By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

70 degrees (F) 21(C) at 5am on May 31 in Rochester,NY is unbelievable but that’s what it was this morning. That’s usually our normal high for the date. As I write this report it is 93 humid degrees out there!

As I made my way downtown Campgee tweeted that Dot.Ca (DC) came to watch over the little ones while Beauty left and came back with breakfast. Thanks for the help! When I arrived on Bank Place at 5:15am I could see DC on the Mercury money bag (MMB).

Camp also reported that the Beautyful one left the nest box and returned as I had my back to the Times Square building watching DC. I drove up to the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) around 5:30am and joined Dan who had been there since 5am. He told me that right after he arrived DC tried to mate with Beauty on Mercury-whoa!  He also told me that Beauty had gone to the base of Mercury and returned to the nest box around that time. We watched DC as he did a little stretching and preening, occasionally looking down at some little birdies below him.

Dan spotted a Great Blue Heron (GBH) on the roof of the Rundell Library as we sat there taking in all nature had to offer.

You must click on my pics to see the full version

DC flew off around 6:30am downriver past the Radisson Hotel scouting for prey I believe and turned around to land on the base of Mercury. He started picking at the cached food Beauty had stashed there earlier.

Dan left at this time and DC walked around to the northwest side of the base where I couldn’t see him. I drove down to the hole to see him but he had given me the slip. I then took a ride up State St. to check the north side of OCSR and I found him on the north corner 2nd ibeam. I went over to Bragdon St. on the east side of the river to watch but he flew off to the north as I parked the car. I walked over by the northwest corner of the Radisson to have a look around and decided to snap off a shot from there to show the view.

I left to check our Brighton location at this juncture. Pigott hadn’t been seen yesterday and as I arrived there at 7:05am I couldn’t find her again. Hopefully a watcher will see her tonight. Donna reported as I was still at Brighton that DC was babysitting while Beauty went and got food. Thank you! When I returned to the BSB there were window washers in a cherry picker washing windows on the Thomson Reuters building south side (Broad St.) and DC was on the MMB totally unfazed by it.

As I stood there watching the action I noticed Beauty come from nowhere and fly up to the nest box. DC was preening and checking out his big yellow feet.

All was quiet in the PEFA world with DC napping on and off so I ended my watch at 8:30am. Tomorrow I will be traveling to Toronto with Joyce to represent the Rochester falcon watchers at Frank (Big Frank) Butsons memorial service in Toronto Ontario, Canada so I won’t be on watch in the morning. Keep smiling everyone! 🙂

Click on the links below to view a couple videos from my watch

http://youtu.be/ymB95ixr2Ks
http://youtu.be/oZSeOtjAeqA

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

The calendar says it’s May 30th, but today felt more like a day in August.  When I left my house at 6:30 pm, the temperature on the Rfalconcam live streaming video said it was 90 degrees (F).  I knew I would have to find a shady spot to watch from, so after checking for falcons first and not finding any, I headed for Aqueduct St, which we also call “the hole”, which was nice and shady this time of day.  Rfalconcam watcher Ei tweeted out that Beauty was in the nest box with the eyases.  Thanks for your help tonight Ei!

When I first arrived downtown, Joyce tweeted that she and Brian were at the BS location and that they had seen no falcons.

Kathy O joined me at 7:45 pm.  About 10 minutes later, we saw our first falcon activity.  Beauty flew out of the nest box, over us and heading north east over the river.  She wasn’t gone long.  She returned carrying what turned out to be leftovers from a previous meal.  I have no idea where she had it cached.

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Beauty flew up to the nest box platform and stood there for a couple minutes before bringing the food into the nest box to feed the eyases.

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Larry O joined us at 8:00 pm and 10 minutes later Beauty flew out of the nest box with the remainder of the meal she had just fed to the eyases.  She landed on the base of the Mercury statue and cached the food there.

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She returned to the nest box and all I caught was her wing as she slipped inside.

