By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

There was a slight breeze and a temperature of 66 (F) 19 (C) at the start of my watch this morning.

It took 25 minutes to find falcons this morning as I arrived downtown at 5:35am and checked downtown twice. The second look at Kodak Office (KO) bagged 2 juvies-1 on the cupola and 1 on the launchpad, both on the southeast side. The launchpad bird walked to the northeast corner and then the cupola bird walked to his northeast side above its sibling.

10 minutes later they both flew south so I drove over to the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT) and had a look-it was then that I heard a juvie crying but it was coming from the roof of City Place so I went up to the roof of the Sister Cities garage. When I got up there I spotted a fledgling flying above City Place and then 2 more joined up with it near Widows Walk. The 3 of them flew in my direction and started playing talon tag over State St. near the Federal building making their way back by FCT. After a couple times around the tower one of them broke away from the other 2 and flew over by OCSR then back above me on her way to the platform railing of FCT east side.

It was Rosetta and she stayed only a minute or so before she flew off. Meanwhile, Baron and Voyager had flown northeast toward the High Falls. I got a tweet from LarryO who was on the Pont De Rennes pedestrian bridge with Dan that they had 2 juvies in the gorge and that they had landed on the building on the east side of the falls and then disappeared. I then drove over there to join them arriving about 6:45am but we would not see another falcon in the gorge after that. We did see a young Red-tailed Hawk on a beam below the pedestrian bridge.

Around 7am I got a message from cam watcher Donna that she could hear a falcon near the nest on the livestream. I zoomed my camera out as far as it goes and clicked a pic that found a juvie on the well wall.

Dan and Larry left and just as I was about to leave the juvie on Times Square building (TSB) flew east across the river  and vanished near Xerox. I drove over to the Andrews St. bridge and saw some pigeons in panic mode over the river between the Radisson Hotel and OCSR and for good reason as coming up behind them were 2 fledglings. They all scattered going in every possible direction and then the juvies broke off the chase and flew west out of view.

I then got a text from DebbieH saying there was a juvie on Widows Walk (WW). Sooo, I drove to Fitzhugh St. just in time to see Rosetta fly off the railing to the southeast. I drove over to the hole and spotted a fledgling under the northwest wing of TSB-I couldn’t ID it cuz it had its back to the world but I suspect it was Rosetta.

Debbie had stayed on Fitzhugh St. and I went back over to join her at 7:45am as Baron was on the north side lower roof below the railing on WW. He had a full crop and was preoccupied with picking tidbits off his right talon and leg band.

From my position I could also see the juvie under the northwest wing of TSB. Debbie saw the 3rd juvie fly from City Place toward TSB and the wing girl flew off too, possibly following her sister out of view. Baron remained on WW picking, preening and even getting a little shut eye in. He also watched some little birdies below him and followed a bee that was buzzing around his head-his version of learning about the birds and the bees! 😀

Debbie walked down to City Place looking for the girls while I stayed with the very cute Baron. He always shows me his bling like he’s proud of it. lol

Debbie had one of the girls on City Place only 3 floors up on the northeast corner-she was so excited! I went down there but it was gone when I got there. Deb had to get to work so I returned to boy Baron who hung around until about 8:10am when he looked up and saw one of his sisters. He waved goodbye and was off in a hurry flying northeast quickly vanishing behind buildings.

I chose to go to our Brighton Site to check on Pigott at this time. I found her on the front edge of the cubby tight up against the brick.

Click it for full version

She started preening and about 10 minutes later I heard the familiar sound of Dot.Ca (DC) chirping and then Pigott walked into the cubby at which time I heard loud echupping. This went on for over a minute then it quieted down with a chirp here and there followed by some soft chupping. Total silence for a few minutes then more chirping followed by echupping and back to quiet time.  A few minutes later Miss Pigott appeared at the front of the cubby.

