By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I was unable to get out today, since I was feeling a bit under the weather, but I’ll keep posting the tweets left by the Rochester Falcon Watchers that do not leave reports.  This way we get a more detailed look at what everyone is seeing during the day.

Tweets:

7:28 am & 7:30 am – Donna on RfalconcamNow – “Beauty on Mercury & then gone.” – as seen on Camera #1

12:50 pm  – Joyce – “No falcons or pumpkin roll at BS. Heading DT to pick up birddude.” – FYI Birddude = Brian H; Pumpkin Roll = MAK’s treat

1:30 pm – Joyce – “B is hiding again.  Birddude & I couldn’t find her, so we are off to look for other birds. Hope to find Black Vulture for Brian.”

2:40 pm – Dana – “BS falcon rpt- BST just flew in and landed on E side next to tree. P preening on NE roof.”

2:41 pm – Dana – “BS falcon rpt- Lisa, Lou and Dana on watch.”

3:30 pm – Dana – “BS falcon rpt- Lou and I left Lisa with P & BST both at tree level on the E side.”

3:40 pm – Lisa McK – “Nothing much happening at BS.  Going home to watch football.”

3:50 pm – Ei on RfalconcamNow – “Beauty has arrived.” – as seen on Camera #1

I just checked the photo archive and saw that Beauty left Mercury at 5:03 pm.  More than likely she tucked herself into the OCSR elevator shaft for the evening. Something she’s been seen doing lately.

So, many of my falcon watching friends were out and about today and all three Rochester Falcons were seen.  Yet another good day!

I invite any of the watchers that take pics or want to report anything to send them to me and I’ll be happy to post any of your pictures or observations in these reports for everyone to see.

I’ll leave you with a picture of Pigott taken by Joyce yesterday.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was dark and sprinkling when I left for my watch this morning. As I made my way onto the Broad St. Bridge I got a tweet from Donna(TY) that Beauty was on Mercury. I pulled over by the Blue Cross Arena and spotted her just as she flew off the money bag hand to chase pigeons to the east side. Beauty flew behind Bausch&Lomb out of sight. After looking for her I took a spin over to the Brighton location(BS) and could see Pigott on the northwest corner from the road.

She’s really much prettier than my pics show today as it was not the best conditions for picture taking. Miss Pigott preened a bit had a poop for herself stretched and brought up a pellet while I shared space with her.

As always click on the pics for full version

I had to leave for a while to visit with fellow falcon watcher Jeanne and her 2 dogs Bentley and Mariah as I will be dog sitting while she goes on vacation between Christmas and New Years.  2 and a half hours later I returned to BS where I found sweet sunshine but no falcons. I then went back downtown to find Beauty. I found her on the Frontier Communications Tower(FCT)-she was perched on the northeast cube.

Parked in front of City Hall I just didn’t have a good angle of her as her back was facing out so I found a spot in the parking lot by the Hochstein School of Music on Church St. where I could see her thru the support beams. She stayed there for 15 minutes and then she flew off to the north,doubled back and landed on the northeast corner of the platform. She went to the corner grabbed cached food and hopped across the beam a bit to where she started to eat .

It took her a little over 30 minutes to finish her tasty treat and then she flew up to perch on the east platform railing.

The Beautyful one stayed only long enough to clean up her beak on the railing then flew off to the east and out of my field of vision.

It was at this point I ended my watch. It was an all girl morning with our Rochester Peregrine Falcons for this smiling watcher!  🙂

I have provided links for a photo album and 5 videos from my watch below

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWrQ4A

http://youtu.be/_myjVxHloLk
http://youtu.be/hAiQgWY5dyQ
http://youtu.be/8jKnf7GlaPU
http://youtu.be/yBVnTiQ1zoQ
http://youtu.be/Ofa2dTBRn-g

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P. (With Pictures from Joyce’s Falcon Watch at the BS Location)

Tweets from me and other Watchers that do not post Watch Reports

11:10 am – Carol P – “Checked out the KP area. No falcons seen. Someday I hope to see one here again.”

12:00 pm – Carol P – “DT. I have looked high & low and had no luck finding Beauty. Onward to the BS location.”

