By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

When I arrived downtown, Lisa McK was already on the Broad St. Bridge.  During my two and 1/2  hour watch, other watchers arrived to witness a wonderful evening of high flying falcons.  Mostly Beauty, but Dot.ca joined in now and then.  Other Watchers this evening included Kathy O, Dana, Joyce and Larry O.  For most of the time we were on watch tonight, Beauty was flying high and low over downtown Rochester.  It has been a very long time since we’ve had such a wonderful flight display by both Beauty and Dot.ca.  Here are some flight shots taken this evening.  Most are of Beauty.

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Dot.ca would join Beauty in some tandem flying, but most of the time he was up on Camera #1 aka pan cam, keeping watch over the 4 young eyases in the nest box.  The eyases are still very young, but this may have been a flight lesson for them.  I’m sure they were watching.  lol

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Every now and then, Beauty would settle on a building for just a few moments and then she was off again.  We saw her stoop, heading south and behind the Dinosaur BBQ.  She came up empty taloned.

Now that the water level has gone down on the river, the critters that normally call the river their home at this time of year are returning.  Lisa saw a Great Blue Heron there earlier and a big turtle that we see every year. Tonight there were some ducks, including this momma duck and her ducklings.  So happy to see the river critters beginning to return.

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At 8:30 pm, we all decided to call it a watch.  Dot.ca was still at the nest box and we weren’t sure where Beauty was.  It had been a wonderful, warm , windy evening with lots and lots of high flying by our Rochester falcons! Goodnight everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was 73 humid degrees as I started my watch with dark,dreary conditions and the threat of rain

I arrived downtown just before 6:30am and drove down to the hole just in time to see Beauty fly to the deck immediately followed by Dot.Ca (DC).  He had food and I could just make out Beauty taking the food from him in a flurry of wing flaps by both of them before she went into the nest box to feed their babies. DC remained on the deck momentarily then flew to the Mercury money bag (MMB).

DC kept looking down at something and I was watching a lady bug that was crawling on my side view mirror-a bright spot on this gloomy morning.  Make sure to click on pics to see the full version of them.

While distracted by the little red bug DC left MMB-I drove forward on Aqueduct St. between the Thomson Reuters and Philippone buildings where I could see a falcon on the heel of Mercury. I assumed DC had dropped down to it as I tweeted out that he was on the heel. After taking a good look at the pic I could see that it was Beauty and I texted Donna to confirm that Beauty was not in the nest box. Thank you for the assist D!

The Beautyful one flew off when I wasn’t looking and when I went back to the hole parking lot I could see DC on cam 1 as he was preening around 7am.

I decided to go up to the Broad St. Bridge to see if I could spot Beauty up in the nest box-she wasn’t there so I started scanning the area. As I looked up at Mercury I noticed the tail of a small prey bird on the leg up close to the statue-somebody had cached it there.

After searching for Beauty with no luck I returned to the hole to watch DC.  At 7:24am I spotted Beauty flying in from the west and landing on the deck with food then in usual fashion, rushing into the nest box to feed the baby eyasses. Everything falcons do is fast!

<Click it 

Minutes after that it started to rain-DC remained on cam 1 getting soaked as I got out my umbrella. Usually DC goes to the shelter of an OCSR ibeam when it rains but I guess he thought he needed a shower today. He turned around showing me his back after a bit and as there was nothing going on in the rain I ended my watch at 8:15am.

Keep smiling everyone-it makes people wonder what you’re up to! 🙂

Click on the links below to view todays videos if you want

http://youtu.be/5IwTG-jmaVQ

http://youtu.be/FGHMJkH0FHU

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

6:30 to 8:15 pm

Another gorgeous evening with temps in the mid-80’s.  When I arrived downtown, I found Dana on the Broad St Bridge.  Beauty was up on Camera #1 aka Pan Cam.  We looked for Dot.ca, but could not find him.  We decided to move down to Aqueduct St (aka “the hole”).

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Beauty took off and stooped over us heading east towards the river.  She just missed catching a Starling.  Beauty returned to Camera #1.

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Kathy O stopped by for a short visit before heading home.  Dana and I decided to head up to the Broad St Bridge (BSB) hoping to find Dan, but he wasn’t there.  At 7:40 pm, Dot.ca flew over the river heading east fast.  We didn’t see where he came from.  We lost sight of him near the old Midtown Plaza.  Ten minutes later he returned, flying towards the Times Square Bldg.  He veered off to the south and landed on the top arm of the jail communication tower.