I never saw DC go in or leave the cubby but I know he was there from the vocalizations that occurred in and around it. I think he might be related to Houdini! lol Anyway, Pigott started preening and after 10 minutes I was convinced that DC was gone and wasn’t going to come shooting out of the cubby like he has in the past. I left her to it and returned downtown to see if I could find some PEFAs. I had no luck in locating any but as I was driving down Andrews St. I spotted a funny site-a pigeon perched right next to one of those fake owls that people put out to scare birds away.

That’s all she wrote folks-I ended my watch at 10am. Even tho I never saw Beauty or DC I still left smiling for the fun watch I just had which featured Baron! 🙂

Click on the links below to view more pics and videos from my watch

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqiby

http://youtu.be/lIQ39mY8yNw
http://youtu.be/RaZ1-21M4AE
http://youtu.be/lesa5rQNWfY
http://youtu.be/xHYrWXWENpw
http://youtu.be/hWkCEl3KbxY
http://youtu.be/TAI4ozQWjV0

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Since MAK and Lynda were cruising the downtown area this evening, I decided to watch from the east end of the pedestrian bridge.  It was a beautiful evening.  I joined fellow Watchers Joyce and Kathy O around 6:30 pm. Lots of folks were out taking a walk on the bridge and enjoying the view of the High Falls and the river below.  I hoped that the juvies might visit, but they didn’t.

During our watch from the pedestrian bridge we were able to keep track of some of the Rochester Falcons.  When I first arrived, both Voyager and Rosetta were on the platform of the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT).

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They both took off heading south and both landed on the City Place bldg, which is just south of the FCT.  At first we weren’t sure what building it was, due to our view from the pedestrian bridge.

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The next speck we spotted from the pedestrian bridge was Dot.ca, reported by MAK and Lynda, on the NE corner of the Xerox.  This was actually the only part of Xerox we could see from our location. lol

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We kept an eye on Rosetta and Voyager on City Place, constantly checking out the city buildings for any sign of the other falcons.  Dot.ca took off from Xerox.  Voyager took off from City Place, flying low in front of the building, heading south where I lost sight of her behind some trees.  Rosetta launched herself from City Place and chased a gull to the west.  She then returned to City Place.

That’s pretty much all of the falcon activity I saw during my two hour Watch (6:30 – 8:30 pm).

We all decided to call it a Watch just after 8:00 pm.  But first, I wanted to verify what building we saw the two juvies on.  We had agreed that it was City Place, just south of the FCT, but Joyce and I drove over there to make sure.  Yep, it was definitely City Place and Rosetta was still there.

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Tonight I saw Dot.ca, Voyager and Rosetta during my Watch.  It was fun to watch from the pedestrian bridge, which gives you an amazing view of downtown Rochester.   Good night everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Todays starting temp was 54 (F) 12 (C) with clear conditions

Arriving at the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) at 5:40am I could see no falcons, so my next stop was Kodak Office (KO). As I pulled over on Mill St. and looked up at the top of KO I could see 2 juvies circling and playing talon tag in the semi-darkness. One of them landed on the east side of the cupola and flew off-repeating this 4 times before staying put. I think the other juvie landed on the west side(side I couldn’t see) of the launchpad.

In the next 15 minutes the cupola juvie walked to the southwest corner and then back around to the northeast corner and then flew to FCT. I checked all sides of KO but could not find the other fledgling.

I drove over to City Hall to check out the fledgling that had landed on the east side platform railing. It had its back to me so there was no way to get a bead on its leg band to ID it.

I left it to take a ride around downtown to see if I could find any other falcons but I came up empty handed and when I returned to FCT that juvie was gone. I took another ride around and ended up at the Pont De Rennes pedestrian bridge at 6:45am where Larry was on watch. There was a juvie back on the FCT railing east side and I spotted one on the Gorsline building which is next to the High Falls.

