By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

11:00 am – 3:00 pm

It was a REALLY cold and blustery day here in Rochester, NY.  Never made it out of the 20’s (F).  It’s 22 degrees as I type this.  Thankfully it will warm up a bit tomorrow with temps in the mid 30’s.

I decided to start my watch with a drive down to the lake (Ontario) to check out Russell Station and the Charlotte/Summerville area.  It has been awhile since anyone has reported seeing Billy or any other falcons down there. I found no falcons at Russell Station.  At Charlotte I had tweeted out that I had seen no falcons there, but fellow watchers Dana and Lou reported at the same time that they saw a juvie Peregrine falcon hunting along the river and that it was now on the river side of the Port of Rochester.  Dana called to tell me that they were over on the riverside and I joined them.  We are fairly certain that it was Billy.  Dana and Lou had seen her hunting ducks over the river.

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Billy took off and Lou thought he saw her fly over the Port of Rochester Bldg, but we were not able to find her again.  I said goodbye to Dana and Lou and headed downtown where I found both Beauty and Dot.ca.  Beauty was up inside the OCSR elevator shaft on the north side ledge and Dot.ca was on the Times Square Bldg on the southeast wing ledge.

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I left Beauty and Dot.ca downtown and headed over to the BS location, where I found Pigott eating on the tree ledge on the east end of the building.

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After eating her fill, there was a little bit left.  She carried, it first to a south facing window on the north extension and then to a east facing window on the southwest extension.  After awhile, she continued to eat.

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At 2:15 pm, Dot.ca arrived and landed on the southeast corner of the southwest extension, just above Pigott.  There was both ee-chupping and wailing vocalizations between them.

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Pigott continued to eat and Dot.ca remained on guard above.  After awhile, Dot.ca took off and flew past Pigott then landed on the east end of the south side vent.

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From there he watched Pigott eat until there was just a little bit left.  That’s when he decided to fly over to Pigott to see if she would share that last bit, and she did.  He landed on the ledge and Pigott stepped back.  Dot.ca took the tiny morsel and flew up to the three ledge on the east side.

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It didn’t take him long to eat the remainder of Pigott’s meal.  He flew up to the southeast corner of the southeast extension.

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Just before 3:00 pm, I left both Pigott and Dot.ca and checked the downtown area for Beauty one last time before ending my watch.  After finding Beauty on the south side of the OCSR on the top IBeam, I ended my watch and headed home.  Another weekend of falcon watching complete.

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I’ll leave you with a few pictures I took of two different (or maybe it was the same one) Red-bellied Woodpeckers I saw by Russell Station.  Such beautiful birds!  Remember to click on any pictures you would like to see larger.  Goodnight!

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By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Is it November or January!?  The temperature at 19 (F) -7 (C) sure doesn’t feel like a week before Thanksgiving, never the less we are in the deep freeze today with light lake effect snow showers

I first found Dot.Ca (DC) on the top ibeam south corner of OCSR, soon after he flew over to the Times Square building (TSB) and landed under the southeast wing. About a minute later Beauty came flying in from the east and DC flew down to the deck, landing next to the main cam.

A minute later DC left the area flying east out of view from my spot in the hole. 5 minutes later Beauty appeared under the southeast wing and she was eating. I parked in front of the Blue Cross Arena on Exchange St. for the best angle on her. The Beautyful one finished up in 15-20 minutes and then flew east towards OCSR. I drove to the Radisson Hotel near Main St. and found her up in the elevator shaft of OCSR on the north side ledge.

The wind picked up and it started to snow, I thought it was a good time to go check the Brighton site. When I arrived just after 8am, Pigott was on the east end of the south side vent all foofed up to keep warm.

After a couple minutes I thought I should check around the east end of the building and there I found DC on the southeast corner by the roof top tree eating.

DC spent 30 minutes eating and then he flew to a south side window with leftovers as Pigott flew off somewhere as well.