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We had not seen Dot.ca at all during our Watch, so Kathy O decided to drive over to the north side of OCSR to see if he might be over there.  From there, she found Dot.ca on guard on the Frontier Communication Tower, which is just north of the Times Square Bldg at just before 8:30 pm.  We could not see it from where we were watching.

At 8:45 pm, we called it a Watch.  It was still very warm and we were losing light.  I drove over to the FCT to get a picture of Dot.ca, but by the time I got there, he was gone.  I drove back over to the Broad St Bridge, but couldn’t find him.  I took this last picture of Beauty standing guard at the nest box.  If you squint, you can just make her out.  lol  Night all!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a perfect morning weather wise for a falcon watch with a starting temperature of 66 (F) 19 (C) with a slight breeze and a few clouds in the big blue sky.

As I arrived downtown at 5:20am I checked my phone for tweets from cam watchers Campgee and Annette that I had gotten while en route. It was reported that Beauty flew from nest box and returned at 5:07am then left again at 5:10am. Next Dot.Ca (DC) came in at 5:12am and was feeding the eyases. I was parked on Bank Place at 5:20am by the Philipone building facing the Mercury statue and could clearly see that DC was up on the money bag. Thanks for your help ladies-all accurate except for the last part. lol No worries-we don’t always get it right in the field either.

Yikes-no head on DC! lol  Please click on the pic/s to see the full version

I missed DC leaving at 5:30am so I drove up to the Broad St. bridge (BSB) and found Dan facing the jail tower in his chair. Naturally, as he was looking at me getting out my car DC left the jail tower where he had been perched at the very top as told to me by Dan.  So I pulled my chair out of the trunk and joined him as we looked for DC. We never did find him but our surroundings entertained us as Dan brought to my attention how the sun was reflected in just 1 window on the Times Square building (TSB). I liked some clouds that were the back drop for Mercury and as I looked to the east side the sun was rising in between the South Ave. garage and Clinton Square building.

I also caught a Great Blue Heron (GBH) landing on a rock down in the river near a duck. Mother nature always gives us something to see.

At 6:30am Dan left and I went to the Brighton site but there was nobody home over there so I returned to downtown and from the BSB spotted DC over on the top of the Time Warner Communications Tower (TWCT).

DC stooped off the tower and I lost sight of him but he showed up at 7:20am on the top ibeam southeast side of OCSR with prey where he started preparing it. He was off after a couple minutes taking it to the TSB under the northeast wing and then down to the nest box after another couple minutes.

Beauty flew out and back then DC took his small package over to the base of Mercury and started eating it. Donna had told me that Beauty wane food.

<Beauty coming in for a landing   DC>

DC ate for 5 minutes,then he stood there 5 minutes before taking off over the Thomson Reuters building and vanishing. I went down to the hole at this time and was able to find him on the east side of the Widows Walk.

Another 2 minute stop and he was off to the deck. I saw the Beautyful one come out the nest box and go back in thinking she took prey from DC.

DC stayed there until just before 8am, then he made a bee line to the nest box and his eyases when Beauty finished and flew off toward the river. She wasn’t gone for long as she landed on the Mercury money bag and quickly flew off back to the nest box.

DC came bursting out from the nest box and flew over to the OCSR south corner 2nd ibeam down. He stayed there for 5 minutes then took off flying very fast behind the Crossroads building where I lost sight of him.

Again DC lost his head lol

I found DC about 10 minutes later from the Andrews St. Bridge on the top ibeam north corner of OCSR.

I drove over to Bragdon St. on the east side of the river next to the Radisson Hotel for a closer view and watched him preen until I ended my watch at 8:30am.