15 minutes later both juvies were gone without us seeing them leave so we had no idea what direction they flew. Larry left at 7am and right after that as I was scanning the northern sky with my binocs I came across 3 falcons playing talon tag over near Sahlen’s Stadium-home of the Rochester Rhinos soccer team. There was a building in between 2 sets of field lights that they kept flying behind making me lose sight of them. Finally they didn’t come back out from behind it-I waited and watched all around for a few minutes and then decided to go to the Brighton Site (BS).

I made my way past all the places our falcons like to hang out but didn’t find any until I started down Plymouth Ave. toward Cornhill. Just as I was crossing the overpass for 490 I looked at the jail tower and spotted a falcon. I made a quick left onto Troup St. and had just enough time to snap off a couple pics before it flew southeast into the sun causing me to lose track of it. It was one of our fledglings.

I continued on to BS where I promptly found Pigott around 7:30am on the east end of the south side vent. She was preening her lovely feathers and napping on and off.

After I left Miss Pigott I checked downtown but never saw another falcon thus ending my watch at 8:30am.  It was a pretty uneventful watch and I didn’t see either Beauty or Dot.Ca but I still left smiling for having seen all 3 juvies flying and Pigott whom I hadn’t seen in a number of days. 🙂

I have provided links below for you to view 2 videos

http://youtu.be/UfEfmZdYg38
http://youtu.be/eISSoBAUXIM

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I arrived downtown just before 6:30 pm.  First stop, the Kodak Tower, where I found a falcon on the SE corner of the launchpad.  This falcon had it’s back to me, but I’m pretty sure it was an adult and most likely Beauty, but who knows for sure.  lol  Low light and shooting into bright sunshine is a deadly combination for my camera, but I figure some kind of picture is better than no picture at all.  Or at least I hope so.  hahaha

When I parked in front of the Frontier stadium, I could see two falcons on the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT), two juvies (I thought one was an adult before I checked my pictures).  Based on size, I believe it was Baron on the top arm and one of his sisters on the 2nd arm.

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Baron stooped off of the top arm of FCT, to the east, low over the river.  After stooping, I saw him circle higher and higher, gaining altitude.  The female on the 2nd arm of FCT, took off and landed on the platform on the west side.

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From the parking lot next to the  Hochstein  School of Music, I was able to see a 2nd falcon, again facing away and the brilliant sunlight.  It felt really good.  Since there was no moved by the three in view, I decided it was time to go check on Pigott at the BS location.  She hadn’t been seen in awhile.

At the BS location, I found Pigott on the west end of the south side vent.  She was de-feathering prey up there, only showing her face in shadow now as then.  I stayed with her for awhile, until she started to vocalize, a loud screeeeeeee! and some ee-chupping!  I looked all over for Dot.ca.  She exhibited this type behavior when he would come in.  There he was!  Dot.ca arrived carrying a small prey bird, sparrow/starling size.  He landed on the east end of the vent, opposite Pigott and they both had a little chat as DC plucked feathers furiously.  He was standing in a cloud of fluff feathers.  Finally the feathers stopped falling and he was looking around.  Tonight the temperature was in the high 60’s (F) during my evening fledge watch.

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As soon as DC was done prepping his prey, he took off, heading north west, towards downtown.  Pigott became quiet and she just looked around, ever-vigilant.  I said goodbye to her and headed downtown, where I met Lisa McK on the Broad St bridge.  We saw no falcons from there and it was getting late, approximately 8:30 pm.   It was time to head home.

On my way out of downtown, I checked the Frontier Comm Tower, nothing.  Last stop, the Kodak Tower, where I found a juvie up on top of the cupola on top of the tower on the SE side.  I heard a juvie cry out and the cupola juvie took off flying south.  About 1/2 way across the Kodak parking lot, a 2nd juvie flew in from the south and they met with a talon tag greeting.  It was getting dark by this time, but I could see them both fly back to the Kodak Tower.  Both attempted to land on the same SE corner of the 17th floor.  One stayed and one took off.  The one that took off ended up landing and the SE edge of the cupola.  The falcon that remained on the 17th floor corner took off and headed up to the cupola where it flew around, before settling on the cupola on the west side I think.  Too dark to tell for sure.  The one on the SE corner of the cupola, stood out from where I was watching from, near the Kodak parking lot.

