By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was downright sultry when I stepped out this morning at 6:15am with a warm 76 degrees (F) 24 (C) The sunrise looked hot,hot,hot!!!

I dedicate this watch report to all those who lost their lives on 9/11/01

I’m averaging about a half hour before I find a PEFA lately and today was no exception as I found Dot.Ca (DC) at the north corner top ibeam of OCSR at 6:47am.

I checked around the east side and the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) for Beauty but she has changed her morning routine on me so I couldn’t find her. I then stopped on the Broad St. bridge to check out the river wildlife. I caught a Great Blue Heron catching a small fish and swallowing it down,the usual gulls and ducks and a Cormorant taking flight.

I drove to Hawkeye and searched with no luck finding a juvie there and as I went thru downtown on my way to Brighton I could see that DC was no longer on OCSR. Pigott wasn’t home either. Hmm, what’s a girl to do? Return to the steamy city and look around that’s what! In doing so I found Beauty on the FCT lower red section perched on a north side beam looking Beautyful.

Beauty was obsessed with cleaning her left talon picking at it off and on during the time I shared space with her. I just love to see those Big Yellow Feet (BYF)!!

<Click it

I spent only 20 minutes or so with Beauty but I thoroughly enjoyed all her poses as I always do. I could snap off shots of Peregrines all day long and have on occasion!

Beauty slipped off the back of the tower, then came back thru flying above my head as I was parked on Church St. in front of the Hochstein School of Music then she flew out of view to the southwest.

I left to check Hawkeye again before ending my watch downtown at 9:30am having found no more falcons at either place. So I saw Beauty and DC which is always good for making a smile appear on my face! 🙂

Click on the links below for more pics and a video from my watch

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqins

http://youtu.be/m66oE31dkak

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

(6:30 – 7:45 pm) – Hot and Humid with Temps into the 90’s (F).  Not temperatures you would expect this late into Summer.

My first and only stop today was the Hawkeye (HE) plant.  After parking at the YMCA to check out the west and south side of HE, I was happy to see a juvenile Peregrine Falcon flying over the building, touching down and taking off again.  For the sake of my reporting, I will say this is a female, due to size.  She was enjoying the warm breezes, bringing her talons down and practicing grabbing things out of the air.  She would flip, and turn on a dime, heading back in the direction she had come from.  Next she would stoop into the river gorge on the north side of the Driving Park Bridge, then return to fly over the building.  The juvie finally landed on the west side, lower roof.  After taking pictures and a quick video, I locked my car and walked out onto the bridge, crossing to the north side.

The fencing on the center of the bridge is very high and there was no way to get a picture until I got down towards the east end.  Just as I was getting ready to get a picture, hoping for a look at her bands, off she goes, stooping into the gorge.  lol  I stood there waiting for her to return, finally she did, hovering over the building and continuing to hone her flight and hunting skills.  I lost sight of her as she passed over the building.  I really think she landed somewhere on the roof, because I did not see her come out the other end of the building.

After waiting awhile, I decided to head back to my car.  I drove over to the east end of the building to check out that side.  Joyce joined me on the Watch, circling the building, but having no luck finding the juvie.  We both met at the YMCA parking lot and chatted for a few moments.  By 7:45 pm, it was already getting dark and we both decided to end our Watch.

I was thrilled to watch this young Peregrine Falcon and hope to see her again soon.  We are still trying to get a positive ID on her, hopefully before she decides to leave.  Or maybe she’ll surprise us and stay for the Winter.  That would be great.

Here is a quick video snippet of the juvie flying over Hawkeye.  It’s not the greatest quality due to the far distance I took it from.  But, it gives you and idea of what I was watching tonight. Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/pNXhba8XyfQ

I’ll leave you with pictures from my evening Watch, all of the juvie at Hawkeye.  Be sure to click on any pics you would like to see larger.  Goodnight everyone!

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By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

I left the house in the midst of a thunder storm and very dark conditions. The temperature was 69 (F) 21 (C) and quite humid.

