By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

The day started partly cloudy with a temperature of 51 (F) 11 (C) then sunny with blue skies for the remainder of my watch

Click on the pics to see the full version

As I stepped out into the hallway from my apartment and looked out the east side balcony I could see a beautiful sky as the sun was making it’s way up toward the horizon from behind Rochester General Hospital. Less than a minute later it appeared.

I didn’t see any falcons on Seneca Towers as I left for my watch and my first sighting was from the Andrews St. Bridge (ASB) where I spotted Beauty on the base of Mercury.

I drove over to the hole and checked her out from Aqueduct and Basin St. She was looking a bit grumpy this morning as she was in hunt mode.

Beauty flew off right after I got there so I went in search of her and/or Dot.Ca (DC). As I made my way back from the east side  I spotted the Beautyful one under the northeast wing of the Times Square building (TSB). Back down to the hole I went for the best viewing.

She started out with her back to me but when she was ready to fly off she turned, spread her wings nicely for me and took flight heading northeast.

I drove over to the Radisson Hotel to check the OCSR elevator shaft for DC but he wasn’t there. I noticed Beauty on the base of Mercury so I went to the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) watch her. To my surprise, DC was now under the northeast wing of TSB.

While I was looking at Beauty DC left TSB-a minute later Beauty stooped down in the river and came back up with nothing to show for her efforts. She returned to the base of Mercury where she watched for a prey bird for the next 20 minutes.

At 8:04am Beauty stooped down in the river and returned with nothing to show for her efforts. She flew around Mercury and the next thing I saw was a falcon flying off the back side of Mercury.

I thought it was Beauty that I watched fly up to the northeast wing ledge of TSB.  I went down to the hole again and it turned out to be DC with his back to me. Gotta love falcon games! They pulled the old switcheroo on me.

At the same time a Great Blue Heron flew above me heading down river-it had a small piece of food in its talons. I didn’t know they flew around with their prey. Boy, they have a big wingspan!

Around 8:15am DC flew off to the northwest-I left and went over by the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) since that was the direction I last saw Beauty going. I found DC on the northeast cube-there were feathers floating all through the air below him and they led me right to Beauty who was on an east side beam preparing breakfast.

<Click it

DC was whining and begging Beauty for some of her catch-she, of course ignored him. He got impatient and started inchin his way down to where he could see her better-whining the whole time. He ended up on a south side beam in the same white section as Beauty.

Beauty stopped eating for a while I believe, to keep an eye on Mr. Will You Save Me Some! I went back and forth from the City Hall parking lot to Fitzhugh St. in front of the Sister Cities garage so as not to look at DC’s back.

I looked up to see that DC was no longer on that south beam-I thought he had left until I heard a little whine out of him. Back to the parking lot where I found him now on the north beam across from where he had been. I noticed that Beauty started eating again at this point. I left them like this a while later to head home.

I didn’t have any luck finding a falcon at Hawkeye or Seneca Towers but that didn’t keep me from smiling as DC and his food antics is always good for a good laugh! 🙂

Click on the links below to see the videos from my watch and a photo album
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqj5i

http://youtu.be/onhon_RV9fM

http://youtu.be/_YKam-9NsIM

http://youtu.be/ukM-mU9mLwk

http://youtu.be/QhRrC4hrjsM

http://youtu.be/W6qKMnmZ1Fg

http://youtu.be/GLFHqT00gZo

http://youtu.be/jT3gf20ISKI

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was mostly cloudy mixed with some sun this morning and starting temperature of 45 (F) 7 (C)

Click on my pics to see the full version

I started my watch at Seneca Towers where I had Veteran on the west side roof railing at 6:45am. He turned, vocalized and flew southwest a couple minutes later.

While checking the east side of downtown I spotted Beauty on a southwest corner of Bausch & Lomb (B&L) from Broad and Chestnut St. I drove over to Clinton Ave. across from Washington Square Park to watch her. She flew off when I wasn’t looking-I drove to the Broad St. Bridge where I found her on a southwest corner on the Hyatt Hotel. She wasn’t there for long after she pooped.

Beauty flew back to B&L landing on Archer’s southwest corner.

I then drove to Court St. across from the Court St. garage for closer look. There were pigeons between Beauty and I on the garage roof but she was looking elsewhere. Beauty flew off into a stoop over the river toward Cornhill at break neck speed.

I decided to go to the Radisson Hotel near Main St. to check the OCSR elevator shaft for Dot.Ca (DC)-he wasn’t in there but I found Beauty up on the top ibeam south corner.