The Kodak lights were on, two juvies had made it there for the evening and it was time for me to head home also at approximately 9:00 pm.  Goodnight!

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p.s.  I will be working on a weekend fledge watch report from this past weekend.  It was a dream fledge watch for sure for this Watcher and the others that witnessed it. Young falcons in the gorge!  WooHoo!  About time!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

This morning it was chilly with a starting temp of 50 (F) 10 (C). Dan and I could actually see our breath up on the Pont De Rennes pedestrian bridge at 6am.

I arrived downtown at 5:45am and found a falcon on the southwest corner of the launchpad on Kodak Office (KO).. In less than a minute it flew out and back landing on the southeast corner of the launchpad. It was still a bit dark out and with its back to me I couldn’t tell if it was a juvie or adult.

Click on my pics to see full version

I left it to check the rest of downtown and when I reached the east side I found Beauty in the same spot as yesterday morning on the east side of HSBC.

She stayed there for the next 20 minutes preening and looking around. When she was ready to go she simply spread her wings and dropped off heading northwest over Clinton Square toward the river.

After I didn’t find any falcons I went to the Pont De Rennes pedestrian bridge where I found Larry and Dan at 6:30am. I asked Dan if he had seen the PEFA on the KO launchpad earlier and he said yes. He also told me that when he first got there 2 juvies came flying out from under the bridge and he thought they must have been roosting under there on a beam. He also said he saw all 3 fledglings flying in the area. 15 minutes later I spotted 2 falcons on the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT). 1 was near the southeast corner of the platform railing and the other right below it.

A few minutes later the railing bird was gone and a few minutes after that the other FCT bird flew to the Times Square building (TSB) landing under the northeast wing then taking off again.

Dan and Larry decided to leave at 7:15am and at the same time cam watcher Donna reported that there was a screaming juvie on the wall above the nest box. Thank you so much for the help!

I drove over to the hole to have a closer view of things-I was able to ID the juvie as Baron. He stayed there until 7:30am or so and then flew off squawking and landed up under the southeast wing before flying off to the west.

Baron returned a minute later and landed under the northeast wing.  A few minutes later I noticed movement at the back of the ledge. There was another juvie up there and it was eating and it stuck its head over the edge for a peek! As it came out to join Baron I was able to ID it as Rosetta.

The 2 of them kept running back and forth from the front to the back and on both sides of the ledge. I think they were sharing cached food that was at the back of the ledge.

<Baron <Baron&Rosetta <Rosetta

DebbieH came by on her way to work and was treated to seeing Rosetta up front and center under the northeast wing. We must treasure every look we have of the juvies now as they will soon be leaving the territory on their life journey. Rosetta flew off heading north as we lost sight of her behind buildings.

Debbie had to get going and I went up on the Broad St. Bridge to see if Baron was still up there-he was not so I went to Brighton to look for the elusive Pigott.  No change there she is still eluding me! I returned downtown and after a lengthy search I found Dot.Ca (DC) on the top ibeam north corner of OCSR just before 9am. I was parked on State St. across from the Rochester Plaza Hotel at first but he turned his back to me so I drove over to Bragdon St. across the river next to the Radisson Hotel to observe him from the front.

After a while I decided to go look for juvies and as I stopped on the Andrews St. bridge I spotted 2 falcons on FCT-1 on the top arm south side that turned out to be the Beautyful one and 1 on the east side of the platform that turned out to be Rosetta. I went over to City Hall to be closer to them and for IDing purposes.

