By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

7:30 am – 7:45 pm

Temps in the 80’s with sunshine and rain storms throughout the day.  Lots of rain this afternoon!

Watchers during my watch: MAK, Larry O, Judy, Kathy O, Lisa McK, Pat, Linda (Braveheart), Joyce, Dana, Lou, Dan and Carol P..  Hope I didn’t forget anyone!

No fledge again today, but I think we’re getting really close.  All the rain may be slowing things down.

Highlights:

Both Genesee and Bronx were joined by their big sister Cadence on the wall.  She made it out to the north end AND she also made it to the top of the nest box!

Genesee easily jumped/flapped to the top of main camera a couple times today.  The first time he could not get his balance and slid down to the nest box platform.  The 2nd time, it took awhile, but he finally got his balance and stood up straight.  He spent a lot of time strongly flapping his wings while up there until he finally made his way back down to the nest box.  We were all very impressed.

Beauty and Dot.ca continue to hunt for their young and clear the airspace over and around the Times Square Bldg.  They want nothing to be nearby when their young eyases take their first flights.

The Rochester Watchers are a special group of people that will keep watch over them and do our utmost best to keep them safe.

Here are some pictures from my Sunday Fledge Watch.  Enjoy!

Be sure to click on any you would like to see larger and hover over them to see a description of the picture.

A special thanks to Kathy O for sitting with me in the pouring rain this afternoon.  After everyone left, we hunkered down under our BIG umbrellas for what seemed forever.  The eyases do love the rain and were out and about in it flapping and running. Just like any young children. lol  🙂

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Another nice morning with partly cloudy skies and a temperature of 62(F) 17(C)

I joined Dan on the Broad St. bridge at 5:25am-Beauty was on the 2nd ibeam west corner of OCSR and Dot.ca (DC) on cam 1. The kids were eating on the deck as Dan told me a food delivery had been made just before I arrived. Bronx was the first to surface and join dad by perching on the wall bump.

Genesee (Gman) made his way out on the wall with his brother then back to the deck. DC was replaced by the Beautyful one on cam 1 just before 6am. One of them was flapping over by the boy cave and Gman made his way up on the nest box roof. He then made the hop/fly over to cam 4 and went back and forth a couple more times before getting down.

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Dan left at 6:30am so I went down to the hole to share space with our young falcons from a closer position. The boys were down at the north end of the wall, Cadence was by the main cam and Beauty on cam 1.

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Larry and Harold came just before 7am and a few minutes later Beauty flew northeast. She returned to cam 1 about 15 minutes later. DC  showed up on the top ibeam south corner of OCSR. Carol joined the watch around 7:30am.

It remained like this for the next hour or so and then Larry left, Beauty flew southeast and DC was gone as well. Annette reported an eyas on the nest box roof. A couple minutes later Beauty flew to the deck with food and DC went over to Widows Walk, landing on the north side railing.

DC left to perch on OCSR, Beauty also went to OCSR before flying to cam 1. DC flew over and fed the kids a tiny morsel on the deck. Beauty left cam 1 and returned to OCSR to land on the top ibeam west corner. Judy joined Carol and I. The boys started getting busy on the wall at this time.

<Gman

<Bronx

DC started speaking  from the top ibeam south corner of OCSR. Beauty gave a look that way and Genesee joined sis on deck while Bronx remained on the wall.

Kathy arrived around 8:45am while Bronx joined his siblings on deck for a short nap. A little after 9am Beauty flew to cam 4 to check on her babies then off to OCSR below DC who was on the top ibeam west corner. The boys got up and returned to the wall and about 9:30am DC came flying in landing on the northeast corner above the well. He was keeping an eye on his brave boys as he flew off to re-join Beauty on OCSR.

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Things were quiet for the next hour or so. Not sure what time Linda, Dana and Lou joined us but when I ended my watch at 11:30am the kids were starting to come alive. I believe we are going to have a fledge within the next 48 hours and then we’ll be very busy chasing them. Oh, and we’ll be smiling as we try to catch our breath! 🙂

Click on the links below to view today’s videos

http://youtu.be/QX2WfjIk5h8

http://youtu.be/-BqAdm7vH_c

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

LET THE FLEDGE WATCH BEGIN!

Temperatures in the mid-70’s and sunny.  A perfect day!

There were a lot of falcon watchers out with me today.  I will make an attempt to name them all, but I apologize if I miss any.

Watchers:  MAK, Kathy O, Patricia Rose, Pat, Lisa McK, Brian H, Joyce and Carol P.

I started my watch just before 10 am and ended it at 7 pm.  A long, but fun day spent with our falcons and many of my friends.

Since my days will be long during the fledge watch, I won’t have a lot of time to leave reports, but will try my best to at least summarize what happened and post some pics.