Of course I had to smile when it appeared he peeked over his shoulder at me as I was packing up my equipment to leave! 🙂

Click on the links below for videos from my watch

http://youtu.be/ht9IJqoZQNw
http://youtu.be/LDbJgqbaQ1I
http://youtu.be/dTmwxYDlG5o

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Wow!  Dot.ca is a very busy tiercel now that he has 3 eyases to help raise.  Flying here and there.  Either carrying food or hunting or defending.  Sometimes just resting for a few moments, other times guarding his young, while Beauty leaves the nest box for a short period of time, never very long.  Dot.ca has gone into super dad mode.  Quite exciting to watch.

For the three hours I was on watch this afternoon, I don’t think Dot.ca sat still for very long.  I was joined by Watchers Kathy O, Joyce and Brian H, during my watch.  Probably because of “our” falcons being in the news so much lately, quite a few folks stopped to ask about them.

There was a whole lot of activity during my watch, a lot of flying, mostly by Dot.ca.  But Beauty got in some time out of the nest box herself.

Here are some pictures I took during this afternoon.  Please remember to click on any pictures you would like to see larger.  If you hover your cursor over the picture, it will tell you who/what it is.

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It was a fun 3 hour falcon watch with lots and lots of flying by both Dot.ca and Beauty.  Can’t wait to get out again tomorrow!

Good night everyone!  Remember to keep your eyes to the sky!  Lots of stuff going on up there now!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a miserable start to the day with thunderstorms, fog,dark conditions and a temperature of 64 (f) 18 (C).

When I first arrived downtown at 5:20am it was very dark,foggy and pouring of rain making it difficult to see a falcon. I drove down to the hole and could just make out a falcon figure on the OCSR building top ibeam SE side.I drove back out to Broad St. and parked next to the Blue Cross Arena where I could see Mercury and OCSR better without cranking my neck too much.

I knew it was Dot.Ca (DC) because Beauty was with the eyases in the nest box when I left home and nobody tweeted a switch.  He left a couple minutes later and flew to the deck-north end by the well. Donna let me know he was up there since I didn’t see him leave OCSR. Back to the hole again where I could clearly see DC just perched in the rain.

DC stayed there for 10-15 minutes and then he flew off out over the river and toward OCSR. He made an attempted landing on the top ibeam but didn’t quite have enough altitude which was no surprise since he was soaking wet and probably weighed a bit more than usual. He flew back out and the 2nd landing was successful on the southeast side top ibeam.

By this time the storm had passed and it was lightly raining-bad timing on DCs part for he should have been under the cover of the ibeam when it was pouring. I was parked on Bank Place by the Philipone building facing east where I could see the OCSR  and Mercury but with my back to the Times Square building. Donna reported that Beauty had left the nest box and returned with cached food for the chicks which I missed as I was watching DC. I drove back up to my spot on Broad St. and noticed fog dropping down from the sky like a cloud of smoke enveloping the top of Xerox and Bausch&Lomb.

Make sure to click on pics to see full version

I watched DC on OCSR as it started to rain hard again until 7:30am and then I thought I should go check on Pigott out at the Brighton site. I found the pretty Peregrine on the north side of the east extension on the 3rd window down west end.

This is her night time roosting spot and it was very well protected as she didn’t seem to be wet from the rain. There was fog at the top of the building a first for me at Brighton but it had stopped raining and it was all good for observing Pigott. She was preening a bit and looking around for birdies in the trees below her.

15 minutes later at 8:05am Miss Pigott flew east. I took a drive around and found her in the back of the building on the west end of the south side vent.

She seemed to wave at me so I waved back. lol By this time the dark rainy conditions were moving out of the area and the sun was trying to burn its way thru the clouds. Pigott flew off about 15 minutes later to the northeast. I followed her with my trusty binocs until she melted into the dark sky.

I returned to downtown and parked on Broad St. by the Blue Cross Arena once again,  finding DC on the top ibeam southeast side of OCSR and he was eating.

