By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Picture perfect weather here in Rochester lately-calm,sunny and warm. It started out at 59 (F) 15 (C) for the morning watchers and just got better as time went on.

Todays watch was all about the lovely Miss Voyager. Ginny and I started the day with her and spent most of the day with her. City Hall was our starting point with a juvie on the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) platform railing. Ginny was itching to meet the Beautyful one so I drove us over to the east side where we found Beauty on HSBC northwest corner. We also had a juvie on Midtown.

They both took off and we headed over to High Falls where we met Dan and Larry on the pedestrian bridge. They had a falcon on Chase. I spotted 2 talon tagging over by the Radisson and they continued across the river behind OCSR where we lost one  and the other went to the Kodak Office (KO) launchpad.

I saw my first Eastern Kingbird in the river tree on the north side of the bridge.

Dan and Larry left a little after 8am as Ginny and I went over by KO and ID’d that bird as Beauty. She didn’t stay long before she stooped out of view.

Next stop was Brighton where we found Pigott on the front edge of the cubby-Ginny was excited to meet her as well. She just kept saying she’s so pretty! And well, she is so pretty!!! She had a feather stuck to her forehead which we call a fascinator  around here. Pigott went in the cubby for a few minutes then came back out for a minute before flying up to the southwest corner of the west extension.

Miss Pigott would leave us after an hour when we weren’t looking. We made our way back downtown around 10:30am and found Beauty on the FCT north side under the platform. We then had Voyager on Widows Walk below railing on the north side and we would see her for most of the rest of our watch. After hanging out with her on Fitzhugh St. she flew off to the north then we went up on the Sister Cities garage to watch from there so we could see both Beauty and Voyager.

Voyager went to FCT landing under the platform south side and right after we believe it was Dot.Cs (DC) who flew out and went east. Carol was down at City Hall at this time and we went down to join her as Dana was also there. Lisa came by for a few minutes as well.

<Voyager> <Beauty>

Things would remain like this for 3 hours or so and in that time watchers that joined us were Linda (Braveheart),Bill and KrisG when Voyager finally spotted Beauty below her and started screaming ay=t which point Beauty flew off to the south and a few minutes later Voyager flew north at 3:05pm.

Hey I see you down there mom

We then heard whining and a falcon shot out from FCT to the north. Next we heard whining over at City Place where we believed DC dropped food off to Voyager and skidaddled to the northeast. Voyager started eating then stopped and went down to a lower roof on the back of City Place and got another chunk of food and started eating again. She flew over to FCT with it soon after and finished it off there.

Voyager moved up in the tower just as we were getting ready to leave.

All the watchers left so Ginny and I decided to go to High Falls to end our marathon watch. There were no falcons there but we had 4 explorers down in the gorge hiking to the island and back. We also had a cute little bat fly past us a couple times when Dan followed by Joyce and Larry all filtered onto the pedestrian bridge with us. Dan spotted the gorge Osprey on the concrete support north side of the bridge. He made an attempt at catching a fish but missed and went to the north side tree to let his wings drip dry a bit before heading over to a bigger tree on the northwest shore.

That’s all she wrote-Ginny and I left at 6:45pm over 12 hours after we started this morning with smiles on our tired faces for we’d had a very fun watch! 🙂

Click on the links below to see more picks and videos from the day

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqifi

http://youtu.be/BPFOgut602o
http://youtu.be/MBC2lUhveyg
http://youtu.be/tP9EscSvYRg
http://youtu.be/xB_Jj3wR5iE

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Another banner day weather wise in our fair city with sunshine and blue skies. When I left the house at 5:45am the temp was 56 (F) 13 (C)

After checking the west and north sides of the city I ended up finding 2 falcons on the east side. Beauty was on the northwest corner of HSBC and there was a juvie on Midtown with its back to me. I believe it was one of the girls.

After 20 minutes the juvie was gone having left when I wasn’t looking. 5 minutes later Beauty flew off toward the west.