The sun peeked out from the clouds and a blue sky appeared behind the Beautyful one making her look much lighter.

Around 8am Beauty turned around and dropped off into a stoop straight down the southwest side of OCSR.

I spotted Beauty on the middle arm of the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) as I was driving down State St. I went to the parking lot by the Hochstein School of Music to observe her. She was preening and pulling more feathers out as she continues to molt.

DC came flying in from the southeast around 8:15am and landed on the northeast cube. He had his back to me and was in a bad spot to see the front of him.

I went to the City Hall parking lot to get a side view while DC preened. Still couldn’t see him that great but I was glad to see him at all.

Beauty flew south just before the 9 o’clock hour. I stayed a it with DC then I left-I checked the Brighton site and returned to downtown. I never found Beauty again but DC was on the FCT platform railing south side as I made my way back over there. He turned his back on me so I left.

I checked Hawkeye  and found a red-tail Hawk on the west side roof and no sightings at Seneca Towers as I ended my watch at 11am.

I was smiling as I parked the car and headed up to my 16th floor apartment after a peaceful Sunday morning falcon watch! 🙂

Click on the links below to view todays videos
http://youtu.be/1c_IGBn6qUg

http://youtu.be/2zHDFco4cWA

http://youtu.be/5_ogkuA-8Bo

http://youtu.be/ESGjLRoSSpE

http://youtu.be/h-D4_TnobRE

http://youtu.be/5TbQ6_4ZYAs

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

A flock of Rochester Falcon Watchers met at the Genesee Brewery to wrap up a successful 2014 Fledge Watch.  The Watchers that were able to attend today were, Larry O, Susan C, Shaky, Carrie, Joyce, Jeanne, Pat, Dan and Carol P.  A toast was given to a successful fledge by our four young falcons, Tesh, Nettie, Nor’Easter and Mercury and we fondly remembered the three Rochester Falcons we lost this year, Ranger, Voyager and Luzerne.

Before going into the brewery, Larry, Carrie, Shaky and I met on the pedestrian bridge.  It was very chilly and windy, but the High Falls and Genesee River Gorge is such a beautiful place to visit.  Greentopia was set up at the west end of the bridge, so lots of folks were out.  A Great Blue Heron flew down the east side of the river heading north and landed in a tree.

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After dinner, Joyce and I met Kathy O downtown.  Joyce found both Beauty and Dot.ca on the south side green strip of the Wilder Bldg.  They were just a few feet apart.  Beauty is on the right and Dot.ca on the left.

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There was some vocalization between them before Beauty walked to the end of the green strip and then took off heading east. Dot.ca soon followed.  We found them both on the base of the Mercury statue.

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We ended our watch at 7:30 pm, when it started to get dark, leaving both Beauty and Dot.ca on the base of Mercury.  It’s so nice seeing them spend so much time together.  Goodnight everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

A cool 47 (F) 9 (C) degrees dark, overcast morning watch that ended with rain

Click on the pics to see the full version

I started out before the sun came up although you couldn’t really tell when it came up through the overcast sky. I made a u turn as I got to Seth Green Drive by the entrance to Seneca Towers visitor parking as I have done all week so I could check the west and south sides of the building. I’ve seen Billie 3 or 4 times in the last few days-today she was up there near the northwest corner and she had company. Veteran was hanging out with her and as I put my window down I could hear a little vocalization.

Billie moved over to the north side of the northwest corner and 10 minutes later they both flew off to the south and returned with about the same distance between them as before.

Billie and Veteran seem to be a pair at this point as I’ve seen them flying together and now vocalizing and hanging out on Seneca Towers together. I hope they will stay here and we can get a nest box up there for them.

<Billie   Veteran> 

The two of them did a lot of looking around and at each other.

<Billie> <Veteran

At 7:24am Billie and Veteran flew  south and didn’t return.

<Veteran>

Ok, time to go downtown and check for Beauty and Dot.Ca (DC). I turned off St. Paul St. onto the Andrews St. Bridge for my first look and that’s all it took! I spotted Beauty on the top ibeam of OCSR northwest side and she had a full crop. I left for State St. across from the Rochester Plaza Hotel for a closer view.

I only stayed a few minutes with the Beautyful one so I could go search for DC. I decided to check the OCSR elevator shaft first and from the Radisson Hotel I could clearly see him on the north side ledge-his white front showing and he had food.