A minute later Miss Pigott flew in from the east and landed on a south side window and DC flew to the southwest extension and came to rest on an east facing window. He finished off his meal then flew to a west facing window ledge on the southwest extension announcing his arrival with some eechups. Pigott was kiddie corner to him where she was perched.

<Pigott

<DC

I left them around 9:10am, checking the OCSR elevator shaft for Beauty when I got back to the city. She was still up there so I called it a watch at 9:20am. Keep smiling everybody! 🙂

Click on the links below to see some videos
http://youtu.be/2eBuCYhgWhI
http://youtu.be/8YLEFmU6tO0
http://youtu.be/POnPjUa8RIE
http://youtu.be/XHENU5DIAuI

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

10:00 am – 1:30 pm

I started my Watch at the Brighton Site, arriving at 10:00 am.  Pigott was on a west facing window on the southeast extension.

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Dana joined me and after we watched Pigott for awhile, we decided to head downtown to look for Beauty and Dot.ca.  The winds were picking up and clouds were moving in.  Snow was due around noon and it was really cold out.

At first we didn’t find Beauty or Dot.ca.  I went over to the Radisson to look up into the OCSR elevator shaft.  No falcons there.  As I was pulling away from the Radisson, a falcon flew over me heading southwest towards the Times Square Bldg.  From the Broad St Bridge, I could see a falcon up on the southeast wing ledge.

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I drove down to Aqueduct St (aka the hole) for a better angle, but by the time I got down there, the falcon on the Times Square Bldg was gone and Beauty was on the south side of  OCSR on the top IBeam.

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Dana was watching Beauty from the Broad St Bridge, so I decided to go look for Dot.ca.  While I was checking out the Frontier Communication Tower and Kodak Office, Dana reported that Beauty had taken off and headed south over the river scaring up all the pigeons in the area.  She was definitely in hunt mode and Dot.ca joined in.  Just as I joined Dana on the Broad St Bridge, Dot.ca was flying south.  My first thought was that he was heading over to the BS location.  So that’s where I headed.  Dana stayed downtown and reported that Beauty had returned to the top IBeam on OCSR.

At the BS location, I found both Dot.ca and Pigott on the east end of the building, DC on the tree ledge and Pigott on a east facing window on the southeast extension.

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Lisa (for a short time) & Dana joined me and we settled in to watch Dot.ca and Pigott.  After awhile, Dot.ca took off and flew around to the north side of the building.  Pigott remained where she was.  I went to search for him and by the time I circled the building, Dot.ca had returned to the roof of the east side of the building.  He had either caught a small bird (looked like a Starling) or had found one of Pigott’s caches.  Whatever he had, it wasn’t very big.

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Dot.ca finished his meal and took off again, this time landing on a east facing window on the southwest extension.  Pigott then took off and flew over us.  She was floating on the cold wind and turned back towards the building, landing on the tree ledge that Dot.ca had been on earlier.

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Dot.ca flew back to the east end and landed on a east facing window on the south east extension.  This is the same spot that Pigott had vacated.  So now they had switched spots.  lol  But, that didn’t last long.  Pigott flew past Dot.ca and landed on a south facing window on the east extension.  They were at the same level on each side of a corner.

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That’s where they stayed during the rest of my falcon watch.  It started to snow hard, making it almost impossible to see them.

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Dana left and reported that Beauty was still on the top IBeam on OCSR.  It was cold and snowing and a perfect time to end my watch, leaving Pigott and Dot.ca on the east end of the building.

There will be more snow and cold tomorrow (Sunday – 11/24/13).  As I type this, the winds are blowing, it’s lightly snowing and is currently 24 degrees (F).  The weather folks are saying it won’t make it out of the 20’s tomorrow.  A big Brrrrrr!

