By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

It started raining this afternoon, pouring rain with thunder and lightning.  Due to the heavy rains, I decided to head home for some dinner before attempting to drive downtown.  We really did need the rain, but I really wanted to head out for a Falcon Watch.  lol  At 6:30 pm, the rain lessened a bit.  This was my chance to at least check things out.  See if I could find our Falcons.

There was a lot of flooding on the roads leading to long lines of bumper to bumper traffic. Thankfully, the problems were all on the north bound traffic.  I was heading south and east.  I first checked out the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT).  Nothing there.  I decided to head down to to Broad St next, but west of the Times Square Bldg (TSB).  I immediately saw a small, very wet falcon sitting on the Widows Walk railing, west side.  Due to size, I thought this was definitely a male.  But was it Dot.ca or Orion.  I couldn’t tell for sure.  It was to dark, it was starting to rain harder again and the bird was soaking wet, making it tough to know if it was an adult or juvie.  I parked my car and watched this falcon look every which way.  Starlings and Pigeons were in this falcon’s airspace, and he was very interested.

Starlings covered the old church on the west side of the Widow’s Walk, which is on the NW side of the TSB.

At 7:00 pm, the falcon spread his wings and took off, fast!  He was heading south east.  By the time I arrived at the Broad St Bridge, the falcon was out of sight.  While I was tweeting this, I was joined by Kathy O.  We stood on the bridge looking at the high waters of the river below.  All the rain caused it to swell and there weren’t very many places for the ducks, geese and gulls to rest out of the water.  I saw no herons at all, after seeing so many over the past couple weeks.  We both searched the fog shrouded buildings (I could not see the top of the Xerox bldg), we finally found the male falcon high up on the jail communication tower.  As it started to pour he stooped off heading south over the Cornhill area.  We never did see him come back up.  Kathy and I ran to our cars to wait out the rain.  Kathy decided to check out the FCT and I headed downtown to search the buildings there.

From the Geva Theater parking lot, I spotted a larger falcon sitting on the south side of the HSBC building below the railing.  This was a large, very drenched, female.  Had to be Beauty.  I watched her for a little while, but she didn’t look like she was going anywhere soon, so I returned to the BSB where I met up with Joyce.  Just before she arrived, I spotted a small falcon very low in the framework of the jail communication tower.

I decided to put my camera away since we were standing out in the rain and it was really starting to get dark.  My camera at this point was pretty much useless.  Joyce and I stood in the rain on the BSB and watched as the male low on the jail communication tower spread his wings and took off, again stooping to the south over Cornhill.  After a few seconds out of our view, he veered back towards us and flew directly over us, cutting back towards Mercury.  We really thought he was going to land there, but at the last minute, the landing gear were pulled up and the near landing quickly turned into a stoop down low over the river.  He chased a small bird across the river, and we lost him behind the trees at Aqueduct Park.  He reappeared with nothing clutched in his talons and flew up to the 2nd Ibeam down on the OCSR.  In the dark, we could just barely make him out.  By this time we were fairly certain we had been watching Orion practicing his hunting skills.  We didn’t have a positive ID, but due to size and behavior, we were pretty sure it was him.

Kathy O rejoined us.  She had no Falcons on the FCT.  After a few moments of standing in the rain and chatting, we decided to call it a night.  On the way home, I drove closer to the OCSR, but I still couldn’t confirm that Orion was up there.  As always, I checked out KP, but had no luck finding KPT.  Joyce told me she stopped at BS on the way downtown and could not find Pigott.

Even Falcon Watching on a dark, wet evening is a joy for all of us.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day and all of the Rochester Falcons will be seen by the Watchers, who I’m sure will all be out and about and keeping their eyes to the sky.  You should too!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

For the 3rd time in a week I got past He’s chinese food on Exchange Blvd. where the statue of Mercury comes into view for me and Orion was on the base of Mercury. This my friends is a GREAT way to start my watch and my day!! Onward to the Broad St. bridge(BSB) to find Dan and Larry sitting in their chairs. About 20 minutes later Jeanne,Jeanne the dancin’ machine pulled up and joined us.

At about 7:00am Orion flew off Mercury over to the jail tower. I just love how he spreads his wings while standing and gears himself up for a takeoff!

All four of us were looking down in the river when suddenly we heard Orion singing and he was real close. Finally we saw just how close, he and Beauty were right above us as another hunting lesson was in the making. They had been flying to the north but they turned around and the Beautyful one went into a stoop down in the river with Orion right on her tail feathers! Birds scattered everywhere but she had her sights set on pigeons. When they went up river between the Court St. and Freddy-Sue bridges they blended into the background making it impossible for any of us to keep track of them until they came back up into the open sky. They flew over Cornhill and vanished behind the jail.

