By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Another warm Fall day!  Temps in the 60’s (F), but mostly cloudy by the time I left work.  I had to move quickly.  Because of the time change last weekend, I only had about an hour before it got dark.

I headed downtown first.  Both Beauty and Dot.ca were on the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT) on the north east box.

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By the time I parked in front of City Hall, both had taken off.  I found them both on the City Place Bldg, which is just south of FCT.  I think they were looking for cached food.  First one and then the other would disappear from view and then reappear.

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Dot.ca took off and flew over me heading north and Beauty remained on City Place.  From City Hall, I could see that Dot.ca had landed on the Kodak Tower, on the north east corner of the launch pad.  That’s where I headed next.  After taking a few pictures of Dot.ca another falcon flew in and after circling the Kodak Tower, Beauty landed on the cupola just above Dot.ca.

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While I was watching Beauty and Dot.ca, I received a tweet from Dana.  She was had spotted the unbanded tiercel on the antenna on Latta Rd, and he was eating.

I was starting to lose light, so I headed over to the BS location.  Pigott was on a window on the east side of the SE extension.

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I didn’t have much time to spend watching, but I was happy to find all three resident falcons.

I’ll leave you with this collage that Dana sent me from her afternoon watch.  Three of the pictures are of the unbanded Tiercel in Greece and the 4th is a Merlin she saw in Irondequoit earlier today. Thanks for sharing Dana!

Goodnight everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was partly cloudy and pretty warm at 47 (F) 8 (C) when I started my watch but it turned sunny with blue skies by the end of it-the sunrise colors were pretty to the south

You must click on my pics to view the full version

It felt like our falcons were sleeping in today as I didn’t find any until 7am when I spotted Dot.Ca (DC)  on the Kodak Office (KO) launchpad northeast corner.

I parked on State St. north of Brown St. at first  and when DC turned I checked him out from Mill St. He stooped down the east side of KO and returned without a catch. And around 7:20am he flew south and didn’t return.

After a spin around downtown I spotted a falcon under the northeast wing of the Times Square building (TSB) with its back to me. After a bit Beauty finally showed her face so I was able to ID  her. I think she was nibbling on something due to her posture and movements. She eventually turned a little so I could see her profile at least and then she was gone around 8am, leaving when I wasn’t looking.

I went to Brighton after that and found not only Pigott but DC as well around 8:30am. She was on the east side roof  north of DC who was at the southeast corner of the same roof ledge by the tree. DC was plucking feathers from prey at first but stopped after a few minutes while Pigott whined on and off.

<Pigott <DC   <Click it

<DC> <Pigott>

After 10 minutes they both flew off, Pigott going first headed west. They returned with DC going back to the same corner by the tree and Miss Pigott landed on the southeast corner upper level of the southeast extension. She would walk back and forth to the corner directly above DC 3 times in the next 45 minutes.

<Click them> <Pigott DC>

At 9:30am DC flew off to the west followed by Pigott and they didn’t return. Turns out DC went downtown to be with Beauty as I found them together when I arrived at City Hall.

DC off to see Beauty next

DC was on the northeast cube of the Frontier Communications Tower (Beautys’ favorite FCT spot) and she was below him on an inside corner. I could see her well from Fitzhugh St. in front of the Sister Cities parking garage.

<Beauty   <DC

I wanted to see the front of Beauty so I drove down to the City Hall parking lot but could only see her head and tip of her tail. There were city workers putting up lights on the trees so I was a bit surprised to see Beauty and DC in such close proximity to them and the cherry picker.

That would be all she wrote as I ended my watch a little after 10am smiling as I left the city! 🙂

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

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqi7Y

http://youtu.be/XLpdOi98izk

http://youtu.be/7uuPxnEUzUI

http://youtu.be/_rEoHgK7u6E

http://youtu.be/AxKVrkh_RQ0

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I was able to get out earlier for a watch today and what an absolutely gorgeous fall day it was.  Temps in the 50’s with brilliant sunshine and blue sky.  Clouds moved in pretty quickly but I was happy to have seen the sun, at least for a short while.  I wasn’t the only one enjoying the warmer temperatures.  There were lots and lots of lady bugs out and about!