<Rosetta> <Beauty>

At 10:09am Rosetta spread her wings started vocalizing and flew off to the southeast. I looked up to see Beauty was off as well!

Between Dan and myself all 5 downtown Rochester Peregrine Falcons had been seen  on this morning and I went home smiling! 🙂

Click on the links below to see more pics and videos

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqibQ

http://youtu.be/J9jEAGWHVLU
http://youtu.be/iP4TAvmzSsw
http://youtu.be/Ilt970tAgyk

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was partly cloudy with a chilly wind out of the north making the 60 (F) 16 (C) feel much colder to start my watch this morning.

I saw more deer today than falcons but that’s ok because I did see both Beauty and Dot.Ca and 2 out of 3 fledglings. I found Beauty on the east side of HSBC 15 minutes into my watch at 5:55am.

I got to be with her about 5 minutes before she stretched and took flight heading southeast until she turned into a speck in the early morning sky.

I looked everywhere between the east side and Kodak Office (KO) and turned up not one falcon so I went down to Browns Race and walked out on the Pont De Rennes pedestrian bridge at the High Falls. Dan was on the east end when I started my trek across from the west end. I  asked him for the scoop and he told me that there were 2 juvies and an adult flying off to the northwest earlier but that was all he’d seen. At 6:45am I was watching a big flock of gulls flying over by the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) and behind them I spotted  a falcon who flew to the 2nd arm west side and landed.

Dan and I thought the posture looked more like an adult but from that distance we couldn’t say for sure. We missed it fly off and as I scanned KO with my binocs I spotted a falcon on the southeast corner of the launchpad. Closer inspection showed another was back on the ledge farther. DC was on the corner and Beauty was in the back crouched down like maybe she had food she wanted to keep for herself.

Less than 5 minutes passed when DC took off and Beauty came out to the corner of the launchpad. Dan watched DC fly directly to the FCT and land on the platform railing near the southeast corner.

Click on my pics for full version

Just about 7:30am DC flew off and Dan left for home ending his watch. At that time I walked down to the west end of the bridge to get closer to the Beautyful one.

10 minutes later as I was reading a tweet from CarolP Beauty left KO and I missed it so I have no idea what direction she went. I walked back to the east end of the bridge to meet Carol who had texted me of  her arrival. Around 8am I noticed a falcon on the northeast corner of the KO launchpad-it was DC and he had some fresh red meat below him.

He took off soon after and this is when I had my first deer sighting-it was a whole family on the west side of the falls.

<click it>

They walked back behind the buildings out of view and then I saw 2 more young ones at the edge of the gorge on the island that is in the gorge below the bridge. The young buck still had that velvety fuzz on its antlers as the doe walked in the water to get a drink.

Before I left to check the Brighton site DC made another appearance-this time on the southeast corner of the launchpad.

I returned to High Falls after seeing no PEFAs at the Brighton site. I decided to check out the view from the observation deck (my first time on it) which is on the east side of the falls before rejoining Carol on the pedestrian bridge.  I could see Lou had joined her while I was gone.

It was around 9am when I spotted 2 juvies flying over the gorge-one of them flew over me and I lost track of the other as I started recording the flight of the one nearest to me. I had some trouble keeping up and the camera had trouble staying focused as this young fledgling was moving fast!

The juvies disappeared as quickly as they appeared but it was thrilling for the minute they were there showing us their flight abilities. I then spotted another deer down in the thick greenery of the island munching on the foliage. And before I left the deck I took a pic of the falls and KO for a perspective from the observation deck.

I made my way over to the bridge with Carol, Louigi and Dana but we wouldn’t see any falcons in the next hour.  I saw some crows that at first I thought might be our fledglings and a Great Blue Heron down in the river fishing.