12:20 pm – Carol P – “BS. No luck here either. Hmmm. There must be a pefa convention somewhere. lol”

3:00 pm – Carol P – “I have been back and forth between DT & BS and have yet to see a falcon. All quiet and peaceful. One more check thru DT and then I have to head home.”

3:20 pm – Carol P – ” BS. Finally! A falcon and I believe it is Pigott but cant be sure. I am happy now. Lisa here now.”

3:40 pm – Carol P – “BS. I will have to check my pics but I think it is BST on the NW corner.”

4:10 pm – Carol P – “DT. Beauty on Hyatt.”

4:10 pm – Joyce – “BS:  Still only 1 pefa on NW corner of bldg.”

4:30 pm – Carol P – ” DT Beauty on Mercury.”

4:30 pm – Joyce – “BS: While looking for the female in the trees to the southeast, I found a turkey on top of an evergreen tree.”

4:40 pm – Joyce – “BS:  P arrived with full crop and landed on the NW corner of the NW wing. BST glided downward and is now on the windowsill of the scrape.”

4:41 pm – Joyce – “BS: I think BST has picked his roosting spot. Waiting to see where Pigott goes.”

4:50 pm – Carol – “DT. Beauty still on Mercury. Freezing out here! All 3 seen.”

5:10 pm – Carol – “DT. 4:58 PM. Bed time for Beauty. She just swooped up into the OCSR elevator shaft. Night B! All 3 Roch falcons accounted for!”

5:10 pm – Joyce – “BS: P stepped off the NW corner and flew to NE nook where E & NE wings meet. She is on window 3 floors down. BST on E side. G’nite from BS.”

5:30 pm – Joyce – “BS followup: one last bed check – looked like BST was gone. Got closer look…he slid over next to column right in front of scrape opening.”

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Today I got a later start than I wanted.  Sun was promised today, but it was at a premium.  It stayed cloudy most of the day.

I started at KP at 11 am, then downtown, then the BS location, then back downtown, then back to BS, you get the idea.  I really thought for sure I wasn’t going to see any falcons today.

At 3:20 pm, I was calling it a day.  I tweeted that I was going to check downtown one more time before heading home.  As I was leaving BS, I looked back in my rear view mirror one last time and what did I see?  A falcon of course, on the NW corner.  I turned around and headed back to see if it was Pigott or BST.  It was definitely BST, the unbanded tiercel that is hanging out with Pigott at BS.  Lisa joined me for awhile and we checked the rest of the building to see if we could find Pigott.  She was not there.  I would love to know where they are going when not at BS.  Earlier in the day, I checked the surrounding area, but had no luck finding them.

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I left BST on the NW corner of the building and headed downtown to find Beauty, who I found on the Hyatt at 4:10 pm.  She remained there until 4:30 pm, when she flew to Mercury’s money bag.  Pigeons were swirling around over the river on the north side of the Broad St Bridge, and Beauty was watching from above.  I was standing outside my car watching for Beauty to go to her nighttime roost in the OCSR elevator shaft and she did at 4:58 pm.  The sun had gone down and the Pigeons were in bed, time for Beauty to tuck in for the night.

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At the same time, Joyce was texting from the BS location that Pigott had joined BST and that they were also tucked into their roosting spots for the evening.

So there you have it.  A very busy day for the Rochester Falcon Watchers and all three Rochester Falcons seen today!  Another very good day!

I’m going to leave you with a series of pictures that Joyce took this evening from the BS location of BST and Pigott and one special composite picture of the very handsome BST that she took earlier.  Thanks Joyce!!!!  🙂

TO SEE A LARGER VERSION OF ANY OF THE IMAGES IN THIS REPORT, JUST CLICK ON IT!  THANKS!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

My, but time is flying these days and so are the Rochester Falcons! I arrived on the Broad St. Bridge just in time to see Beauty fly off the money bag hand of Mercury. She chased pigeons upriver toward Cornhill but it was still a bit dark out and I couldn’t follow her for long. As I made my way to the east side to find the Beautyful one I stopped at Washington Square Park to check out the crows that roost there at night. Wait til you hear them in the video I shot.

