By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

As is normal on Monday, I got a very late start tonight.  I arrived downtown just before 7:00 pm.  It was quiet, with hardly any traffic, which was nice.  No festivals, baseball games or any events at all.  Well, except for the gathering at the beautiful, old church behind the Times Square Bldg.  It was overcast and looking like it was going to rain, but it held off while I was on my Watch.  It was cooler than it had been lately.  I checked all the west side locations, including the Kodak Tower and the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT) on the way to the Broad St Bridge.  I spotted a falcon, that I thought was an adult at first, on the railing below the Mercury statue with it’s back to me.  During my 2 hour Watch, the sky changed making for interesting backgrounds for my falcon on Mercury pics.  lol

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The only way to see the front of this falcon was to go down to Aqueduct St, aka the “hole”.  From there I could see that it was a juvie and not an adult.  I cannot be 100% sure, but I do believe that it was Rosetta.  She was being stubborn about showing me her bands, but I saw white a couple of times.

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She was in hyper alert mode, watching everything that moved around her, including a plane that flew overhead.  I decided to stay with her before checking for the other juvies, hoping that she would attempt to hunt.  Before heading back to the Broad St Bridge, where I had a better view of the area, I checked the Times Square Bldg and Widows Walk.  Here is a sure sign that there are no falcons on Widows Walk!  haha!

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I parked on the Broad St Bridge, facing west.  From there I could see Rosetta below Mercury and the surrounding area, just in case she decided to attempt a hunt, which I really hoped she would.  I was lucky to be one of the Watchers that witnessed Orion’s first successful hunt last year.  This year’s juvies may already be hunting on their own, but no one has reported seeing them hunt yet.  Larry O joined me for awhile before he had to head home.  A Green Heron arrived on the river below, which is very low right now, and started to fish for it’s dinner.

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By 8:30, Larry had left and since it was getting dark and Rosetta seemed to be settling in, I decided it was time to check for the other juvies.  I drove all around downtown before heading over to the Frontier Communication Tower.  That’s where I found the other two juvies.  They were playing up near the top of the tower, flying and jumping around.  They were quiet, no vocalization.  Just as I was going to try to get some really bad pics in the low light, first one and then the second one took off, heading east.  I attempted to follow, but by the time I made it to the Andrews St Bridge, they were no where to be found, including Rosetta who was no longer below the Mercury statue.  I have a suspicion that one of the adults may have brought in food and all three juvies went to greet their parent.  Oh, well.  I was very happy to have seen all three tonight.  Every day we see them at this point is a gift, since they could start taking off on their migration at any time.  That will be a very sad and at the same time, happy day.  But until that happens, the Rochester Watchers will be out and about and reporting what we see.

It was just before 9:00 pm and getting dark.  My last stop was the Kodak Tower, where I hoped to see them one last time before I ended my Watch.  I pulled over next to the Kodak parking lot and immediately spotted one juvie on the SE corner of the launch pad.  Another was flying around the top of the tower and landed on the east side of the cupola.  The lights were on and at least two juvies were there to roost for the evening.  It was too dark to tell if there was a 3rd.

I’ll leave you with one more horrible low light picture, which shows the one juvie on the launchpad.  It was time for me to head home.  Goodnight everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Another gem of a day here in Rochester with clear conditions and a starting temp 0f 61 (F) 16 (C)

No falcons on the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) when I drove off 490 but right around the corner on Kodak Office (KO) I found Baron and Voyager on the cupola in the semi darkness as the sun was on its way up to greet us.

Please click on my pics to see the full version

Voyager walked around to the front where she could see her brother and they took turns whining for a few minutes. It was like they were trying to one up each other as one would display its wings and then the other. Oh I’m gonna miss them when they’re gone-sooo entertaining! They kept this up for 20 minutes and then Voyager took off followed by Baron going after a great Blue Heron above me on Mill St. breaking it off and then flew south.

