By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Joyce and I met Kathy,Carol,Dana and Lisa at the William Osler Hospital in Toronto,Ontario Canada yesterday for the banding of Chessie and Hurricanes babies. There was 1 male and 1 female-no names yet as they are having a contest to name them.

Lisa got to hold one of them as it got banded with it’s new bling. I always feel honored to attend one of these events with the good folks from the Canadian Peregrine Foundation. We’ve all become good friends through our love for the falcons. I’d like to thank Joyce for taking me to so many events in Canada and thanks to Mark and Marion Nash for allowing us to attend and be part of  their bandings. Truly an honor to know people with such passion for the welfare of Peregrine Falcons.

Onward we went to the Yellow Pages site where Linn and Reuben reside with their 3 boys. They have all fledged successfully and we saw them all hanging out on the building with mom and dad and occasionally flying around.

Reuben   Linn

Last stop before we left Canada was the Don Mills site where our girl Quest and Kendal are raising their brood of 3. They too have  fledged successfully as we were treated to seeing the entire family. Kendal was on the corner of the building to the right of the nesting building preening and basically acting like nothing was going on. On the same ledge near the middle Quest had her hands full feeding her noisy 3 kids. After the meal was done she got outta there and perched further down on the ledge.

We left the family all together on that ledge – Kendal at one end,babies in the middle and Quest on the other side. A picture perfect ending to the day that sent us all home smiling! 🙂

I have provided links for my photo album and several videos below. Just click on them and away you go

http://pix.kg/p/980542916213%3A327608167/scl

http://youtu.be/7yza4N6xYrg

http://youtu.be/Ufhg-q5b_Ts

http://youtu.be/ICFoWu-DXzo

http://youtu.be/hZpbikLlVCE

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Let me just start by saying I had a great time the last few days with my good friend Donna who came for a visit from New Jersey. She got to see all of our Rochester falcons except for the one that has been seen at KP(Kodak Park) plus got to see falcons in Buffalo at UB(University of Buffalo) and CT(Central Terminal). Plus a bonus sighting at Irondequoit Bay of an Osprey! I have several videos of the Osprey that are on a cell tower in Avon which Joyce and I visited this afternoon and evening but I will not be uploading them all tonight due to time. Joyce and I will be meeting Carol,Kathy,Lisa and Dana in Toronto tomorrow morning for yet another banding. This one of the lovely Chessie and Hurricanes babies at the William Osler site. We will be leaving Rochester in the wee hours so I must get a few hours sleep tonight.

This morning before taking Donna to the train station we stopped by Times Square and saw Dot.Ca on the Wilder building green strip in the bright sunshine looking just as white as he could be.

After taking Donna to the train station I went to KP where I found a falcon on the floor in front of the red door on the east stack.

I checked in with security and settled in for a while watching a big flock of starlings that kept getting closer to the plant and the Peregrine. I prepared myself for the main event which I thought might be a stoop but no, something even more extraordinary happened…I saw 2 falcons! The red door falcon met another one on the north side of the plant where they both disappeared behind the blue building never resurfacing. It all went down within seconds so I got no pics and couldn’t even say for sure if there was a size difference between the 2 of them. One was behind the other and hadn’t quite caught up with the other before I lost them. So it seems we are getting to be a popular place for Peregrine Falcons here in Rochester. I just hope they can all get along with each other in such close proximity.

I never found them again so I left setting my sights for BS ( Brighton) and the adorable Miss Pigott. I was not graced by her on this trip and so I went downtown to try my luck there. At first I saw nothing but eventually I spotted a falcon fly out from the nest box area over the river and then to a column to the south(left) of the nest box.

I left at this point for I had to return the vehicle I borrowed for  which to transport Donna and I around this past weekend. It was nice while it lasted!

Next stop was Avon,NY with Joyce to check on the Osprey nest there. We had 1 in the nest and 1 on a post that was part of the cell tower in which they built their nest. Joyce also saw at least 1 juvie briefly in the nest.

Please click on pics for full version

We returned to Rochester and visited BS where Jeanne joined  us to see Pigott come flying in with DC right behind her landing on a northeast rooftop where he had a small bit of dinner for her. She whined,grabbed it and away she went with it to a west side corner to eat. When done she flew to the south side vent on the back of the building to perch while DC remained on his northeast corner in the front of the building.

