Well it’s the last day of an awful weather month-let’s hope April warms things up around here. It was clear with sunshine, blue skies and a starting temperature of 26 (F) -3 (C) today

I stepped out the house for my watch after seeing Beauty and Dot.Ca (DC) bowing in the nest box on the livestream video on my computer. When I arrived downtown just before 7am I spotted Beauty on the southwest corner of the Wilder building.

I didn’t see DC around and opted to go check the Brighton site (BS) hoping to see Pigott had returned home. When I got there around 7:30am  I noticed tail feathers hanging over the edge of the northwest corner on the west extension.

I started to get excited as this is a spot I’d seen Pigott eat on many times but when a crow got too close the falcon turned around,spread it’s wings, started screaming at the crow and just by the sound I knew it wasn’t Miss Pigott. This would be my first look at the banded juvenile seen here the past few days by other watchers.

<Click on my pics to see the full version

I’ll refer to this falcon as JY (Juvenile with Yellow tape on right leg band). JY spent a good 20 minutes eating in which time Larry stopped to say hi on his way to work. When  finished eating JY feaked on the edge of the building and then suddenly  flew off and chased another falcon that had flown in behind me from the north. JY stooped on this other falcon several times as they headed south at first then veered off to the east behind the building where I couldn’t see them.

They looked to be the same size to me but I’m not real good at recognizing that so I can’t be sure. Again I got excited thinking Pigott had come to get her territory back but when I drove from the northwest side around to the south side of the building I saw  DC land on the southwest corner of the southwest extension. He flew off to the north after pooping at 8:01am then I lost sight of him again.

He showed up on the west end of the south side vent long enough to touch down and leave-again flying north. When DC didn’t come back I figured it was safe to say he went downtown and JY was gone from the area too.

Confirmation came when Donna and Pat (TY) reported that DC was at the nest box with Beauty. I left for downtown after waiting 20 minutes more to see for JY to came back, which she didn’t. When I arrived on the Broad St. bridge (BSB) I spotted Beauty and DC on the top ibeam of OCSR-she was on the west corner and he was on the south corner. I went down to the hole to watch. At 8:59am Beauty flew off and less than a minute later DC flew off as well in the direction of Times Square. Donna and Pat let me now that Beauty and DC were at the nest box

<DC <Beauty>

Donna and Pat reported Beauty and DC at the nest box. I drove back up on the BSB to look and saw DC on the Mercury money bag (MMB) but his back was to me so I returned to the hole. From there I saw Beauty on top of the Wilder fire escape ladder-a spot Archer (Beautys’ first mate) used to frequent.

Now, from where I was positioned I couldn’t see them both so I stuck with the Beautyful one. A few minutes later she flew toward Mercury at 9:11am.

I then parked at Aqueduct and Bank Place with a direct view of Mercury. Beauty was on the base eating and DC was still on the money bag.

<Click it

Beauty finished eating and soon after DC flew off  followed by Beauty toward Times Square.

DC

I thought they went to the nest box but when I looked for them I spotted one on Widows Walk. I drove to Fitzhugh St. but by the time I got thru traffic and lights there was nobody there. As I was stopped at the intersection of Broad and Exchange I noticed Beauty on the calf of the Mercury statue and as the light turned green I saw DC come flying in and land on her to mate. By the time I pulled over they were done-DC flew up to the money bag and Beauty moved over to the heel on Mercurys’ leg.

<Click it

I chose to end my watch with a smile at 9:44am and left them to sun themselves! 🙂

Click on the links below for more pics and videos

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqjZI

http://youtu.be/hdH07oz4XeE

http://youtu.be/Pilsg8UhxbQ

http://youtu.be/8HmEwz3zih

http://youtu.be/g_Qtenc5RoQ

http://youtu.be/PjfQW2VBUPM

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Rochester woke up to about 8 inches of heavy, wet snow this morning.  Isn’t spring grand!  lol

I started my watch out at the BS location where I found the yellow taped/black over green banded juvie Peregrine Falcon on the south side vent.  During my hour there, the juvie preened, slept, pooped and stretched.  Dana and Lou joined me there.

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The only other critters we saw out there were these snow geese, I mean Canada Geese.  There were quite a few hanging out on the lawns around the building.

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I left Dana, Lou and the juvie to go downtown to check on Beauty and Dot.ca.  Beauty was on the south side green stripe on the Wilder Bldg.

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Aqueduct St aka the hole was filled with snow that had been plowed into large piles when they cleaned up the street and parking lot.

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Beauty started to vocalize and crouch down with her tail up against the wall.  Dot.ca flew in and attempted to copulate with her, but it was a near miss.