I’ll leave you with a couple more pics from my watch today.  Remember to click on any pictures you would like to see larger.  Keep warm and safe everyone!  Goodnight!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was overcast with a temperature of 30 (F) 1(C) as I stepped out for my morning watch-the sun came out for a little bit towards the end of it.

While I was enroute downtown cam watcher Annette reported a falcon on the Mercury money bag (thanks) by the time I got to the hole it was gone but I did see Beauty up on the top ibeam near the south corner of OCSR. She would stay there until 7:30am when she flew south over the river going into a stoop and leaving my field of vision.

I went looking on the east side for the Beautyful one and found that the ice skating rink at Manhattan Square Park was looking ready for business. As I returned to the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) I spotted  Beauty up on the Times Square building (TSB) under the northeast wing. She flew off  soon after I arrived in the hole to observe her.

At this point I left for the Brighton site after getting a tweet from Larry that he had a falcon eating on the east side at 8am. We chatted for a few minutes and then Larry left as Pigott finished eating and flew to a south facing window on the northeast extension.

After some preening and looking pretty in the sun Pigott waved goodbye and walked to the end of the ledge where I couldn’t see her. I quickly went to where I could see her proving that on this day she could run but she couldn’t hide from old MAK. lol

Around 8:45am Pigott started vocalizing and then I heard the familiar chirp of a certain male PEFA. Dot.Ca (DC) had arrived and Pigott flew out to greet him before they flew to the west side of the building. As I arrived over there DC was on the front edge of the cubby eechupping and Pigott was on a west side window ledge.

<DC       Pigott>

DC moved into the cubby out of view and while I was tweeting Pigott left-it was very quiet for the next 10 minutes so I assumed they both left. I returned to downtown and while I was on the east side I saw a falcon fly to the northeast corner of Midtown and land. After I found a spot to watch from another flew in from the east above the Midtown bird and then they both flew off out of my view.

I’m sure it was Beauty and DC for as I made my way to the BSB I found them on the TSB-Beauty was under the southeast wing and DC under the northeast wing.  Beauty had her back to me and DC so I had to go from the hole to the bridge for any kind of profile pic of her.

<DC> <Beauty>

DC kept moving around but Beauty stayed put as I also parked in front of the Blue Cross Arena for yet another angle.

<DC> <Beauty>

I left them at 9:45am after a pretty busy watch having seen all 3 resident Rochester Peregrine Falcons, thus ending my watch with a smile! 🙂

Click on the links below to see my videos of the day

http://youtu.be/8xqRYP89XSI
http://youtu.be/aQSA93Mp2uw
http://youtu.be/rvX1OZyNZWs
http://youtu.be/WGW1pNc9RYU
http://youtu.be/hj-zurTvAMU

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Up and down our temperature goes these days-today it was 42 degrees (F) 6 (C) when I started my watch with dark overcast skies and a persistent misty rain

I found Beauty about 7:20am near the south corner top ibeam of OCSR. I don’t think she was liking the misty rain that was falling  as she flew to the elevator shaft for shelter from it 15 minutes later. I left my spot in the hole and parked by the Radisson Hotel near Bragdon St. on the east side of the river in order to see up in there.

She was obviously down for the count so I went over to Brighton arriving around 8:15am. Dot.Ca (DC) was on the west end of the south side vent. I wasn’t sure it was him at first because he wasn’t looking like his bright white self,  but once I saw the heart shape on his malar stripe I was convinced. DC flew off about 5 minutes later.

I made a trip around the building and when I got to the west side I spotted a falcon on the roof by the tree. It flew to the north as I started to pull over. Another trip around brought me right back to the west side where I now had 2 falcons on the upper and lower southwest corners of the northwest extension. Pigott was on the lower and DC the upper.

DC soon walked down and over onto the roof where I couldn’t see him and Pigott flew up to the upper corner to see what he was doing. This is a favorite eating spot for them so maybe he was looking for scraps.

DC then came back out to the edge and flew off and Pigott went back down to the lower corner.