A check of downtown turned up nothing so Isabella and I went to the pedestrian bridge at High Falls. Dan was already there and Larry pulled up right after me with Harold. Dan found what looked like Dot.Ca (DC) on the north corner top ibeam of OCSR at 6:45am.

At 7am we noticed DC gone and half hour later he showed up on the northeast corner of the Kodak Office (KO)launchpad. At the same time I looked down on the north side of the bridge to see the Osprey in the island tree.

There were lots of fish coming to the surface of the river to snatch a bug and after 5 minutes or so our Osprey friend dove down and snatched one of those fish and flew northwest, doubled back toward us and went under the bridge where we lost sight of it.

While we were watching DC left KO and so Dan and Larry decided to call it a watch at around 7:45am. I left and stopped on the Andrews St. Bridge where I spotted DC eating on a brick building that is for lease by the Philipone people on State. St. across from the Rochester Plaza Hotel. Beauty has also been seen eating on this same building in the past. As I was parking he moved back on the ledge where I could only see his head and that heart shaped malar stripe.

A few minutes later he came back out in plain view and started eating his small package again. It looked fresh so I assume he caught it off of KO.

You must click on my pics to see the full version

A few minutes later he stopped eating and walked 10 ft to the south, stopped and started looking around.

A couple minutes of that and he was off to the northeast out of view.The next series of pics is the progression of his take off.

Click it

I drove straight down State St. and found DC on the KO  launchpad northeast corner again.

I left DC and checked downtown to no avail so I drove to Brighton where I had the same result-no PEFAs. I returned to downtown and found only one falcon-the Beautyful one! I went to the hole (Aqueduct St. ) where I could see only the top half of her and what a gorgeous top half it is!

She was on the top ibeam west corner of OCSR and it was time for me to leave so I ended my watch at 9am. I would like to have seen all 3 juvies but hopefully tonight they will be around when I pick up New Jersey forum member Ginny Karyn  from the train station who is going to be staying with me until Wednesday. There will definitely be smiles if that happens! 🙂

I have only one video link today-just click and view

http://youtu.be/cj5E43MSbMI

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

What a gorgeous afternoon/evening.  Temps in the 70’s (F) with a soft breeze, blue sky and sunshine.  Lots of folks were out on the pedestrian bridge, enjoying the weather, the beautiful view of the High Falls and the birds.  So many people stopped to talk to us about the falcons, asking how they were doing.  The Osprey visited too, allowing good looks to all that passed by.  What kind of bird is that?  It was fun talking to everyone.

When I first arrived just before 4:00 p.m., both Beauty and Dot.ca were on the Kodak Tower.  They changed positions a couple times, ending up with Beauty on the SE corner of the playpen and Dot.ca on the corner of the launchpad.

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After checking out downtown and not finding any juvies, I parked at the east end of the pedestrian bridge.  I was there for over and hour before I decided to walk over to the Kodak Tower for a closer look.  I was looking directly into the sun and I wasn’t sure if Beauty and Dot.ca were still there.  I found a spot where I was in the shade and I could see both of them.  Beauty on the SE corner of the playpen and Dot.ca on the SE corner of the launchpad.  Now that I was closer, I could hear a juvie vocalizing from somewhere on the KTower.  I looked all over and could not find the juvie.  It was time to head back to the pedestrian bridge.

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On my way back to the pedestrian bridge, I took a few pics of local interest, for those that want to learn about Rochester’s history.  Did you know that we were called the Flour City in the past, not to be confused with the Flower City.  The High Falls area was the location of many mills that used the river to turn the millstones that made the flower, oops, I mean flour.  lol

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Here’s the history of the pedestrian bridge that the Rochester Falcon Watchers love to watch falcons from.

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and don’t even ask me why there is a giant chair??? set-up at the west end of the pedestrian bridge.  Not really sure what this is supposed to be.  Any ideas?

