Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

My weekend Falcon Watch continues. It was much colder today, but lots of sunshine, so it made it tolerable.

Thankfully watching from my car is an option. Although the Falcon Flakes have been known to be out and about on the most frigid days. But, I was fighting a sore throat and didn’t want to make it worse. My Watch would be shorter today.

After getting some coffee, the $1 for a large special from McD’s, and a free small coffee (it was Customer Appreciation day) I headed to Kodak Park. I would never say no to a free coffee. 🙂

I immediately spotted Unity on the blue bldg that held her scrape. She was on the top ledge standing in front of her shadow. She didn’t stay long. Unity walked down the length of the ledge and took off, heading east. I watched her swoop up into the “pigeon box”. It was a large square hollow structure at the end of a chute. The only entrance is from below and there are beams for pigeons and falcons to sit on.

Probably pretty comfy up there on a cold, windy day and dry if it rains or snows.
She pooped and settled, so I decided to head downtown to look for Beauty. First stop Kodak Office and the surrounding High Falls area.

No sign of Beauty here. I watched as a city truck drove down the pedestrian bridge we used to Watch from. Did you know that this bridge used to be open to two-way traffic? I’ve been on that bridge when a bunch of people have walked out onto it and you can feel it “bounce”. They closed it to car traffic sometime in the 70’s I believe.

OK, onward. I checked all over downtown for close to 2 hours and could not find Beauty. Kathy O arrived and she could not find her either. The good news is that Brian H, Joyce and MAK did see Beauty on a “disk” on top of a ramp garage near Kodak Office later in the afternoon. She was not there earlier when I was looking for her. This spot was very unusual for Beauty, but I had seen Mariah and many juvies up there.

It was time for me to go. Kathy and I checked out Kodak Park one more time since it was on my way home. Unity was still up inside the “pigeon box”. Time for me to go!

You can check out some pics I took today in a KGallery album. No sign on needed.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=2935820621105%3A169511845

Enjoy!
Carol P.

Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

After a really not very nice week at work, I was ready for some downtime. And what better way to spend it? Looking for Falcons of course! I didn’t get going until 10 a.m.

The sun was shining. The sky was unbelievably blue. Temps in the 40’s. No snow. No rain. No sleet. It was the perfect Saturday and I was going to take full advantage of it.

My first stop, Kodak Park. I arrived at 10 a.m. and found Unity sitting on top of the tall still. She flew back to the tank-like structure behind the stills and landed on a large pipe, where she remained until I left.

Next stop, downtown Rochester. At 11:20 a.m., I found Beauty on top of the Times Square Bldg. She was just below the NE “wing”, directly above the nest box. At 11:50 a.m., she took off and headed west.

Of course it was the opposite direction to where I was located on the east side.
I headed in that direction, ending up in Susan B. Anthony’s neighborhood. I so admire the statue of Susan B. and Frederick Douglas having tea in the park on the street that Susan B’s house is located. It’s lovely.

I checked all the buildings in the area and couldn’t find Beauty.

Back to Kodak Park, where I found Unity back on the tall still. Kathy O joined me and soon, Unity took off heading west. She flew low in front of the buildings and we quickly lost sight of her. Kathy and I both went looking for her, but couldn’t find her.

We decided to check for the Peregrines we had seen on the old Railroad Bridge at Charlotte (NY).

We arrived at Charlotte around 2 p.m. No luck finding the falcons, but we were very happy to find a Snowy Owl sitting on top of the closed Carousel building. We drove over and I took a few pictures. Dana and Lou joined us.

After awhile, I said my goodbyes and headed home. It was a very GOOD day, spent with good friends and seeing two Peregrines and a Snowy wasn’t too shabby! 🙂

I’ve put together a KGallery album with pictures from today. No sign on needed.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=2627727521105%3A129153733

Enjoy!
Carol P.