<Click it

A couple minutes later Pigott flew up to the upper corner one more time before flying off.

Miss Pigotts’ wing feathers looked a bit rough I think because they were wet and sticking together. I drove to the back of the building the south side and found DC on the southwest corner of the southeast extension. He was perched up there looking around at his territory and doing some hand signals with his big yellow feet!

I then caught movement out of the corner of my eye to the left and found Pigott on the southwest extension on an east facing window. She was doing some preening on those much in need feathers.

Around 9:20am DC left the building as Pigott remained on the window preening. I left to go back downtown and as I made my way around looking for DC I came across a big eye painted on a brick building on St. Paul St that I just had to take a pic of-very cool looking.

<Click it

I went to Bragdon St. and found that the Beautyful one was still up in the elevator shaft of  OCSR. I ended my watch at 9:45am with a smile from sharing space with all 3 resident Rochester Peregrine Falcons! 🙂

Click on the links below to view some videos

http://youtu.be/nzsvKVQyxcI
http://youtu.be/si1sqtNlMQg
http://youtu.be/Q29tQydZFbY
http://youtu.be/MUwhoZzsFdc

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

3:50 pm – 5:15 pm

No sunset tonight to see.  Cloudy, cold and rain on and off.  I apologize for the very poor quality of the pictures.  The lighting was horrible.

I arrived downtown at about 3:50 pm.  After checking all the falcon spots, I was unable to find Beauty or Dot.ca.  Onward to the BS location where I found Pigott on the west end of the south side vent.  While I was watching her, a smaller Peregrine was flying back and fourth over the top of the building, coming in and out of view.   When I looked back at Pigott, she had flown up to the SE corner of the SW extension.  The tiercel, that I believe was Dot.ca, although it was too dark to get a positive ID, landed on the south side vent.

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There was some ee-chupping between them and then Dot.ca took off and flew fast to the east side of the building.  That’s when I noticed there was a 3rd Peregrine that Dot.ca was chasing and stooping on.  They were both close in size, so two tiercels.  Both headed southeast over the trees.  When I looked back at Pigott, she didn’t seem to be bothered at all by the what was going on.  She continued to pluck feathers.  After awhile, Dot.ca returned and landed next to Pigott on the SW corner.  There was a lot of ee-chupping between them before Dot.ca took off and again headed south east and out of sight.

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While Dot.ca was gone, Pigott flew over to the west end of the south side vent and continued to pluck and eat.  At 4:30 pm, Dot.ca returned and their “wailing” vocalization filled the air.  I do love hearing all the sounds they make.  He landed on the east end of the south side vent.  They looked like bookends up there, Pigott on the left with her food and Dot.ca on the right keeping watch, just in case the other tiercel returned.

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By this time it was dark and raining lightly.  I left both Pigott and Dot.ca on the south side vent.  Again, because of the poor lighting, I was unable to get positive ID’s.  But due to behavior, I am pretty sure this was Pigott and Dot.ca.  I have no idea who the other tiercel was.

While I was keeping watch out at the BS location, Joyce was down at the lake checking for Billy or any other falcons that might be there.  She had no luck finding any at Charlotte/Summerville or Russell Station.

A little before 5:00 pm, I headed downtown to look for Beauty.  My first stop was the Broad St Bridge where I saw no falcons, so I drove over to the Radisson to look up into the OCSR elevator shaft.  I found a falcon there on the south side ledge.  It looked like Beauty to me and she was alone.

I tried to lighten this picture enough to see Beauty, but it didn’t work.  Hey!  It’s better than the picture I posted yesterday of Beauty in the elevator shaft!  lol

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Kathy O tweeted from BS that she had both Pigott and Dot.ca still on the building there.

It was dark and time for me to head out.