I ended my watch a little past 10am having spent time with nature in the heart of the city and you know that put a smile on my face as I left for home! 🙂

Click on the links below for more pics and videos

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqia2

http://youtu.be/9LppLij5mL4
http://youtu.be/aNB-iRrhgxU
http://youtu.be/VDKjNTCrUmM
http://youtu.be/ulY8IoqVX8c

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

After a night of rain this mornings weather had cleared up nicely. Partly cloudy skies and a starting temp of 63 (F) 17 (C).

The day would dawn in the east as it always does but it would bring a day of firsts for this watcher as I saw my first juvie on Midtown Plaza, I would have my first watch with Donna from Florida and I would see Peregrine Falcons flying in the gorge at High Falls for the very first time!!

Click pics for full version

Arriving about 5:35am I checked the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) first then made my way to Kodak Office (KO) followed by the Times Square (TSB) and Broad St. Bridge (BSB) areas with not a falcon to show for it. Things were about to pick up as I drove to the east side and found 2 juvies in the air near HSBC and Dan sitting in his chair on the corner of Court and Chestnut St. in front of Manhattan Square Park.  One of the fledglings landed on Midtown Plaza and the other on the Frontier building after chasing a pigeon right in front of us.

The Frontier bird flew off almost immediately disappearing behind the building to the southwest. The Midtown juvie flew off stooping on a pigeon missed it and returned to Midtown only to fly off after another pigeon then back to Midtown landing on the east side. Shortly after a 2nd fledgling joined it.

One of them flew off to the north side of Midtown out of our field of vision and the other one walk/hopping sideways (the darnedest thing I’ve ever seen) down to the southeast corner and started eating something. Larry stopped by to tell us he was going to the Pont de Rennes pedestrian bridge at High Falls hoping the juvies would go fly in the gorge for him again. Dan and I stayed with the sure thing as we were being treated to all 3 juvies right then and there.

Suddenly the 3rd juvie flew into the picture with number 2 and coaxed the Midtown juvie off to fly around HSBC with them. When they were done 2 landed on Midtown and one on the SUNY building.

<Baron is on the left

The SUNY girl flew over to Midtown and we thought she landed on the roof out of view. Our other girl started eating up there and when she was finished Baron flew off and she joined him taking part in some talon tag as #3  from out of nowhere joined them. One juvie landed on the lower part of Midtown on the northeast corner and the other 2 flew off out of view and never returned.

This one disappeared around 7am and we would not see a falcon on the east side again. At 7:30am Dan left and I headed to Brighton. No falcon sightings over there but I watched a cute little Goldfinch eating some purple weed seeds.

Click it

Right after I left Brighton I got a call from Florida Donna who wondered if I might come pick her boyfriend Jim and herself up to go falcon watching as they were in town for a brief stay. I picked them up at their hotel and we went straight downtown and started searching for PEFAs. I took them to all the regular places including a trip to the top of the Sister Cities parking garage but we weren’t seeing any falcons. When we came down we spotted one on the jail tower below the satellite dish but when we got to Troup St. for a closer look it was gone. Our last stop was to be the pedestrian bridge at High Falls-as we parked at Browns Race there was a cat sticking its head out a 2nd story window.

We were on the bridge only minutes when Donna asked is that a falcon flying near the falls and soon we had all 3 fledglings giving us a show we will not forget. After a little talon tagging they started swooping on a Great Blue Heron eventually driving it down into the water in front of the falls where they continued dive bombing it. It managed to fly away as they lost interest and went back to their flying games which included mini stooping each other as they encompassed the entire gorge area and landed on the rock wall for a little rest. I couldn’t believe our luck as this was the first time I had seen a falcon flying in the gorge and it was Donnas’ as well.

After a few minutes they were up and flying again and there was now 4 of them as one of the adults had entered the mix. They all landed on the rock cliffs on the east side of the gorge. Jim found where 2 of them landed but we didn’t find the other 2 with good reason-they blend in well! Dana joined us followed by CarolP and then KathyO-they too were excited that they could watch PEFAs flying at High Falls again.

