By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

After having a taste of spring yesterday, winter has returned in full force to Rochester, NY.  Talk about the winds of change!  When I walked into work this morning, I had a little help with 50+ mph wind gusts pushing me towards the building.  We humans may not like high winds, but Peregrines love them.  I hoped to see some high flying pefas and my wish came true.

I arrived downtown a little before 4 pm and found Beauty on the top I-Beam of the OCSR on the SE side.  She was facing into the building and her feathers were being whipped every which way.

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From where I was parked, I could see that the OCSR elevator was up at the top.

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After a few moments, I headed over to the BS location.  The sky was darkening to the west and I wanted to try to see all three Rochester Falcons before I headed home.  I was in luck.  Pigott was on the tree ledge on the east side of the building and she was enjoying her dinner.  BST was on the north side of the east extension aka their nighttime roost.

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I circled the building one more time and found BST on the tree ledge with Pigott.  He was just to her left and I’m sure he was hoping for just a little nibble of what she was eating.  By this time it was going onto 5:00 pm, so I left P&BST to their meal and returned downtown to see what Beauty was up to.

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As I was driving north down Exchange I saw a falcon fly up to the top of the Time Square Bldg landing at the base of the SE wing.

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I parked on the Broad St Bridge where I had a good view of Beauty.  Lots of folks were getting out of work and being blown across the bridge by the very cold winds.  I saw fellow falcon watcher Pat rush by on her way to her car.  Hi Pat!  🙂

Beauty took off and headed towards the OCSR.  She did her regular maneuver, as she swooped up towards the elevator shaft.  Wings back, talons out and reaching up towards the ledge and out she flew.  For close to a 1/2 hour, Beauty flew all over the place, racing with the wind, up into the elevator shaft and out.  Over the river, towards the apartments on St Paul, hover, kite, swoop.  Back over the river to the elevator shaft and out.  Buzz the south side of OCSR, fast towards the TSB, bank to the left and stoop on an unsuspecting Starling, missing it and continuing over the Blue Cross Arena.  The pigeons that had been there were now gone.  Beauty zoomed over me low and down towards the river on the north side of the Broad St. Bridge and yet another attempt to go up into the elevator shaft and out.

If you hadn’t guessed by now, Beauty seemed to be uneasy about landing on her normal spot in the OCSR elevator shaft, which was now occupied by the OCSR elevator.

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I sat back and watched this high flying pefa just totally enjoying the high winds before finally swooping up into the OCSR elevator shaft and remaining there.  From near the Radisson, I could see that Beauty made it to her favorite nighttime roost, the south ledge of the OCSR elevator shaft.

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I was happy to see her finally settle for the evening out of the weather.  Tonight we are supposed to get a few inches of snow, so back to winter we go.  Oh, well, spring is just around the corner.  Keep warm everyone and keep yours eyes to the sky!

Oh, and remember to click on any pictures you would like to see in a larger version.  Thanks!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Today the wind was the story as it rocked my car and everything else pretty darn good. It knocked out power for nearly 7000 and this is after yesterdays warm 64 degree day.

10 minutes into my watch I spotted Beauty on the top ibeam southeast side of OCSR (I mistakenly tweeted southwest side).

As I was making my way down to Graves St. where Aqueduct Park is located from the Broad St. Bridge(BST) she took off, so back to BSB I went. I observed the Aqueduct pigeons in fright mode near the Court St. Bridge then they settled down on the Blue Cross Arena. This meant Beauty was somewhere else scaring up pigeons, so I took a ride.

Turns out I should have stayed put for when I arrived back on BSB the Beautyful one was back on OCSR in the same spot.

Again I drove down to Graves St. and again Miss let’s play games with MAK had left the building as I was enroute! lol  Another couple trips around the windy streets of Rochester and some 25 minutes later as I sat in my car on BSB Beauty returned one more time to OCSR top ibeam southeast side. And this time she stayed for almost an hour before flying off to the south. She was fighting the very strong wind as she flew over me and out of sight. It would be a challenge for her to grab a meal on this day.

Along with the strong winds, snow squalls kept popping up on and off. After unsuccessfully finding Beauty I headed over to the Brighton Site. As I sat at the traffic light at the intersection of Mt.Hope and Elmwood Ave. I noticed how the wind was blowing the very heavy traffic lights.

Please click on the pics to view the full version

Arriving in Brighton a little after 9:00am there were no falcons around so I parked and waited. I was rewarded at 9:35am when I found Pigott had flown in and was perched 4 windows down on the northeast side of the building.