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Dot.ca landed on the south corner on the 2nd Ibeam from the top of the OCSR.  Beauty took off and flew up to the lower southeast corner of the Times Square Bldg.

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About a 1/2 hour later, Dot.ca took off and headed towards the Times Square Bldg.  He flew up to Beauty and successfully copulated with her on the southeast corner.  🙂

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Afterwards, Dot.ca did some victory laps around the nearby buildings before flying up into the nest box where Beauty joined him for some bowing and scraping.  Thanks cam watcher NCA for letting me know that’s where they went.

First Dot.ca and then Beauty came out of the nest box.  One landed on the top IBeam on OCSR.  I did not see where the other one went.

It was time to end my watch.  As I was leaving, there were a lot of fire trucks in front of the Cross Roads Bldg.  Not sure what was going on.

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Good night everyone!  Just counting the days til Beauty lays her first egg!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Well folks March is going out like a lion here in Rochester, NY with a snow storm that brought 8 inches of wet heavy snow last night, strong winds that produced drifting which made for a mess first thing this morning on area roads. The temperature when I left for my watch was 30 (F) -1 (C) with a fine light snow still falling throughout my watch

Arriving downtown just before 7am I didn’t find a falcon right away but saw lots of activity from road crews clearing snow on the roads and sidewalks.    Make sure to click on my pics to see the full version

Finally about 7:30am Beauty showed up on the Wilder green strip-Aqueduct St. aka the hole had not been plowed as well as the parking lanes on the bridges so I parked down on Exchange Blvd. in front of the Philipone building across from Times Square.

I shared space with the Beautyful one for 25 minutes before she spotted something and flew off heading south.

I decided to take a chance that the Brighton site (BS) was plowed and headed over there at this time. It was a bad call for when I got there I couldn’t get past the plowed snow bank across the front of the entrance road and it hadn’t been plowed anyway. So I turned around and started back to downtown. Found this fool stuck in the medium-not a good choice to try a u-turn there.

While I was gone Donna, Campgee and Annette reported Beauty and Dot.Ca (DC) had been to the nest box and a food exchange had been made. Thank you one and all! When I arrived on the Broad St. bridge at 8:30am I found  DC on the top ibeam of OCSR near the south corner.

On my way over to the Radisson Hotel by Main St. to get closer to DC I came across Beauty on the Wilder green strip again.

DC had turned around while I was en route so I had his back to me. He didn’t stay long before he flew over to the Wilder building.

I drove back to Exchange Blvd. to watch our downtown duo. DC was on the back of the Wilder fire escape on a support rod and Beauty was still at the southeast end of the green strip.

<Click it

DC napped a little but Beauty seemed like she wanted some action so at 8:48am she flew over to the nest box while DC stayed put, chirping at her as she flew off. Thanks to Donna for letting me know Beauty went to the nest box, and as she put it, was plowing her scrape! lol

5 minutes later Beauty must have decided DC wasn’t coming (I don’t think he likes the snow) and returned to the Wilder building, landing a few feet behind DC on the green strip.

<Click it

10 minutes passed as Beauty and DC didn’t seem like they were going anywhere and I wanted to get out of the way of a plow that was coming I decided to leave them and check BS again before ending my watch.

When I arrived at BS the front driveway was plowed to the front of the building and mounded up into a tall snow bank-there was no way to get around it and the rest of the place wasn’t plowed anyway. The geese weren’t very happy about all the snow either. I passed a car on the way that was cleaned off but snow bound on the side of the street.

<Click it  

I called it a watch at 9:30am happy to have been able to get out to see Beauty and DC which definitely put a smile on this falcon flakes face! 🙂

Click on the links below to view todays videos

http://youtu.be/NacWMDnU60o

http://youtu.be/JaXnJX57KLw

http://youtu.be/A4QC9thuH2I

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Sunrise at 6:57 am.  Sunset at 7:32 pm.

I only had a couple hours to falcon watch this afternoon.  (2:00 to 4:00 pm).  Another very cold, windy and overcast day, with temps in the 30’s.  It is snowing as I type this, with what looks like a couple inches on the ground already.

Lisa, Kathy O and Dana were at the BS location and they tweeted that there was a juvenile Peregrine Falcon there.  I decided to join them there for my two hour watch.  When I arrived, the juvie was up on the south west corner of the west extension.

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The juvie took off and flew to the south side of the building, landing on the south vent.