While I was at Brighton Donna reported that another feeding had taken place. These kids are not wanting for food that’s for sure. So since everything in the land of PEFAs was quiet I ended my watch at 9am. Although I didn’t see the Beautyful one myself  I was satisfied knowing she was up in the nest box with the eyases making me smile! 🙂

Below are links for videos from my watch-just click on them and view

http://youtu.be/WeuKdAK8rLo
http://youtu.be/L6oSmujXr54

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I arrived downtown just before 4:00 pm and just in time for it to start sprinkling.  Beauty was in the nest box with the 3 eyases and 1 unhatched egg.  Dot.ca was on the communication tower above the Monroe County Jail, just south of the Times Square Bldg.

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Soon after I arrived on the Broad St Bridge our special guest Barb from LA, MAK, Jeanne and Joyce joined me.  Since DC was no jail bird, he came over to land on the Mercury statue’s money bag hand.  While we were chatting and keeping one eye on Dot.ca, he took off and stooped down to the east side of the Blue Cross Arena aka War Memorial.  He flew down to a tree and  zipped up, holding something small in his talons.  We all watched as he headed towards the Times Square Bldg to deliver what we later found out was a sparrow to the nest box.  Beauty took the offering into the nest box and fed the young eyases.  Dot.ca watched from the platform and then flew over to the OCSR.  He landed on the top IBeam at the south corner.  This is his guard spot.  From there he can keep an eye on the nest box and the surrounding area.

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We decided to head down to Aqueduct St aka “the hole”.  From there we had a good view of the nest box and Dot.ca on OCSR.

It rained on and off while we were there.  Barb had to leave, but before she left, I took this picture of (from left to right) Jeanne, Barb, Joyce and MAK.

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It was very nice seeing you again Barb!  Hope you come to visit again soon!

After Barb and MAK left, Kathy O joined us.  Both Beauty and Dot.ca did some flying.  Beauty cached the food that the eyases didn’t finish, then returned to the nest box.  Dot.ca flew up to the NE Wing Ledge.

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At 7:00 pm, everyone decided to call it a Watch.  It was time to head home.  Just before we left, Dot.ca flew around the OCSR and did not come back around.  We all said our good nights and I drove over to the Andrews St Bridge and spotted Dot.ca on the top IBeam of the OCSR on the north side at the north corner.  Always on guard duty.

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Now I could head home knowing that all three adults had been seen today and that the three eyases were being well taken care of.

Good night everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

This mornings weather conditions featured overcast skies with a temperature of 56 (F) 13(C)

I arrived downtown at 5:15am and parked in the hole to start off my watch. Dot.Ca (DC) was nowhere to be seen for the first half hour.  I drove up on the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) where Dan was stationed in his chair. Suddenly we saw DC fly to the Mercury money bag (MMB) and Beauty fly across the river and land on the southwest corner of the Radisson Hotel. She flew off a few seconds later going to the MMB and knocked DC off, landing there herself while DC went over to the nest box. It all happened so fast we could barely keep up. Beauty then took off heading east behind the Rundell library only to reappear with prey in her talons and going to the base of Mercury with it. She  got to work right away plucking just enough feathers so that she could eat some.

After she had enough to eat the Beautyful one flew to the nest box to feed her babies and DC flew out to the MMB about 6:05am.

DC would stay up there for a while preening and occasionally looking around the territory. While checking out the river I spotted a Great Blue Heron down below the Thomson Reuters building looking to catch a meal also a pair flying north over the river.

At 6:40am DC  flew to the Times Square building (TSB) landing on the column across from the nest box where Orion and Jemison fledged to.

He stayed there only a few minutes before taking off across the river above Dan and I to the east side and then turning back to land once more on the MMB.

Remember to always click on pics to view full version

DC quickly left Mercury and flew downriver past the Radisson Hotel and disappeared near the Andrews Place apartments only to reappear with a pigeon in tow coming to rest on the top ibeam southeast side of OCSR.