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Toronto St, in front of the Kodak Tower.  Could this be why so many of our young falcons end up there?  lol

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I made my way back to the pedestrian bridge and spotted a familiar face at the east end.  Dan S had joined the Watch.  We were soon joined by Lisa McK and Larry O.  Dot.ca and the juvie we couldn’t find on the Kodak Tower took off and flew high over head.  Soaring higher and higher.  Now and then the juvie would catch up and they would touch talons.  Then DC would continue to gain altitude and the juvie followed.  Wish I knew which juvie it was.

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It looked like school was in session for the young falcon.  Dot.ca was taking him up for some high flying lessons.  We lost sight of them.  Beauty remained on the SE corner of the playpen on the Kodak Tower.

An Osprey had flown into the gorge landing in the Falcon Sucking Tree on the east side of the gorge.  Her wings were wet and she held them out to dry them and preen.  After awhile, she flew under the bridge and landed on the island tree on the north side of the bridge.  There is a small island with one tree growing there.  The ducks and the geese usually use it.  Today there were a few ducks on the island.  The Osprey landed on a very thin branch that stuck up from the top of the tree.  For most of the time we were on Watch, the Osprey remained in that tree preening and watching the river below.  We thought for sure she would fish, but she was content to just watch.  She eventually launched herself from the thin branch and headed north down the river.

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It was 8:0o pm and there was a chill in the air.  We all decided it was time to end our Watch.  By this time, Beauty had left the KTower.  No one has seen her leave.  I decided to check out the downtown area one last time before heading home.  Dana and Lou were just pulling into the parking lot when we were leaving.  They told us that there was a falcon on the top arm of the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT).  That’s where we headed.  It was Beauty and she was facing south.  Above us were 100’s of gulls flying over.  Beauty took off and we found her on the south side of  OCSR at the south corner.

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I drove around the downtown area and could find no other falcons.  It was time to head home.  I’ll leave you with a picture I took of the beautiful sunset from the pedestrian bridge.  The weekend is here and I truly hope that the juvies will be out and about for the Watchers to see.  Goodnight everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Todays weather conditions were calm with a sun cloud mix and a starting temperature of 54 (F) 12 (C)

It was half hour before I saw a falcon today-after a search of downtown I came across Dan on the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) who had 2 juvies on the jail tower.

Click on my pics to see the full version

As I got out my chair and got settled the 2 of them took off to the southeast. 10 minutes later I spotted Beauty on the top ibeam south side OCSR.

Larry came by with Harold and met Isabella fellow watcher Jeannes’ puppy that I am watching for her. Harold didn’t really like her but she sure liked Dan laying by his feet almost the whole time.

Larry left after 20 minutes and right after Baron appeared under the northeast wing on the Times Square building (TSB). We were too far away to hear him but I could see his mouth open as this would set the mood for a watch with Baron on this day.

He stayed but 10 minutes and then he was off in a flurry to the north and then I saw that Dot.Ca (DC) had joined Beauty on OCSR.

< Click them> LOL

Dan left around 7:20am so I opted for leaving Beauty and DC and going to look for juvies. After a half hour of nothing I went to the hole to watch the happy couple who were still up on OCSR. DebbieH joined me as we walked down to Aqueduct Park for Isabella to do her business. Deb left for work and I went searching once again. I found Baron on City Place as I heard him first and for the next 2 hours listened to him whine  and whine and whine some more!

I left my spot on Church St. and drove up to the Sister Cities garage roof to get the sun behind me and to have a better view of the area. That’s when I spotted Beauty on the northeast cube of the Frontier Communications Tower  FCT).

I think Beauty got tired of listening to to Baron because she moved into the middle of the tower where he couldn’t see her. Well this only made him squawk louder!

Mr. noisy britches did a lot of stretching and pivoting to look around the area for I assumed Beauty. He also did some posing for me and boy was he turning on the charm!

He switched corners up there and then he spotted mom-flying off to join her on FCT screaming  the whole way over there and after he arrived as well.