DC spent about 10 minutes on his snack then he feaked, turned around a few times and flew out only to return to his man cave landing on the south side ledge this time. I knew it was nap time now so I left him after a bit and went back to check on Beauty.

Beauty was still on the northwest side of OCSR with her back to the world. I stayed with her for a while and called it a watch a few minutes after it started raining. I checked Hawkeye and Seneca Towers but had no luck finding a falcon. I ended my watch at 9am with a big smile after seeing all 4 resident Rochester Peregrine Falcons! 🙂

Click on the links below to check out todays videos
http://youtu.be/Z1R-se131Vg

http://youtu.be/xXjvXY_78TE

http://youtu.be/V1N38GigRD8

http://youtu.be/zKoxBzlbGsw

http://youtu.be/W3Mpz8oVKxM

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a dark misty rain start to my watch with a temperature of 53 (F) 12 (C)

Click the pics to see full version

I had the privilege of starting another morning with Billie as I spotted her on the west side roof railing of Seneca Towers as I was leaving for downtown. She flew south down toward the river gorge a couple minutes later as I was sending a tweet out of her location.

Billie didn’t return so I went on my way to downtown. I checked the east side last and found both Beauty and Dot.Ca (DC) on Xerox-she was on her 5th column from the southeast corner and he was on the 7th column from the southwest. They were 13 columns apart from each other but kept an eye on each other and I heard some vocalization at the beginning as I was pulling over on Chestnut St..

<B   DC>

They did some preening but mostly they watched the area and each other. At 8:28am Beauty flew off to the south while I was watching her-I immediately focused my camera to where DC had been but he was gone, so I don’t know who left first.

I caught up with them as they were on the top ibeam of OCSR-the Beautyful one was on the south corner and DC was to the left of her a couple feet away. I drove down to the hole at Bank Place and Aqueduct St. to watch. Beauty flew off less than a minute later and DC followed right after her. She came to rest on the heel of Mercury and DC returned to OCSR landing on the 2nd ibeam south corner.

<Click it   

Beauty flew west around 8:45am but DC didn’t follow this time-he seems to be having a tough time with his molt and isn’t expelling a lot of energy on much of anything else these days. Left to look for Beauty but never found her-I checked Hawkeye and the Kodak research building but found nobody at either location. I checked out the lower falls again-love them!

Hours later when I got home, I checked all 4 sides of Seneca Towers to no avail. I ended my watch at 9:30am. Keep smiling everybody! 🙂

Click on the links below to view todays videos

http://youtu.be/kYG5xb1LA_E

http://youtu.be/SPwbxKbehM8

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I was able to get out for a little while this evening.  The weather is starting to feel more fall like, than end of summer.  Very cloudy, dark and dreary.  When I arrived downtown on the Broad St Bridge at 6:15 pm, I found Dot.ca on the south side of OCSR on the top IBeam.

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Continuing my search, I found Beauty on top of Xerox on the south side.

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There must have been a play at the Geva Theater tonight.  The area was filling up with cars.  So, I headed back to the Broad St Bridge.  The river water level was low and the rock shelves were exposed, giving the ducks and gulls gathered there a nice spot to rest and eat.

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By 7:00 pm, I was losing light fast and the temperature was dropping.  Dot.ca took off from OCSR and headed towards Xerox. He flew above and around the tall building until I lost sight of him behind it.  I headed back over to the south side of the Xerox Tower and found both Beauty and Dot.ca up there.

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It was getting dark and all was quiet.  I ended my evening watch at 7:15 pm.

Today was a day to remember those lost 13 years ago.  Never forget.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was 72 (F) 22 (C) when I started my watch today and we are forecast to go down from there and not see it again for a while. Rain was coming down on and off at varying degrees throughout my watch with overcast, windy, dark and foggy conditions

Click on the pics to see the full version

NEVER FORGET

9-11

Wow-2 days in a row Billie has graced me with her presence to start my watch. She was on the south side of Seneca Towers on the top (22nd floor) window ledge looking quite wet in the rain. She didn’t stay for long as she hopped off and flew down  the ledge and flew straight down toward the river.

I made my way downtown and had a look around, finding no falcons to be out and about-who could blame them with the lousy weather. I went over to the Radisson Hotel to check the OCSR elevator shaft but the wind driven rain, fog and darkness made it hard to see anything up there. I could barely make out the shape of a falcon and the white of Dot.Ca (DC) on the south side ledge until the rain let up.

