By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

After what happened at the BS location yesterday, I was happy to have a peaceful watch today.

As usual, it was cold and it was snowing when I left work today.  I arrived downtown a little before 4:00 pm.  After checking things out from the Andrews St Bridge, I made my way over to the OCSR and found Beauty up inside the elevator shaft on the south ledge.

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The snow made it hard to see her, but she was definitely there.  Since she seemed settled, I headed over to the BS location.  After yesterday, I wanted to make sure all was well there.

At 4:30 pm I found Pigott on the west side of the building near the area we call the nook.  Close by, was another smaller falcon on the south side of the west extension.  After checking my pictures, I am pretty sure this was BST.

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At 5:00 pm, Pigott did a whole bunch of stretching and a poop and she was off.  She flew a short distance to land on the window below BST.

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She didn’t stay long.   At 5:10 pm, I found her on the north side of the east extension, on the third window down.  This was their nighttime roost.

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Just before I left at 5:15 pm, Brian texted the following:  “Wandering BD. Falcon still in E shaft. Roads R getting slippery. B safe.”

All three current Rochester Falcons were seen on my watch, making it a very good day.

YOU JUST NEED TO CLICK ON ANY PICTURE YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE IN A LARGER VERSION.  THANKS!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Another cold morning as it was 6 degrees fahrenheit(-14 celsius) when I left the house for my watch. Our daily highs are forecast to get out of the teens into the 20’s after today.

Arriving on the Broad St. Bridge at about 7:20am  I waited and watched as the Aqueduct pigeons came up out of their night time roost under the bridge about 10 minutes later. They flew up to perch on the Blue Cross Arena so I knew Beauty wasn’t in the area. I then took a drive to try to find our Beautyful girl but I should have just stayed put for when I returned to the bridge she was on the top ibeam at the south corner of OCSR.

I parked over by the Radisson Hotel on Main St. for closer viewing and to make it easier for my camera to focus. It didn’t help much for the cold and dark overcast conditions made it tough to get good photos. I stayed there for an hour when Beauty flew out over the river and around the north side of OCSR out of my field of vision. I left to find where she went after she didn’t return. I found Beauty at 8:55am on the Crossroads building roof railing northwest corner.I pulled over on State St. just south of Church St. to observe her.

I decided since it was after 9:00am now and the banks were open that I would go hand out rfalconcam business cards(created and provided by Joyce-TY) and introduce myself as one of the Rochester Falcon Watchers. First I went into the Canandaigua National Bank & Trust who had called the police on Wednesday when they saw me parked on Graves St. with my camera. Explaining about the falcons and how we look out for them-I asked that they spread the word to their co-workers and customers as well. I then walked across Main St. to the OCSR building where the M&T Bank is located followed by the KeyBank on Main St. Everyone got the same short spiel and a business card as I told them we were sponsored by the Genesee Valley Audubon Society as well. They were all very appreciative to know about us as I also said that we were actually a good deterrent of criminals with our cameras! They especially liked that statement!

When I was done I went to see if Beauty was still on Crossroads. She was not but moving on to the Andrews St. Bridge I could see her on the top ibeam northeast side of OCSR with her back to the world. I drove over to Bragdon St. took a quick pic of her and then left to check the Brighton site.

I waited about 30 minutes to see if either Pigott or BST would show up, when they didn’t I left for downtown again.  Beauty was still on OCSR seemingly settled in so I ended my watch. Keep smiling everyone! 🙂

I have provided links below for 2 videos that were not always in focus-darn cold

http://youtu.be/yU7kje5MP9
http://youtu.be/xicYNsv-G8I

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I got out of work a little later than usual, so I didn’t get downtown until about 4:20 pm.  After driving around downtown, I found Beauty  up inside the OCSR elevator shaft on the south ledge.  It was very cold and blustery.  Nice to know that she has a spot to get out of the worse of the weather.  I stayed just a little while with her before heading to the BS location.

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At the BS location, I found a falcon on the south side of the east extension.  I thought it was Pigott, but couldn’t be 100% sure, since she had her back to me and I couldn’t see if this falcon was banded or not.