Baron moved to another spot but with the same scenario-yelling at mom while she ignored him. I elected to leave them and go to Brighton only to find no falcons there. While I was there Dana tweeted that she had both girls on the south side of Midtown. I left to join her but I didn’t see her anywhere and so I watched Rosetta and Voyager for a few minutes. I had to get Isabella home to eat so I couldn’t stay as long as I would have liked to.

I first saw Rosetta at the southeast end-she flew off a couple times before landing by Voyager. It didn’t look like Voyager liked her so close but that’s a sibling thing right!? lol

It was wonderful to see all 3 juvies once again as I thought yesterday after not seeing any they might have started on their life journey. It was also nice to see Beauty and DC  together on OCSR. No reason not to smile today as I ended my watch at 11:10am! 🙂

Click on the links below to see more pics and videos

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqifA

http://youtu.be/0TUMY6wpUdA
http://youtu.be/s6DtjGzfR2w

http://youtu.be/Dp7I-9vguAo

http://youtu.be/jS39cpinZM4

http://youtu.be/0sp66pg6XCI

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

It was a gorgeous afternoon.  Temps in the low 70’s (F) and fluffy clouds and sunshine.  I arrived downtown just before 4:00 pm, and I really hoped I would see at least one of the juvies.  It had been close to two days since I had seen one.  My first stop was the Kodak Tower, where I found Beauty on the SE corner of the playpen.  I parked in front of Frontier Field to get a better view.  At first Beauty had her back to me.  She turned around looking south.  Then a smaller falcon took off from the east side, heading south in a really big hurry.  Beauty followed.  I believe the 2nd falcon was DC.  I tried to follow them, but I was caught at a light.  By the time I arrived on the Broad St Bridge (BSB), there were no falcons in sight.

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I decided to check out the BS location.  It had been awhile since I had seen Pigott.  I was very happy to find her on the south side vent at the west end.  She was very alert and following the movement of the birds flying by.  It wasn’t long before she spread her wings and took off heading SW.  Since I lost sight of her, I decided to head back downtown.  I really wanted to find a juvie.

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I ended up on the pedestrian bridge, watching the critters that call the gorge home.  Dot.ca returned to the Kodak Tower, on the SE corner of the 17th Floor.  He didn’t stay very long.  The next time I looked, he was gone.  I also saw a falcon soaring over downtown Rochester, starting at Midtown and flying behind the OCSR building.

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3 hours after I started my Watch, I decided to head downtown to look for falcons.  No such luck.  I decided to park on the Broad St Bridge and stay put.  At 7:30 pm, Dan found me and he joined me on the evening Falcon Watch. Joyce also joined us after finding Dot.ca on the large disk on the side of the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT).  She thought she had heard a juvie vocalizing, but could not find it.  DC took off and she joined us on the BSB.  It was 7:40 pm when I spotted Dot.ca on the top IBeam of the OCSR, south side.  Finally a falcon to Watch.  Dan was happy and went to his car to get his chair.  lol  Dan spotted a falcon flying over the Raddison.  To both of us it looked like a juvie.  It flew behind the Raddison and did not come back out.  DC was still on the OCSR and Joyce was yelling from the other side of the street that there was a falcon under the SE wing on the Times Square Bldg (TSB).  It was Beauty.  So, with DC still on OCSR, where was the 3rd falcon we had seen flying?

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First Dot.ca took off and appeared to fly up into the elevator shaft.  Beauty took off and flew over us heading east towards Xerox.  Then a third falcon was flying around the OCSR.  It was the juvie and s/he was vocalizing loudly.  Oh, I do love that sound.  The juvie flew up to the NE ledge just above the nest box on the TSB and another falcon landed on the well wall just north of the nest box.  Joyce and I moved closer to get a better look.  We determined it had to be a male on the ledge and definitely a juvie.  Had to be Baron!  At first we thought the large falcon was Beauty, but Joyce’s pictures showed it was definitely a juvie.  Woohoo!   Two juvies!  So we had Baron and either Rosetta or Voyager.  We never did get a look at either of their bands.