DC stretched his wings  and turned around to show me his back . I left him to look for the Beautyful one exiting out on Bangdon Place and up to St. Paul St. where road construction mess was going on.

I did find Beauty on the base of Mercury as I drove down Main St. ending up on Broad St. next to the Blue Cross Arena around 8:15am.  About 10 minutes later she stooped down toward the river and returned without breakfast. I then went up on the Broad St. Bridge on the north side to observe.

Beauty did some preening-pulling out feathers as she continues to molt. She was mostly interested in looking for breakfast as she watched pigeons come out from under the bridge. She had her eyes fixed on them but opted to stay put as I watched dark skies to the north and west.

Around 9am Beauty looked to the north toward OCSR and flew off-I quickly saw why. DC had come out of hiding in the elevator shaft and was flying near the Radisson Hotel over the river. Beauty joined him in flight and then they both went to the top ibeam southeast side of OCSR. DC was chirping and he even bowed once or twice as they faced each other at the start.

<Click it

Soon after, Beauty turned around and walked away from DC a few feet then stopped with her back to him. I went to the Radisson Hotel by Main St. which has now been milled as well, from the west end of the Main St. bridge to Clinton Ave.

<Click it   <DC>

Beauty wouldn’t look our way as I decided to take off for home. I checked the Kodak Hawkeye plant and Seneca Towers but saw no falcons thus ending my watch at 10am. I love it when DC chirps-that was one highlight of my watch that made me smile! 🙂

Click on the links below to view todays videos

http://youtu.be/9jWcDRQItFI

http://youtu.be/ZRIemTjH9Uc

http://youtu.be/ZjEYoHx_CFA

http://youtu.be/2ztjSFNPluU

http://youtu.be/jER-fp7PsDY

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

The starting temperature was 63 (F) 17 (C) with overcast conditions

A sad morning for our community as fallen Officer Daryl Pierson is laid to rest. He was a member of the Rochester Police Dept. shot and killed in the line of duty a week ago today. Thousands of law enforcement officers from around the country, including Canada, have gathered downtown to attend his funeral service at the Blue Cross Arena. Thank you for your ultimate sacrifice sir! I dedicate this report to you and those who loved you, which is many!

Click on my pics to see the full version

I began my watch this morning at Seneca Towers with Billie. I spotted her on the west side roof railing-couldn’t miss her really-she is a big girl.

She did a little preening but mostly was looking over the area before her. At 7:05am she spread her wings, flapped a few times and took off southward bound over the tree tops on the east side of the river.

I got a shot of Billie just before she disappeared behind the trees. I waited to see if she would return, then I  checked the perimeter of the building, but never saw her again.

I went south to the Driving Park bridge to check the Kodak Hawkeye plant but no sightings there either. I did check out the lower falls while I was there. The river was flowing slowly over them giving a view of all the ledges underneath the falls.

I made my way downtown and spotted Beauty from State St. on the northeast cube of the Frontier Communications Tower. I drove over to Fitzhugh St. in front of the Sister Cities parking garage and then I noticed Dot.Ca (DC) on top of the large disk eating.

<Click it 

The Beautyful one preened as her mate had his breakfast across from her.

<Click it 

At 7:55am DC finished eating and flew over to one of the support beams for the disk he had been on. Beauty watched him as he was now lower than her on FCT-they both preened. I got his flight over on my snippet movie.

I left them to have a look around downtown at all the activity for the funeral service before going over to check the Brighton site. Nothing there so I returned to FCT to find that DC had left but Beauty was still on the northeast cube. I then went to the Andrews St. bridge (ASB) to check the south side of the OCSR elevator shaft-DC was not there and I couldn’t check the north side because there was nowhere to go to do so. Roads were closing-I did get a few shots of police gathering on the Broad St. bridge from ASB.

RIP Officer Daryl Pierson…

I checked Hawkeye again, the Kodak research building and Seneca Towers but found no PEFAs as I ended my watch at 9:15am. Seeing 3 of our Rochester Peregrine Falcons made me smile  amongst the sadness I feel for our fallen policeman! 🙂

Click on the links below to view todays videos

http://youtu.be/o7elQd_4CuE

http://youtu.be/F0iZmFpylVs

http://youtu.be/J8ogE6f1uDU

http://youtu.be/s4wH9luhyCI

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Another fine morning weather wise with a starting temperature of 57 (F) 14 (C) with clear blue skies and sunshine.  I started my day by the light of the shimmering moon-a big full Harvest moon!