Driving past the Cornhill area I stopped to take a pic of this pretty sight.

Click the pic for the full version

I only had a short time to watch this morning so I opted to check the Brighton site quick. I found nobody at home there so I figured Miss Pigott and BSB were off hunting for breakfast and back downtown I went. I spotted Beauty with feathers swirling all around her on the base of Mercury. I was happy to see she had breakfast in the works.

She was eating away when suddenly she stopped and kept looking to the south in a bit of an alerted state. You will see this in my video. I couldn’t see what she was looking at- from down in the hole (Aqueduct St.)my view is very limited- and then she took off  flying east with her meal in talons. That’s all she wrote as I emerged from the hole and rode around the city to look for her to no avail. Even tho it was a short watch it was oh so sweet to have shared space with Beauty once again. This my falcon loving  friends is my favorite reason to smile! 🙂

Click the links below for videos from my watch

http://youtu.be/Dbl9mCfuI3A
http://youtu.be/ks2JsLnqGiw

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Tweets (Mine and those by Watchers that do not post Falcon Watch reports)

7:21 am – Donna on RFalconcamNow – “And she’s off”  (I’ll assume that Donna saw Beauty on Mercury and this was when she took off.) – As seen on Camera #1

3:51 pm – Ei on RFalconcamNow – “Beauty on Mercury.” – As seen on Camera #1

3:54 pm – Ei on RFalconcamNow – “and off northbound.” – As seen on Camera #1

4:10 pm – Carol P. – “DT. Thanks for the heads up Ei! Headed straight for OCSR and found Beauty inside the elevator shaft on the north ledge. To BS next.”

4:40 pm – Carol P. – “So far nothing seen at BS. Just lots of crows passing through. Will wait a bit to see if they show up.”

5:00 pm – Carol P. – “At BS. One falcon just flew in and landed on the 3rd window down NE end.”

5:10 pm – Carol P. – “BS. Lots of ee chupping and number 2 is home. P & BST are home for the nite. All 3 seen today!”

5:20 pm – Joyce – “More echupping?  Staying together more?  Hmmmm… BST may have other plans than just being a winter resident. Going to get interesting.”

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I arrived downtown just in time to receive Ei’s tweet that Beauty was on the Mercury statue and that she had taken off heading north.  Thanks Ei!  That saved me a little bit of my precious daylight.  So, I headed directly over to the OCSR (Old Changing Scenes Restaurant) (for you M!) to take a look up into the elevator shaft and there she was!  Beauty was at, what I believe to be her night time roosting spot.  This time she was on the north side ledge.  bc questioned whether she might be using whichever ledge gave her the most protection from the weather.  I believe this is probably correct.  This really is a well protected spot.  Mariah & Kaver used it also and Archer & Unity too.

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Since Beauty was settled up in the elevator shaft, I headed over to the BS location.  I circled the building a few times and could not find any falcons there.  The Crows were gathering in the trees in the back and streaming though towards downtown.  I was close to losing daylight, so I parked where I could watch the area we’ve seen them go after dark on the NE end of the building.

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At 5:00 pm, I noticed a shadow up on the 3rd window down.  I checked with my binoculars and saw one of the falcons had flown in.  I believe that this was BST (the BS Tiercel), but couldn’t be sure.  I kept watching for Pigott.

At 5:10 pm, the air filled with the delightful sounds of ee-chupping. Two falcons were definitely up there, but I could still only see one in the darkness.  I decided to move to for a different angle and saw that Pigott was now up on the 2nd window down (just above BST), but she was tucked into the left side of the window where I couldn’t see her from where I had been originally parked.  Sorry, no pictures of Pigott & BST.  My camera is just about useless in low light.  Oh, and I agree with Joyce’s last tweet.  I believe these two are getting quite comfortable with each other.  For now we have to assume that Dot.ca has migrated.  We’ll be watching to see what happens.