It was short-lived but excellent just the same to see the speed and skill these amazing creatures possess. Certainly enough to keep coming back for more!  Dan and Larry had to leave so Jeanne and I continued the watch looking and waiting for a pefa to show itself. I did spot a bird which looked like a falcon on the roof of the building behind the Times Square building at the corner of Fitzhugh and Broad St.

I started to walk that way for closer inspection but it took off as I got by the Blue Cross Arena and neither Jeanne or I saw what direction it flew. Jeanne and I had a nice little chat before she had to leave for work. I always enjoy talking to her, she’s a good listener. I decided it was time to have a walk around to see if I could find our most beloved Rochester Peregrine Falcons. I made my way to City Hall where watcher Barbara caught up with me. She didn’t stay long for she had to get someone to work but it was good to see her for a couple minutes. I checked the Frontier Communications tower on every side with no luck, but that doesn’t necessarily mean there wasn’t one in there hiding. I then checked from the roof top ramps of the Sister Cities and South Ave. garages. After unsuccessfully finding any falcons I decided to catch the next bus home as the dark skies told me rain was coming. So 4 hours after arriving downtown I ended my watch and once again just the smallest amount of that time spent watching falcons put a smile on this watchers face! 🙂

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Oh what a beautiful three day holiday!  The weather this Labor Day weekend was just about perfect.  Three days of getting up while it was still dark and joining my good friends downtown on the Broad St Bridge (BSB) for a morning of watching our Rochester Falcons.  It doesn’t get much better than that.  But all good things must come to an end and it’s back to work tomorrow morning.  Darn.

Well, I made the best of this beautiful Labor Day, arriving downtown at 6:30 am.  I joined fellow Watchers Dan S, MAK, Larry O, Jeanne and Dana.  To all of us, this was a labor of love, keeping watch over our Rochester Falcons and reporting what we see to all of their fans around the world.

Up until now, it seemed that Beauty and Dot.ca had joint custody of their young tiercel, Orion.  Every other day.  Today that changed and both were around.  Beauty started by bringing in a small package of food that she brought in near the old Midtown Plaza.  Orion flew up to her and flipped over to take the offered food.  Except this time, they locked talons and started to drop lower and lower.  We all thought the same thing, let go!  A piece or all of the offered food fell.  We lost sight of them behind the buildings.  Dana and I immediately started to walk in that direction to make sure all was well.

When we got to Clinton Ave, on the west side of the old Midtown Plaza, we found Orion happily munching on breakfast on the north side of the B&L bldg.  Well that was a relief!  He at least got part of the food.  We looked up at the Xerox Bldg and saw Dot.ca up on the NE corner, watching over his son and we were told that Beauty was on the FCT.  We met up with MAK and we all ended up on top of the South Ave garage.  Soon after we arrived at the top, Orion took off.  Of course.  lol  Dot.ca took off as well and the next thing we saw was yet another food exchange between Dot.ca and Orion on the SW side of B&L, where Orion landed with the food and had seconds & DC returned to the top of Xerox.  This all on the day after a successful hunt by O.  From the top of the South Ave garage, we could see all three Rochester Falcons.  MAK decided to head back down to join the others on the BSB, while Dana and I remained.

After finishing his second meal of the morning, Orion took off and headed out towards the west, then back over us towards the Xerox bldg where he knocked Dot.ca off.  Both headed NW towards the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT) where Beauty was enjoying a quiet morning.  That was about to end.  From the top of the garage, we could see all three flying around the tower.  We quickly let those below know what happened and headed down.  Jeanne, MAK, Dana and I headed over to the FCT.

When we arrived, the place was in turmoil.  We heard kakking and chirping and screaming coming from all directions.  Two Falcons were flying and chasing each other just SW of the tower and to me there was aggression between the pair, one large, one small. Orion continued to scream at the top of his lungs from somewhere on the tower while his parents bickered.  That’s all I can think to call it.  Something set them off.  We will never know for sure what it was.  The two flew towards the Kodak Tower and both landed on the east side of the launch pad at the top.  Things settled down after that.  There was silence from the FCT, so we had no idea if O was up there or not.  I did eventually find him on the north side, kind of hunkered down and quiet.  It remained that way for quite awhile.

I have to truly say that we all thought there had to be an intruding falcon in the mix somewhere at first, but we never did see more than the three of them.