Miss Pigott was protected nicely from the weather there as she kept looking out on her territory. For 25 minutes she watched and judging by her crop she wasn’t looking for a snack. Suddenly BST appeared and she flew off landing on the southeast corner of the east extension.

Miss Pigott stayed there less than 10 seconds and as she flew off BST landed up on the ledge below the roof top tree.

A couple minutes later Pigott returned and came to rest next to him maybe 2 feet away to his right and she was shaking her tail feathers.

Make sure to click it

Miss Pigott stayed only a few minutes and then she was off to the northeast. BST remained but it was now time for me to leave. I checked downtown real quick on my way home for Beauty but couldn’t locate her.  The smile on my face as I left for home today was due to the fact that I saw all 3 current Rochester Peregrine Falcons for the first time since Sunday. 🙂

I have provided links below for 5 videos from todays watch

http://youtu.be/5OsMGs7reO0
http://youtu.be/KFVyamEtmVY
http://youtu.be/l4y8yptaZ9U
http://youtu.be/nGpK8DzavJ0
http://youtu.be/aTSVPJVnJoQ

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

1/29/13 – Tuesday 4-5:30 pm.

It was pouring rain, but that didn’t stop me from finding all three current Rochester Falcons on my late afternoon watch.

Smart Ms Beauty was up inside the OCSR elevator shaft on the south ledge keeping out of the rain.

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At the BS location, I found a drenched Pefa in the Pefa tree.  Pretty sure it was Pigott.

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Pigott returned to the building and I was joined by Larry O for a short while.  I had to wait around until 5:30 pm to see BST return.  After chatting with Larry O, I took one more trip around the building and found both Pigott and BST at the nighttime roost on the north side of the east extension.

1/30/13 – Wednesday 4-5:00 pm.

What a difference a day makes.  When I walked out of work I couldn’t believe how warm it was.  OK, you know you’re in Rochester when it’s 60 degrees in January, the wind is blowing and you’re like, wow, this is wonderful.  🙂

My first stop was downtown where I found Beauty on the OCSR on the top IBeam on the NE side.  I stayed with her for a little while before heading over to the BS location.

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Next stop, the BS location.  I found BST on the Tree Ledge on the east side of the building.

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Moving on, I found Pigott on the front (north side) of the building.  She was moving around quite a bit, seemingly unsettled.  I soon found out why.  She spotted a Red-tailed Hawk cruising through, heading east.  Well, she wasn’t going to just give the hawk a free pass, no way.  She had to show him this was her territory.  Pigott took off and flew fast, quickly catching up with the clueless hawk.  It didn’t take long for her to let the hawk know who was boss.  With no vocalization at all, she flew above the hawk and dove on him a couple times before he got the idea and high-tailed it out of the area, continuing east.

Satisfied, Pigott returned to the building and landed on a window at the nighttime roost on the north side of the east extension.  At 5:00 pm, BST joined her there.

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Well, it was time to head home after seeing all three current Rochester Falcons.

BE SURE TO CLICK ON ANY PICTURES YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE IN A LARGER VERSION.  THANKS!

Sorry to say, the weather will be anything but pleasant tomorrow.  The winds of change will be sweeping through Rochester, starting at midnight, with wind gusts of 50+ mph and temps dropping into the 20’s.  So much for springtime in Rochester.  Brrrrr!  It’s a return to the reality of a Rochester winter.  Keep safe and warm everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Not much to report on this balmy January morning. It was 59 degrees fahrenheit(15 celcius)when I left for downtown today. It will be short-lived for tomorrow it’s forecast to be 30 degrees colder with wind and snow.

I arrived on the Broad St. bridge at exactly 7:00am hoping to catch Beauty before she went to her secret place where we can’t find her. No such luck! At about 7:25am I spotted Beautyflying thru from the southwest. She was eastbound going over the Thomson Reuters building then the river and I eventually lost her when she passed over the Radisson Hotel. I immediately drove over to the east side but couldn’t find her on any buildings. While stopped for a red light at Broad and Chestnut St. I spotted her hovering in the wind above Xerox. I pulled over to try and get a video of  her but she kept going back and forth in and out of view. I then decided to go to the bridge to get out farther away so I could see more. I did see her for a brief second or two then she was gone. After driving around and not finding Beauty I opted for a run over to the Brighton site.