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We were all so happy to see them.

Our evening Watch ended with yet another happy surprise.  Both Baron and his sister took off and headed downtown (east).  I stayed on the BSB and Joyce drove over to try to find them from the east side.  She tweeted that there were three falcons flying over HSBC.  I looked up in time to see all three blast over the Xerox Bldg. and B&L.  For about 15 minutes (8:25 -8:40 pm) Joyce and I (Dan had to leave) were thrilled to see all Three juvies talon tagging and chasing each other, vocalizing loudly.  It was so good to see them home again.  I hope they stay a little longer before heading out on their migration.  I’m really going to miss them.  It was 3 hrs and 40 minutes into my Watch before I saw a juvie, but it was so well worth it.  I ended my Watch at 8:50 pm, checking the Kodak Tower on my way home.  It was too dark to see if there were any falcons up there.

I just read a comment under the tweet section in the forum posted by Christiane a Rfalconcam Watcher.  She zoomed in on one of the pictures taken by the nest box cameras and believes she saw red.  Red/yellow is Voyager, so maybe she was the female on the well wall.  Thanks Christiane and thank Ei for letting us know when she left.  Your help is much appreciated.

Oh, and guess what?  Even though it was getting dark, I decided to try getting a video of their play.  It’s not the greatest, but here it is.  Enjoy and goodnight all!

CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINK TO VIEW MY YOUTUBE VIDEO

http://youtu.be/r5wz2fPsxmA

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

49 (F) degrees when I walked out the house this morning! That’s 9 (C) and outrageous for August around here. On the up side the sun shone bright with blue skies and it warmed up nicely.

I’m afraid our juvenile Peregrine Falcons are wandering but hopefully not for good yet. Last nights watchers didn’t see any and I didn’t this morning either-maybe just a day trip and they’ll be back to grace us with their presence.

I found Dot.Ca (DC) on the northeast corner of the Kodak Office launchpad at 6am to begin my watch. In the 20 minutes or so I observed him he mainly was looking at something to the north, he then walked back and forth a couple times before launching himself off into an immediate stoop to the north. I lost sight of him near Sahlen’s Stadium as he vanished behind buildings.

Remember to click on my pics for the full version

When he didn’t come back I left Mill St. and checked everything on my way to the pedestrian bridge at High Falls on the east side where I could see Dan. When I got there I asked if he had seen DC stoop but he said after watching him for 20 minutes he missed it as he turned away for a minute. That’s how it goes a lot of the time-you can keep your eyes on them for hours and the second you look away POOF! they’re gone. After 15 minutes passed Dan noticed a falcon on the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) platform railing north side. I took a couple pics and after checking them with the zoom fully engaged determined that it looked like an adult. Dan decided it was time to leave just before 7am so I drove over to City Hall straight away and found it was Beauty on FCT.

I only spent 10 minutes with her when she flew off in no big hurry to the southeast. I wondered if she was looking for her kids or if she knows where they are hanging out of late.

I went to the Broad St. bridge and looked around for 15 minutes and then I saw a falcon on the top arm of FCT. I whipped over to Plymouth Ave. where I could see the front and determined it was the Beautyful one. This time I only spent 2 or 3 minutes with her before she flew off to the north in a big hurry.

Click them for full version

After searching to the north up Lake Ave. to Driving Park and back downtown with no sightings I went over to Brighton and saw no falcons there either. As I was stopped on the side of the service road on the west side I had a woman pull up next to me and ask if I was looking at the bird.  I said yes but before I could say anything else she told me every morning at 5:30am that bird flies down to the ground over there and eats berries and she repeated every day and then she pulled away.  I didn’t know Pigott liked berries! lol

I never did see another falcon as I searched all over the downtown area and ended up at High Falls for the duration of my watch. I saw the gorge Osprey in the tree that sits in the middle of the river on the north side of the pedestrian bridge. It was looking to catch a fish and it made a valiant attempt as it dove to the water and came up empty taloned. It flew downriver to a concrete structure that protrudes up out of the river, landed for a second then took off to the north where I lost sight of it behind the trees.