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In this one take off shot, you can see that the juvie has bands, but my camera wasn’t good enough to even catch the color of the bands.  Dana on the other hand was able to see that this juvie has a green over black band on one leg and the USFW band on the other leg had yellow tape over it.  Neither of us were able to get a picture clear enough to show the numbers on the black over green band.

The juvie remained on the south side vent for quite awhile preening.  S/he (we can’t tell for sure if this is a male or a female) took off heading towards the south west.

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We could see the juvie chasing Turkey Vultures.  After awhile, s/he returned to the south side vent and got back to preening.

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A Coopers Hawk flew low over the building and the chase was on.  The juvie chased it off to the northwest, then returned to soar over the building.  We lost sight of the juvie and could not find where s/he went.

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Looking back at what Kathy and I saw last night, we are pretty sure that it was this juvie that was eating on the building and not Pigott.  There is no way to know what happened to her and we all hope that she just moved on and is ok.  I truly hope that we will see her again soon.  Be safe Pigott.  <3

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

This mornings watch featured dark overcast conditions and a temperature of 37 (F) 3 (C)

I started my watch at the Brighton Site (BS) again hoping to see Pigott but no such luck. I stayed half hour then left for downtown. I wasn’t having any luck there either until I spotted Beauty on the base of Mercury around 7:30am. I parked on Broad St. by the Blue Cross Arena (BCA) to observe.

She did a little feaking before flying across to the deck and then in to the nest box. Reports from Donna and Annette (thanks ladies) said  Dot.Ca (DC) was there with her and took prey from her.

<Beauty

DC flew out going  west and Beauty flew back over to the base of Mercury. A minute later she got into the crouched position when a falcon is approaching. Beauty turned and started to lift her tail for DC to land on her back and they mated.

I taped it so there is no pic of the copulation. DC flew west and Beauty remained on the base of Mercury. Next I got a tweet from Annette saying DC was on the main cam.(TY) I turned my head and I saw DC on cam 1-boy he’s fast!

DC didn’t stay long before flying over to the Mercury money bag (MMB). He and Beauty stayed put for the next 25 minutes both preening and looking around their territory.

<DC <Click it to see Beauty and DC

I drove down to the hole so I could see the front of DC and at 8:12am he stooped off Mercury down into the river where I couldn’t see him and didn’t come back. Beauty stayed on the base of Mercury scratching, looking up and sporting a full crop.

I thought it was a good time to check BS again but as I arrived around 9:05am all I saw were some ducks taking a swim in a field puddle.

I made my way back downtown about 9:40am and pulled over on the BSB as I spotted DC on the MMB  facing and looking east.

I took a look around for Beauty but didn’t see her and ended my watch there at 9:45am. I sure would have liked to see Pigott this morning but it wasn’t meant to be. As I write this I have gotten a tweet that there is a juvenile Peregrine over at BS right now. Wow, could a juvie have taken over the territory from Pigott!? Stay tuned and while you do that I’ll keep smiling and hope you do too! 🙂

Click on the links below  to view more pics and videos

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqjYM

http://youtu.be/VJHrYy9iBwE

http://youtu.be/P7qiD0cQbfc

http://youtu.be/GDDEN8CON3k

http://youtu.be/zQHCL6Wm4iI

http://youtu.be/eFTvyhVDkLM

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

When I left work today, I checked out the KP smoke stacks from my parking lot.  I was happy to see a falcon on the east side of the catwalk of the east stack.  It started to rain really hard while I was there.

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While I was watching the KP  Falcon, two Kestrels were hanging out on a nearby building.  They copulated.  Hmmmm, maybe they’ll be nesting nearby.  🙂

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I had to be somewhere at 5:00 pm.  I joined Kathy O at the BS location at approximately 7:00 pm.  We have been concerned that no one had seen Pigott for a few days.  Dana and Lisa joined us yesterday.  Many of the Rochester Watchers have been looking for her.

Just before I arrived, Kathy O was pretty sure she had seen two falcons flying around the building.  It was very windy and lightly raining on and off.  Kathy reported that one of the falcons headed north and when I arrived, she was looking for the 2nd falcon.  As I pulled in, I could see a falcon eating up on the north east corner of the east extension.  The lighting was not very good, so I wasn’t able to get a good picture.

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Kathy and I are sure that this was not DC and that it was a female.  We were unable to get a positive ID.  I do believe that it was probably Pigott, but can’t be 100% sure.

When she was done eating, she took off and hovered over the building.  We quickly lost sight of her, the wind pushed her to even greater speeds.  After circling the building a couple times, Kathy and I settled on the cubby side until it got dark.  We left when it got too dark to see.