I arrived in Brighton around 8:15am and made 3 trips around the building and found nobody home. I checked the trees for a falcon but was unsuccessful so I figured on such a nice morning Miss Pigott and BST were out enjoying the warm winds. Back downtown to check quick (I had to be somewhere at 9:00am)for Beauty but I was unable to find her. And that’s all she wrote-I ended my watch with the memory of seeing our Beautyful girl in the sky above Xerox which most definitely brought a smile to my face! 🙂

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

This mornings watch was all about the heavy fog that inundated our fair city.

I checked the northeast corner of the Crossroads building to confirm that the remains of the dead bird hanging on the edge of the roof were no longer visible. I had a hard time finding Beauty this morning so after looking for an hour and a half I went to the Brighton Site. I found a falcon one window down from the scrape on the west extension but I couldn’t say who it was because of the foggy conditions.

That is the best I could fix the pic so you can even see a falcon. 5 minutes later just before 9:00am it flew up to the scrape window ledge and was now facing out.

Still I couldn’t ID who this was and in less than a minute it flew off heading north. I lost it in the fog quickly. I checked around the building and surrounding trees a few times but came up empty so I returned to downtown to find the elusive one Beauty. After searching around the city a couple times I spotted her as I approached the Broad St. Bridge from the east side. She was on the money bag hand of Mercury. I drove down in the hole as there was no parking on the bridge.

After I took a couple pics of her I checked my phone which had gone off to see that Donna had also discovered Beauty on the rfalconcam. It’s good to have people trying to help us watchers as they keep an eye on the cameras. Thank you! Beauty was in hunt mode and she soon spotted something below her. After sizing it up she flew off stooping down to the river and back up where I could see that she was unsuccessful in her attempt to grab whatever it was that she keyed in on.

Remember to click pics for full version

Beauty flew north behind the OCSR building where I lost sight of her. I had to get going but I left smiling for having found the Beautyful one! 🙂

Click on the 2 links below to view our foggy falcons

http://youtu.be/qQk_FXo7ZjE
http://youtu.be/GNFSzx1yiGA

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

A quick check for our falcons after work between 4 & 5 pm.  Happy to say all three were at home.  It was raining pretty heavily but I still wanted to make sure they were all accounted for.

Beauty was up inside the elevator shaft of OCSR on the south ledge.  Seems to be her spot at this time of day.

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Next stop the BS location.  I found BST on the front (north side) of the building.  He was on a ledge, right of center.  A different place for him.  I circled the building and found Pigott on the north side of the east extension, one window down.  She was at the nighttime roost.  Lately it seems she’s been spending time somewhere away from the building and coming in around 4 pm.  BST is spending more time on the building while she’s away.  Interesting.

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It was good to see all three current Rochester Falcons at home.  The temps will be warming up here in Rochester, up into the 50’s, but rain expected each day.

Yesterday Kathy O, Lisa McK, Dana and I spent  a few hours in Buffalo.  We wanted to see Diamante and his mate Gleig at Central Terminal.  Did you know that Diamante is a son of Mariah & Kaver and that he hatched the same year as Quest?  Did you know that Gleig is Pigott’s sister?  It’s a small Peregrine World.  🙂

I’ll leave you with a couple of pics I took of Diamante.  The first one is one of Diamante coming off of the antenna at the top of the building.  He stooped directly over me, going supersonic!  Wow is he fast.  He returned to the building with empty talons.  In the 2nd picture, he had a successful hunt.  We all watched, amazed, as he stooped off of the nest box and headed towards some trees not too far away.  Diamante made an incredible maneuver as he entered the tree line and snatched a Starling from a branch.  The picture shows him returning to the building clutching his prey.

MAKE SURE YOU CLICK ON ANY PICS YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE IN A LARGER SIZE.  THANKS VERY MUCH!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Just before I left for my watch this morning it started snowing and tho it hadn’t accumulated too much yet the roads were still slick and they got worse until it turned into rain later on. I saw some accidents as a result.

I arrived on the Broad St. Bridge at 7:05am and didn’t see Beauty on the top ibeam at the south corner of OCSR until 7:20am.

It was tough to see her thru the snow so I drove down to Graves St. There are no good pics today due to the conditions but how else would you feel like you’re right there with me right? 5 minutes later she was gone and I wasn’t able to find her so I went over to the Brighton Site. The snow flakes had grown bigger and were coming down harder as I made my way over but I was able to see BST one window over from the scrape window on the west extension.