I’ll leave you with a couple pics of the funnel shaped contraption on top of the State St Ramp Garage, which at night changes colors.  I’ve seen a few falcons sit up there during my falcon watches, including Mariah many years ago, when she was trying to teach tiny Grissom to take a Pigeon from her.  He never did get that Pigeon.  But that’s a whole other story.  Goodnight everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Todays nearly 20 degrees warmer than yesterday temperature was 34 (F) 1 (C) with mostly overcast skies

I was beginning to wonder if I was going to see any falcons this morning as it was almost 7:30am, and then as I was crossing the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) due east I looked up and saw Beauty and Dot.Ca (DC) flying above Xerox. I sprang out of the car and started taping it-the distance and darkness caused  focusing issues but I managed to get some good footage.

They would soar higher and higher until they vanished into thin air only to reappear minutes later. Falcons can change their speed with just the flick of a wing making it hard to keep up with them especially if they’re flying in and out of view amongst tall buildings. They kept up their aerial display covering the east side of the city above Midtown,Xerox,Bausch&Lomb and HSBC  for a half hour and then they disappeared for quite some time. I checked out the river and found some ducks on the south side of the BSB before heading out to look for our sky dancing duo.

After an unsuccessful search of downtown I went to the Brighton site where I had the same result. I returned to the city and while stopped on the Andrews St. bridge I spotted a falcon under the northeast wing of the Times Square building (TSB) just about 9am. When I arrived next to He’s Chinese to observe I received a tweet from Pat (works at Thomson Reuters) that she could see a falcon up there as well. Thanks! I was able to ID the bird as Beauty and she was eating with feathers all around!

One second Beauty would be plucking big mouths full of feathers and the next chowing down on her meal. She spent about 45 minutes eating then she picked up her leftovers, cached them at the back of the ledge and flew north.

I drove north expecting to find the Beautyful one but instead came across DC on the Kodak Office cupola. His crop was empty and he was in hunt mode.

I left DC at 10am thus ending a watch that included some mighty fine flying-something that always produces a smile on this face! 🙂

Click on the links below to see a photo album and videos from my watch

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqi9i

http://youtu.be/EDqHhNaF7oM
http://youtu.be/uSjyiJmPUrw
http://youtu.be/lyVJGD-wOAE
http://youtu.be/Gj0womLC6Ks

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

3:50 – 5:30 pm

Before I arrived downtown to search for Beauty and Dot.ca, I received the following tweets from Joyce.

3:17 pm – There is a pretty girl sitting on the NW corner of the W ext. Pigott is facing south with her head turning in every direction.

3:37 pm – On BSB…nothing in sight from here except a feast of pigeons on the South St Garage.

3:49 pm – DT: Checked FCT, KO, WW, and even elevator shaft…no falcons found. Heading north.

When I arrived downtown at 3:50 pm, I looked all over for Beauty and Dot.ca and could find neither of them.  The only falcon I saw was a Kestrel on top of an antenna on the Federal Bldg.

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Since I couldn’t find Beauty and Dot.ca, I headed over to the BS location.  Pigott was on the north west corner of the west extension.

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While I was at BS, Joyce texted that she was at Russell Station at the lake (Ontario) and had found no falcons there.

At 4:45, I was losing light fast.  Pigott perked up and crouched like a cat ready to pounce.  Just then, Dot.ca flew in and landed on a window on the south side of the west extension.  As he arrived both started to loudly ee-chup in greeting to each other.  Pigott took off and flew close by him and landed on a west facing window.

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I left both Pigott and Dot.ca at BS to check out the downtown area one more time, hoping to find Beauty.  I figured it was a good bet that she was up inside the OCSR elevator shaft and I was right.  Beauty was up there on the south side ledge.  Seems to be her side.  I could just barely see her in the dark.

Kathy O tweeted out from the BS location at 5:11 pm – BS falcon report – quick stop after work in time to see nw falcon take off fast going west .. Only one falcon seen .. Too dark to tell who.