So, another day with all three Rochester Falcons seen.  Another good day!  It’s the weekend and I’m sure a lot of the Rochester Falcon Watchers will be out and about looking for our favorite falcons!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Still slightly dark out when I arrived downtown this morning I found Beauty as I came up on the Broad St. Bridge(BSB). She was on the money bag hand of Mercury which happens to be my favorite place to see her.

Click the pics for larger version

She stayed there long enough to decide that she wanted to get at the pigeons over in Cornhill and off she went!

Not sure how the green got into that last pic but I like it! So I watched the Beautyful one fly upriver chasing pigeons over Cornhill unsuccessfully before flying to the east. She went over Midtown and disappeared so the Brighton site was up next. I checked around the building there 3 times without finding a falcon so back downtown I went.

Upon returning to the BSB I stopped and got the binocs out to take a look around the area. If you look to the Frontier Communications Tower(FCT) from the east end north side of the bridge you can see the platform and on this occasion I spotted a falcon on it!

Drove over to City Hall and tried to get a good angle on Beauty as she was near the northeast corner of the platform with the sun behind her. Not good for picture taking.

I could see that she was eating something up there so I knew she wouldn’t be flying off too soon.  I opted for a ride up to the top of the Sister Cities Garage to hopefully see her. The platform is a bit higher than the top of the garage so I wasn’t sure if I’d even be able to see Beauty. It paid off as she was visible thru one of the openings on the platform.

I watched Beauty eat for half hour until she finished her meal and flew up to the east side railing of the FCT platform to start the digestion process.

Beauty stayed there about 15 minutes and then flew off when I wasn’t watching.  It was an all Beauty morning watch for me and certainly cause to leave smiling! 🙂

I have posted links below for 3 videos from todays watch

http://youtu.be/eOgwD02YF9o
http://youtu.be/330FuKh-92M
http://youtu.be/B35Op_xwcSo

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Tweets:

7:10 – 7:12 am – Donna on RfalconcamNow – “Beauty on Mercury.” – Seen on Camera #1

12:45 pm – Shaky on RfalconcamNow – “Beauty is on Mercury’s money bag.” – Seen on Camera  #1

3:40 pm – Shaky on RfalconcamNow – “Beauty is on Mercury’s money bag again.” – Seen on Camera #1

4:00 pm – Carol P – “DT. lol I saw B on Mercury for a second and then she was gone. : )”

4:10 pm – Carol P – “DT. And just as I suspected. Beauty is up inside the OCSR elevator shaft on the south ledge.”

4:30 pm – Carol P – “At BS. Found P on the NW corner. Looking for BST.”

4:50 pm – Carol P – “BS. P just flew off to the south quickly and returned to the NE corner of the bldg.”

4:51 pm – Carol P – “BS. BST just flew in and landed on the top window where we believe they roosting and ee chupping filled the air.”

4:54 pm – Carol P – “Both on their assigned roost spots one above the other on the NE end tucked into the corner. All pefas settled for the evening. Time to go.”

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I arrived downtown at approximately 3:50 pm.  I had just received Shaky’s tweet that Beauty was back on Mercury’s money bag, so I headed right for Broad St.  I could see her up there with the sun shining on her.  I turned my car around to park at Falcon Watch Central on Broad St near Exchange (in front of the Times Square Bldg) and got out of my car to get some pictures.  She was gone.  Last night I got 1 picture before she left Mercury, but not tonight.  I hadn’t even seen where she went but I had my suspicions.  I was right.

I drove over to the OCSR building and looked up  inside the elevator shaft.  Yep!  There she was.  Beauty was up inside the elevator shaft, this time on the south ledge.  I believe this is where she is staying overnight, but I can’t be 100% sure.

My next stop was the BS location, before it got dark.  Pigott was on the NW corner.  I did a quick check of the rest of the building and had no luck finding BST.  Back to Pigott I went.

At 4:50 pm, Pigott took off heading north, fast.  I lost sight of her behind the trees, but not for long.  She came back and landed on the NE corner of the building.  I made my way to that side of the building to get a better view of Pigott.  It wasn’t long before BST zoomed in from the north.  Had she gone out to greet him?  BST flew in and landed on the top window tucked into the NE extension where we believe they spend their evenings.  They greeted each other with loud ee-chups filling the air around me.