This was the first time I’d seen DC carry a pigeon almost his size and I must tell you he is one strong, impressive tiercel. It was 7am and Dan decided it was time to leave so I drove down to the hole and while I was on my way down there DC left OCSR. I thought maybe he went to the nest box to feed the family but cam watchers Donna and Campgee let me know he didn’t. Thanks ladies! It’s so helpful to have this tool when you’re out in the field. I don’t know where DC went with his large catch but he showed up under the northeast wing of the TSB about a half hour later.

I left for the Brighton site arriving about 8am finding Pigott on the west end of the south side vent where she was working hard on preening her wing feathers with a full crop I might add.

She roused (shook her feathers) a couple times and spread out her tail feathers giving me a nice display.

Soon after I got settled in to share space with Miss Pigott I got a phone call from GVAS president June Summers asking if I could meet with Wendy from YNN news on the BSB for an interview about our falcons. I left for downtown to give my 3rd interview to a local news station in the past couple years. This kind of exposure is a very good thing for us to make people aware of our local Peregrines. DC showed up on OCSR toward the end of the interview so I was able to point him out to the camera man Tim. As the interview wound down it began to rain so we wrapped it up. lol

As I drove down to the hole to see DC closer I saw Beauty fly over to OCSR with prey to the OCSR 2nd ibeam. When I got to the hole and parked Beauty was on the main cam and then she went down to the nest box. DC was eating on the 2nd ibeam near the south corner of OCSR. I ended my watch at 9am with much to smile about on this day! 🙂

Click on the links below for more pics and videos

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqiFO

http://youtu.be/Y9i-F4rewoI
http://youtu.be/1qWU9C4fhLE
http://youtu.be/rkvoPMvkYVw
http://youtu.be/Jup8MKFatvc
http://youtu.be/7vJD8A9STK0

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Let us never forget those who gave all for us to have our freedoms…

Todays starting temperature was 42 (F) 6 (C) with a slight breeze and bright sunshine !

I started the day once more watching a feeding as Campgee tweeted that Beauty had left and come right back with their breakfast just before 5am. Thank you Miss early rising cam watcher!  Dot.Ca (DC) showed up on deck to watch and then I left for downtown. While enroute Camp reported that DC had food and wanted to feed his little fluff balls but they were too full. When I arrived at 5:18am DC was on the south corner top ibeam of OCSR.

DC flew off when I wasn’t looking so I left the hole (Aqueduct St.) and drove up to the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) to look for him. I found Dan who said that DC flew west. He also said that DC came out from the nest box area and dive bombed 4-5 crows near the river in front of the Rochester Convention Center. I told him of the other 2 hatches that took place since I saw him last and he was very happy and wanted to know when we expected the last egg to hatch. I told him so far there are no obvious pips so we might be done and he said “darn I want 4”! lol  DC was nowhere in sight and Dan was cold from sitting on the bridge since 5:05am so he opted to go home and warm up and I left for the Brighton site (BS). I arrived at BS just before 6:30am and found Pigott right away as she was in the front of the building (north side) on the west extension top window northwest end.

At first I thought I saw a prey wing under her but it turned out to be hers. lol I thought it strange that she was on this side of the building since I haven’t seen her there in weeks but she seemed fine preening for the most part. I actually caught her catching a wink a couple times which is rare for her as well. And she also would look at the trees below her for a possible bird to catch.

Around 6:45am Donna told me that DC had gone to the nest box with food and Beauty took it somewhere to cache it and returned immediately to her little family. Thanks a lot D! I shared space with Miss Pigott for a little over 2 hours and at one point she did some stretching and I thought she would take off but never did leave that window ledge.

There was a mockingbird somewhere nearby singing his melody of tunes and couple of squirrels were entertaining me as they chased each other under my car.