I took a ride around to see if Miss Pigott was present but she was not. I find it interesting that BST is suddenly hanging around  the scrape lately because he’s almost exclusively been on the east side in the mornings when I am out watching. Perhaps the hormones have started to get them into the mating and nesting season already. Seems early but that’s why we observe them-to learn about their behaviors. The snow started to change over to little ice pellets and then to plain old rain so I was able to get a better pic of BST.

He was sleepy so I left him to return downtown. I found Beauty on the OCSR building top ibeam on the northwest side. I haven’t seen her on that side since last summer/fall.

I left the Beautyful one to meet with June Summers- president of the Genesee Valley Audubon Society(GVAS) to show her the location of the dead bird on the Crossroads building. When she speaks to Jenny Landry our local Department of Environment and Conservation(DEC) biologist about the bird she is going to request that if they retrieve it we be notified of their findings.The remains are still hanging off the edge up there but we are due for some strong winds later this week so it may get blown off. Stay tuned!

After our meeting I went looking for Beauty before ending my watch. I found her napping with her head tucked into her wing, still on the northwest side of OCSR top ibeam.

Keep smiling falcon nation! 🙂

Click on the links below for 3 videos

http://youtu.be/_caTe66p8R0
http://youtu.be/dU6gLdVGES8
http://youtu.be/_q53nh0qNs0

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Well today went a lot different than I would have ever imagined but nature is like that don’t ya know! I arrived downtown about 7:10am hoping Beauty didn’t get up early again today. As I sat on the Broad St. Bridge(BSB) looking for her the Aqueduct pigeons came flying up from under the bridge in their usual fast manner about a half dozen at a time coming to settle on the Blue Cross Arena roof telling me that the Beautyful one was not in the immediate area. Ok so where was she off to already-that is the question every day that she goes to her secret place where none of us can find her. 20 minutes later as I was scanning the roof tops I spotted something on the northeast corner of the Crossroads building. It was 7:38am and still a bit dark out and the distance was too far for a positive ID but at first glance I thought it was cached prey. I took pics from the BSB,Andrews St. Bridge,Bragdon St. and finally Graves St. which is right by Aqueduct Park. Each pic looked more and more like a pefa to me and when I zoomed the last one and saw the big yellow foot my heart sank!

I broke out in a sweat and felt nauseous thinking it was Beauty. I made a few calls and waited – pacing back and forth, looking up at that corner,talking to myself with tears in my eyes. KathyO,Lisa,Dana and CarolP were about to leave for Buffalo to see Diamante at Central Terminal but they came down to check things out first. Luckily they found Beauty on Widows Walk eating and let me know. I went over there, immediately got out the car, took a pic and was satisfied it was our girl Beauty breathing a sigh of relief and yelling ” it’s Beauty”.

I then high fived Carol and Kathy and showed everyone the Crossroads pic. They all agreed that it looked like a pefa. So who was it if not Beauty-maybe the big female KathyO and I saw on Lake Ave. yesterday or perhaps one of ours. The girls left for their trip and I went to the Brighton Site(BS) to rule out that it was Pigott or BST up there. Arriving at BS about 10:15am I found BST immediately on the east extension on a south facing window.

Ok no Pigott- I thought no big deal she isn’t always here in the morning when I am so I sat back and watched BST do BST things. He did have one little nap when I first got there but for the rest of my watch he mainly just looked around at his surroundings and preened. At 11:30am BST walked to the end of the ledge where the east extension meets the main building and hopped over to a kiddie korner window ledge across from where he was.

In the hours that I spent at BS I periodically drove around the property and looked for Miss Pigott- getting increasingly nervous that she wasn’t showing up and praying it wasn’t her on Crossroads. At 1:50pm BST made a move off the building flying to the back of the property and coming to rest in the tree I had seen him in a couple weeks ago(not the pefa tree). 3 crows were dive bombing and jabbering at him but he seemed unbothered by them.

After the crows left BST flew out to BS circled it a few times landed on a southwest corner briefly and returned to the tree. A while later he flew off and grabbed something small and as I started taping BST with his catch a man came out of the building and asked if he could help me. I said nope, turned the video off and pointed out our little BST up in the tree-I never dreamed I’d be an educator of sorts but I can’t help myself when people ask. Anyway the guy said I could park up in the parking lot if I wanted to so I said thanks and he was on his way.  After looking at my pics I think it looks like it could be a bat that BST caught.