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I circled the building.  Finding no other falcons, I returned to where I could watch Pigott.  Before I could park my car, she took off and flew to the front (north side) of the building.  Of course I followed.

There were now two falcons on the building.  I assumed it was Pigott and BST.  Pigott was on the north side of the east extension, three windows down.  This is where they usually roost at night.  A 2nd falcon (BST?) was on a top window on the east side of the building.  They were definitely able to see each other.  All was peaceful.  I found a spot where I could see them both.

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This is where it all gets confusing.  I texted that both Pigott and BST were at the BS location.  Just before 5:10 pm, the falcon on the east extension that I thought was Pigott, disappeared from view.  I didn’t see her take off and the falcon I thought was BST on the east side didn’t seem concerned.  He was just looking around calmly.  I thought maybe she had scooted over to the left side of the windowsill.  Both she and BST seemed to favor that side.  From my position, I couldn’t see that corner.

Then everything changed.  The falcon on the east side took off screaming over me heading east.  A 2nd falcon had flow in.  Both falcons came together above the parking lot and they battled.  Talon to talon and loud screaming.  I truly hate that sound and hoped to never hear it again.  Once you hear those loud cries, you’ll never forget them.  This was a true aggressive battle of two falcons very close in size.  So either female and female or male and male.  By this time the sun was setting and there was a large, almost full moon above.

I really tried to take some pictures of the battle, but my camera was not focusing.  So, I just put it down and watched, hoping neither bird would be injured.  They slowly moved southeast and I lost sight of them as they passed over the wooded area.

One returned quickly and landed on the NE corner of the east extension.  I looked over to see if I could see a 2nd falcon on the building, but couldn’t.  It was only a moment or so before this falcon launched itself into the air and sped off to the east.  Fast!  I couldn’t see if there was a 2nd falcon out there or not.

After a few moments of waiting to see if any falcons would return to the building, I slowly drove out of the parking lot and in front of the area on the northside of the east extension where I had last seen Pigott.  There was a falcon up there, moved over to the left side.  Was this Pigott and had she been there the whole time?  Was BST battling another male?  I continued to circle the building slowly, checking every nook and cranny as carefully as I could.  Back out front, I checked the nighttime roost area one more time before I was going to head home.  Now there were two falcons up there, the larger one, Pigott, on the 3rd window down and a smaller falcon above her on the 2nd window down.

I assumed this was BST above Pigott, but by this time it was too dark to tell for sure.  She was very comfortable with this male, and this was definitely a spot that Pigott and BST shared at night.

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

It was 5:40 pm, and it was getting dark and since it was quiet, I decided to head home.  I was really happy to see two falcons there.

I really don’t know exactly what happened at the BS location tonight.  Did a 3rd falcon come in?  After watching the behavior of Pigott and BST over the last month or so, I do not believe it was them doing battle.

The Rochester Falcon Watchers will be out to keep an eye on the situation and we’ll report what we see.  Stay tuned!  Keep warm everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Rochester was a cold  snowy place this morning. Lightly coming down when I left for downtown, within 3 or 4 minutes a lake effect snow squall moved in and turned the air white so you couldn’t see the Kodak Tower.

Click the pic for a full version

From the Broad St. I could just make out the shape of a falcon on the south corner top ibeam of OCSR. I drove down to Graves St. by Aqueduct Park (where the crime of the century was thwarted yesterday :)) for a better view. I was really surprised the pics of Beauty up there in the snow came out as well as they did.

<Beauty before lake snow moved in and after>

I decided to move over to Main St. by the Radisson Hotel for that angle showing the Beautyful one in a whole new light.

I spent a total of 13 minutes with Beauty when she stooped off the building to the south down into the river between the Main and Broad St. bridges. Immediately the Aqueduct pigeons came up into view with our girl right on their tail feathers. They flew over the Broad St. Bridge and poof they vanished into the darkness and snow. That was the last I saw Beauty as I drove around to find her – I wish I could find her secret place that she goes to when we can’t find her. While on the east side I took a couple pics to give you a feel for the snowy scenario.