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It was 8:00 pm and time for me to end my watch.  I said goodbye to Dana and headed down Broad St heading towards the Times Square Bldg.  While I was stopped at the light, Beauty flew off Camera #1 and headed south.  I followed and found that she had landed two arms below Dot.ca on the jail communication tower.

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At 8:15 pm, I headed home, but I looked back one last time when I turned onto Exchange.  Both Beauty and Dot.ca were gone.  It was time to really end my watch.  Goodnight everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

This morning the starting temperature was 64 (F) 18 (C) with blue skies and sun. The high is supposed to be 87 with high humidity building in as the day goes on

When I arrived on the Broad St. Bridge there were no falcons around. After checking around from the hole I went down to the Andrews St. bridge and spotted something white on the top ibeam of OCSR near the west corner. I drove down to State St. and pulled over across from the Rochester Plaza Hotel to observe Dot.Ca (DC)-the white one.

DC started out snoozing, woke up for a bit and looked around, then turned his back to the world.

I decided to go back to the hole and check for Beauty-parking on Aqueduct St. between THe Thomson Reuter and Philippone buildings. I could just see the Beautyful one past the Philippone roof from there as she was perched on cam 1. She too appeared to be napping with one eye open.

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When I played my video of her on my computer I could see that she was keeping watch while her right eye lid was closed-another cool thing about Peregrines! I went for coffee and when I came back naturally Beauty was gone-I checked the archives and could see that she went to the nest box just a couple minutes before my return. I drove to the bridge but couldn’t see her so I checked the river finding it to be flowing slower and the water level was down exposing a lot of the rocks.

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I went back to State St. to find that DC was still on the west corner top ibeam of OCSR and I also noticed the large wings of a leftover meal hanging over the northwest corner of the Crossroads building.

I ended my watch  on a peaceful note and with a smile at 8am after seeing both adult downtown Rochester Peregrine Falcons! 🙂

Click on the links below to view todays videos

http://youtu.be/oHqXfQXIA2s

http://youtu.be/BZKQ-eegE5o

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P. (6:30 to 8:30 pm)

The gorgeous evenings continue.  It was 77 degrees (F) with wispy clouds.  The water level on the river has gone down quite a bit and many of the logs that had been caught by the Main St Bridge were gone.

It was my day to check out the BS location, where we used to watch Pigott and Dot.ca.  It was very quiet.  Only small birds were active here.  No falcons seen or heard.

When I arrived downtown, I found fellow falcon watcher Dan S.  He was sitting in his chair on the north side of the bridge.  This was the shady side for awhile.  Here was our view.

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Just before I arrived, Dan had seen Beauty fly out of the nest box and out to the jail communication tower, south of the Times Square Bldg.

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Beauty remained there for quite awhile, before taking off and flying back towards the Times Square Bldg (TSB).  She landed on Camera #1 aka Pan Cam.

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At 7:30 pm, Dot.ca flew in with food.  He went directly to the nest box and Beauty followed.  She took the food and carried it out to the base of the Mercury statue.  She landed on the north side, where we could not see her. Dot.ca followed and landed on the northeast side of the base of the Mercury statue.

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A few moments later, Beauty took off and returned to the nest box to feed the eyases.  Many thanks to Rfalconcam Watcher Ei for verifying that Beauty was in the nest box.  Dot.ca remained where he was.

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Since the shade had reached the south side of the bridge, it was time to move.  This is where Dan likes to watch from.  Here is our view from the south side of the Broad St Bridge.

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We could see Beauty on the nest box perch.  She had finished feeding the eyases.  Dot.ca remained, very alert, on the base of the Mercury Statue.

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All was quiet, until the Crows flew over.  Two of them landed on the Lincoln First Bldg, but they were not what got Dot.ca’s attention.  It was a low flying Crow that he went after, catching up with it on the left side of the B&L bldg.  Dot.ca hit it hard, feathers flying and caught it in his talons for just a second or two before releasing it.  That was one very lucky Crow.  We saw it fly off very low to the south.  Dot.ca returned to the Times Square Bldg and landed on the northeast wing ledge, above the nest box.  Here are the two Crows that landed on the Lincoln First Tower.

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For the rest of our watch, Beauty remained on Camera #1 and Dot.ca went into hunt mode.

Dan and I called it a watch a little after 8:00 pm.