<Click it

I went to the City Hall parking lot and found them on the FCT-Baron was on platform railing north side and Voyager was under the platform at the southeast corner.

<Baron  Voyager>

A starling came flying thru and Voyager took off after it and Baron did too, going into a stoop and I lost them behind the church. I next saw them flying around above City Place so I drove up to the top of the Sister Cities garage to get closer. As luck would have it they both landed across from me on the north side of the City Place roof and Voyager had prey. I wish I could say for sure that she caught it but I missed the end of the chase so for all I know this could have been cached food since they eat frequently up on that roof.

<click it<Baron<Voyager

Voyager picked at the prey item for a bit then she made her way over to Baron and then he had it. She flew off after a few minutes chasing another small bird around the FCT and vanished on the north side of the tower so i believe she must have landed somewhere over there where I couldn’t see her.

<Click it

Around 7am Baron flew over to the small tower with the food and while I checked my pics for leg bands so I knew who I was watching he left.

A minute before that I saw Voyager shoot out from the tower and fly west. After Baron was no longer in view Larry tweeted that he could see a falcon on the small tower dish-reporting from the pedestrian bridge with Dan. I took a look and could just barely make out Barons head.

<Click it

I then looked south and spotted a falcon on the 2nd arm of the jail tower southeast side. I walked to the south end of the garage roof to get a closer shot of it and from the posture and head I believe it was Beauty.

From this end I could now see Baron as he moved over a bit on the dish. 10 minutes later he slipped off the dish flying north past KO until I could no longer see him.

I turned around and looked at the jail tower which was now falconless. I decided to go to Brighton at this time. I found Pigott on the west end of the south side vent and it was apparent she had just finished eating as there were feathers blowing in the breeze on the edge of the vent next to her,she had a full crop and was picking at her bloody big yellow feet.

10 minutes later she flew around to the west side landing on a top window near the cubby. She had her back to me so I left her to roost and digest her meal.

Miss Pigott would be the last PEFA I saw as I returned downtown and looked everywhere and couldn’t find one. I ended my watch on the Pont De Rennes pedestrian bridge where all I saw were gulls. I only saw 3 out of 6 of our Rochester Peregrine Falcons but that was more than enough to send me on my way with a smile on my face! 🙂

Click on the links below to view my photo album and videos from this mornings watch

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqidI

http://youtu.be/8ih7kgKCjDo

http://youtu.be/tazBvxeCZ4k

http://youtu.be/KD3cVthshh4—

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Well, it looks like we had a visit by an unknown  juvie to the gorge on Friday.  Not Baron, Voyager or Rosetta.  I posted a picture in my last report showing a blue banded juvie flying over the observation deck.  This was after the food transfer from Beauty to one of the girls.  I had wondered why the juvie in the picture had only blue tape on her band and why her legs looked really yellow.   I had suspected that it was Rosetta and that her white stripe had come off, like Baron’s. This afternoon, Dana got a couple flight shots of Rosetta  and guess what?  She still has her blue and white striped tape on her band!  So, who was this visitor?  We will probably never know.  Maybe she was just passing through on the start of her migration and decided to stop by when she saw other juvies and an adult with food.  I assume female based on size, but can’t be 100% sure.  So Watchers, be on the look out for a blue banded juvie who may decide to visit again!

Here is my picture of the blue banded juvie from Friday and 2 of Dana’s pics of Rosetta from today.  Be sure to click on them to see a larger pic.

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It was a quiet watch tonight, shared with Lisa, Dana, Lou and Larry O.  I checked the whole downtown area and had no luck finding any falcons.  When I arrived at the pedestrian bridge, the Osprey was in the falcon sucking tree on the side of the gorge wall and she had a very large fish she was eating.  When I left at 8:00 pm, she was still eating. lol

Before the other Watchers arrived, I spotted a juvie on the Frontier Communication Tower, 2nd arm down.