Make sure to click on my pics to see the full version

Another fine mess of road construction again on the east side to start my falcon watch this morning. Thought I side tracked it but ended up finding more roads that had been or were being milled-Broadway and Clinton Ave. Thankfully our falcons were not on the east side-I eventually got out of there and made my way to the west side finding Dot.Ca (DC) on the top ibeam north corner of OCSR from the Andrews St. Bridge. I went down to State St. across from the Rochester Plaza Hotel to watch.

At 7:26am DC turned around, spread his wings and flew straight down going into a stoop toward the river as I lost sight of him behind the hotel.

I spotted the Beautyful one on the base of Mercury from the hole but the decided to go up to the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) since the sun was behind her making for lousy shots. Up there I saw DC under the northeast wing of Times Square (TSB) but he stooped off to the back of the building right away and all I could see of Beauty was her head.

I decided to go back down to the hole to watch Beauty. Well, wouldn’t ya know it, there were road crews and equipment down there as well. There was a nice spider web by the Thomson Reuters west building that I couldn’t resist getting a shot of.

Beauty eventually turned and walked to the corner of the base that was closer to me showing more than just her back.

Beauty tried to extract a pellet at one point-I’m not sure if she got it up and out or not but she gave it the old college try.

After sharing space with our girl for an hour and a half I left Beauty to try and find our boy DC. She gave me a wave goodbye with her tail!

I couldn’t look for DC up in the OCSR elevator shaft from the Radisson Hotel because that was blocked as they were paving the driveway over there too! What a frustrating watch this morning-tomorrow will be worse as the Blue Cross Arena is being used for the services of Rochester Police Officer Daryl Pierson, who lost his life in the line of duty, and there will be roads closed around that area for that. Well, I’ll see what I can do-maybe I’ll use the ramp garages around town to look for Beauty and DC. I ended my watch around 9:40am at my residence Seneca Towers after having no sightings of Billie or Veteran there or at Hawkeye.  Hey, might as well smile anyway as I got to see both our downtown Peregrine Falcons right!? 🙂

Check out the links below to view todays videos-just click them

http://youtu.be/651ixj1qbws

http://youtu.be/Ns8hnew0CUY

http://youtu.be/t9141B1X-sg

http://youtu.be/QXLVQLl9HU8

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Bright blue skies and sun with a starting temperature of 50 (F) 10 (C)

Click on pics to see full version

Road work at Andrews St. and St. Paul St. caused me to change my routine and check the east first. As I checked the east side of HSBC I spotted a falcon with its back to me. I looked away for a second and when I looked again it was gone. I checked around the rest of the east side and ran into more road work as Court St. was being milled from South Ave. to Chestnut St. Broadway was coned off as well. I made my way to the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) and came upon Dot.Ca (DC) eating on the base of Mercury.

I thought it was Beauty when I first started watching and then the sun rose up and shone the whiteness of his chest
and there was no question that it was DC.

A starling landed on the bridge railing north side where DC could see it, he did look at it momentarily but finished his meal and went around to the other side of the green base.

Next, DC came down to the cement part of the base, feaked on the edge then flew off right over to the OCSR elevator shaft at 7:16am.

I drove over to the Radisson Hotel to get a pic of DC in his man cave then I left him to look for the Beautyful one. 25 minutes later as I was parked on the Andrews St. Bridge I spotted Beauty on the top ibeam northeast side of OCSR facing the elevator shaft.

As I tweeted out that Beauty was on OCSR she left and flew over to her northeast cube on the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT). I drove over to Fitzhugh St. in front of the Sister Cities parking garage for the best view of her.

Beauty turned to face me then did some preening and scratching as more little white down feathers came out of her as she continues to molt. She did more napping than anything in the 40 minutes or so I shared space with her.

I had to leave for an appointment and I stopped at Kodak Park on Weiland Rd. which was on my way to check for falcons on the stacks where Carol has been seeing one. I didn’t see anything there. I took some pics at a couple ponds when I got out of my appointment at Canal Ponds Office Park. It’s a lovely, tranquil place.

On my way home I checked Hawkeye and last Seneca Towers but had no sightings. After a nice morning watch I went up to my apartment smiling! 🙂

Click on the links below to view todays videos

http://youtu.be/HMdfVPoeJ-E

http://youtu.be/Bfn0P5f46_8

http://youtu.be/AJW2EcepFKc

http://youtu.be/wJS0Joe_GqY

http://youtu.be/_1IK56oDFs8

http://youtu.be/HZxn7IXlww4