A little after 11:00 am, I was able to do a quick check of the BS location.  Pigott was on the NW corner of the NE extension.  By the time I approached the building, she was gone, but she hadn’t gone far.  Pigott had settled on a top window on the north side of the building above the main entrance.

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After lunch, I went back out.  My route started at Latta Rd, then Russell station.  No falcons at either location, but I did find a very dark colored Red-tail Hawk hunting on the north side of Russell Station.

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Onward to check the Charlotte/Summerville area.  No luck there either, but lots of Ring-billed Gulls had gathered.

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My next stops were Seneca Towers and Hawkeye.  Both locations were falcon-free.

While I was on my way downtown, MAK reported that both Dot.ca and Pigott were at the BS location, so I searched downtown looking for Beauty.  I could not find her anywhere.  I even looked up into the OCSR elevator shaft.  Lots of window washers were out on multiple buildings, including OCSR.  I headed out to the BS location and found Pigott on the NE corner of the NE extension.  Dot.ca was gone.

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Time to reverse my route.  First downtown.  I could not find Beauty again, but I did find Dot.ca on the Kodak Tower, NE corner of the launchpad.

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I left DC at Kodak Office and rechecked all the areas that I had checked at the start of my watch.  Still no luck finding Billy or the Latta Rd Falcon.

Due to the change in time, I will not have much time to look for falcons after work.  It gets darker so much quicker now, but I’ll do the best I can.  Goodnight everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Today the starting temperature for my watch was 38 (F) 3 (C) with a bit of a breeze and sunny

I started the day my favorite way-with Beauty and she was under the northeast wing of the Times Square Building (TSB).  I was parked by He’s Chinese facing the TSB with Mercury at my back, so when cam watcher Annette tweeted a few minutes later that a falcon was on the money bag, I simply turned my head to see Dot.Ca (DC). Thank you Annette!

A few minutes later I missed Beauty fly off  TSB and when I turned to check on DC he was gone too-that’s how it goes sometimes. As I was driving down Broad St. near Fitzhugh St. I happened to notice Beauty on the northwest corner of the lower roof in the back of the TSB. I got one pic of her and started taping when she flew off around 7:10am.

10 minutes after that I saw the Beautyful one fly to the northeast corner of Widows Walk (WW) but all I could see was her tail from Fitzhugh St.-she was eating, so I drove to Broad St. by the Democrat and Chronicle where I could see the front of her.

Beauty spent less than 5 minutes eating which told me it was cached food. She flew off and 10 minutes later as I was on the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) I watched her fly in from the east and come to rest under the northeast wing of the TSB. She had more cached food and polished it off quickly then she turned around showing me her back.

Click pics for full view

I left and checked the Brighton site around 8:10am with no luck finding Pigott, but I did see her later this afternoon when I was there just like yesterday. Upon returning downtown, I found DC on the north corner top ibeam of OCSR and Beauty was a few feet away from him.

<DC <Click it <Beauty

They seemed content and settled so I thought I would try my luck elsewhere, since I had some extra gas in the tank. Starting at Hawkeye-there was no falcon sighting but I did check the river foliage from the Driving Park Bridge-the colors are fading and the trees are quickly becoming bare now.

After I left there I drove straight down St. Paul Blvd. checking Seneca Towers on my way to Summerville to check out the coast guard station but no PEFA at either location or across the river in  Charlotte. Next stop was Russell Station with the same result but I found a huge burning bush on Beach Ave. and some mute swans on Round Pond off Dewey Ave.

<Click it> 

As I left the swans the sun got taken over by clouds but I wasn’t done yet-I also checked the North Greece fire department antenna for the Latta Rd. falcon but again I found nothing and this would end my watch at 9:45am. So even tho I struck out, it was a nice change of pace to take a drive near Lake Ontario and see the sights that go along with it which put a smile on my face! 🙂

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

http://youtu.be/EEf09bTGkAc

http://youtu.be/JgnvbY4Mp9k

http://youtu.be/RuNKRFITheE

http://youtu.be/17MSDcNmLII

http://youtu.be/FYbI-SyG_Aw

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

I found heavy frost on my car windows this morning which was no big surprise since the temperature was 23 (F) -5 (C) under clear skies and the sun shone bright once it came up

My first sighting of the day was Beauty on her favorite (and mine) winter perch the Mercury money bag (MMB). I pulled over on the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) to observe how truly Beautyful she is!