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During the watch, we saw first one juvie, which Lisa ID’d as Voyager, eating on the large disk on the side of the Frontier Communication Tower.  She reported that the juvie on the 2nd arm down, took off and chased some crows then returned to the large disk.

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The Osprey had a really big fish!  It’s so interesting to be able to watch a young Osprey fishing in the river below.  She dives from the tree into the river and disappears under water, then comes back up flapping her wings.  She then flies around, gaining altitude and usually returns to the tree again sometimes with a fish.  I’ve seen her successfully catch a fish once.  I’m sure I just missed seeing her catch this large fish.

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When we all left at 8:00 pm, the Osprey was still eating and there were two juvies on the Frontier Comm Tower.

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It was such an enjoyable weekend, I hated to see it end.  Night everyone and keep your eyes to the sky for that blue banded juvie!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Another nice morning for a watch with a cool starting temp of 54 (F) 12 (C) and calm clear conditions.

My first stop right off the 490 ramp bagged me a juvie on the 2nd arm of the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT). And after checking the east side I found a 2nd juvie on the northeast corner of the platform railing.

10 minutes both juvies flew northwest and after a look around the Kodak Office area I decided to go to the High Falls Pont De Rennes pedestrian bridge. On my way I spotted Baron on the northwest corner of the WSC building, which is on Water St. behind the falls off Andrews St.  I barely had time to stop and get pics before he was off  flying west out of my field of vision.

I continued on to the Genesee Brewery on Cataract St. on the east end of the High Falls gorge. Dan was on the bridge and said that he had seen the Osprey fly in and land on the falcon sucking tree (FST) and leave earlier.  He also saw a couple falcons near the FCT at one point. There was a juvie on the northwest corner of the FCT platform railing as I arrived.  5 minutes later Dan yelled the Osprey is in the gorge and then it flew over to the FST and landed.

We noticed the FCT bird gone around 7am as we watched the Osprey. 20 minutes later we had a juvie on the small satellite dish on FCT and another one on the southwest corner of the platform railing. Dan he west side of spotted a mama turkey and 2 kids down below Browns Race on the west side of the falls.

You must click on my pics to see the full version

A couple minutes later the dish bird was gone and 10 minutes after that the other juvie left. While scanning the buildings i spotted a falcon on the Times Square Building (TSB) under the northeast wing.

It was time for Dan to leave so I decided to go over to the observation deck to see if I could get a better view of the Osprey. There was a rainbow from the mist caused by the falls that stretched across where the Osprey was located and the mist was raining down on me so I didn’t stay long.

I left about 8am and went to the FCT after spotting a falcon on the small satellite dish again. I parked in the Frontier parking lot to get the best view. I believe it was Baron.

We shared space on this quiet Sunday morning for the next half hour and then he slipped off the back of the dish and I didn’t see him again. I got a text from cam watcher Donna that she could hear a juvie screaming near the TSB so I drove right over to the Broad St. Bridge to have a look. I didn’t find a juvie but I did find both Beauty and Dot.Ca (DC) on the top ibeam of OCSR-she was at the west corner and he was near the south corner. I drove to the hole for a closer view.

<Click it to see Beauty

5-20 minutes later I heard a juvie whining and then I saw it flying over the river toward OCSR where it went around by the elevator shaft and disappeared behind OCSR to the north.

A pair of pigeons started splashing around in a puddle and I couldn’t resist taking a few pics as they seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves.

The Beautyful one and DC seemed all cinched in so I visited the Brighton site where I found Pigott on the west extension at the west end on the 2nd window down.

Miss Pigott had her back to me as she preened and picked at her feathers. I didn’t stay long as I was satisfied to have seen her there safe and sound. On my way back downtown I stopped in Cornhill on Exchange Blvd. near Plymouth Ave. as I often do to take a look at the jail tower and other frequent falcon perching spots.