It was just about dark out when we called it a watch and left for home. It’s been lots of fun the last week with Donna and our other watcher friends with plenty of smiling going on! 🙂

Click on the links below to see photo albums and videos from the past few days. Enjoy!

http://pix.kg/p/100643816213%3A1708521084/scl

http://pix.kg/p/799543816213%3A1052715639/scl

http://pix.kg/p/499543816213%3A1423964810/scl

http://pix.kg/p/299543816213%3A1086119961/scl

http://youtu.be/jc5knv8zNk0

http://youtu.be/M9ZG7G0qwwM

http://youtu.be/r69E5sy-Df4

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Hi all! Donna arrived last night just before 7 and after I picked her up from the train station we headed straight to the Broad St. bridge. Joyce and Brian were there Beauty was in the nest box and we didn’t see Dot.Ca anywhere so after a bit we all decided to go to BS so Donna could meet Miss Pigott. As we were getting ready to turn onto Exchange St. Donna spotted DC on the heel of Mercury so we went down to the hole(Aqueduct St.) so she could meet him.

We saw CarolP briefly before we went to BS to join Joyce and Brian who had found Pigott there.

She did some flying for us and we stayed til dark. A successful first watch for Donna and smiles all around! 🙂

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Just a quick report of a short watch this morning. As I walked up Exchange from Main street after getting off the bus I looked up at the Times Square building just in time to see the Beautyful one fly from the nest box. I lost sight of her behind the Phillipone building as she flew to the southeast. Donna and Campgee let me know that Dot.Ca had switched with her in the nest box. I started to walk up the Broad Street bridge and found DC on the heel of Mercury.

As I walked further onto the bridge he went down to the base of Mercury and I almost didn’t see him there. DC took off soon after flying southeast until I could no longer see him with the naked eye.

Larry stopped by for a couple minutes and 2 Great Blue Herons came flying in from the north. 1 landed in the river and the other on the south end rooftop of the Blue Cross Arena.

After a while it flew to the north end of the roof landing above the sign.

Everything was quiet so I decided to beat feet out of downtown before it got too hot. A short but sweet watch that left me smiling! 🙂

click on the links below for more pics and a short video of Dot.Ca

http://pix.kg/p/306208806213%3A637472601/scl

http://youtu.be/URiwQOXPme8

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a beautiful, sunny day – perfect for watching falcons! Joyce picked up Brian and I for a trip to Niagara Falls to check on the falcon family residing there in the gorge and to scope out the tight rope going across that Nic Wallenda will be walking on Friday night.

There were all kinds of  TV and camera crews set up along the walkway area on the American side of the falls. I believe the set up for this tight rope act is far enough away that it won’t disturb the juvenile falcons and hopefully won’t cause a stir with the adults either. That’s just my opinion,we’ll see. While we were there we could see the young white falcons in their nest box all sprawled out taking a snooze. Mom brought in a small morsel to share before flying out and landing on a window north of the scrape. Both mom and dad were seen flying in the gorge.

We left for Buffalo to check on the juvies at the University of Buffalo(UB), the Statler site,Central Terminal(CT) and the grain elevators near the water. Our first stop was the south Grand Island bridge where we had no luck finding a falcon. Next was the Statler nest site where we could see the white of the juvies there in the scrape but no adult sightings.

We then proceeded to the grain elevators along the shoreline there in Buffalo. I have been there many times without seeing anything but today would change that record for not only did we see 1 but 2 falcons and they flew in tandem to escort a red-tailed hawk out of the area. Brian spotted the first one on the Holcim building and after we lost them chasing the RTH Joyce found one on another grain elevator for which I don’t know the name.

We left this site and went to CT for a quick look as the sun was going down and we still had to go to UB for a fledge watch! One adult falcon who we believe was Gleig the female at CT now since Stella and Stash were ousted came flying in and landed on one of the perches by the scrape.

It’s impossible to see into the scrape at this site so we couldn’t see any babies. Having only stayed a short time we departed for UB and our fledge watch. Upon approaching the campus we spotted 2 juvies on the water tower near the university.

We watched them do some typical juvie flying  that entertained us very much. After a while it was time to find the other 2 kids and so we drove over to MacKays tower where the nest box is and found Andromeda on the corner of Clark Hall.

While watching her Yankee, the resident male was seen on the tower on a ledge near the scrape. After a while he flew out to the water tower and escorted the 2 boys back home for the night. Not sure where Athena, the transmitter girl went off to but when we left both BB,the adult female and Yankee were on the south side of MacKays tower with Andromeda still on that corner of Clark Hall and the boys were on top of MacKays somewhere out of view.

