee held up very well.  I got to see and touch the nest box where Beauty and Archer brought up Callidora(Helga Jean for Janet) and sweet boy Jemison! And here’s my first view of it from down in the well.

Looking up from the well

On the floor of the well were a couple  leftover tidbits from one of Beautys’ meals.

Ravi was fixing the main cam while CarolP stood on the ladder to assist him. Shaky,June and I stood in the well as Carol said Beauty was on Mercury.

She didn’t stay long and Ravi finished up and when Carol got down off the ladder she asked me if I wanted to go up there. Was she kidding… of course I did and so up I went! What a view from up there…

And so I touched the nestbox in 3 spots before climbing down off the ladder feeling very good about my experience. This watch was over and before we departed Carol took a pic of me standing below the nest box smiling! 🙂

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

It was a long week waiting to get out on a falcon watch and thanks to CarolP  for picking me up and making it possible for me to do so. We headed straight for downtown and the Beautyful one.  We found Beauty on the top ibeam of the OCSR building north side.

Naturally she had her back to us  from where we were parked beside the Radisson Hotel. As we were chit chatting and not paying attention Beauty flew off, in what direction we didn’t know so we went to the Broad St. bridge. She was spotted up on the Times Square building under the northeast wing, one of her favorite places to perch.

Again with her back to us! Brian met up with us at this point and we all went down to Aqueduct St. for a better view and to get away from the tons of people that were out and about for an event at the Blue Cross Arena.

Like a flash Beauty flew off flying east very fast like a girl on a mission until she could no longer be seen. Carol decided we would check the Hawkeye nest site where Joyce  and I had seen her last Saturday. We had no luck in finding her and so the watch took us to the Irondequoit mall to look for the pair there. When we arrived Dana was in the parking lot and so we parked by her to talk. She hadn’t seen either one but I did spot a man with an interesting hat on his head. He was working one of the Salvation Armys red kettles. After taking a pic and zooming to see what was on his head I said “I want one”! You see I’ve always been into peace signs and such.

On a very brisk but sunny day in Rochester we left for Kodak Park. We found Unity where Carol had left her this morning before she picked me up, in the nook on the blue building above the scrape.

After a half hour or so she flew down to the ibeam in front of the scrape for some preening duties.

We left this big gorgeous falcon in the bright sunshine and headed back to the city for one more look to see if we could find Beauty before taking Brian home. No such luck but we were satisfied knowing that both of our resident female falcons were accounted for on this day in December. I was very happy to have spent time with my fellow falcon watchers and of course my feathered friends as well for they all keep me smiling! 🙂

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Joyce came to get me this morning and asked me to drive as she was sick and didn’t want to. We checked KP first so the dogs could have a run but Unity was no where to be seen. CarolP,Dana and Dawn were at the Irondequoit mall with the pair of falcons that hang out there so I decided we’d head over there. When we arrived Dawn had left and the female pefa was on an antenna.

She soon flew over to the glass peak in the middle of the mall.

I noticed a large dark bird flying from the east and at first I thought it was a large crow until it got above the female pefa on the glass peak and we all yelled BALD EAGLE!

Click pic for full version

It was magnificent and he soared right above us too! Most of my pics were blurry but I think it’s cuz I was so excited that I couldn’t keep from shaking. My video is a little jumpy too for the same reason. A few minutes later Dana,Carol and Joyce spotted 2 juvie Bald Eagles off to the northwest for a short time. I missed them for some reason. After awhileI told Carol and Dana we were going to check around the other side for the male pefa and as we drove along the east end of the mall Joyce spotted him.

This pair of falcons are gorgeous! A funny coincidence happened where we were all discussing whether pefas mated at this time of year to bond. Well didn’t that male fly over to the female quickly mount her and leave with her following him to the east and out of sight! Joyce and I missed it because of where we were parked but Carol and Dana witnessed it!  We are learning so much from our feathered friends aren’t we? Who knew? Larry and Cleo came by shortly after the show, too late to even see the falcons. When the pair didn’t return right away I decided we’d go look for the Beautyful one downtown. Joyce thought we should check the Irondequoit Bay bridge since that’s the direction they headed but we didn’t find them over there. On our way through Durand Eastman Park Joyce spotted a big Red-tailed Hawk in a tree.

After we left there we checked the Summerville and Charlotte piers for the Snowy Owl without success and then I headed down St. Paul Boulevard toward the city. As we were approaching the Hawkeye division of Kodak I spotted a large bird on the railing of a round metal structure on the roof.

I knew this was a falcon and as Joyce walked up the street to get a closer look I stayed in the car and inspected the pic I had just taken of it’s back. The tail surely looked familiar to me. Could this be Beauty I asked myself? Have I stumbled upon one of her hiding spots? Joyce came back to the car and we went to a parking lot where we could get a front view of this mystery falcon. I knew there was a nest box at this site but I’d never seen it until today. It was right above and in front of this pefa.I didn’t even realize it was a nest box when I was on the backside of it.

After seeing the front of the bird I was fairly certain that this was in fact Beauty. CarolP and I had seen her a couple weeks ago flying from near this location to downtown when we were looking for another nest box on a school off of St.Paul Street. Joyce and I checked downtown and then went back to Hawkeye but she had left by the time we returned so we scooted over to KP to look for Unity. With no sign of her we ended our watch and called it a day! For more pics and a video of the Bald Eagle check out the links below and as always keep smiling!  🙂

http://youtu.be/Sd6qOyZHYGY

Falcon watch with some friends