I’m sure the Rochester Watchers will be out over the weekend checking on all the Rochester Falcons.  Hopefully we will be able to positively ID this falcon as Pigott.  Goodnight everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was 41 wonderfully warm degrees (F)  5 (C) when I left for my watch with overcast and breezy conditions

I started my watch at the Brighton Site (BS) today at 6:40am hoping to find Pigott there but she was not either on the building or on the ground as I walked around the property checking every nook and cranny. The good news is I didn’t find her on the ground-bad news is I didn’t find her. There was a Canada Goose on a lower roof there honking up a storm as another landed next to it-they had quite the conversation.

<click it for full version

I stayed until 8:10am then headed downtown where as I was at the traffic light at Broad St. and Exchange Blvd. I spotted Beauty on the base of Mercury. I got a shot of her taking off for the nest box as I came to a stop on Bank Place.

I got a report from Donna that said Beauty had food and Dot.Ca (DC) grabbed it and left. I missed all of that as I got turned around to see the nest box area from the hole.

I left to have a look around the city for DC and upon my return I saw Beauty was now on the well wall on the north side of the nest box (Carol tweeted this too).

The Beautyful one was watching some sparrows down below her on and off and at 8:46am she flew off heading south.

<click it

I went up on the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) to see Beauty was back at the nest box and DC flying up under the northeast wing of Times Square building (TSB).

I went back down to the hole for closer viewing-they both were facing north on their chosen perches.

<DC   <Beauty

Around 8:55am Beauty flew to the base of Mercury briefly then back to the nest box. Beauty went to the north end of the deck by the well and would look up every so often to see if DC was still up there under the northeast wing-they both did some preening as well .

At 9:20am Beauty flew off to the northwest out of my field of vision quickly as the Wilder building blocked my view.

A few minutes later DC left too. I felt I should go check for Miss Pigott one more time before ending my watch at 9:45am-once again I didn’t find her at home.

A second watch this afternoon was brought about when  watcher Katie (Birdgirl814) who works in the OCSR building tweeted that she saw 2 falcons battling. I immediately left to check it out and when I arrived on the BSB I found a very relaxed pair of falcons. Beauty was up at the nest box perched and DC was under the northeast wing preening. We decided that our downtown duo had been playing talon tag and chasing each other as one of them was smaller than the other and nobody went down. A false alarm I’m all good with rather than seeing a battle. I drove to BS for another check there but no Pigott once again and I returned downtown to find Beauty and DC as they were when I left them. All was quiet and reason to breathe a sigh of relief and smile! 🙂

Check out my videos from today by clicking on the links below

http://youtu.be/UbbwKeZAkaM

http://youtu.be/g4dRN2h_lMQ

http://youtu.be/0ZHYtkALSLM

http://youtu.be/YehoUrkdPZU

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Twas 15 degrees (F) -9 (C) when I started my watch at 6:45am and this should be the last we see of the teens for a long time, hopefully not until next winter! There was partly sunny skies and very little wind

I found Beauty on the base of Mercury to start my day off in the best way possible as far as I’m concerned. She was just hanging out probably waiting for her mate Dot.Ca (DC) to show himself.

Since Pigott has not been seen in a couple days I decided to get over to the Brighton site (BS) earlier than usual to see if I could catch her at home. No such luck but as I arrived at 7am I did find DC on the east end of the south side vent with food. he was way back against the building so I had to drive out to the back service road to observe him.

I took a ride around the building to look for Miss Pigott but she was nowhere to be seen. When I got back I heard DC vocalize very softly then he flew north. I waited a few minutes and then as I was tweeting it out I got tweets from cam watchers Donna and Annette that DC was at the nest box with Beauty and food was involved. Thanks ladies! I opted to stay at BS a while longer hoping Pigott would show up but after an hour it was obvious she wasn’t coming so I went back downtown. Beauty was on the base of Mercury again and DC was under the northeast wing of the Times Square building (TSB).

I positioned myself on Aqueduct St. (the hole) where I could see both Beauty and DC. Beauty flew north and returned to the base of Mercury whining. At 8:48am DC flew to Beauty and mated with her-he almost landed on her left side but righted himself with a little maneuvering.

The whole thing took 9 seconds and when they were done DC flew over to the nest box calling for Beauty and she followed right behind him.

<DC

<Beauty

They had a bonding session according to Annette (TY) and then DC flew to the base of Mercury leaving Beauty at the scrape. I left the hole to go up on the Broad St. bridge (BSB) to see the front of DC and Beauty at the nest box.

<DC

<Beauty

I checked out the river finding ducks and gulls hanging out  and a log jam under the Main St. bridge.