It was a tough morning to find falcons in our fair city due to the weather conditions so I took a ride to Hawkeye hoping  to see a juvie. I parked in the YMCA parking lot and scoped out the stack and south and east sides of the building. I then drove across the Driving Park Bridge and as I came up to Carthage St. at the east end of the bridge I spotted a juvie riding the breeze above me.

Pics as I crossed the Driving Park Bridge Click on pics for full version

I pulled down Carthage and watched it as it glided south, never flapping its wings once and disappearing behind the trees along the river. I tried to find a clearing to see if I could find it again but no such luck. I went back to the YMCA and watched for about 15 minutes and then went back downtown.

Looking north from Carthage St.

I returned via St. Paul St. to the Andrews St. bridge where I spotted a falcon on the northeast side top ibeam of OCSR. I drove over to Bragdon St. where I was able to ID it as Beauty.

I left Beauty to go check the Brighton Site (BS) and as I was stopped at the traffic light at Broad and South Ave. I spotted 2 falcons circling Bausch & Lomb. As the light changed they flew above Xerox and then I lost them behind buildings. I checked the area but couldn’t find them again. I thought one of them must have been Beauty as I went back to check OCSR and she was gone. Most likely the other one was Dot.Ca (DC). So I continued on to BS arriving just in time to see a falcon fly from the front edge of the cubby up to the west side roof of the west extension.

This falcon looked small to me when it flew off just seconds later and went to the east end of the building before disappearing so I think it was DC. There were dark wing tips hanging over the front edge of the cubby-cached food left for Pigott by DC perhaps.

I made a couple trips around the building but didn’t find a falcon. I returned downtown after receiving a tweet from Shaky that a falcon was on the northeast cube of the  Frontier Communications Tower (FCT). Thanks Shakymon! When I arrived it was still there showing its back to the world. I parked on Fitzhugh St. across from the Hochstein School of Music parking lot and next to the Sister Cities Parking Garage for the best view of Beauty.

Soon after, the Beautyful one turned around facing east so I drove down to the north end of the City Hall parking lot to see the front of her.

Even in the dark conditions Beauty was looking lovely this morning. She didn’t stay this way for long and when she turned around again showing me her back I decided to end my watch after I checked Hawkeye one more time’

I didn’t find any falcons at HE and so I ended my watch at 9:30am. Seeing Beauty this morning after not finding her on yesterdays watch made me smile! 🙂

Check out the links below by clicking them

http://youtu.be/r3R68OYvuPg
http://youtu.be/SQZUuID0GlU
http://youtu.be/8Pm4uk9MXc8

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

(6:30 – 7:45 pm) (69 degrees (F)

Very short Falcon Watch for me tonight.  I wasn’t able to start my watch until 6:30 pm.  First Hawkeye; no falcons found.  Next downtown; at first no falcons found.  I cruised the downtown area checking every building, ending up on the Broad St Bridge (BSB).  Finally, at 7:11 pm, I spotted a falcon on the jail communication tower about half way down on the south side.  Based on size, I believe it was Beauty, but I can’t be sure.

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From the Broad St Bridge, I found the adult Black-crowned Night Heron (BCNH) fishing on the river on the north side of the bridge.  After spotting the adult, I saw the juvie BCNH fly south down the river towards Court St.  It was their time to hunt.

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Fellow Watcher Joyce tweeted that she was at the BS location and that she had been unable to find Pigott.

When I left downtown, the temperature read 69 degrees (F).  It is going to get very hot and humid tomorrow, with temps over 90 degrees!  Crazy weather.  Keep cool everyone!

On my way home, I did check Hawkeye a 2nd time.  It was getting dark at 7:45 pm and I could see no falcons there again.

I ended my watch with just one falcon sighting.  Have a nice evening everyone!