Jeanne had to leave at that point.  Dot.ca came in with a very small morsel of food, which got Orion screaming again.  When Dot.ca landed on the south side of the tower, Orion hopped, skipped, jumped and winged his way over.  When Orion got to DC, he attempted to grab the food from him and a tug-o-war began.  I do think that Orion got a small portion because he looked like he was eating on the platform below DC’s position, continuing to cry.  For a long time DC had the remainder of the food.  Orion finished his small piece and came at DC for the rest of it.  I’m not really sure what happened to that small bit of food, but DC took off without it, so may Orion got it.

I saw DC land somewhere on the north side of the FCT and watched as Orion made his way over to him, screaming all the way.  That boy has a good set of lungs on him.  MAK had to leave and Dana and I stayed for a little while longer.  People were starting to flow into the downtown area for the Labor Day Parade and the surround streets were starting to close.  We both decided to call it a morning.  The screaming continued non-stop above us.  I drove down to the north end to take one last look before I left and found both Dot.ca and Orion sitting near each other.  I wondered at Dot.ca’s (and Beauty’s) ability to deal with the constant screaming from their young son while they were around.  When they weren’t nearby, he was normally very quiet.

I returned for a short evening watch, joining Dan S, Larry O, Jeanne, Carrie, Shaky, Joyce and Brian on the BSB.  Dot.ca was seen soaring over the Xerox Bldg and then flying over us to land on top of the jail comm tower.  He then stooped off, heading south.  We did not see him after that, and we did not see Beauty or Orion.  It got dark early and we all headed out at 8:30 pm.

So, another wonderful day of Falcon Watching and keeping our eyes to the sky came to an end.  What an awesome day it was!

Here is a link to my Shutterfly album with pics from today, if you are interested in checking it out.  No sign on needed.

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By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

On this Labor Day it was mainly about Orion as he was the most visible to me on my watch.  Arriving downtown about 6:15am I met up with Dan on the Broad St. bridge(BSB) as is the routine. He informed me immediately that there were 2 falcons on Xerox and as he was telling me I spotted a 3rd one flying  in from the south and vanishing behind Bausch&Lomb(B&L). Dana pulled up at this time as one falcon was eating way up there on Xerox. 10 minutes later one of them stooped to the south going behind the Rundell Library which blocked our view of  it. Larry joined us followed by Jeanne and Carol a few minutes later.

20 minutes later we watched 2 falcons fly over Midtown and attempt a food exchange. The food was dropped and both pefas(probably Beauty and Orion) with talons still locked together started plummeting down lower and lower as we all stood in shock and horror afraid that when they went out of view behind Clinton Crossings they might not have pulled away in time. It was a very stressful few moments until 1 flew thru and behind OCSR and another landed on B&L north side with feathers flying. Phew! None of the veteran watchers had ever seen anything like that before and a discussion ensued.

Dana and Carol took a walk toward B&L and Dana confirmed Orion was on the north side of the lower roof eating.  Larry checked the Frontier Communications Tower(FCT) and reported Beauty was under the platform. I then walked down to B&L and could just barely see Orion when he poked his head up.

Carol reported a food exchange on the southwest side of B&L and that Orion was eating on that side of the building as I was on my way up to the top ramp of the South Ave. garage. When I got off the elevator I saw that Dana and Carol were there.I stayed for a little bit then I went back down to the BSB to rejoin the other watchers. After I arrived Larry saw Orion fly off B&L and disappear behind the Dinosaur Barbeque.  A few minutes later Carol reported Orion flew back toward Midtown and that she and Dana could hear him which is always a dead give away that he’s around somewhere! Dana then reported Orion knocked Dot.Ca(DC) off Xerox and they flew over to FCT so all 3 of our downtown falcons were there at once. Larry and Dan had left and Jeanne had to get to work but she gave me a ride to FCT before leaving and Carol and Dana were right behind us.

Things got weird there for a while as we heard kakking (which is usually a warning sound) DC was chirping and kakking and Orion was singing when all of a sudden Beauty and DC were having a little scuffle. At the time we didn’t really know what was going on as we thought there might be an intruder. Then we saw 2 falcons flying toward KO and Carol said it looked like they were fighting as I was trying to locate anybody on the FCT. We saw what turned out to be Beauty land on the launchpad and then there was another up there near her which turned out to be DC. Orion showed himself finally on the upper north side beam on the lower red section of FCT.