I ended my watch at 9:05am with a smile knowing the weather is finally making a turn for the better and maybe Beauty will start laying some eggs! 🙂

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

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqjXw

http://youtu.be/SKK1wh_wCnY

http://youtu.be/LY5a5Bd9HzA

http://youtu.be/l3UlYlK6iHA

http://youtu.be/O8QSv1hspFI

http://youtu.be/kXHWs4RSl5s

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

COLD please go away now! Another start to my watch in the teens 17 (F) -8 (C) to be exact, with overcast skies, a biting wind and lake effect snow flurries.

I got downtown to start my watch around 6:45am and after driving around a bit Beauty decided to show up on the southeast side of OCSR top ibeam around 7am.

I was parked next to the Radisson Hotel by Main St. and 15 minutes later when I looked away Beauty flew off. I saw a bunch of gulls down river and beyond them it looked like a falcon flew to the Kodak Office (KO) tower so I drove over to State St. to have a look. Sure enough, Beauty was on the southeast corner of the launchpad. I parked down on Mill St. for the best angle on her as she had her back facing out.

At 7:30am I looked away for a second and the Beautyful one decided that was a good time to leave KO so I missed her again. On my way back to the Times Square area I got reports from Donna and Annette that Dot.Ca (DC) was at the nest box. Donna said he had food for Beauty.  I was about to pull over in the hole when I spotted DC flying above me heading east toward the river. Annette reported bonding at the scrape just before DC flew over me. Thanks for your help ladies! Parked behind Keybank I couldn’t believe my luck as I watched Beauty fly to the southeast corner of the Wilder building green strip right in front of me. Beauty started eating the food DC had given her at the nest box.

Beauty spent about 10 minutes there finished eating and cleaned off her beak a couple times before taking off with a lot to say as she went.

Beauty landed on the south corner top ibeam of OCSR and put her tail up as DC came flying in. Just as I thought they were going to mate DC instead landed next to Beauty a couple feet away at 7:45am.

The snow was coming down too hard to see them very well so I thought I’d go check on Pigott at the Brighton site (BS). I had spoken to KathyO last night after her watch and she had thought it odd that she and CarolP hadn’t seen Miss Pigott. I suggested that perhaps Pigott had laid eggs and was in the cubby with them. (we can’t see in the cubby) Wherever she was we agreed that her behavior in the last week or so has been different. I arrived at BS around 8:10am and at 8:30am there had been no Pigott sightings. I had to go somewhere and when I returned a little after 10am there still was no Pigott.  Stay tuned!

I went back downtown to find DC on the southeast side top ibeam of OCSR all by himself. Parked by the Radisson Hotel again I could see Kodak Office and when I looked with my binocs I saw who I assumed was Beauty on the southwest corner of the launchpad.

DC

I left DC to go to KO and make a positive ID that it was Beauty but she flew off as I got there heading south right toward the Times Square building. Less than a minute later, cam watcher NCAfalcon tweeted that Beauty and DC were at the nest box bonding. Thanks NCA! I opted to end my watch at that time about 10:35am happy and smiling as I was thinking about eggs coming soon! 🙂

Click on the links below to view todays videos

http://youtu.be/hPES7qcNLl4

http://youtu.be/lnAJixoX_Xs

http://youtu.be/aKugpvYW_Zo

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

After checking out Kodak Park and finding no falcons there, I headed over to the BS location, where I also found no falcons.  I stayed for a little while then moved on to downtown.  Rfalconcam Watcher NCA had tweeted that both Beauty and Dot.ca had been at the nest box.  Thanks NCA!

When I arrived downtown, Beauty was in the nest box and Dot.ca was on the south side of the OCSR, top IBeam.

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While I was downtown, Larry O reported that he was at the BS location and that he had also seen no falcons there.

I had to be somewhere by 5:30 pm, so I ended my watch with both B&DC downtown.

At 6:00 pm, Kathy O reported from the BS location that there were no falcons there.  I was able to join her there for a short watch, arriving a little after 7:00 pm.  It was very quiet until 7:45 pm, when Dot.ca arrived announcing himself with his ee-chupping vocalization.  We were on the south side of the building.  It sounded like he had entered the cubby due to the echoing sound of his chups.  By the time we got over to the west side, Dot.ca was up on top of the roof (the west side tree ledge).  He was looking down and into the cubby.  Was Pigott in there?

About 5 minutes later, Dot.ca took off, heading north.  Probably heading back downtown.  By this time, it was dark and it was time to end our watch.  We checked out Pigott’s nighttime roost area before we left.  She wasn’t there.

Tomorrow is another day.  Goodnight everyone!