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After Dan left, I pulled up closer to the Times Square Bldg for a quick look before heading home.  I was checking out Beauty on Camera #1, when Lisa McK pulled up behind me.  While I was chatting with Lisa, Dot.ca took off from the Times Square Bldg and headed south.  He was either on Crow Patrol or on a hunt.  I said my goodbyes to Lisa and ended my watch (for real! 🙂 at 8:30 pm.  Goodnight everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Today was a carbon copy of yesterday 50 (F) 10 (C) and sunny

I spotted Beauty on cam 1 as I crossed the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) heading toward Times Square (TSB). When I turned down to the hole I heard the familiar sound of Dot.Ca (DC) chirping. I looked up and saw Beauty chasing DC and doing some squawking of her own. She was on his tail feathers as they flew north over the river and disappeared. I was thinking maybe Beauty was mad that he didn’t bring food-she loves to keep those kids filled up. Around 6:38am DC landed on cam 1.

A few minutes later Beauty flew in and knocked DC off of cam 1 and took his place and DC flew over to the Mercury money bag (MMB).

I went over to the parking lot next to the TSB to get a better angle on Beauty and where I could also see DC over on Mercury.

At first the Beautyful one was gaping a lot but she soon stopped and some scratching was  included in between looking around. DC meanwhile, was doing some preening over on the money bag. They both disappeared while I wasn’t watching and as I made my way up to the BSB Donna texted me that Beauty was at the nest. Thanks!I couldn’t see her so I started watching the log removal down in the river below the Main St. bridge. They had made a lot of progress since yesterday morning with that.

I gave a glance up at the nest box and caught a glimpse of Beauty perched on the front ledge preening.

Once again while I was off getting coffee DC delivered food as reported by Donna (TY) and when I got to the hole around 8am DC was on the top ibeam west corner of OCSR.

DC flew off at 8:09 am or so and Beauty took his place there around 8:15am Beauty flew west fast and DC appeared on cam 1. Larry joined me at this time for a short time.

<Beauty> <DC

Next thing I knew DC was landing on the deck and going into the nest box. Beauty was on cam 1 now. I had reported the opposite and both Donna and Campgee let me know. Thanks ladies!

Larry left and I decided to end my watch as well around 8:30am. I drove out of downtown smiling as I usually do after sharing space with our Rochester Peregrine Falcons! 🙂

Click on the links below to view todays videos

http://youtu.be/YWECt7P1RfU
http://youtu.be/o6lZz3c-Hys

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

What a beautiful afternoon it turned out to be.  Sunshine, blue sky and temps in the 70’s.  After our long, hard winter, these days are so welcome.

I met Kathy O down on Aqueduct St aka “the hole”.  The Broad St Bridge was full.  Dot.ca was up on Camera #1 aka the Pan Cam.

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* DC on Camera #1

We looked around for Beauty, but could not find her.  The tree removal that MAK spoke about in her morning report was no where near complete.  There are a lot of trees to clear out from the south side of the Main St bridge.

Dot.ca flew from Camera #1 to the Main Camera.  Beauty came in with food and entered the nest box to feed the eyases.  Dot.ca moved back over to Camera #1.

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After feeding the eyases, Beauty flew to the base of Mercury to cache the leftovers.

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After caching the food, Beauty returned to the Times Square Bldg, landing on Camera #1.  Dot.ca had taken off while we were watching Beauty.

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He wasn’t gone too long.  He had been out on a hunt, and he brought back prey with very white wings.  A white pigeon?  There were quite a few that I have seen around the city.

Dot.ca flew around, circling a few times before passing Beauty and entering the nest box.  Joyce, who had been watching the cameras, reported that one eyas was still hungry and Dot.ca was feeding it.

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* Dot.ca flying around with prey after a successful hunt.

After awhile, Joyce reported that Beauty flew into the nest box and took the prey from Dot.ca.  He flew to the west end of the OCSR (First Federal Bldg) top Ibeam.  She took the leftovers to the base of the Mercury statue and ate a little bit.

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After eating, Beauty took off with the food and flew back to the Times Square Bldg, landing on the nest box platform, where she ate a little more.  It is important for her to eat and keep her strength up.

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Beauty then took off again, heading north.  She cached the food somewhere and returned, landing on Camera #1.  Dot.ca returned and landed on top of the Times Square Bldg (TSB) on the southeast wing ledge.

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That’s where they remained for a long time.  Both adults had fed a bit and the 4 eyases had been fed twice.

We were joined by Dick, a new watcher today.  He has been watching the falcons, usually from the library and Main St.  We sure do welcome anyone that would like to come downtown and help with the watch.  Especially during the fledge watch.

Just as we were getting ready to leave, Dot.ca flew to the west end of the top Ibeam on OCSR.  A few moments later, Beauty joined him there and they had a little chat.  All was quiet and peaceful.  It was time to end our watch.  Goodnight everyone!