I was Brighton bound to see what I could see over there. As I approached I could totally see Pigott on the northwest corner of the building. I parked right in front of the building where I was out of the way of all the park and ride people coming in to catch their bus and clicked on my hazard lights.

Miss Pigott didn’t seem the least bit bothered by the big fat snow flakes that were trying to cover her. She was looking in every direction and preening on and off.

Pigott flew off the building at one point and circled around it only to return to the same spot. I missed the take off but I caught the landing.

I have to wonder if she was looking for her winter friend BST who was a no show in the hour that I spent at this site.I needed to get going but on the way I stopped on Exchange Blvd. by the river and Cornhill like yesterday to take a comparison picture.

<Yesterday— Today> Click on them for a full view

One last snowy photo as I was stopped at the traffic light at Exchange and Court St. before I made one last trip around downtown to find Beauty.

I didn’t find her  thus ending my watch about 10:10am. Call me crazy but a good snow squall always makes me smile! 🙂

Links for 3 videos have been provided below for your viewing pleasure

http://youtu.be/POXX1LFQKa0
http://youtu.be/LFiIAxOGs5Y
http://youtu.be/FiRXZ__uvrI

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

After a long day at work, I headed downtown, arriving a little before 4:00 pm.  It was really hard to see much with the heavy snow falling, but I tried my best to find Beauty and couldn’t.  Next stop, the BS location.

I found Pigott and BST on the north side of the east extension at their nighttime roost.  BST was one window above Pigott.

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I thought for sure they would settle in for the evening, but BST had other thoughts.  He chupped a bit, flew up to the top window, spread his wings and took off.  BST flew around the back of the building.  After waiting a few moments to see if he would return, I drove around, finally finding him on the north side of the west extension 3rd window down.  Now they were bookends, since she was on the 3rd window down on the north side of the east extension.  Too funny.  It was time for me to go.

I passed through the downtown area one more time and after not finding Beauty out and about, I went over to the OCSR elevator shaft.  The snow had lightened just a bit, and I’m pretty sure that Beauty was up inside the OCSR elevator shaft on the south ledge.  Here’s what I saw.

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This was my view looking north.  You can barely make out the Kodak Tower.

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and here’s a snowy wooded area I drove by on the way home.

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I’ll leave you with a few pictures of the Rochester Falcons from last night.

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

—Beauty—

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—Pigott and BST—

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Another cold morning in Rochester with a temperature of 7 degrees fahrenheit (-14 celcius) and a wind chill of -5 when I left the house at 7:00am. The wind was much calmer than yesterday so it didn’t feel as harsh and my fingers didn’t get as cold as yesterday! lol That being said, my camera still thought it was too cold for picture taking and gave me trouble focusing, so todays photos and videos are not too good.

So my watch started on the Broad St. bridge spotting Beauty on the south corner of OCSR top ibeam. I drove to Main St. next to the Radisson Hotel to view her. I just got started taping her when she dropped off into a stoop down in the river out of my field of vision only to fly back up empty taloned and headed southeast upriver. I drove around looking for the Beautyful one and found her back on OCSR about 30 feet further down on the top ibeam from where she had previously been. This time I parked down on Graves St. between Aqueduct Park and the Canandaigua National Bank and Trust-a favorite spot of mine.

Beauty and I shared space for an hour as I watched people go by with one guy stopping to ask if I was watching the falcons. I said I sure am and pointed out where Beauty was on the OCSR building. He thanked me and continued on.

The sun was shining very brightly upon our beloved downtown Peregrine Falcon adding to my difficulty to get a good shot of her when all of a sudden 3 police cars pulled up behind me. They got out of their cars with hands on guns in the ready position and they were looking right at me! I stuck both hands out of my window and asked if they were there for me. The female officer said yes and asked what I was doing with the camera. I explained and pointed out Beauty up on OCSR plus showed them a pic of her on my cameras LCD screen. As the 2 male officers checked the contents of my car she explained that the employees of the bank were nervous after seeing me with my camera-they thought I was planning a bank robbery! lol  I was then asked how long I would be there and told that they (cops) didn’t have a problem with me being there but that maybe I should find another place to watch from. I said no problem and left. Sheesh, what a girl has to go thru to watch falcons sometimes! 🙂 I then decided that Beauty was settled for a while so I left for the Brighton Site. Upon arriving there at 9:15am I found Mr. BST on the east extension 2 window ledges down from the top. He was wide awake checking out the airspace and preening his gorgeous feathers.