<click it

From there I could see that the Beautyful one and DC were still on OCSR. I searched for juvies and didn’t find any until as i was driving south bound down Fitzhugh St. by City Hall 2 juvies flew above me going the opposite direction. By the time I turned away they were out of sight. I went up to the top of the Sister Cities garage and had a look around but couldn’t see any falcons other than Beauty still on the west corner of OCSR. I decided to go to the pedestrian bridge for one more check entering on the west end at Browns Race.

I didn’t see any falcons or the Osprey. I left and after checking downtown one more time with no results other than Beauty and DC still on OCSR I called it a watch at 10am. I saw all 3 Rochester adult Peregrine Falcons and I’m pretty sure I saw all 3 juvies. The feature that made me smile the most was seeing that Osprey! 🙂

Click on the links below to view some videos from my watch

http://youtu.be/8kWp65ZkdaU

http://youtu.be/Or2hIInsDII

http://youtu.be/OmiDBirPsGw
http://youtu.be/pEIHU63MWnU
http://youtu.be/TDbG57OgSzo—

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

The day started out at 64 (F) 18 (C)  with a nice refreshing breeze and no humidity issues.

I found a falcon on the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) straight away and turns out it was Rosetta. She was on the east side platform railing and she was whining. She flew off to the northeast and returned whining and the reason for all this whining was Dot.Ca (DC) was coming. FYI-I mistakenly tweeted that it was Beauty on my watch. DC landed on the top arm south side  and Rosetta circled the tower and went northeast again.

DC

DC then flew north and when I got over to the east side of the tower DC was on the platform railing and Rosetta who had come back without me seeing her was on the tower somewhere whining.

DC

DC then jumped down to the platform and back up then off. I still couldn’t find Rosetta as she whined.  Suddenly she flew up to the platform railing on the east side. DC then returned with prey and went to the southeast cube and started plucking feathers.

Rosetta got impatient and flew off  a couple times landing in a couple different spots and then finally settled down right by dear old dad snatching his prey and moving him out. She then mantled her prize whining the whole time as DC headed out away from her to a beam by the satellite dish.

Rosetta after a few minutes took the small package back further under the platform where I couldn’t see her but I knew she was in there for feathers were floated out from under there. DC left  and went to Kodak Office launch pad as reported by Larry who was on the  High Falls pedestrian bridge with Dan and Rosetta quieted down.

Another juvie flew in and now I had 2 of them I couldn’t find!  Finally I found Baron on a beam below the southeast cube with a full crop. These kids sure are eating well these days! 10 minutes later I located Rosetta under the platform neat the northwest corner.

After some moving around on the beams Rosetta walked and hopped her way around to the south side near the southeast cube and brother Baron. He must have felt it was too close so he flew in further under the platform and that southeast cube.

<Rosetta> <Rosetta

<Baron>

10 minutes later Baron came shooting out from the tower followed by Rosetta both flying northeast where they met up with Voyager and played some talon tag. They ended up over the high falls area where I lost sight of them. I went to the pedestrian bridge and found a juvie on the fence to the east of the falls.

I thought it looked like Voyager and I missed her when she left as I was looking for other PEFAs in the gorge area. As I was leaving the bridge I saw 2 falcons on FCT-they were gone when I got there so I went to Brighton next and didn’t see Pigott at first. I parked by the cubbyon the west side and a bit later she came flying out of the cubby to a top window by the west extension inside corner.

I left Miss Pigott as she was napping on and off and found Beauty under the southeast wing of the Times Square building (TSB) when I returned downtown. I would find out a few minutes later she wasn’t alone up there for Rosetta popped up from the back of the ledge and started whining.

<click this pic and all my pics for the full version

Beauty soon got the boot as Rosetta hopped out with food in one talon and bumped the Beautyful one off the ledge. She flew northeast and Rosetta claimed the ledge as hers going to the back of the ledge to resume stuffing that already full crop.