And so another falcon watch in the books leaving the 3 of us with a smile on our faces for the great fun we had with the Buffalo and Niagara Falls’ falcons. 🙂

Click on the links below for additional pics from the day and a couple short videos of sweet Andromeda

http://pix.kg/p/774708606213%3A1400286832/scl

http://youtu.be/Mv5FIPlCl4A

http://youtu.be/VAU8zXqetvY

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Date : 6/11/12 (Monday)
Time: 7:00 to 8:45 pm
Weather: Hot, Hazy & Humid! The 3 H’s hit hard today. Today’s high was 90 degrees (F) at 3:05 pm when conditions were mostly cloudy. We missed the record by 3 degrees!
Watchers: Kathy O, Larry O, Dan S and Carol P.
Places: Downtown Rochester (Times Square Nestsite) (TS), Brighton Site (BS) and Kodak Park (KP)
Peregrines Seen: Pigott (at BS) and Beauty was in the nest box at the TSB.

Beauty = B (Adult Female at TSB)
Dot.ca = DC (Adult Male at TSB and BS)
Pigott = P (the female falcon formerly known as SA or Sub Adult at BS Location)
KP Tiercel = KPT (Male Sub-adult at Kodak Park/KP – Not ID’d yet, but black/black band)
Times Square Bldg = TSB
Brighton Site = BS
Broad St Bridge = BSB
Old Changing Scenes Restaurant = OCSR
Kodak Park aka Eastman Business Park = KP

Today the heat was pretty much unbearable during the day, so I got a late start. Near record heat had hit the Rochester area for the day. I arrived at the BS location just before 7:00 pm and found Pigott on the back of the building, the south side. She was by herself as far as I could tell. Ei reported that Beauty was on the eggs and Larry tweeted that he and Dan could not find D.C.

Pigott usually vocalizes with a whining call when Dot.ca is around. Tonight she was quiet and she was intently watching her surroundings. She was on the hunt. It wasn’t long before she spread her wings and took off fast heading east over the fields on that side of the building. She stooped and pulled up with empty talons. Pigott landed on the vent at the top of the south side of the building and that’s where I left her. I remained for awhile longer before heading downtown to join Larry O and Dan S on the Broad St Bridge.

As I drove up to the center of the Broad St Bridge, I first spotted Larry O and then the familiar sight of Dan S sitting in his lawn chair, binoculars up to his eyes, checking out the sky above. I joined them and we talked for a bit. Neither Larry or Dan had been able to find D.C. We knew Beauty was on the eggs so he was out and about where we couldn’t see him. They are very good at hiding from us.

At 8:10 pm, I left them to join Kathy O at Kodak Park. Dan S joined us for awhile after Larry left. We had hoped to see KPT fly in, but we had no luck today seeing him. We were entertained by a Kestrel hover hunting over the fields in front of us and a doe walking along the fence line. In between bites of tall grass, she would lift her head and look at us with those big, beautiful eyes. At 8:45 pm, it was time to leave.

Although we did not see all the Rochester Falcons today, I was happy to see Pigott hunting and doing well at the BS location. Beauty and Dot.ca had been seen on the Rfalconcam cameras during the day trading off sitting on the eggs. We didn’t spend much time at Kodak Park, so there was a good chance we wouldn’t see him.

Remember, it’s always a good thing to keep your eyes to the sky. So many wonderful things to see and enjoy!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Date : 6/9 & 10/12 (Saturday & Sunday)
Time: Multiple Times
Weather: 70’s yesterday & and high 80’s today. A mixture of sunshine and clouds and rain.
Watchers: Brian H, Larry O, Dana, Lou, Joyce, MAK, Ei, Lisa McK, Kathy O, and Carol P.
Places: Downtown Rochester (Times Square Nestsite) (TS), Brighton Site (BS) and Kodak Park (KP)
Peregrines Seen: Beauty (at TSB), Dot.ca (at TSB & BS), Pigott (at BS) and KPT or KP Tiercel (at KP)
Beauty = B (Adult Female at TSB)
Dot.ca = DC (Adult Male at TSB and BS)
Pigott = P (the female falcon formerly known as SA or Sub Adult at BS Location)
KP Tiercel = KPT (Male Sub-adult at Kodak Park/KP – Not ID’d yet, but black/black band)
Times Square Bldg = TSB
Brighton Site = BS
Broad St Bridge = BSB
Old Changing Scenes Restaurant = OCSR
Kodak Park aka Eastman Business Park = KP

Many Rochester Falcon Watchers were out this weekend, including our guest Watcher Ei. It was great having her visit again.