Unfortunately I had to trash all my pics because the sun was directly behind the falcons making for some washed out awful photos but I did get a couple other critter pics down in the gorge.

<Kingfisher Click it

Dana and CarolP walked over to the observation deck to wait for the falcons to fly out from the cliffs below them but that didn’t happen so they came back to the bridge with the rest of us.

A couple juvies took off flying on the east side and made their way across the river with one landing on the top of OCSR and another on the FCT.

Donna had to be leaving so I took a couple pics of  her and Jim, then we were on our way.

I ended my watch at 10:45am some 5 hours after I started and I smiled during the entire extraordinary watch from start to finish! 🙂

Click on the links below to see more pics and some videos

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqiaU

http://youtu.be/AghscX0SOS0
http://youtu.be/WQ-Qey3YE3A
http://youtu.be/RBl8HQkjCpg
http://youtu.be/Br_Pu-Wi96g

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Spent about 3 hours Falcon Watching this evening with fellow Watchers Kathy O and Larry O.  We’re pretty sure we saw all three juvies, but did not see Beauty or Dot.ca.  I am sure they were somewhere nearby.  One juvie was on the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT) and two were at the east end of Midtown Plaza.  I did not see all three together, so can’t be sure we saw all three.

Kathy and I left the one juvie on the east end of the platform on the FCT to check out the downtown area.   We eventually found Baron and one of his sisters at the east end of Midtown.  They did some nice flying for us before they both took off, one to the east and one to the south.  Now we had no falcons to watch.  It was time to find us some falcons.  lol  Larry joined us for a short while before he had to leave.  I was driving down Woodbury heading east.  I stopped in front of the parking lot next to Geva Theater to check out the surrounding area.  As usual at this time of the evening, the Crows were streaming in and landing on the Frontier Bldg next to Washington Square Park where they roosted during the evening.  There aren’t too many Crows yet, not like the numbers that will come in later.  So I’m looking at the 30 or so Crows lined up on the Frontier Bldg and wondering why some of the Crows are diving on each other?  Well that wasn’t too unusual.  They do like to harass each other.  Something made me take a closer look.

Through my binoculars, I could tell that one of the birds on the building lined up with the Crows was actually a juvenile Peregrine Falcon.  Oh, boy!  I quickly called Kathy to let her know and I found a parking spot where I could get a better view, near Washington Square Park.  Kathy joined me and we settled in for what turned out to be an incredible showing of just how well “our”  juvie falcons are doing.  Over and over again, the juvies, one of them being Baron, took off from the building and chased the Crows all over, including into the trees of the Washington Square Park.  This aerial dogfight was exciting to see.  They were tearing up the sky and the Crows were no slouches, making dives and turns to avoid the falcons.  The Crows on the building and in the trees were vocalizing their displeasure, loudly.

There was no way for me to get any pics of this dogfight.  They are just too fast!

As we were losing light, Baron and his sister, who I was never able to ID, left the Frontier Bldg.  One flew to the NW towards the Times Square Bldg and the other landed on the cross on top of St Mary’s Church on the other side of the park, facing NW.  About 15 mins later, this juvie also left following the path of the first juvie.  Kathy and I got into our cars and we checked the downtown area.  The only falcon we could find was a juvie on the FCT east side of the platform.  It was after 8:30 pm and it was getting dark.  Kathy left and I tweeted out that there was a falcon on FCT and that our Watch was ending.  As I was pulling out of the parking lot, the juvie took off and flew to the Kodak Tower landing on the south side of the cupola.

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I’ll leave you with a series of pictures I took of Baron and his sister with the Crows on the Frontier Bldg near Washington Square Park.   Goodnight!

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By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

This morning the weather was outstanding with clear and calm conditions and a temperature of 56 (F)  13 (C) to start.

Our young fledglings must have felt the same way for they were scarce this morning. I saw only 1 juvie and Beauty on my 3 1/2 hour watch. No worries tho because watcher LarryO saw all 3 juvies including some talon tagging in the High Falls gorge!