I left Pigott at 8:40am to check downtown for DC but I was unable to locate him. The city police were starting to block off the side roads surrounding Main St. in preparation for the Memorial Day Parade to take place at 10:30am so I decided to call it a watch at just before 9am. I didn’t see a whole lot of action but what I did see gave cause to smile! 🙂

2 links below for videos just click and view

http://youtu.be/RmnCGOkDSBI
http://youtu.be/w8Y_r6LDagw

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Good news!  Tonight Beauty & Dot.ca’s 3rd Eyas hatched.  Looks like the Rochester Watchers are going to be very busy when they fledge.  Just how we like it!  Everyone is so excited!  🙂

I wasn’t able to get out for my falcon watch until around 11:00 am this morning.  Watcher Kathy O was over at the BS location and she had Pigott on the south side vent.  So, that’s where I decided to head first, before going downtown.

As I was pulling into the street leading up to the BS building (11:30 am), I saw a Great Blue Heron fly over heading north.  I continued around to the south side of the building and parked by Kathy, who jumped out of her car.  She said “Pigott just flew around to the west side of the building!”  So we drove around the building a couple times, but could not find her.  Well, guess I wasn’t going to see Pigott after all!

Kathy decided to head downtown to check on Beauty and DC.  I told her I’d meet her down there after I tweeted out what had happened.  After tweeting, I drove slowly around the building one more time.  When I got to the west end, Pigott flew in from the west and landed on a window on the west end near the corner of the NW extension. (11:47 pm)

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Kathy O got my text and returned and we both watched Pigott preen.  It was great seeing her.  After awhile, she took off and flew to the south side of the building, landing on a window on the west side of the SE extension.

At noon Kathy left to check out downtown.  Again I told her I would tweet where Pigott was and then join her on the Broad St Bridge.  By the time I slowly completed my tweet (all my watcher friends know that I am a very slow texter on my old tracfone lol), ee-chupping filled the air and Dot.ca flew around the building searching for Pigott.  She immediately took off and they both flew together to the west end and into the cubby.  I could hear them chupping away with each other, but by the time I circled around to the west side, it was quiet.  Only Pigott remained on the edge of the cubby and she was silent.  Dot.ca had only remained a few moments, checking up on her I guess.

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At 12:15 pm, Pigott took off and soared higher and higher, circling and heading towards the southwest.

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I watched Pigott until I couldn’t see her anymore.  It was time to go downtown.

Kathy was on the Broad St Bridge when I arrived and Dot.ca arrived soon after me, landing on the top IBeam of OCSR near the south corner.

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The sun was intense and the sky a brilliant blue.  The temps were close to 60 degrees (F).  A beautiful day!  This was our view from the Broad St Bridge.

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Not much was going on with the falcons, so we watched the wildlife above and on the river below.  There is so much to see!  So much life in the center of our little city.  You would be amazed!

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Kathy had to leave, so I decided to go down to Aqueduct St (aka the hole) to watch.  From there I had a good view of Dot.ca keeping guard over his growing family from the top Ibeam of OCSR.  I could also see the nest box and now and then hear Beauty vocalize from above.  Sound really travels through that area.

I was parked near the local birds watering hole.  A small puddle that hadn’t evaporated yet.  They came from all over for a drink and a bath.  Fun to watch while Dot.ca preened above.  lol

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Larry O joined me for a short while, then had to leave.

At 2:45 pm, Dot.ca finally took off from OCSR and headed towards the Times Square Bldg.  I thought he was going to land on the nest box platform, but he veered to the left and circled the building low.  I could hear Beauty loudly vocalizing from the nest box.  Probably telling him it was time for him to hunt, which he did.  Or maybe collected a cache.

It wasn’t until 3:05 pm that Dot.ca returned and flew up to the nest box.  Beauty stepped out and grabbed the food, leaving him to watch the eyases.

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Beauty flew towards me, but I lost her in the bright sunlight.  It took me a couple minutes to realize that she had landed on the Wilder Bldg at the east end of the green strip, where she was prepping Dot.ca’s offering.