Today when a plane flew overhead BST had something to say while staring at it. I so wish I knew what he said!

About half hour later fellow watcher Barbara stopped by for a couple minutes and as I was talking to her she saw BST fly across the way to another window ledge. I couldn’t see him from where I was parked so I moved up and Barbara left. 

I departed soon after myself, checking downtown for Beauty before ending my watch. There’s a place to pull over on Exchange Blvd. by the river opposite Cornhill where I sometimes stop to take a look at the city for falcons. I took a pic from there to show you the view.

Make sure to click this and all of my pics for a full version

As I got to the Broad St. Bridge I could see that Beauty was still in the same spot  I left her earlier. She was enjoying the little bit of warmth the sun could provide on this cold late January day.

No Pigott again today for me but it’s all good because she has been seen in the afternoons. I left downtown thinking about my encounter with the Rochester Police officers and the thought of me robbing a bank. I’m sure you know that made me smile!! 🙂

I have provided links for 4 videos below-click on them to view

http://youtu.be/8GEodYugzYo
http://youtu.be/Tcw2n0prmqA
http://youtu.be/dhQzPL-jZzo
http://youtu.be/w-aaMIWmJDY

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I wanted to make sure that all of our current Rochester Falcons were coping with these bitter temperatures before I headed home after work today.  Between 4:00 and 5:00 pm, I was able to find all three, Beauty, Pigott & BST.

I drove through downtown first.  Brian had reported seeing Beauty on top of the Times Square Bldg under a wing.  When I got there, she had moved over to the top IBeam on the OCSR, SE side.  She had her back to me and was all poofed out against the cold.

Next stop, the BS location, where I found Pigott on a window two down from the tree ledge, near the corner of the east extension, facing SE.  I continued to loop around the building and found BST already hunkered down at their nighttime roost, on the north side of the east extension, three windows down.  Both were facing into the building and poofed up like Beauty.  All three were actively looking behind them, keeping an eye on everything going on.

It was so cold out, unbearable to be outside of the car for more than a few moments at a time.  I didn’t stay long.

On my way home, I again drove through downtown one more time to see if Beauty was still on OCSR.  Nope, she was gone and I had a feeling I knew where I would find her.  I was right.  Beauty was up inside the OCSR elevator shaft on the south ledge.  She was out of the cold wind.  Smart girl.

As of 10:30 pm on 1/22/13, according to the National Weather Service, Rochester is under a Lake Effect Snow Warning until 10 am Wednesday morning.  We can get anywhere between 4 – 8 inches, with low visibility at times.  It is currently 8 degrees (F), but feels like -5!  Tomorrow it will only get to a high of 12 degrees (F) with continued snow showers.  Welcome to the frozen tundra aka Rochester, NY in the Wintertime.  Remember to bring in your pets and don’t forget your backyard feathered friends too.  My feeders are filled, and I put suet out too.

Keep safe and keep warm everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

As I opened the back door to go on my watch this morning the cold hit me in the face and my eyes immediately started to water. 8 degrees fahrenheit is -13 celcius and any way you look at it that is COLD! No worries-my car started and by the time I got downtown there was heat coming out of the vents.  Just a few minutes passed as I was parked on  the Broad St. bridge(BSB) when I spotted Beauty on the top ibeam of OCSR southeast side.

I drove down to Aqueduct Park for close viewing as she was in hunt mode looking to and fro for a her breakfast to come flying by. 10 minutes later Beauty left when I wasn’t looking so the search was on. 15 minutes later I found her on the northeast side of OCSR top ibeam and she didn’t have a full crop so I knew she hadn’t been successful in finding a meal.

I watched her bring up a pellet making room for food. I believe it was too cold for my camera as it was having a lot of trouble keeping focused this morning. 25  minutes went by when the Beautyful one decided to take off to the east side crossing over the river and out of view as I was parked by the Radisson Hotel. I had no luck in locating her so I left for the Brighton Site. BST was on the top south facing window ledge at the inside corner of the east extension.