Now about this time I was getting antsy to go downtown and check on Beauty who had been on Mercury all this time for any possible injuries from a battle. I left BST to finish his little snack and was happy to find Beauty in fine condition and looking Beautyful up on her money bag at around 2:50pm.

15 minutes later she spread her wings and flew off to the north out of sight. She flew just fine and her wings looked flawless!

Click pics to see full version

Back to BS I went satisfied that Beauty was ok. BST was still in the tree when I returned at 3:20pm. 15 minutes later he flew to BS landing on  the northwest corner of the west extension. Minutes later a falcon came flying in from the northwest knocked him off and took his place on the corner. BST flew over to the scrape window ledge and as I took a good look I was ecstatic to see that it was Miss Pigott come to join us with an extraordinarily huge bulging crop. So while everyone was worried about her she was out gorging herself! Fine by me!!!

Click it to see BST

Joyce and Steve joined the watch and after I chatted briefly with them I ended my watch at 4:08pm- almost exactly 9 hours after starting my morning watch. Sadly there is a dead raptor up on the Crossroads building but our 3 current Rochester Peregrine Falcons are safe and sound tonight and I am so smiling about that! 🙂

Click on the links below to view my photo album and 7 videos from my day

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWrUTg

http://youtu.be/bpKnsM9kn-k
http://youtu.be/iufozz93Ka0
http://youtu.be/wRTXM-oNTfE
http://youtu.be/eoHbNLwqZLo
http://youtu.be/EpPuA-wk8tg
http://youtu.be/4H1t0kfETYE
http://youtu.be/sB07alfNPXk

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

When I received Kathy O’s tweet at 12:50 pm about a big white chested, dark helmeted female Peregrine she had found on an apartment complex on Lake Ave and that it had headed northwest, I knew I had to get out and check KP.  This is the direction she was headed.   I was really excited to think there would again be a falcon at Kodak Park for me to keep an eye on.  Kathy called to let me know she was at KP and that she saw no falcons there.  She did see Big Mama Red Tail and her mate though.  Kathy also sent me this picture she took of the Lake Ave falcon with her Iphone.  Nice picture Kathy!

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It was 2:00 pm by the time I got over to KP.  It was cold, but the sun was shining.  Any day the sun is shining is a good day.  I checked the stacks from all angles and found some new white wash on the east stack.  It was below the catwalk on the NE side of the stack.  Was this from a visiting Peregrine?  Or maybe one of the Red-tail Hawks, although I rarely see them up there.

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I settled in to watch the area and scanned the sky above with my binoculars.  That’s when I spotted a Peregrine soaring high above the KP Complex.  It circled and gained altitude.  Higher and higher.  I lost sight of the falcon when it passed behind a plume of smoke.  Looked like she was in hunt mode.  I will definitely be keeping an eye out for this big girl.

My next stop was downtown, which was very busy.  Looked like the Toronto Rock Lacrosse team was in town.

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I checked everywhere but the elevator shaft, which I couldn’t get close to, but could not find Beauty anywhere.  Next stop, the BS location.

BST was there on a top window on the south side of the east ext.  Pigott was not home.  I parked where I could watch BST and Dana soon joined me.

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BST had his back to us and was very actively trying to hack up a pellet.  He had a white fluff feather sticking to the left side of his head that I just wanted to reach out and remove.  lol  He kept trying to get rid of it.  BST started to do a lot of head bobbing, which told me he was getting ready to leave.  Sometimes they don’t leave for a very long time.  🙂  To be a falcon watcher, you must have patience.  BST finally did take off just before 4:00 pm.  He headed south, not hurrying at all.  Dana and I watched him land in the Pefa Tree in the woods south of the building.

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He was only there for about a  minute before he returned to the building.  Pigott had also returned and she was up on the SE corner of the building close to the tree ledge.  BST had landed on the left side of the vent on the south side of the building.  They were able to see each other from their positions.

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Larry O and his dog Harold joined us.  They took a nice walk in the snow while we all kept an eye on P&BST.

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At 4:50 pm, Dana and Larry left.  I remained a bit longer to see if Pigott & BST would move.  They did.  Pigott moved over to the west end of the south side and BST ended up on a window on the west end of the north side near the scrape.  It was time for me to go.  But first, one more trip through downtown where I hoped to find Beauty and find her I did.

Ms. Beauty was tucked up in her normal spot at this time.  She was up inside the OCSR elevator shaft on the south ledge.  I was very happy to end my watch after seeing all 3 current Rochester Falcons, plus one high flying falcon at KP.