There was a lot of activity at the nest box by the eyases.  Both boys, Genesee and Bronx, were out on the wall.  Later in the day, Cadence did visit the wall for a moment.  Both Beauty and Dot.ca were in hunt mode most of the day.  They were also busy keeping the air space clear for their young eyases first flights.

No fledges yet, but after I arrived home and was viewing the live streaming video, Genesee made it up to the top of Camera #4. Yesterday he was on top of the nest box.  He is getting very close to fledging.

Ok, now for some pictures from my fledge watch.  Enjoy and goodnight!  Tomorrow should be another exciting day!

You can click on any of them to see them larger and hover over them to get a description.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

The morning started out totally overcast with a very light misty rain and a temperature of 60(F) 16(C). It turned out to be partly cloudy later on

So this was the first official fledge watch and since these watches are of long duration and with so many things to report, it is almost impossible to remember all the details. I will do my best and also there are lots of cam watchers that tweet out what they see to help us watchers on the ground-again, it can be difficult to remember so I will be giving a general thank you to all of you! Thank You!!

I arrived downtown and joined Dan on the Broad St. bridge (BSB). Dot.ca (DC) was on the 2nd ibeam south corner of OCSR. All 3 kids were up with one perched at the front of the nest box and the other 2 out on the deck. Beauty was on the Wilder green strip (WGS) snoozing.

It was very quiet for the first hour and a half with Genesee taking a walk on the wall and the rest of the family just relaxing.

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Dan left and soon after at around 7 am Beauty flew to the heel of Mercury-Genesee spoke to her from the end of the wall. And DC moved to the south corner of OCSR from the west corner top ibeam. The kids started stirring as Genesee got on the wall bump-almost like he was on his soap box as he showed them his stuff.

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Larry and Harold came by for a bit as DC disappeared and returned with food for the kids on the deck. Beauty spotted DC but remained on the base of Mercury to watch. DC fed a few bites and then they must have gotten too rough for him or one of them took the food from him-he ended up fleeing back over to OCSR.

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Just before 8am the Beautyful one joined the kids on deck then flew over to the base of Mercury.

Both adults disappeared while a couple of the kids ended up near cam 4 and the boy cave. Joyce reported Beauty was feeding on the deck. I left the hole and went up on the BSB to see if I could spot Beauty and as I got up there saw DC over on the top arm of the jail tower. A few minutes later Beauty was on the south corner napping and DC on the west corner top ibeam of OCSR. Two of the kids were now over  by cam 4 and the boy cave, the other out front by the main cam.

20 minutes later Beauty was on the base of Mercury eating with DC watching her from above on the money bag. Beauty flew off with leftovers and DC was right behind her.

Beauty showed up on the Mercury heel and DC went to the deck with food (probably Beautys’ leftovers) then Beauty went over and started feeding the kids and DC left for OCSR again landing on the top ibeam west corner. Meanwhile, Bronx made his wall debut. Genesee joined his brother after Bronx ran back and forth on the wall a couple times.

CarolP joined me at around 10am-I left to get coffee and while I was gone KathyO joined the watch. We set up our chairs on Aqueduct St. in the hole along the back of Thomson Reuters. New watcher Patty came along a while after that and we all watched as a Turkey Vulture(TV) got escorted out of the area by Beauty. Beauty and DC hung out on OCSR and the boys got off the wall and wnet to the nest box. DC and Beauty flew to the north wall of Times Square at opposite ends then DC took off and I decided to do the same.

Best pic of DC today

I left for home at noon after a delightful first fledge watch of almost 7 hours with lots of reasons to smile! 🙂

Click on the links below to see todays fledge watch videos

http://youtu.be/6xClVruxvwg

http://youtu.be/DWVNmRDdRDo

http://youtu.be/KEXKBUWSwsQ

http://youtu.be/cl7–bl98vI

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

A dark overcast and cloudy morning with some rain showers and a temperature of 63(F) 17(C)

It was pouring rain when I got up at 4:30am so I was in no hurry to get downtown. When I arrived on the Broad St. bridge (BSB) this morning it had stopped and Dan wasn’t there-the rain kept him home too. Beauty was on the column above the nest box, an eyas was on the wall,one at the nest box and one by the main cam. Dot.ca (DC) was over on the top arm of the jail tower. I took a drive over to Troup St. for a closer look at DC and right after I got there he took off at 5:54am heading west.

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I went to the hole on Aqueduct St. to watch Mr. Genesee on the wall flapping his wings. The Beautyful one flew over to OCSR top ibeam west corner a few minutes after I got there.

I decided to go look for DC-as I was turning onto Broad St. from Chestnut St. I looked up toward Xerox and caught a quick glance at DC as he flew behind the building. I then drove to the Court St. bridge where I spotted DC on the Mercury money bag (MMB), the 3 kids all lined up in a row on the front ledge of the nest box, Beauty on OCSR still and Dan in his chair on the BSB. I taped a video of the raging waters of the Genesee River then joined Dan.