All was quiet for a while until DC showed up with a small package and landed directly above Orion on the platform railing. This got Orion singing loudly almost non-stop. I wondered if he ever got a sore throat! lol

After a series of moves by both DC and Orion around the FCT inner structure I believe DC left his little morsel for a full cropped Orion.

My opinion of the whole aggression scene between Beauty and DC is that she was mad at him for feeding Orion since he is in training to catch his own prey and we all know how well they like each other dating back to their rough start. I thought we were done with the air fights between them but I guess it’s still right there ready to surface at any time still. It was a lot of fun watching DC and Orion on FCT this morning making me end my watch smiling!  🙂

Pics and videos below for your viewing pleasure-just click them

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http://youtu.be/Y3lO6_fl-BE
http://youtu.be/VvayQjAVzjw
http://youtu.be/sbc48f5TMpo
http://youtu.be/ZbBJ0G7Rma0
http://youtu.be/3Iz502pb660
http://youtu.be/xDAm6saQc2I

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Well, by now, you’ve all read MAK’s report with the exciting news that we saw Orion successfully hunt this morning.  Jeanne, Dana, MAK, and I were thrilled to see him catch his own breakfast this morning.  We all watched Orion come in and land on the base of the Mercury statue.  In the bright sunlight, he looked in every direction, but especially down below him where there were a couple starlings hunting bugs on the Thomson Reuters Bldg (TRB) below him.  He watched and watched and stooped!  Off he went, diving down the face of the building just missing the startling.  He chased the small bird north, but soon gave up on his pursuit.  Orion flew back towards the OCSR and then back along the front of the TRB.

Orion flew around to the back of the TRB (south side) where we lost sight of him.  We waited, hoping he would come out from the other side.  Finally he did.  He flipped around the north end of the building and grabbed a starling with his talons.  His flight took him over the TRB, this time heading south, over the Blue Cross Arena, back over the TRB towards OSCR and then back again, this time towards the TSB where he landed on the ledge just above the nest box but at the SE corner.  At first he was harassed by a 2nd starling and a very curious gull that followed him, wondering what he had and whether he’d like to share.  lol  No way!  Orion was not going to share this well deserved meal.

Orion the Hunter moved further in on the ledge and we walked around to the south end to get a better look.  Yep, there he was, and he was enjoying his breakfast.

We all walked back out to the Broad St Bridge (BSB) to watch from there .  Every now and then, we could see Orion poke his head up and then back down.  We all high fived each other!  Our little Orion was learning his lessons well.  Today was a huge step to his becoming a successful Peregrine Falcon.  We were all very happy!  🙂

There isn’t much to report from the evening Watch.  Watchers: Dan S, Jeanne, Larry O, Brian H & Carol P. (downtown)  and Joyce (out at BS location).  Beauty remained at the nest box the whole evening, until it got dark and she flew to the Xerox bldg.  We did  not see Orion, although Suzanne and Don from Ithaca saw and heard him on the Frontier Communication Tower for most of the afternoon before they had to leave.  This evening Joyce checked out the BS location and was pretty sure that it was Dot.ca she saw there and not Pigott.

I definitely plan on getting downtown early tomorrow morning and my eyes will definitely be watching the sky above me!

Here are a few pictures of Orion’s hunt.  1 – Shows Orion on the base of Mercury, where he hunted from.  2 – Orion right after he caught the starling, skimming the top of the TRB.  3 – Orion flying up towards the Time Square Bldg.  Be sure to click on the pictures for a larger view.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

When I rounded the corner from my bus it was like deja vu as I saw Orion on the base of Mercury like yesterday morning. Then as I started trekking up the Broad St. bridge(BSB) I didn’t see Dan parked in his spot. When I reached the middle of the BSB Dana drove up and parked and suddenly a Great Blue Heron flew in and landed on the railing. How cool is that?

What fun at 6:20am right?! The heron flew down into the river and a minute later Dan and CarolP showed up. About 10 minutes later Orion flew to the east having seen Beauty fly in and land on the southwest corner of Xerox. He landed on the northwest corner and soon after they both flew off behind Xerox out of view. Larry joined us around this time followed by Jeanne. Carol,Dana and I decided to take a walk to the east side and look for our beloved falcons. On the way to HSBC Dana saw Beauty fly around the building and disappear. No falcons on HSBC but Carol spotted Orion on the southeast corner of Midtown as we were making our way back to the BSB.

20 minutes later Orion flew off heading north, so we continued on back to the BSB. As I stood at the intersection of  Broad and South Ave. by Central Library, I took a look around with my binocs and spotted Orion on the roof of OCSR at the south corner.