I started out searching the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT)  first, then I moved on to the Kodak Office with no sightings. I then worked my way back to the south checking the Times Square and Broad St. Bridge (BSB) areas-still no PEFAs. I finally saw a  Beautyful sight on the northwest corner of HSBC.

Beauty was looking for a pigeon breakfast but they weren’t willing to come out and play while we were there. She did some stretching and then flew northwest at 6am.

As I made my way around downtown looking for falcons I came across a worker on the Crossroads building.

It would take me 25 minutes to find another falcon -as I was looking around from the BSB I spotted one on the bottom arm west side of the jail tower. I drove to Troup St. for closer viewing and was able to ID it as a juvie. I think maybe Baron because it looked small to me. He was catching a few winks while perched there for the next 15 minutes when he took flight heading west.

I had gotten a tweet from Larry saying there were fledglings flying in the High Falls gorge-unfortunately I didn’t get there in time to see them. Larry said they flew toward Frontier Park and then he lost them. I did take a few pics while on the Pont de Rennes pedestrian bridge-it’s almost impossible not to!

Click pics to see full version

We both drove over there to check it out but no falcons were around. Larry left for work and I left for Brighton. On the way, there were Jehovahs Witnesses making there way into the Blue Cross Arena. This is their 3rd event this summer and should be the last for this year as they will be in our fair city thru Sunday.

I got to the Brighton site to find that Pigott wasn’t home so I drove back downtown around 7:30am.  I searched everywhere and as I arrived at High Falls once again I got a message from watcher DebbieH saying she had a juvie on the FCT. Thanks for the heads up Deb!  I whipped over and found the youngster on the northwest corner of the platform railing.

I barely had time for a pic when it flew off in a hurry to the south. As I followed behind trying to find where it went I stumbled across Beauty on a north side beam of the jail tower. While I was pulled over on Troup St. in front of the Catholic Family Center at School Alley an unmarked black SUV drove by slow and then backed up stopping by me. It was a detective who wanted to know what I was doing with my camera pointing at the jail. I told him I was taking pictures of a Peregrine Falcon and with a puzzled look on his face he said “oh, I thought you were planning a jail break for one of your friends”. I smiled and then he took off. lol

I left the Beautyful one to look for her brood as she preened, taking note of her full crop . I haven’t seen her with a full crop too much since her kids have grown up. It’s been a busy time for her and Dot.Ca feeding and teaching the gang all the skills they will need to survive in the big bad world. Soon  (if it hasn’t already happened) the fledglings will start making their own kills and then it will only be a matter of time before they leave the territory. Until then I’m going to enjoy them as much as possible-at least as long as they show themselves! I ended my watch at 9am smiling despite only having seen 1 juvie and Beauty-and why not, that’s more than most people get to see!  🙂

I have provided links for 2 videos below-just click and view

http://youtu.be/7qUrMLHe-ok
http://youtu.be/kjH6AxmPMQU

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Larry O

Went to the Pons Du Rennes this a.m. with Harold to see what could be seen. The first looks around were negative, but as is often the case, while looking into the gorge at the High Falls, I caught sight of something in among the gulls, that was not a gull. It took a bit more watching, and getting the binocs on it, but it was a juvie. In fact, I quickly had 2 juvies flying back and forth along the waterfall wall, climbing and diving on each other, and chasing the gulls and even one poor blue heron who got in the way.

The flying demo was beautiful to watch against such a scenic backdrop. The eventually alit on the east wall, but if you had not been watching, you would not have seen them there. Perfect camoflauge.
The next time I saw them, one was heading west over the river, then State St to Frontier Field. While following the juvie, I watched one come in from the south and then the third appeared over Frontier also. For the next five minutes, the three were playing over the ball field. They went down below the building roof line, and I no longer saw them.