It was about this time when former lurker and now falcon watcher Deanna and her husband Bud came by as I was on the Broad St. Bridge. Carol joined us followed by Dana and we all watched a Great Blue Heron which had speared a whopping big fish from the river try to get it off its beak so it could eat it. It had fishing line attached to it and it was all over the GBH as another GBH followed it to the east wall where it promptly jumped on its back and stole the fish. It swallowed the fish quickly and easily as the loser of the spoils flew down river.

Gulp

Rosetta had left and Dana spotted Beauty on the top ibeam south side of OCSR. We decided to go to high falls and see what we could see. Dan and Kathy were on the pedestrian bridge when we got there. Shortly after we arrived Voyager came flying in the gorge and landed in the falcon sucking tree (FST)  on the gorge wall.

Lisa came by just before I left and Voyager gave me a send off as I was leaving by flying around the gorge and going back to the FST. What a fun watch with lots of smiling faces as I was blessed to see all 6 Rochester Peregrine Falcons on this day! 🙂

Click on the links below to view a photo album and some videos

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqicu

http://youtu.be/Lj9-AubDREk

http://youtu.be/C1MNl_-W1d4

http://youtu.be/MHIfx0QlkvQ
http://youtu.be/RK3g-d1DcSU—

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I’m sorry that I don’t have time to leave a detailed report, but I wanted to share a few of my favorite pics from yesterday and today.  It’s been a busy weekend!

This is just after a food transfer between Beauty and one of the girls. (8/9/13)

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Beauty flies by us after giving food to one of the female juvies.  Looks like she’s going through a molt.  (8/9/13)

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I’m pretty sure that Rosetta has lost her white stripe over the blue tape on her band.  Just like Baron lost his stripe and is now just yellow, Rosetta looks all blue to me in this picture.  She flew over us while we were watching from the observation deck near the High Falls. (8/9/13)

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Juvie flying in front of the High Falls. (8/9/13)

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Today, Voyager visited us while we were out on the observation deck.  Hello Voyager! (8/10/13)

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It has been a wonderful two days of watching.  Besides seeing all five Rochester Falcons in the gorge, we were excited to see an Osprey hanging out in the falcon sucking tree on the gorge wall.  We believe a juvenile female.  She even successfully caught a fish in the river below and brought it back to the tree to eat!

Today we also saw a Great Blue Heron catch a REALLY BIG FISH!  The GBH may have been young and just didn’t know how to eat this meal.  A 2nd GBH chased the one with the fish and ended up getting the fish in the end.

We were very happy to meet Deanne and Bud from North Carolina.  They were here to see the PGA Golf Tournament yesterday and took time out today to visit their favorite falcons.  Deanne has been a lurker since 2006 and was thrilled to see falcons flying in the gorge.  Something she has always wanted to see.  It was so nice meeting you both.

Our friends Michelle & Enrique from Buffalo, joined us on the pedestrian bridge this afternoon.  They are Watchers for the Buffalo falcons, including the Central Terminal nest site, where Diamante and Glieg are located.  This was their first time visiting the gorge.  So nice seeing you!  At 10:30 pm, they reported from the Genesee Brewery patio, that they just saw two falcons fly up to the Kodak Tower.

Falcon Watchers out this weekend: Kathy O, MAK, Dana, Lisa McK, Dan, Larry O, Jeanne, Pat, Joyce, Lou, Deanne, Bud, Michelle & Enrique. Hope that’s everyone!

It was a gorgeous day today!  Goodnight everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

There’s no way to sugar coat it folks-todays watch was dismal. It was 70 (F)  21 (C) humid,rainy,foggy, dark degrees and it rained in varying degrees the whole watch.

Straight away off the 490 ramp I spotted a falcon on the west side platform railing of the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT). I couldn’t tell if it was an adult or juvie from the west side as it had its back to me, but when I went to the east side from the City Hall parking lot I could see  it thru a platform opening concluding it was a juvie.