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It didn’t take Beauty long.  She took the food up to the nest box and Dot.ca came out, landing on the top IBeam of OCSR, to continue guarding his family.

At 3:15 pm, I called it a watch, very happy that I had seen all three adult Rochester Falcons doing well.  All was peaceful and quiet on this day that brought the arrival of a 3rd eyas in the nest box high above on the Times Square Bldg.  All was good.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

This mornings starting temperature was 43 (F)  6 (C) with sunshine,blue skies and a stiff north wind that made it quite brisk.

I was all ready to leave for my watch when I checked the live stream of the nest box as I always do. Beauty left her baby and flew off and Dot.Ca (DC) arrived and just stood there staring at his eyas. He eventually went in and stood over it and it seemed like he was just about to try and lay down when Beauty returned with food. She fed their young one its first meal as DC watched (me too). I left for my watch right after with a smile to start the day. When I arrived downtown just about 5:30am I could see DC on the Mercury money bag (MMB) so I drove straight down to the hole.

10 minutes later DC stooped on a starling unsuccessfully and landed on the fire escape opposite the starling. The starling was chirping up a storm at DC as they had a stare down. The starling stood its ground as DC waited for it to fly off so he could snag it. DC gave up and flew back to the MMB as the starling immediately flew up to its nest in a hole on the Wilder building. The entire scene lasted less than a minute so I never got any pics.

Approximately 6:10am DC flew off to the southwest over the Blue Cross Arena and then turned southeast flying out of my field of vision from down in the hole. He didn’t return so I drove up to the Broad St. Bridge to have a look around.

Please click on my pics to see the full version

I found Dan on the BSB sitting in his chair so I pulled up behind his car. He told me Beauty had flown to the east side around 5am and came back with a small package and took it to the nest box(babies first meal). He asked me if I saw the crow chase and I told him I had been down in the hole and missed it. He then explained that DC had chased after 3 crows and actually grabbed one of them briefly before letting it go on its merry way. I said wow and told him I had an even bigger wow to tell him-we had a hatch! He was tickled pink as I watched his eyes light up and that wonderful great big smile of his appear on his face! We chit chatted a bit as I caught him up on other news and then at 6:30am he decided to leave as he was very cold and it looked like DC had gone to the Brighton location (BS) because Dan said he watched DC after the crow chase fly to the tree line in the southern sky. I set out for BS at this time but nobody was home there so I returned to downtown finding DC on the top ibeam south corner of OCSR.

DC flew east across the river then back and over to the deck around 7:30am then shot back off seconds later and flew back to the OCSR south corner once more.

As I watched DC Annette tweeted that Beauty had left the nest box and returned unbeknownst to me and then Donna reported hearing another egg peeping.  Oh yeahhh!  I drove over to the Radisson Hotel near Main St. to observe DC where I had a better angle on him. Just before the 8 o’clock hour he stooped over the Wilder building and didn’t resurface so I drove back to the hole to find him 3 stories down on the fire escape railing.

DC was after the starlings again turning his head to and fro to see one pop out the hole in the wall above him so he could grab it!

DC played this game for only 10 minutes and then he flew back to OCSR with nothing to show for his efforts.

Back to the Radisson I went and after 15 minutes DC flew west and returned with food.

I wasn’t sure at first if it was a fresh catch or cached food but after looking at my pics on my cameras LCD screen I could clearly see that it was a left over wing.

DC was on the east side of the south corner top ibeam as he plucked a few feathers and picked at the meat some but wasn’t really into it. He flew off after only a few minutes and landed further down to the east on the ibeam. It is there that I left him as I ended my watch at 8:45am. Let me just say that  there’s no better way for this watcher to start her day than to watch a newborn chick get fed its very first meal and I can think of no better reason to smile! 🙂

Check out the links below for videos from my watch

http://youtu.be/I9tWOFQodGg
http://youtu.be/wGioAwarQCE
http://youtu.be/GB97wRTdeaA