Over the weekend all of the Rochester Falcons were seen, Beauty, Dot.ca, Pigott and KPT.

The weather was very summerlike. Today the temps got up into the high 80’s (F) and tomorrow will be even hotter with temps in the 90’s. In this warm weather, the falcons tend not to be too active during the hot afternoon. Sometimes the Peregrines are way smarter than their human Watchers. 🙂

Last night and tonight I decided to check out Kodak Park. Both evenings, KPT was seen hunting from the chute that attached to the left side of the east smokestack. He spends a lot of his time on the east stack.

Tonight it was Joyce’s turn to yell out, “is that a falcon!” Well, yes it was! KPT flew in from the east and landed on the chute. He took off and landed on the railing of the red door on the east stack. Later he came off of the stack and headed towards us and over the woods to the west of us. KPT returned empty taloned to the arm above the lower catwalk on the east stack. As the sun was setting and it cooled down just a bit and he was quite active.

The evening was beautiful and warm. Almost perfect except for the June Bugs buzzing about. Dana, Lou, Brian H, Joyce, Lisa McK and I had our lawn chairs lined up and the scope was focused on the KPT. Everyone took turns taking a look. We entertained ourselves by telling stories of what Kodak was like back when they were doing well. One of my best memories was of all the great food and baked goods that used to be made there. Lou said they had the best Carrot Cake anywhere! Brian used to bowl at the bowling alley’s at Kodak Park when he was in school. He and his friends would then go up to the cafeteria to enjoy the wonderful meals they would serve. I remember the delish cinnamon rolls. They would melt in your mouth! Ah, the good ole days. 🙂

It soon became too dark to see much and it was finally time to head home. I do enjoy my weekend Watches. Remember to keep your eyes to the sky, but make sure you have sunglasses on. That sun can be mighty bright up there!

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

My watch today started in Brighton (BS)  with Eileen(Dumpsterkitty) who stayed with me while she was in town the last couple days. She was hoping to meet Miss Pigott but she was nowhere to be found. We then searched downtown for Beauty as Dot.Ca (DC) was on the eggs but couldn’t locate her either. So we decided to check out the Irondequoit Bay for Bald Eagles and such. Bingo! I spotted an adult flying above the nest area and Eileen confirmed that it had nesting material in it’s talons. We lost it in the dense foliage where they have their nest.  We didn’t see anything else of big interest so we left to check KP.

Arriving around 1:00pm we could find no pefas at KP the sight of Unity and Archer last year. However we were treated to a show by a male American Kestrel who was hovering above the tall grass. He caught what looked like a mouse after disappearing into the grasses and flying back out with it. He proceeded to land on a wire and then took off to the south with his treasure.

We then made our way back to BS and this time Eileen got to meet Miss Pigott. Joyce was there when we arrived and Pigott was on a window ledge below the roof tree.

She then flew to another window ledge before DC came flying in. Pigott started whining as DC landed on the east corner below the roof tree.

Pigott flew off to the west side of the building and KathyO followed her over to the west corner near the scrape. Lisa joined us for a brief visit. DC was chirping  and he soon left to fly over to Pigott and mate with her.  Into the scrape he went chirping and chupping as she remained on her corner whining. We all missed that except for Kathy who had followed Pigott over to the west side. Pigott then  flew off whining and came back going into the scrape as DC left it and perched on the corner she just left. Pigott then started echupping. DC flew around a couple times before departing for downtown where he took over egg incubating duties from Beauty. Lisa left as Joyce,KathyO,Eileen and I took off for downtown. As we arrived on the Broad St. bridge the Beautyful one was on the top ibeam southeast side of the OCSR.

That’s about all she wrote for this watch. Eileen left to go home having had a busy couple days. She saw many falcons in Canada and 3 here in Rochester of which had her smiling a lot! 🙂

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Eileen(Dumpsterkitty) came to town to join Joyce and I for the banding of Linn and Reubens chicks at the Yellow Pages site in Canada. We first stopped at the Burlington Bridge site where the 3 boys there should be fledging any day. Sue and Bill were there and were fearful that Cirrus the resident female might have injured herself on Tuesday. They said her behavior had been odd and she seemed to have a sore leg. We will keep a positive thought for that situation.

We saw only one youngin’ who seemed ready to fledge. We didn’t stay long for we had to get to the banding event, so we said goodbye and headed out for the Yellow Pages site. Linn and Reuben were watching over their nest  together as there kids were taken for getting some bling on their legs.