The rising sun tends to give a glow to things and Beauty was really lit up this morning. After 20 minutes with her she stooped out of sight at 7:03am.

I found Beauty a few minutes later on the north side railing of Widows Walk (WW) -she had her back to me but when she turned her head I could see she had a fascinator (feather) on her beak .

She seemed content so I left to check the Brighton site for Pigott. No luck there so I left after half hour-as I was leaving I got a tweet from Donna that she could see a falcon on the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT). That was a big help as I knew right where to go-thanks D! As I approached on Fitzhugh St. I was nearly blinded by the bright white of Dot.Ca (DC) on the top arm east side of FCT and Beauty was a few feet away on the west side arm.

DC had a full crop-I could barely see his head behind it! lol At about 8:45am I noticed Beauty was gone and 5 minutes later DC flew southeast. I arrived on the BSB at 9am just in time to see Beauty fly north from under the northeast wing of the Times Square building (TSB). I went in search of and spotted Beauty on the south side of the FCT platform railing  from the Andrews St. bridge.

I drove to Church St. to watch her. She kept looking below her and I thought she was watching little birdies but now I wonder if DC was down there because she flew off after a while and just as she did DC flew to the small tower with prey. I didn’t see where she went as he distracted me.

<Beauty>   <DC

DC started plucking feathers right away and he even ate some even tho he had a full crop. 5 minutes later Beauty landed next to him and he took off with his leftovers-she followed right behind and so did I.

<DC> <Beauty>

I found DC on the 2nd ibeam northwest side of OCSR near the north corner with his prize. He suddenly walked away to the corner and the reason became  apparent as Beauty flew in next to the food. DC was sharing food  instead of begging Beauty for a change-sweet!

<Click it>

DC ended up walking down the other side of the beam out of view as Beauty began eating.

<Click it <Beauty

While I was tweeting the events that had taken place, Beauty left and I couldn’t see DC so I ended my watch at 9:45am. They sure keep me smiling! 🙂

Click on the links below to view more pics and videos

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqi6-

http://youtu.be/eu71OHiOFG4
http://youtu.be/iQNcwY3ODW0
http://youtu.be/v-NEilGqBv0
http://youtu.be/aWE3suU4A24
http://youtu.be/PdqBE3fPFfE

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Oh, what a cold day it was today.  The temperatures never made it out of the 30’s (F).  Brrrrr!  There was a little bit of light snow and small ice pellets hitting my car while I was checking for Billy out at Russell Station and the Charlotte/Summerville area.  She wasn’t there and she wasn’t at Seneca Towers or Hawkeye either.  But, there were lots of Red-tail Hawks out and about.  One hunting on the south side of Russell Station, two at Hawkeye, one flying over the High Falls area, one on the camera on the SE corner of Acon’s Peak Bldg at Kodak Office and two on light poles near the Ford St Bridge.  Lots of RTH’s out and about!

Downtown, I found Beauty on the south side of the Wilder Bldg, on the green strip, just left of the ladder leading up to the roof.

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I stayed with her for awhile as she closed her eyes and slept on and off.  The streets were filling up with folks coming into town for the circus.  Police were directing traffic in front of the Rochester War Memorial (what I still call it) aka the Blue Cross Arena.  Beauty seemed settled in, so I decided to driver over to the BS location to see if Pigott was home.  She was.  I found her on the SW corner of the SE extension.  She was wide awake and actively keeping an eye on her territory.

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Pigott took off heading east and returned, landing on a window on the east side of the SW extension.

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Pigott started to ee-chupp and wail loudly.  This was her way of greeting Dot.ca when he flew in, so I knew she saw him.  It wasn’t long before I saw him too.  He landed on the NE corner of the SW extension.  They were both vocalizing loudly.  I recently read a report by a Peregrine expert that called this loud keening sound, wailing.  Both Dot.ca and Pigott were greeting each other quite loudly.  Pigott took off and flew past Dot.ca then turned and flew to the east end of the building.

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Pigott took off again, this time heading south and Dot.ca was right behind her.  They were off on a tandem hunt, but both came back empty taloned.  Dot.ca landed on the east end of the south side vent and Pigott landed on the SW corner of the SE extension.