After checking the rest of the tower I set out to find more falcons. I failed miserably and when I returned to FCT  that falcon was gone. This was a sign of what the rest of my watch would be like. I took a quick ride down to Kodak Office (KO) but nothing there. As I drove down Plymouth Ave. I spotted a falcon on the north side of FCTs platform railing.

25 minutes later at 6:45am it flew off and didn’t return. I went up to the roof of the Sister Cities garage to have a quick look around but didn’t see any PEFAs or prey birds for that matter. I went over to High Falls and checked there to no avail and then checked every side of KO-nothing. As I looked to the south from Verona St. which is next to KO, I saw a falcon bump in the back  of the Times Square building (TSB) under the southwest wing. I drove to Exchange Blvd. and pulled over in front of the Blue Cross Arena for the best view of this rain soaked fledgling.

It stayed only 5 minutes or so and left the building around 8am when I wasn’t looking. After a spin around the city with no sightings I went over to the Brighton site where my luck didn’t change any-no Pigott and no Dot.Ca. Cam watcher and good friend Donna reported seeing a falcon on the platform railing of FCT. Thank you for your much appreciated help!  So someone in New Jersey was as successful finding a PEFA as I was in person. Ain’t that something!? lol   I had to make a stop and when I resumed my watch downtown at City Hall I found Voyager on the west side platform railing of FCT thru the platform opening again.

I could hear whining but it didn’t look like Voyagers mouth was opening so I drove around to find Rosetta under the platform right below her sister and she was the one whining.

Both girls were drenched from the rain and as I started tweeting I looked back to find they were both gone. I then went back over to the City Hall parking lot and found that they had just switched sides on the tower. Voyager was now on the east side platform railing and Rosetta on the north side railing.

<Voyager <Rosetta

The rain started to really come down hard at this point. It was obvious they weren’t going anywhere other than to find better shelter so I called it a watch around 10:30am. Although I didn’t see the rest of the family or Pigott I still had a bit of a smile for having seen the water logged sisters! 🙂

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I arrived around 6:30 pm, checking out the downtown area first.  Having no luck finding any falcons, I parked at the east end of the pedestrian bridge, grabbed my camera and binoculars and walked out onto the bridge, along with other folks out for a walk and a peak at the beautiful view.  I often hear exclamations of surprise from first time visitors saying they had no idea there was a water fall here.  To me, besides enjoying watching the falcons fly there, it is such a peaceful spot, with all kinds of wild life and the soothing sound of the falls and the river below.  One of my favorite spots and it’s right in the center of downtown Rochester!

After checking all the nooks and cranny’s on the gorge wall, I checked out the surrounding area.  Finally a falcon.  Looked like a juvie had landed on the large white drum on the SE side of the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT).  The juvie looked like it was eating.  Once finished eating, the juvie hopped up to the structure above the drum.

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This juvie stayed there for much of my Watch.  I continued to search the area and found a 2nd juvie on the Gorsline Bldg, between the two security cameras located on the roof.  Based on size, definitely a female, but too far to ID.  Wonder if those cameras reminded her of home? lol  After taking just one picture, she took off and headed for the gorge, where she flew back and forth across the falls before I lost track of her.

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Kathy O joined me and she found a juvie on the City Place Bldg, along with the one still on the FCT.  It was gone soon after that.

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When Larry O joined us, there were no falcons seen.  So, we settled on one of the wood benches and chatted.  The dark clouds were moving in and when I left Larry (Kathy O also left) on the pedestrian bridge to check out the downtown area at about 8:30 pm, it started to lightly rain.

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I drove down St Paul and turned left on Woodbury.  Downtown Rochester was hopping and there weren’t too many parking spots.  Beauty was on top of Xerox on the south side on the 5th column in from the SE corner.  One juvie was on the NW corner of the HSBC bldg.  Ok, that was two.  The Crows lined the Frontier Bldg roof, with no falcon visitors.