May I introduce the all male family of Linn and Reuben. Panagiotis-R/41 with blue tape, Albus-R/43 with green tape and Eagan-R/44 with red tape.

We left to get a bite to eat with Mark and Marion Nash after the event before heading out to see Quest and the gang. When we arrived at Harlequin the whole family was present.

Click on the pic for full version-Quest is on the corner of the building and Kendal on column near nest

These babes were just banded on Monday as little white puffballs and look at them now only 4 days later!

Again click on the pic for full version

Kendal is the ever elusive one as he left almost immediately after we arrived therefore I only have the one pic of him. I have plenty of our girl Quest though and she was looking especially lovely on this visit!

We enjoyed our time with Quest and her little ones and hated to go but it was getting late and we wanted to check the Sheraton in downtown Toronto where Rhea Mae and Tiago are raising 4 babies. At first there was 1 lone chick on the far end of the runway but business picked up when both adults flew in and gave us a little show before departing. At least 2 more and possibly 3 showed themselves on the ledge giving us a wonderful ending to our falcon watch.

We left Toronto stopping by the Canadian side of Niagara Falls to check them out all lit up in the night and were treated to a fireworks display as well! Eileen was very happy to have seen the 3 female offspring of Mariah and Kaver for the first time at their nesting sites and all 3 of us came home tired but smiling! 🙂

Check out the links below for a photo album and a few short videos of the day

http://pix.kg/p/857167006213%3A54049253/scl

http://youtu.be/X3gxBE7aG1o

http://youtu.be/LvfBTQH5RrU

http://youtu.be/-ucKv1nJH40

http://youtu.be/spd-DiPlm6I

http://youtu.be/puiExBo4yBQ

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Date : 6/8/12 (Friday)
Time: 4:00 to 8:00 pm
Weather: Another beautiful day in Rochester, NY. Temps in the 70’s and sunshiny skies.
Watchers: Brian H, Larry O, Dana and Carol P.
Places: Downtown Rochester (Times Square Nestsite) (TS), Brighton Site (BS) and Kodak Park (KP)
Peregrines Seen: Beauty (at TSB), Dot.ca (at TSB), Pigott (at BS) and KPT or KP Tiercel (at KP)
Beauty = B (Adult Female at TSB)
Dot.ca = DC (Adult Male at TSB and BS)
Pigott = P (the female falcon formerly known as SA or Sub Adult at BS Location)
KP Tiercel = KPT (Male Sub-adult at Kodak Park/KP – Not ID’d yet, but black/black band)
Times Square Bldg = TSB
Brighton Site = BS
Broad St Bridge = BSB
Old Changing Scenes Restaurant = OCSR
Kodak Park aka Eastman Business Park = KP

First stop after work? The Brighton Site of course. Always love to find Pigott to make sure all is well with her. I found her on the north side center section of the building. She was sitting in the shade on a windowsill, preening. It was very quiet and all was well. Next stop, the Times Square Bldg (TSB) in downtown Rochester.

I met Brian H on the Broad St Bridge (BSB) and yes, he was barefoot. 😉 We enjoyed the sunshine and warmth and all the activity on the river below us. There weren’t any falcons to be seen, since Susan C & Ruth both verified that Beauty was in the nest box laying on the eggs. We checked the area for Dot.ca (DC), but we couldn’t find him. After close to two hours, I drove Brian back to his place and then drove back to the TSB to check one more time for D.C. No luck. I was just getting ready to head over to KP when Larry O pulled up behind me. We both headed over to KP to look for KPT. At 6:38 pm, Donna reported that there was a shift change on the eggs at the TSB. B out and D.C. in.

We arrived at KP around 6:30 pm. Larry only remained a short while, but I stayed, determined to see the KP Tiercel (KPT). Finally at 7:00 pm, I spotted KPT up on the chute that goes into the east stack. He may have been there the whole time! He took off and returned, landing on the center of the top chute. It looked like he was eating and I verified that he was with the scope. At 7:20 pm, he was finished eating and had a very full crop. I continued to watch him through the scope. This definitely was the young sub-adult Tiercel (male) with the black over black band. Way too far for me to get any details from the bands. At 7:30 pm, he took off and I lost him. I believe he went around to the north side of the building.

Dana joined me just after KPT left and we chatted for awhile before calling it a day. What a day it was, with all four Rochester Falcons seen and spending time with good friends too!

This weekend is going to be a warm one. Just perfect for going outside and keeping your eyes to the sky!