Here’s a picture of the sky behind the Times Square Bldg, taken from the Broad St Bridge.  I reminded me a Maxfield Parrish painting.  Just beautiful!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

This morning was overcast to start but the sun came out eventually and warmed things up after a chilly start with a temperature of 50 (F) 10 (C)

I couldn’t find any falcons downtown so  headed to Hawkeye (HE) to see if I could find a juvie. As I parked at the YMCA and looked toward the site I spotted a bump on the stack to the northwest of the building. I grabbed my binocs and could see that it was a falcon bump. I then grabbed my camera and took a pic-definitely a falcon tho the distance and lighting made for bad pics. Sooo I grabbed my scope and voila I could definitely say that the vertical feathers and brown coloring on the chest made this a juvenile falcon.

A couple minutes later it stooped down into the river gorge on the north side of the Driving Park Bridge (DPB). A minute later it was flying above the Hawkeye plant circling it and then landing on the west side roof-it didn’t have a catch from the stoop.

Seconds after landing it flew off to the north and didn’t return. Darn, still no ID but yay it hasn’t left the area yet! I stayed about 20 minutes and then returned to downtown finding Dot.Ca (DC) on the top ibeam north corner of OCSR.

Mr.Handsome started stretching in between looking around his territory for a breakfast bird.

I was parked on Bragdon St. next to the Radisson Hotel on the east side of the river but I wasn’t alone-also parked were pigeons and gulls on the hotels lower roof.

Click on my pics to see full version

I left DC around 8am to look for Pigott at the Brighton site but she was nowhere to be found so I returned to downtown hoping to find Beauty. No luck in finding the Beautyful one but I did come across DC on the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT). He was on the northeast corner of the platform railing looking around for a prey item. I parked in front of City Hall on Fitzhugh St.

DC stayed there for 45 minutes and then he snuck off the back of the railing to the north going into a stoop and returning less than a minute later with a small package. He did wave hi and bye before leaving! lol

Upon his return he landed on an east side beam just below the large satellite dish. I didn’t have a great angle on him so i drove around to the north end of the alley Montgomery Place next to the Open Door Mission. Back there I could only get silhouette pics because of the position of the sun.

I left DC to enjoy his meal and took a spin around the city to look for Beauty and once again I had no luck in finding her. I checked the Hawkeye plant one more time but no juvies were around. I ended my watch which featured DC with a splash of juvie thrown in at 9:30am. Keep smiling everyone! 🙂

Click on the links below to view some videos of DC

http://youtu.be/c2wogD70Txc
http://youtu.be/uEkgUFOkM8w
http://youtu.be/NoIOTBflJho

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

(12:30 – 2:30 pm)

It was a much cooler day today, temps around 60 degrees (F), but the sun was shining the the sky was blue with fluffy clouds.  Just perfect weather to get out and see some wildlife.  I actually started my day by checking out Braddock Bay and one of my favorite spots, Hogans Point.  I just love that area.  It never fails that I meet someone new when I visit there and today was no exception.  I also met fellow Falcon Watchers Dana and Lou there. I’ll post some pics at the end of this report.

I didn’t get downtown until 12:30 pm, checking out the Hawkeye plant first.  Again, no falcons seen there.  I’ll definitely keep including this location on my falcon watch travels in hope of seeing a juvie there again soon.

Next stop, downtown Rochester, where I found Beauty under the platform on the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT).  It took me awhile to find her, she was well hidden on the south side.  If she hadn’t moved around, I might have missed her.

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Beauty had been moving around a bit and flew off and back on before settling in for a nap.  It was a good time to continue my search.  On my way down Fitzhugh St., I stopped to take a picture of an old building that I have always admired.

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I moved on to check out the rest of the downtown area, ending up on the Broad St Bridge, where I found the adult Black-crowned Night Heron dozing.  I checked out the river to see if the juvie was fishing, but could not find it.

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I had no luck finding Dot.ca, so I headed over to the BS location where I found Pigott sleeping on a window on the west end of the building near her cubby.

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Seemed to be a sleepy afternoon.  lol  I left Pigott to her nap and went back downtown to continue my search for Dot.ca.  Finally, I found him on the north side of the OCSR, top Ibeam, near the north corner.  Just a few feet from where he was yesterday.  He was not there when I checked earlier.