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The clouds over Xerox were taking on a pink/rosey color.

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I was losing light quick so I headed over to the City Hall parking lot for a quick look at the Kodak Tower.  There were boxing matches taking place there tonight and I could here LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE filling the air.

The lighting on the tower was making it hard to view the cupola, but finally I was able to see two same size juvie falcons up there, one on the south and one on the south east.  Was this Rosetta and Voyager and was it Baron on HSBC.  All guesses of course.  In this really bad picture, you can just make out two juvies tucked in on the cupola.  I tweeted it in.  At 8:50 pm, It was time to go!

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I was happy that I was able to see all three juvies tonight, plus Beauty.  What a wonderful day it was.

Take care,

Carol

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

I was woken up by a clap of thunder and the flash of lightening at 4am and when I left for my watch at 5:30am it was sprinkling and 66 (F)  19 (C)  humid degrees.

Still dark when I arrived at the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) I couldn’t see any PEFAs nor did I see any at Kodak Office (KO) or the Times Square (TSB),Broad St bridge (BSB) areas. I did however find Beauty on the northeast corner of HSBC but she flew off before I could pull over heading northwest toward the river. I made my way back to City Hall and found Dot.Ca (DC) on the top arm west side of FCT.

A couple minutes later a small falcon (probably Baron) came streaking  thru from behind the tower over the platform flying southeast out of view quickly. A couple minutes later DC took off to the southwest just as fast and vanished into the semi dark sky. I left for the Pont De Rennes pedestrian bridge where I found Dan . He said he had seen 3  flying near FCT right after he arrived and that one had landed on the jail tower and left and 1 landed on FCT. That one was still there on a north side white beam below the platform eating.

Click my pics to see the full version

5 minutes later I spotted a PEFA on the west side railing of HSBC. Too much of a distance to tell if adult or juvie.

A few minutes later it left HSBC. There was a lull for the next 25 minutes when at 7am the FCT falcon left and Dan followed suit as he left for home. I drove over to FCT and found Baron on a northside beam with a full crop. As a matter of fact today featured bulging crops.

He left after 5 minutes passed and it looked like he had landed on the small tower but after viewing from a different angle I found that he did not but rather flew away to the west.

I searched downtown but came up empty for falcons so I drove to Brighton to find Pigott around 8am. She was at the east end of the south side vent and she was checking out everything that moved.

She stayed up there for 45 minutes faking me out several times as she would spread her wings and lunge forward a bit making me think she was taking off.  And lots of stretching!

I got a text from fellow watcher and good friend DebbieH that as she got to work she saw a falcon on the jail tower. Thanks Deb! At 8:45am Miss Pigott flew off to the northwest and didn’t return.

I returned to the pedestrian bridge and checked the high falls gorge area and saw nothing but I did see a falcon on the top arm west side of FCT. Off to City Hall I went, actually Church St where I was able to ID it as DC, he had a full crop and a small package in his talons. I also identified 2 falcon watchers on the sidewalk as Linda (Braveheart) and her son Tim.

I left them to park my car in front of City Hall and while I was over there I found Beauty on the east side a bit lower than the large satellite dish on FCT.

I walked back over to where Linda and Tim were standing in front of the Hochstein School of Music and while I did that DC flew off the arm and landed under the platform near the southeast corner.

Voyager was over on a north side beam with a bulging crop!!! She was busy picking at her talons,looking around and even took a little food induced nap.

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Mostly she whined -she whined at dad,she whined at mom, she whined at Baron when he came in landing below her and then he took over the whining.

<DC 

Beauty moved over to the south side where we could see her and she had a full crop as well. So we had 4 fully cropped falcons on FCT and I was thinking that Rosetta was probably somewhere nearby filling her crop.