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Dana joined me on the Watch just before Pigott again took off and flew over to the slatted window on the south side/west end.  There was more vocalization as Dot.ca flew to the spot Pigott had vacated on the SE extension.

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They stayed like that for quite awhile before Dot.ca again took, this time heading north towards downtown.  Pigott remained at the slatted window.

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We left Pigott on the slatted window ledge, now quiet after Dot.ca’s departure.

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Dana and I headed back downtown.  We found both Dot.ca (left) and Beauty (right) on the Kodak Tower launchpad.

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The sun was finally out and the sky was blue, but it was still very cold.  While Dot.ca was keeping watch over the area, Beauty preened.

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After awhile, I left Dana to keep watch over B&DC and I headed down to the lake to look for Billy or any other falcons that might be down there.  Again I had no luck finding any at Charlotte/Summerville or Russell Station. It was time for me to end my falcon watch.  But I did have one more stop on my route home.  After Dana spotted the small tiercel on the antenna on Latta Rd, I’ve added that to my stops on the way home.  Today I was lucky.  He was back!  I quickly texted out that the Latta PEFA was there.  After about 15 minutes, he spread his wings and flew quickly to the north.  I remained near the antenna hoping he would return.  Dana joined me just as the tiercel returned.  He was definitely in hunt mode.  About 10 minutes later, he again took off heading northeast.  This time he did not return.

So, it seems he might be sticking around, at least for awhile.  This is the 2nd time he had been spotted hunting from this antenna.  We are pretty sure he is not banded.  You can bet we’ll keep an eye out for this handsome adult tiercel!  Here are a few pictures I took of him before he took off.  Please be sure to click on any pictures you would like to see larger.  Take care and goodnight!

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By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

When I stepped out the house this morning it was a brisk 34 degrees (F) 1 (C) with a light breeze and overcast skies

I found Beauty on her night time roosting spot-the 5th column from the southeast corner of Xerox on the south side at 6:40am.

Click on my pics for full version

10 minutes later cam watcher Annette (thank you) tweeted that there was a falcon on the Mercury money bag (MMB). So Dot.Ca (DC) had arrived and was probably looking for Beauty. A mere minutes after that the Beautyful one flew off in that direction. As I pulled up on the Broad St. Bridge I could see DC on the Mercury money bag (MMB).

While I observed DC I spotted Beauty fly to the jail tower and land on the top arm west side. I drove to Troup St. but she was gone when I got there. I then drove  to the hole to watch DC on the MMB and as I arrived I found Beauty on the Wilder buildings green strip near the fire escape ladder around 7:15am.

Even with all the rain and wind we’ve had the last few days there’s still color on the trees as the leaves hang on. Beauty had her back to me for the most part-she would turn her head now and again. DC was looking for a prey bird to fly by so he could snatch it. Right around 7:30am Beauty took off and a split second later DC followed as they flew north out of sight.I looked for them but didn’t find them so I went to the Brighton Site (BS). Pigott was nowhere to be found so I returned to downtown. As I was driving east on Court St. Beauty came flying toward me from the east and over my head-she continued due west. I caught up with her on the base of Mercury at 8:30am as she had a small package and was eating and plucking feathers.

She stopped eating after 15-20 minutes and started trying to situate her leftovers in her talons just right but when she flew off it dropped.

I didn’t see if she grabbed it but I found her on the Wilder green strip again after a short search. Again Beauty showed me her back and this time she started napping as she had satisfied her hunger minutes earlier. She went into a bit of a defensive posture briefly as DC flew in right above her and continued on to come to rest on the 2nd ibeam south corner of OCSR.

As tiny little snow pellets fell on and off I was impressed that some of the mums around the city are still hanging in there even tho we’ve had a killing frost. There are survivors in all walks of life! I decided to end my watch 3 hours after I started it at 9:30am with Beauty to my left and DC to my right-smiling as I left the hole! 🙂

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

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqi6c

http://youtu.be/ThQ0gEZ1A2Q

http://youtu.be/mF6xjRxCSSk

http://youtu.be/Yfw4uJJZdb0

http://youtu.be/ix54RXZmpQo

http://youtu.be/TCE4hcrFNFA

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

The warm weather of yesterday has gone with the wind as the temperature was 20 degrees colder this morning at 43 (F) 6 (C)

I found Dot.Ca (DC) on the Mercury money bag (MMB) around 7:30am looking for prey as I parked on Bank Place next to the Philipone building.