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It was time for me to end my Watch, but of course I had to check out the Hawkeye location on my way home.  Again, no falcons found.

REMEMBER TO CLICK ON ANY PICS YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE LARGER

I was happy to have found all 3 adult Rochester Falcons doing well.

I’ll leave you with some pictures of my morning trip to Braddock Bay and Hogan’s Point.  Hope you enjoy!  Have a nice day everyone!

Braddock Bay

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Hogan’s Point

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and here’s my special new friend Happy, a 16 year old puppy.  🙂

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By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Today started out with overcast conditions and a temperature of 60 degrees (F) 16 (C) and just before I ended my watch the sun came out

I didn’t find Beauty until my 2nd trip to the east side as she was on the south side of HSBC. She stayed less than 10 minutes and then she spread her wings and flew west.

As I crossed the Broad St. Bridge I spotted a falcon on the 2nd ibeam near the south corner so I drove down to the hole in order to get an ID. It was Dot.Ca and he took off 15-20 seconds later flying south.

I drove down State St. and found Beauty on the top ibeam at the west corner of OCSR.  She left after 5 minutes and flew straight over to the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) where I found her on the platform east side. She had some cached food and was working on a leg.

After about 10 minutes the Beautyful one finished eating and flew up to the northeast corner of the FCT platform railing and 10 minutes later she saw something and flew off to the southeast.

<click it

I left for the Hawkeye (HE) site to see if there were any falcons around but no luck there. I made my way over to Brighton around 8am and found Pigott on the west end of the south side vent. She was all foofed up and looking lovely. The breeze almost knocked her off but she caught herself by spreading her wings out.

Miss Pigott scrunched down Buddha style and then started stretching and spreading her wings, showing what good shape they are in after her incident earlier in the summer.

When I first arrived it was overcast and it even sprinkled for a bit, but blue skies started to move in and the sun came out. Pigott saw something in the southern sky about 8:45am and then she took flight going in that direction.

I left and checked downtown on my way thru stopping on the Court St. bridge to check out the river. I spotted the immature Black-crowned Night Heron fishing in the shallows amongst the gulls and ducks.

I left downtown after not finding our beloved falcons to check Hawkeye one more time but no sightings there either so I ended my watch around 9:30am. I saw our 3 resident falcons on my watch so that made me smile! 🙂

Click on the links below to view my photo album and videos

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqinO

http://youtu.be/HWltIcALgWc
http://youtu.be/4ty7ErGOW6I
http://youtu.be/7ENSZOT5bAo
http://youtu.be/XH7r7K1pcDg
http://youtu.be/lxUdtii7sGc
http://youtu.be/bVpTNN6pluo

Click on

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

(1:00 to 4:00 pm)

My first stop was the Hawkeye plant.  After hearing that Larry O had seen a falcon there this morning I hoped to find one too.  I circled the building, looking at all sides.  No falcons found there.

It was time to head downtown to look for Beauty and Dot.ca.  I found Beauty on the Frontier Communication Tower.  She was on the NE box below the platform.  Just as I found her, it started to rain, and continued to rain through most of my 3 hour Watch.  It was in the mid-60’s (F).  The weather people had forecast that it would go up to 77 degrees (F), but I don’t think it ever did.

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My view from City Hall Parking Lot.

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Beauty took off when I wasn’t looking, so I drove over to the Andrews St Bridge for a better look of the area.  I found Dot.ca on OCSR on the north side top IBeam.

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After finding both Beauty and Dot.ca, it was time to see if Pigott was home at BS.  She was on the south side of the building on the west end of the vent.  Even in the rain, she was constantly scanning the surrounding area. Watching everything that moved.

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After spending some time with Pigott, I headed back downtown to find that Beauty and Dot.ca had not moved.  Dot.ca was still on OCSR and Beauty was still on the Frontier Communication Tower.