I did a 360 degree scan of the sky and buildings and saw no falcons and then Joe (aka Viper) our young watcher walked up to me and said hi. He was with his mom,sister,grandmother and a friend. We chatted for a few minutes and then they had to leave. I ended my watch at 10:20am and left as well. I wish I had seen the juvies but I was happy to see Beauty and DC who always bring a smile to my face! 🙂

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

http://youtu.be/rrQLmXAwC0s
http://youtu.be/dsqcg5UPe7Y

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Sorry to say, no juvies were seen by the Watchers between 4:00 – 8:30 pm.  I even checked Kodak Park and the surrounding area, but could not find them.  When I arrived downtown at 4:00 pm, both Beauty and Dot.ca were on the Kodak Tower.

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Lots of Watchers showed up hoping for a glimpse of Baron, Rosetta and Voyager, but they were a no show.  Thankfully the weather was much better than yesterday, still in the 60’s, but the sunshine made it much nicer.  Tonight’s Watchers included, Joyce, Susan C, Dan, Larry O, Lisa McK and me Carol P.  Although there were no juvie sightings, we still have lots of fun when we get together.

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Two Cormorants were flying around in circles over the High Falls, looking like they were talon tagging.  NOT!  I guess they would have to have talons.  lol

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The moon was quite beautiful.

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We even saw a fox run across the east end of the bridge, scaring two ladies standing there.  By the time I got there, the fox was gone.

The herons were out in force, now that the river was lower.  Lots of good fishing spots for them and shallow spots.

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After everyone else left, Dan, Lisa and I went searching for falcons.  Both Beauty and Dot.ca had left the Kodak Tower.  We were all parked on the east side of Xerox, when Beauty flew in over HSBC with food clutched in her talons.  She flew around and then settled on top of Xerox on the SE Corner.  She just stayed there, probably waiting to see if a juvie would come in for food.

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She waited about 15 minutes before she started eating.  When she was done, Beauty flew over to the south side of Xerox and landed on the 5th column in from the SE Corner.

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It was 8:30 pm and time to call it a Watch.  I did check the downtown area one last time, but again no juvies or Dot.ca.  More than likely, they are starting to wander further out from the city, but I do hope we will see them again before they take off on their migration.  We’ll be Watching!  Goodnight Everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Feels like fall out there today! It was a chilly 52 (F) 11 (C) with a brisk north wind and on and off rain showers and a couple breaks of sun.

I arrived at the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) about 5:50am but saw no falcons so onward to check Kodak Office (KO) where I found a juvie in the darkness on the southeast corner of the launchpad.

15 minutes later it was off with blazing speed flying south.

10 minutes later I found Rosetta on the northwest corner of  Widows Walk from the top of the Sister Cities parking Garage. I watched her from there for over half an hour as she was eating and then I went to Fitzhugh St. below Widows Walk for a closer look. I thought maybe she had caught the small package herself as there were no adults around, but of course there’s no way to tell without witnessing it.

Click on my pics to see the full version

I spent over an hour with Rosetta as she rested,stretched and kept an eye on her surroundings. DebbieH came by for a brief couple minutes on her way to work. Rosetta flew up to the railing and walked down to the northeast corner.

Next I drove over to Broad St. parking in front of the Ebeneezer Watts building where DebbieH works to get a better angle on big beautiful Rosetta.

She flew off just before 8am to the northwest and after a quick look at FCT and KO off to the Brighton Site I went.

I spotted Pigott right away when I rounded the west side of the building. She was on the southwest corner of the west extension and took off a minute after I got there flying northwest.

You can see her left wing has only a couple tattered feathers now, left over from her incident earlier this summer.