Larry had left earlier and now Dan had to leave. Orion flew off after a small bird going around to the back of OCSR and vanishing. Carol and Dana left to look for him while Jeanne and I stayed on the BSB to hold the fort down as they say. I spotted a Kestrel which flew to and landed on the base of Mercury. He stayed a few minutes before he took off chasing a smaller bird out of view. Dana and Carol returned and so did Orion landing on the base of Mercury.

He looked to be in hunt mode. Carol,Dana and Jeanne crossed to the north side of the bridge to get closer while I stayed with our chairs and stuff. At approximately 9:15am Orion stooped off Mercury and caught his own breakfast! Now whether it was his first time to do this we’ll never know but it was the first time any of us watchers witnessed it. Yippee, Woohoo our little guy is all grown up! He flew toward the jail tower, back above the Blue Cross Arena(BCA) over the Thomson Reuters building almost like he was showing it off to us before he took it to the Times Square building(TSB). He landed on the ledge right above where he fledged to on the southeast corner and took his treasure to the back of it where we couldn’t see him to eat.

The girls walked down to the front of the BCA while I stayed on the BSB guarding our stuff. Every once in a while Orion would pop his head up so I would know he was still up there. Eventually, they returned saying that they could see him from down there. As we sat there watching Orion MarkB stopped by on the way to his office in the TSB. When we told him about Orion catching what we believe was a Starling his face lit up with a great big smile! When Orion was finished eating his catch of the day he flew off to the north. We thought perhaps to the Frontier Communications Tower(FCT).

We were all ready to head home at this point so before leaving we checked the FCT. Having no luck locating any falcons Dana and Carol left. Jeanne and I stayed to greet Suzanne and Don from Ithaca who had texted me that they were on their way to have a falcon watch for themselves. When they arrived we chatted for a bit and then Jeanne and I left for home. It was good to see Suzanne and Don for I hadn’t seen them in well over a year. Jeanne and I left downtown smiling for having had such a wonderful morning watch! 🙂

Check out my photo album and videos by clicking on the links below

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http://youtu.be/2VXajCd9f_8
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http://youtu.be/TrU0db2VxM4

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

No watch yesterday as I was at my uncles’ funeral but I returned to the Broad St. bridge(BSB) this morning with my mentor Dan arriving at about 6:15am.  As I walked up Exchange Blvd. after getting off the bus I looked at Mercury and saw a falcon on the base. I blinked and it flew off heading east. When I reached Dan I asked if he saw the falcon and he informed me it was Orion. A good start to my day seeing our upstart young Peregrine Falcon first thing! A few minutes after I arrived CarolP drove up followed by LarryO. Carol spotted Orion on top of the elevator shaft of OCSR.

At 6:30am Dana and then Jeanne came along to join the watch.  Orion flew off OCSR heading east across the river and out of view near Midtown. KathyO showed up just as we got a tweet from Joyce saying she had Orion over on the southeast corner of the old skeleton of it’s former self Midtown Plaza. 15 minutes later Joyce tweeted that Orion was now on the southwest corner of Midtown and now we could see him from the BSB.

At about 7:30am Orion left and so did Larry and Dan. Joyce joined us on the bridge and with no falcons to be seen we directed our attention to the river where we had a Green Heron who flew to a tree after fishing, an immature Black-crowned Night Heron fishing right across from a Great Blue Heron. They both caught themselves some grub.

Joyce took a ride and found Dot.Ca(DC) on the Frontier Communications Tower and soon after Orion joined his dad. At one point DC had a small package and wouldn’t share it making Orion get his vocal chords working. lol Eventually DC couldn’t take it anymore and flew to the OCSR top ibeam north side. Meanwhile KathyO left and Dana made friends with a young gull who landed next to her looking to get a Timbit(donut hole from Tim Hortons).

Click on the pics for full version

Dana and Carol left around 10:30am and then about 11:00am Jeanne headed out followed by Joyce and I. I asked Joycie if we could go check for Pigott before she dropped me off home and she obliged. I hadn’t seen Pigott in about a month and really wanted to get some pics to share with everyone since I had been hearing how grown up she looks now. Well we weren’t disappointed for Joyce spotted her on a west side window ledge. I grabbed my camera, got out the car and started clicking away! Boy she really has grown into a pretty Peregrine with the slightest salmon color on her chest.

I didn’t see Beauty or DC but I was smiling for having seen the lovely Miss Pigott once again to end my watch! 🙂

Links for my photo album and a short video look at Pigott are below

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http://youtu.be/IzJ3GKJsYKo