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Baron was quite antsy and noisy, eventually at 10:55am he took off flying southwest. I called it a watch and Linda and Tim left as well. Full crops and noisy fledglings made this watcher smile today! 🙂

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By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I was able to get downtown earlier today, arriving at about 4:30 pm.  I found both Voyager and Baron on the west side of the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT) platform.  Both showed me their bands, making it possible for me to ID them.  It was Voyager on the left and Baron on the Right.

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First Voyager and then Baron took off heading north towards the Kodak Tower.  I followed the best I could in the 5:00 pm traffic.  On the way, I could see both of them flying near the Kodak Tower.  By the time I parked, I was only able to find one of them on the 17th floor, east side.

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This juvie walked around the corner to the south side of the building.  After that, I was not able to find either juvie there.  So, I left Kodak behind and checked out the whole downtown area.  No luck finding any falcons.  Where could they have gone?  I decided it was time to head to the pedestrian bridge, time to check out the gorge.  From there, I could see a falcon in the “falcon sucking tree”.  This tree that hangs off of the east side gorge wall was given this name by our friend and falcon fan Dale from Chicago.  It seems to catch every falcon that passes by.  lol  This falcon was not a juvie, it was an adult.  It was Beauty in the gorge!  But where were the juvies?

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I checked every nook and cranny and found two juvies on the fencing on top of an old structure on the east side of the High Falls.  Time to walk out to the observation deck.  Dark clouds were moving in and by the time I got out to the observation deck, it was lightly raining.  Not good for my camera, but I still took a few pictures.

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It was Baron for sure on the corner of the fence and I assumed the other juvie was Voyager since she had been with him earlier, but I can’t be sure. From where I stood, I had a front view of Beauty on the gorge wall.

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It continued to rain and the winds picked up.  Voyager took off while I was taking a picture of Beauty and Baron flew to the end of the fence, closer to the top of the falls, with the water rushing behind him.  He then took off and flew low behind the Gorsline building, heading south west.  I never did see him come out the other side of the building.

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It started to rain a little harder and I headed back to the parking lot to put my camera away until it stopped.  On the way, I met Dana and Kathy O, who had just arrived.  The dark clouds pushed through and it stopped raining, We walked out to the pedestrian bridge and saw that Beauty was still there, but no juvies in sight.

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There were all kinds of critters out and about below us, including (and we counted them) 10 deer and at least 6 or 7 Great Blue Heron scattered about and arguing with each other.  Seems prime fishing spots were worth fighting over.

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Kathy O had to leave and Lisa McK joined Dana and I on the Watch.  It wasn’t long after that when we spotted 1 – 2  – 3 young falcons enter the gorge from the south!  We were thrilled to see all three chasing and playing with each other in this beautiful setting.  I wish it could have lasted longer, but too soon, they chased each other to the Kodak Tower where we caught glimpses of them as they circled the building.  Finally, we could not see them any more.  Here are a series of pictures of the juvies as they flew above us.  Most of the time they were flying on the north side of the bridge, directly in front of the sun.

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Beauty left the gorge while we weren’t looking, but her exit did not go unnoticed.  While we were walking back to our cars to go look for the juvies, we received a tweet from Joyce that she had just arrived out at the observation deck in time to see Beauty fly by, heading towards the east end of downtown.  Great timing Joyce!

Dana, Lisa and I went searching for where the juvies ended up.  Lisa and I caught up with Dana on the west side of Kodak Office, actually Carestream’s building.  From there, we could see all three, Baron, Rosetta and Voyager sitting on top of one of the large lights that lit up the field at Frontier Stadium.  In the past, many young falcons have been seen there, but it was the first time I saw one there since the nest box was moved off of the Kodak Tower.  There they were, all three with their backs to us, looking south.  One by one, Baron last, they took off heading downtown.

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At 8:30 pm, it was time to end my Watch.  Dana left also, leaving Lisa and Joyce to enjoy an awesome aerial display by all three juvies over the downtown buildings.  Today was a wonderful day to be out watching our Rochester Falcons.  Can’t wait til tomorrow!  Goodnight everyone!