Back downtown I found Beauty around 9:15am on the top arm south side of FCT after checking the rest of our fair city. I was very happy to see her as I hadn’t laid eyes on her in a couple days. I observed the  Beautyful one from Plymouth Ave. as she was keen on watching some birds below her. A couple times I thought she would stoop on one but didn’t. She only gave me 10 minutes with her before she flew off to the northeast.

I ended my watch over on the pedestrian bridge at High Falls where all I saw were gulls and a couple cormorants. So on todays watch I saw 3 out of our 6 Rochester Peregrine Falcons and I hope to see Voyager and Baron soon. Rosetta has provided me with smiles for the last 2 days! 🙂

Click on the links below to view my photo album and videos including 2 of Rosetta from yesterday when I had technical difficulties uploading them

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqiem

http://youtu.be/9RLgoefAUTM
http://youtu.be/ZA-2bfIqJk4
http://youtu.be/629Zni8Y-8k
http://youtu.be/lCVXFNtFrfg
http://youtu.be/4OJHvfCRvVs

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Mid August in Rochester.  No balmy, warm day for us.  Instead of covering up with 50 million sun screen, I was covering up in fleece.  When I arrived downtown at about 6:00 pm, it was 67 degrees(F) and dropped during my 3 hour Watch.  My usual first stops are the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT) and the Kodak Tower.  There were no falcons on the FCT, but I did find Dot.ca on the Kodak Tower on the SE corner of the launch pad.

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I checked the rest of the downtown area and found no other falcons.  It was time to head out to the pedestrian bridge.  Maybe that’s where they were.  Nope, no falcons there either.  Even the Osprey was a no show.  Just me and a few folks on the bridge.  The winds were strong there and ominous dark clouds were moving in from the north.  It was more like fall than the hottest month of the year.

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Dot.ca was still up on the Kodak Tower.  I scanned the downtown area, checking for falcon specks.  No specks, but I did see two juvies soaring over the Chase Tower and talon tagging and chasing each other.  This is a picture I took zoomed out to the max from where I stood on the pedestrian bridge.

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So, I had three of the 5 Rochester Falcons, Dot.ca and two Juvies.  The two juvies finally split up.  One continued to soar on the winds over downtown and the other flew over to the FCT where it landed on the top arm.  It then flew to the City Place Bldg onto one of the white structures on the NW corner.  There must have been some leftover food there, because this juvie was enjoying a snack.

I drove over to City Place, but by the time I got over there, the juvie was gone.  For the next hour or so, I cruised all over the downtown area, catching glimpses of falcons flying here and there.  They were really enjoying the winds.  From the Andrews St Bridge, I heard a juvie loudly vocalizing above.  I looked up in time to see a juvie fly up to an adult.  At first I thought there was going to be a food exchange, but the adult did not have any food.  So the juvie flew off towards the west, still loudly calling.  The adult circled above, higher and higher, definitely in hunt mode.

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From the Broad St Bridge, I saw a falcon flying around carrying small prey.  It was starting to get dark, and I couldn’t tell if it was an adult or juvie.  It flew towards Xerox and then turned back and flew towards the FCT.  Was this an adult looking for a juvie to feed?  I really have no idea.

I had planned on leaving at 8 pm, but as usual, time got away from me.  lol  Because I could see no falcons, I decided to check out downtown one more time.  By 8:30 pm, I was really losing light.  I stopped on the Broad St Bridge facing east, looking towards Xerox/Midtown/B&L.  The gulls were up and flying over the river.  Lots of them.  I heard them vocalizing to the south and I looked up in time to see that there was a falcon flying with them.  The falcon did a quick turn and snatched one of the birds it was flying with.  I only saw gulls, no pigeons, and I really do believe this falcon grabbed a gull.  I quickly grabbed my binocs, it was way too dark to take any pics and I really wanted to see what was going on.