At 5:13 pm, all kinds of loud ee-chupping sounded from the OCSR elevator shaft.  It was too dark by this time to see anything, but I do believe that Kathy saw Dot.ca leave BS and he arrived a few minutes later to join Beauty in the elevator shaft.  I was definitely hearing two falcons greeting each other.  I ended my watch at about 5:30 pm.

Here’s a picture of Beauty up inside the elevator shaft.  Can you see her?  lol

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I’ll leave you with a picture I took while I was caught in traffic on the Ford St Bridge.  My view of the sun-setting on the south side of the bridge over the river.  You can see some of the Crows flying overhead.  Goodnight everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Brrr-when I left for my watch this morning it was 20 degrees (F) -7 (C) with clear skies

After several trips around downtown I finally found Beauty at 7:17am on the Mercury money bag (MMB) as I pulled up on the Broad St Bridge. The sun was giving her an amber tint and she was all foofed up to keep warm.

<Click it 

Beauty was definitely looking for a nice warm meal as she looked to and fro, up and down but there was nothing flying in her immediate vicinity.

<Click it 

After 10 lovely minutes with her the Beautyful one flew off to the east, crossing the river and going behind the Chase building out of sight.

I gave it a few minutes to see if Beauty would return but when she didn’t I drove to the east side to look for her. 10 minutes later I found a falcon on the northeast corner of Midtown but because of all the construction over in that neck of the woods I had a hard time finding a good place to observe.

I believe that it was probably Beauty since she disappeared behind Chase and Midtown is right behind Chase. Whoever it was they were eating and as I was driving around trying to find a suitable place to watch from it left a little past 8am.  I checked around the city and when I didn’t find anybody I left for the Brighton site but had no luck there. Upon returning downtown I spotted a falcon on the northeast cube of the Frontier Communications tower from the Andrews St Bridge.

I promptly left for the City Hall parking lot but that was no good as I was looking at the back of a falcon and couldn’t be sure who it was tho I suspected DotCa (DC).

I went down Fitzhugh St. and parked in front of the Sister Cities parking garage for a front view which helped e ID this PEFA as DC.

DC was hiding in the shadows but I could still see the full crop he was wearing so I figured he wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon and left him to look for Beauty. Again, on the Andrews St bridge I spotted a falcon and this time it was Beauty-she was on the top ibeam northwest side of OCSR. I then went to State St. and parked in front of the Rochester Plaza Hotel for a closer look.

For the most part Beauty was sleeping with her head tucked in to her left wing but she did raise her head a couple times and then back to the wing.

I left her to her napping and called it a watch at 9:30am. I was smiling as I exited downtown after a sunny and bright watch with our Peregrine pair! 🙂

I have only one video link today which I have provided below-just click it and view

http://youtu.be/PR-XpQ-uxiw

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

As I left for my watch this morning the temperature was a chilly 35 (F) 2 (C) with overcast dark skies and the wind out of the north. Scattered lake effect snow showers fell on and off during my watch

Just a short watch report today as there was not too much to report! It was dark out quite late this morning as I spotted Beauty and Dot.Ca (DC) on the top ibeam southeast side of OCSR. I parked over by the Radisson Hotel at Main St. and while I was taping them they both flew off to the southwest.

I looked around the city a couple times but couldn’t find them so I drove to the Brighton Site (BS). I didn’t find any PEFAs there either so I went back downtown as snowflakes began to fall arriving about 8am. It wasn’t until nearly 8:30am that I found the Beautyful one on OCSR in the same spot as she was earlier with DC-top ibeam southeast side.

<Click it

Beauty did some stretching and preening in between looking around her surroundings. She pooped  and I thought she might take off a couple times but she stayed put.

I decided to call it a watch at 9:15am with a smile for having spent some time with Beauty! 🙂

Click on the links below to view a couple videos

http://youtu.be/1EiFvEHpx7s
http://youtu.be/KU9JRXklFZk