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All three adult Rochester falcons were accounted for and doing well.  But before I headed home, I stopped one last time at the Hawkeye plant.  While checking the west side of the building, I found a juvie Red-tailed Hawk on one of the light poles on the Driving Park Bridge.  While I was checking out Hawkeye, Larry O was downtown.  He reported that Beauty and Dot.ca had not moved.

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I saw no falcons at Hawkeye, or did I?  While I was checking things out from the east side, I noticed what appeared to be a dark shape in the nest box.  From where I was I could not get a good look, so I took a picture.  In the picture, I see something, but it just might be a shadow, due to the poor lighting.  I’d like to think there was a falcon in there, but I highly doubt it.  lol  Here’s the picture I took before I ended my Watch.

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I’ll end my report with a picture of Pigott I took yesterday and some pictures of the juvie and adult Black-crowned Herons that were in the tree next to the library.  Enjoy and Goodnight!

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By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Back to overcast skies and a starting temperature of 56 (F)  13 (C)

I had a little trouble finding a falcon this morning at the start as I checked all of downtown then headed to Hawkeye (HE) where I saw no juvies. Upon returning to the east side of the city at 7am I found the Beautyful one on the northeast corner of HSBC.

I shared space with her for 10 minutes and then she flew NW looped back around to circle HSBC before flying west out of my view. The pics below are her takeoff in sequence.

<Click it

I received a tweet from Larry (who had been near HSBC when I was, but on the south side) that he saw a falcon flying at the Hawkeye location. I don’t think I need to tell you that I whipped over there to join him. Unfortunately, the PEFA never showed itself again as we watched from the YMCA parking lot. We stayed about 30 minutes and then Larry drove to the north end on St. Paul St. to check because you can’t see the nest box from Driving Park where the YMCA is located. I left for Brighton (BS) but first a check downtown on my way found Beauty on the northeast cube of the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT).

Taken from north side

Taken from south side

I stayed just a few minutes then continued on to BS where I located Pigott on the west extension north side on the window below the old blocked off scrape. She had her back to  the world and promptly started to stretch so I could get a better look at her and you could clearly see her black band with 43/x on it.

Miss Pigott was very alert as she usually is looking in every direction of her territory, or at least the part she could see from where she was perched. Oh and more stretching.

I hung out with Pigott for close to an hour hoping Dot.Ca would come by for a visit but no such luck. I did enjoy watching her antics and poses for the camera. Oh and some more stretching!

Her tail feathers have filled back in quite nicely don’t you think!? She expelled a ribbon of poop and yes one more stretch to show off her gorgeous feathers.

At 9:10am as I was getting ready to call it a watch a light rain started to fall from the sky and a tweet from Lisa McK came in saying that while at the Montezuma Wildlife Refuge she was told that our male juvie Baron has been seen there. What wonderful news to send me off smiling! 🙂

Click on the links below for a couple videos

http://youtu.be/n02KRTdLZLk
http://youtu.be/2bmyxdFNb9E

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

After 4 hours of falcon watching last night, I can report that I saw only one falcon, and that was Pigott at the BS location.  She was on the north side of the west extension on a window below the old scrape.  I searched high and low.  No falcons seen downtown and no falcons seen at Hawkeye.  That’s just how it happens sometime.  lol

But, it wasn’t a total waste. Brian H had texted that he had both the juvie and adult Black-crowned Night Herons in the tree next to the library.  Of course I had to check that out.  They were both there and they were just beautiful.  Joyce joined us on the east end of the Broad St Bridge.

Later in my Watch, I was joined by Kathy O and we enjoyed dinner at the Genesee Brewery on the 2nd floor deck, where we had a gorgeous view of the High Falls and downtown Rochester.  Our binoculars were up much of the time, hoping for a glimpse of our falcons.  No luck.  But we did see a fox walk by the east end of the pedestrian bridge.  That was very cool.

I’ll download my pics and post a few in my next report.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!  I know I will!  Have a good day!

~ Carol P.