The falcon held on tight, while the large bird struggled to get free.  They headed east towards B&L, losing altitude.  I lost them behind B&L.  Quickly jumping into my car, I drove over to the east side of B&L and searched for close to a 1/2 hour.  I even parked in different spots to listen and checked all the roof lines, even the lower ones.  I did see a juvie flying over B&L touching down and taking off like it was looking for something.  Needless to say, I had no luck finding the falcon or the gull or the pigeon.  I do have to wonder if a pigeon was flying with the gulls and that’s what the falcon got.  I had really hoped to find the falcon to verify what it caught.  I even question, whether it was a juvie that grabbed a gull.  It wasn’t the type of hunting that we usually saw Beauty and Dot.ca do.  Was the juvie I saw afterwards looking for a lost meal?  I truly have no idea.  If it had been lighter, I could have snapped a couple pics and maybe solved the mystery.

It was dark and time for me to head home.  At 9:00 pm, I did drive over to Kodak for a quick look and could not see any obvious bumps up there.  Well, that was an interesting Watch.  Goodnight Everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

The dawn loomed wet as it showered on and off and a bit humid with a temperature of 64 (F) 18 (C) at 5:45am

I spent this morning  with just one juvie-Rosetta! All others eluded me for the 4 hours I was on watch. I first found her under the large satellite dish on the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) perched where I’ve never seen a falcon before. Our 3 Falconeers have shown me a lot of firsts this season. Rosetta next flew up to land on top of the dish briefly before taking off very fast to the east toward the river.

Click on my pics to view the full version

10 minutes later Rosetta flew in from the north with a small package and took it to the northeast corner of City Place to eat. I went up on the Sister Cities Garage roof to observe her.

Rosetta spent 25 minutes eating and then she flew off heading down Fitzhugh St. along side of City Place about 2 floors down from the roof. When she got to Main St. she hung a right and headed west out of my view. I did the search route around the city to no avail so I went to Brighton- there were no falcons to be found there either. Larry stopped next to my car for a quick chat then he headed off to work.

Returning downtown I had no luck locating any falcons so I went to the pedestrian bridge at High Falls-again no PEFAs seen but that doesn’t mean they weren’t parked on that gorge wall somewhere blending in. At 8am cam watcher Donna said there was 1 and possibly 2 falcons on FCT so I went there right away. They left before I got there flying west according to Donna. Thanks my friend! I then went to the Broad St. Bridge to see what was going on in the river. I was surprised to see how low the water level was between Broad St. and Main St. considering the High Falls were rolling along at full force when I was there.

As you can see there were lots of Great Blue Herons strutting their stuff. After another look around downtown I took a ride north up Lake Ave. to Kodak Park at W. Ridge Rd. I checked the buildings there with no luck and nothing was seen along the way to or from as I stopped at the Kodak Hawkeye plant on St. Paul Blvd. on the way back downtown. It was 9am and I hadn’t seen a falcon in over 2 hours so I decided to call it a watch. As I started out toward home, Donna texted that there was a falcon on the FCT platform-this time I got there in time to find Rosetta near the northeast corner eating.

All I saw was her tail at first from right below in front of City Hall. I walked over to the northwest side of the Frontier building standing on Montgomery Alley with the Plymouth Ave. Open Door Mission behind me to get the best look at our big girl with the blue feet.

She began to move south on the platform and that was when I got the money shot of her white over blue taped leg band telling me what I already thought-it was Rosetta. I then went back to City Hall to share space with her before flying up to the south side railing and taking off to the southeast whining.

I spent an hour with Rosetta that I wouldn’t  have gotten had it not been for Donna letting me know she was on the FCT. Thanks a lot! I’ll take all the help I can get these days as the juvies and their parents are staying scarce. I was happy enough to watch Rosetta and so I ended my watch at 10am with a smile on my face! 🙂

Check out the link below to see Rosetta-I had more videos but I’m having trouble uploading them. Sorry

http://youtu.be/GeiOutC_xXs