Pigott ended up knocking BST off of the top window and taking it for herself.  BST ended up on the window below her.  Just before it got dark, I was able to see Pigott run to the left side of the windowsill and out of my view.  BST remained on the right side of the window where I could see him.

Well it seemed that I had seen all three Rochester Falcons tucking into there nighttime spots, so I said my goodbyes and headed home.  All three seen today makes it a very good day!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

This morning was almost a carbon copy of yesterday in that while I was looking for Beauty she appeared on Mercury and left before I got there. lol  I found her on the base of Mercury after she went hunting and brought her prey there to eat.

I parked down in the hole(Aqueduct St.) and took some pics and video from next to the Thomson Reuters building.  The sun was behind Beauty so I needed to go up on the Broad St. Bridge to get the sun behind me for better pics.

Beauty hopped up to the green part of the base with her prey before flying off with it to the northwest.

I drove to the Andrews St. Bridge to see if she went to the Frontier Communications Tower with it and just as I pulled over Beauty flew off the platform without her stash. She flew over to the northeast side of OCSR and landed on the top ibeam with nothing in her talons so I assumed she cached the leftovers on the platform. I then took a drive over to Bragdon St. where I observed the Beautyful one for a few minutes as she got settled in for a rest.

I opted to go check Brighton(BS) as I figured Beauty wouldn’t be leaving OCSR any time soon. When I rounded the back of BS and came around to the east side I spotted BST on the roof near the tree that grows up there. He was looking really good in the bright sunshine as he preened himself.

While I was enjoying his company Miss Pigott flew in from the north and landed on a window ledge on the east extension. She didn’t stay long before flying around the east side checking BST out and then coming to rest on the east extension roof.

Pigott and BST could see each other and seemed very relaxed as they both preened their feathers. Pigott flew back down to another east extension window ledge and then around to the front of the building before returning to the roof spot she was on before on the east extension. One last time she flew off and was joined by BST. They did a little flying for me right there before leaving the area going west together in a relaxed flight out of sight. They didn’t return so I ended my watch at that time. Gee, do you think I was smiling having seen Beauty,BST, Miss Pigott and the sun on my watch this morning!?  🙂

Click the links below for more pics and videos

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWrQaA

http://youtu.be/fBpITKow1UI
http://youtu.be/xLum3U5vsO4
http://youtu.be/l3fRmK6km2g
http://youtu.be/u-jIhwJX6I0

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Two days to catch up on my evening Falcon Watches.  First I’ll start with the tweets from the Falcon Watchers.

12/11/12 Tweets (Mine plus other Watchers that do not report)

7:22 am – Donna – RFalconcamNow – “Beauty on Mercury’s moneybag & gone at 7:27 am” – Seen on Camera #1

10:01 am – Donna – RFalconcamNow – “Beauty on Mercury’s moneybag & gone at 10:20 am” – Seen on Camera #1

9:50 am – Lisa McK. – “At BS, so far found 1 falcon on south side.  Still looking for other.”

10:00 am – Lisa McK. – “BS falcon watch.  Found both falcons enjoying the sun on the south side.”

3:50 pm – Carol P. – “DT. Beauty is on Mercury’s moneybag.”

12/12/12 Tweets (Mine plus other Watchers that do not report)

7:17 am – Donna – RFalconcamNow – “Beauty has just landed on Mercury.” – Seen on Camera #1

12:00 pm – Lisa McK. – “No sign of B downtown.”

12:10 pm – Lisa McK. – “At BS, 2 falcons found. 1 on NE corner of east extension.”

12:11 pm – Lisa McK. – “Other falcon on window ledge on  south side of east extension.”

3:12 pm – Brian H. – “I had a Merlin hunting pigeons right over my head and it stooped down 30 feet away just missing pigeon!”

4:00 pm – Carol P. – “DT. B is on Mercury’s money bag.”

4:01 pm – Carol P. – “DT B just flew up into the elevator shaft after I took me pic.”

4:01 pm – Lisa McK. – “At BS, both falcons found.  P just did some soaring as some crows flew by.”