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BE SURE TO CLICK ON ANY PICS YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE IN A LARGER VERSION.  THANKS!

I’ll leave you with one picture I took as the sky darkened and a gorgeous, golden full moon appeared.  Enjoy the weekend everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

We were forecast to break out of the teens today-back to more comfortable temperatures. Sunshine and blue skies and warmer temps made for a much better working camera on this morning.

I arrived on the Broad St. Bridge(BSB) around 7:20am and could see no Beautyful falcon around but a few minutes later the Aqueduct pigeons flew up out of their slumbers. In their usual fashion they fly very fast and as they reach the top of the BSB they barely clear the railing on the bridge, continuing across the bridge to the other side and then they drop down out of sight. Now after that they either resurface to land above the Blue Cross Arena sign or they keep going south upriver with because Beauty is on their tail end. Today they had a different route because a school bus was in their way as they reached the top of the bridge to make their way across and oh my talk about getting your blood pumping to start your day. I thought for sure they would fly into the side of that bus, but luckily they all scattered in different directions and thankfully Beauty wasn’t behind them or she might have crashed too.  A few minutes later Donna informed me that Beauty had been on Mercury at 7:02am-I was still home brushing the snow of my car at that time. I searched an hour for Beauty to no avail so I left for our Brighton location(BS). I found Pigott on the northwest corner and BST on a north facing window ledge on the west extension 2 windows west of Pigott and Dot.Ca’s scrape from last year.

<BST     Pigott>

BST was doing his usual thing-sleeping with his back to me while Pigott is more active. She flew off about 10 minutes later heading east while BST remained.I drove around the property to look for her but she wasn’t on the building or in the trees so I went back to the sleeping prince BST. 2 more trips around and 30 minutes later Pigott returned landing on the southeast corner of the east extension-on the other side of the building from BST. Since he’s such a napper I stuck with watching Pigott as I couldn’t see both of them at once no matter where I parked.

Miss Pigott stayed up there for 20 minutes scratching, preening and scoping out her territory then she flew out and down to an east facing window ledge on the east extension.

She flew off and back to the southeast corner less than a minute later. I drove around to check on BST who you guessed it was still napping near the scrape. I was nervous about not finding Beauty after a possible 3rd falcon was at this location recently so I went back downtown at this time. I was unsuccessful in finding her again which made me a bit more concerned. Back to BS where both pefas were in the same spot as when I left-BST on the west extension and Miss Pigott on the east extension. I chose to watch her again since she was awake and actively preening.

30 minutes later Pigott pooped and flew off fast to the west.

<Click pics for full version

The star falcon of todays watch was definitely Pigott. In my opinion she’s the most active of our current Peregrines. I then drove around to the front of the building just in time to see BST jump off and fly to the north very fast. 20 minutes later KathyO joined the watch after checking downtown for Beauty and also coming up empty. We chatted for a while then after no falcons returned to BS we headed to the Andrews St. Bridge downtown to look for Beauty. Still we didn’t find her and we were both getting concerned. Kathy had to get going-she planned to check KP on her way home and I said I was going to check the east side of the city. 12:07pm almost 5 hours into my watch I breathed a sigh of relief when I found Beauty on the northeast corner of HSBC perched on the railing.

Kathy got my tweet and joined me so she could get her falcon fix having missed the pair over at BS. We could now carry on with the rest of our day. Not so fast-I had just backed my car into the driveway when Kathy reported having a falcon on an apartment building on the west side of Lake Ave. so I put her back in gear and headed over. It was located on the northeast corner of an apartment building across the street from the Brown Square Health Center. This location is about half way between downtown and KP. And this would be the surprise falcon of the day making it a 4 falcon watch for me.

I arrived just in time to click off a couple pics and a video which somehow got deleted when I switched to get a take off shot. I was hoping to see a leg so we’d know if it was banded but this  big female with a dark helmet flew away from me and all I got was her behind. Is this the pefa seen at BS or could it be one of the falcons seen at KP or one of the Irondequoit birds-maybe a new one passing thru. Here we go,I hope it’s not a bumpy ride like last year. Anyway now Kathy and I could end the watch and go home smiling for the time being! 🙂

Click on the links below for more pics and 3 videos from this mornings watch

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWrUKA

http://youtu.be/2EibtC1d9cI
http://youtu.be/iqfl5JQR3OQ
http://youtu.be/nT3-lampGOA