He was wide awake today and spent the entire time I observed him preening except for when planes flew overhead. They fly very low over the building and I’ve noticed BST always checks them out. Today 2 flew over us and his cute little head looked up at them.

I stayed for over an hour hoping to see Miss Pigott but for the second day in a row she didn’t grace me with her presence. I left just before 10:00am returning to downtown to look for Beauty. She was no where to be found so I ended my watch. I hope all 3 of our current Peregrine Falcons are able to grab themselves something to eat today so they can stay warm in this bitter cold spell we’re having. I left downtown in bright sunshine which didn’t do much for warmth today but it did put a smile on my face! 🙂

Click on the links below to view 3 videos from todays watch

http://youtu.be/fJ3ZafDxw-o
http://youtu.be/qdCeQM3AwwM
http://youtu.be/Wup0FdKBm7M

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Joyce (wnyfalconfan)

It had been a week since Steve took me on a falcon watch. We were able find all three peregrines in the brief time we were out. Beauty was in the same spot on OCSR north side as previously seen by Carol two hours earlier. Arriving at the Brighton Site (BS), Dana and Carol’s lenses were pointed up at the east side of the building. The tiercel (BST) was near the roof-top tree on the SE ledge and Pigott on the corner of the east extension. Pigott was the active falcon today. She moved within 8 ft of BST, flew around to the south side, harrassed some geese, and returned to the east side.

Check out the Brighton duo – click on link to my album below. As done previously, some of the pics have been arranged to give the impression of a slow-motion picture show.

Picasa (wnyfalconfan): Falcon Watch Jan 19, 2013

Enjoy!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a cool 18 degrees out with a dusting of snow on my car when I left for downtown. 10 minutes after I landed on the Broad St. Bridge the Aqueduct pigeons came whipping up from under the bridge.Flying fast like a blue streak across it barely clearing the railing like usual and down on the other side. The only thing that came back up was our resident downtown Peregrine Falcon we affectionately call Beauty and she had prey in her talons.  She flew above the bridge out over the river and coming to rest on the base of Mercury.

I thought Beauty was resting cuz she didn’t tear right into it but there was something out there bothering her as she kept looking up and around. For 10 minutes this went on and then she flew off fast without  her catch to the southwest toward the jail. A couple minutes later Beauty returned and still wasn’t ready to start preparing her meal as she landed on the money bag hand to look around and make sure the coast was clear.

When she was ready it was all business-flying down to the base and making the feathers fly.

Still Beauty seemed uneasy as she wasn’t fully into the task at hand. Just past 8:00am without warning she suddenly flew off the green part of the base out a few feet and back to the concrete part of the base of Mercury.

It was at this time that the Beautyful one started in earnest to pluck feathers and consume her fine feast. She had something to say to a gull that flew past and when she was finished she situated the leftovers in her talons and slipped off the base flying out over the river and disappearing behind OCSR.

It was just before 9:00am when I went looking for her without any success so I left to check the Brighton Site. I could see BST as I stopped on the east side of the building and the little cutie was fast asleep with his head tucked back into his left wing.

A little while later Pigott flew thru right past BST, waking him up. She never stopped as she flew north over Highland Park above the tree line until I lost sight of her. I assume she was hunting over there. The little man was awake and looking for her in between preening, sleeping and squawking at her and some crows who were in the area.

I waited  about 30 minutes for Pigotts’ return and left BST to his preening when she didn’t. A quick look before heading home I found Beauty on the northeast side of OCSR on the top ibeam.

She was just relaxing and looking around nonchalantly. I was smiling as I pulled away at around 10:45am for having seen all 3 current Rochester Falcons! 🙂

Click the links below for more pics and 5 videos from my falcon watch

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWrT8g

http://youtu.be/1_X4_ve6j3I
http://youtu.be/SK7PycfboT8
http://youtu.be/U1RebtwtOfk
http://youtu.be/f9c5yZja0Xk
http://youtu.be/QDtI2N-maMA