4:50 pm – Joyce – “Both P and BST in the same roosting area NE side. Backs to us. One is 3 windows down and the other 2 down. Joyce, Carol, Lisa”

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OK, now for my reports.

12/11/12 – Tuesday

I arrived downtown at about 3:45 pm and immediately spotted Beauty on Mercury’s money bag.  As usual, she was facing west, looking towards the Times Square Bldg.  It was very cold and overcast, so as usual my evening pics are not the best.  I couldn’t stay long because I was meeting a friend for dinner.  I stayed long enough to freeze my fingers and get a few pictures of Beauty so that I could share them with you.  🙂  I left Beauty on Mercury just as I was losing light.

12/12/12 – Wednesday (love that date!  : )

Today I arrived downtown at about 3:50 pm.  The sun was actually shining and it didn’t seem quite as cold as it had been the last couple days.  I spotted Beauty on Mercury from the Andrews St Bridge.  I drove over to the Broad St Bridge and parked at Falcon Watch Central.  From there I would have the sun behind me, giving me better lighting than I was used to at this time of day.  I got out of my car and walked to my normal spot to get that perfect picture.  I put my camera up, looked through the view finder and ………… Beauty’s wings were up!  I clicked one picture and she was off!  Hahaha!  I quickly backed up enough to see the OCSR.  I was just in time to see Beauty fly up into the OCSR elevator shaft.  Well, that’s my luck.  lol

I drove over to the OCSR building and looked up into the elevator shaft.  Yep, there she was.  Last time she was on the south ledge, this time she was on the north ledge.  I took a couple pics, but it was too dark up there to get any kind of decent picture.

Just after I arrived downtown, Lisa McK had tweeted that she had both Pigott and BST over at the BS location, so that’s where I headed, knowing that it would be dark soon.  I joined Lisa and we watched Pigott on the south side of the building.  BST was on the north side.  Joyce joined us, but we were losing light quick.  Pigott & BST ended up very close to each other on the north east side of the building.

So, all three Rochester Falcons were seen today making it a very good day!

Here are a few pictures from today’s Watch.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Todays watch started off with some action. As I made my way down Broad St. toward the bridge I got a tweet from Donna(thank you) that Beauty was on Mercury. As I passed Fitzhugh St. with the Times Square building  to my left I looked toward Mercury. Passing thru the intersection of Exchange and Broad I spotted pigeons over Thomson Reuters and then there was another small group of pigeons over the Broad St. Bridge- that one had Beauty on its tail! As I pulled over to watch she chased them up river toward Cornhill then I lost them. Great start to my day tho!! The Manhattan Square Park ice skating ring was open for business with the freezing temps the last couple days.

I ran around looking for the Beautyful one to no avail so I drove to Brighton(BS) to have a look/see. I went in from the back of BS and saw a falcon on the south side vent at the east end of it with prey. I drove up closer to the property and pulled over to check it out. Pigott was the falcon and she had a pigeon that she was de-feathering.

Miss Pigott was really going to town pulling lots of feathers out at a time and then she stopped suddenly took a look around and started moving her meal away from the corner.

She hopped,jumped and skipped her way toward the middle of the vent and then she rested while taking in the airspace around her. A plane flew by real low startling her and then she started to eat.

I observed Pigott about 45 minutes- took a spin around the property to see if  BST was present which he wasn’t and left her to eat her meal and returned to downtown to find Beauty.  I spotted her from the Andrews St. Bridge-she was on the northeast side of OCSR top ibeam. For closer viewing I drove to Bragdon St. and parked right next to the Radisson Hotel across the river from her.

She had her back to me but she was turning her head my way occasionally to look around the area.  I hung out with Beauty about an hour and then I had to end my watch. I wish I had seen BST but it was a nice little watch just the same-beginning and ending with the Beautyful one and Miss Pigott in between. What more could you need to put a smile on your face! 🙂

Click on the links below for todays videos

http://youtu.be/XvtoaxI6twc
http://youtu.be/NekQySqBiBU
http://youtu.be/5OjkPPrmLg8
http://youtu.be/VbCmYuYLbdc