A few minutes later he flew north and then turned west and hit the after burners leaving my field of vision in a hurry. I chased after him going toward the Frontier Communications tower where I spotted a falcon fly off of it and head south. I put on the brakes and headed to the Broad St. Bridge where I saw a falcon circling the jail tower twice and then it landed on the top. I guessed it was DC since he’s the only one I’ve ever seen up there other than a juvie. Then Beauty circled and landed on the top arm west side. I drove to Troup St. and was able to confirm that I was correct on who was who.

<Beauty <DC   Click on my pics to view the full version

The red light on top of the tower was lighting DC up as it blinked on and off making for a new species I have named the Red-throated Peregrine.

<DC>

About a minute later Beauty flew up closer to her mate and less than 5 minutes after that  Beauty flew off and DC followed behind her prompting me to do the same.

<Beauty  DC> 

I ended up in the hole as Beauty was peeking from the base of Mercury and DC was on the northeast corner of the Widows Walk (WW) railing.

I drove over to Fitzhugh St. by WW to see observe DC from the front and cam watcher reported that Beauty was gone from Mercury. Thanks! DC was watching starlings below and then he flew off and down to the northeast corner and started to eat cached food.

After DC finished eating I drove off to find Beauty and spotted her on the opposite corner of WW eating her own piece of cached food.

<Click it> <Beauty

The Beautyful one had her back to me so I drove over to Broad St. to watch and shortly there after she flew north.

I left for the Brighton Site but Pigott wasn’t there. I called it a watch at 9:10am as I had places to be. I love how Beauty and DC are sticking so close together these days-it makes me smile! 🙂

Click on the links below to see 3 videos from my watch

http://youtu.be/SumXYndXFnM

http://youtu.be/T0O17DL2aUA

http://youtu.be/Vspqe07QUWc

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Wow at 63 degrees (F) 17 (C) it was a balmy November morning here in Rochester,NY but the winds of change are a comin’ as a cold front brought in on the heels of a very windy day will drop temperatures. I believe I heard talk of snowflakes on Sunday!

It was nearing 8am when I finally found Beauty on the OCSR building top ibeam northeast side from the Andrews St. Bridge. I couldn’t ID her for certain until I went over to Bragdon St. next to the Radisson Hotel.

She kept looking north in the 10 minutes that I observed her but then at 8:02am she flew south. I went on the hunt to find her and 5 minutes later I got a report from cam watcher Donna that Beauty was at the nest box. I headed over there from the east side and got a tweet from cam watcher Annette that there was eechupping near the nest box. Thank you ladies! Unfortunately, traffic held me up and I didn’t get to the Broad St. bridge (BSB) in time to see anything. I did however find Dot.Ca (DC) on the top ibeam southeast side of OCSR.

And for a bonus a rainbow formed to the north with some dark clouds above.

A few minutes later DC flew north. When I was out on the bridge I had a hard time keeping the camera steady from the strong winds and when I tried in the car I had the same problem as it was rocking me in that as well. I set out to look for our fine feathered friends but was unsuccessful so I drove to the Brighton Site (BS). 3 trips around the building and no Pigott sighting. I left to pick up fellow falcon watcher and close friend Jeannes’  puppy Isabella and then we went downtown around 8:30am. I found the Beautyful one had returned to the top ibeam northeast side of OCSR.

I was parked at the Radisson Hotel at Main St. and as the sun came out I couldn’t help but see the white of DC on the southeast side of OCSR top ibeam.

The wind was blowing out of the west so DC was getting his feathers ruffled more than Beauty as they seemed pretty settled on their spots. The sun went away and then DC was in the shade as well.

I ended my watch at 10am wishing I had seen Miss Pigott what with the wind, but no worries for as I write this report Lisa has reported seeing Pigott at BS. So all 3 Rochester Peregrine Falcons have been seen today and that makes me smile! 🙂

Check out the links below to see videos of  Beauty and DC

http://youtu.be/a-qkgRVv-GY

http://youtu.be/yaeefr9l9Tc