Soon after as I was recording DC he flew off and went over to a ledge on the west side of the Rundell Library grabbed some cached food and took it to the deck where Genesee quickly grabbed it from him. Meanwhile, Beauty was observing all this from OCSR. DC next went up under the northeast wing for a few seconds then up to the northeast wing ring at the very top of Times Square (TSB).

Gray sky or not DC shows up as white as white can be. Around 7:05am Beauty flew over to join her family on TSB and landed on the column above the nest box.

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Genesee went back out on the wall as cam watcher Annette reported he had done so (TY) and Dan decided to leave. I went back down to the hole as DC flew west and vanished into the dark sky. Genesee worked his way back to the deck from the north end of the well wall.

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Beauty took off from the column and landed on deck by cam 4 as DC had landed on the corner of the deck by the main cam chirping. Not really sure what that was about-perhaps he had food with him. Anyway, DC left immediately and flew over to OCSR coming to rest on the top ibeam west corner.

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I had to leave for a while and for the 3rd day in a row I missed Larry by a few minutes as he reported Beauty on Mercury and 2 babies winging. Before he left for work Genesee went up on the nest box roof which he and Annette reported. When I returned a took a quick look around finding DC under the northeast wing of TSB and I could see an eys perched at the front of the nest box. It started flapping its wings just as I was leaving. I checked all sides of Seneca Towers when I got home but I didn’t see any falcons. Another watch in the books and some more smiling as a result for me! 🙂

Click on the links below to see todays videos

http://youtu.be/ORAGw2H_dak

http://youtu.be/UuIND_3Q6h8

http://youtu.be/vRu9p5Dj8ZI

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

5:45 – 8:30 pm

Watchers this evening:  Brian, Kathy , Joyce, Dan, Larry O and Carol P.

Cloudy and low light, with temps close to 70 degrees.  A very pleasant evening for a falcon watch.

Highlights:

Watching Genesee run up and down the well wall with wings outstretched and flapping!  He will most likely be first to fledge.

Dot.ca stooping off of the northeast wing ledge on the TSB, going after a Pigeon that  came a little too close.  He chased it to the west and came back empty-taloned. So close!  When he returned, he flew directly over us and then returned to the Times Square Bldg.

Beauty feeding on the platform.  The cries of Genesee, Cadence and Bronx filled the air.  Love hearing their vocalizations!

The whole time Genesee was out on the wall, Dot.ca kept watch over his young son.

Here are some pictures from tonight’s watch.  Sorry for the poor quality, but my camera is not very good in low light.  Enjoy!

When we ended our watch at 8:30 pm, Beauty was on Mercury’s heel and Dot.ca was on the jail communication tower on the 2nd arm down.  Genesee, Cadence and Bronx were still visible at the nest box.

All was peaceful and quiet and no fledges yet.  Goodnight!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

A beautiful morning for a watch with bright blue skies, sunshine and a temperature of 61(F) 16(C)

Dan was waiting for me on the Broad St. bridge (BSB) when I arrived at 5:20am. Beauty was on cam 4, the kids were up and out and Dot.ca (DC) was on the southwest top arm of the jail tower barely visible.

At about 5:40am DC went into a long stoop after a few pigeons but was unsuccessful landing on the Time Warner communications tower. Again, he was barely visible due to the distance.

Just before 6am DC stooped to the west and disappeared. He re-surfaced on the northeast wing ring for a few seconds  and then off he went and the chase was on.

He flew southeast over the Blue Cross Arena with amazing speed-caught up with some pigeons over the river past the Court St. bridge and stooped on them numerous times before giving up. He then went after a couple more pigeons on his way down the river toward Dan and I passing by us on the bridge only feet away after having to pull up or crash into the BSB! Zoom-what a thrill for us!!! He continued on flying over the Radisson Hotel to the north nad stooping a couple more times before doubling back heading south. DC sure did stir up all the pigeons from the Dinosaur BBQ on Court St. down to the Andrews St. bridge! He went behind Xerox on the east side and never came back in view. Dan and I just looked at each other with big ole smiles saying how that’s the kind of stuff that gets people hooked and makes us come back for more. WOW!

10 minutes later the Beautyful one took off over Cornhill splitting up 2 pigeons, hitting one and vanishing behind buildings. She didn’t catch it and returned to land on cam 1.

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Around 6:30am Genesee took on the wall, stopping on the first column before continuing on and eventually going to the north end of the wall.

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DC was over on the top ibeam south corner of OCSR -he took off after Beauty when she went behind the Times Square building (TSB). She returned and went to the nest box-DC went back to OCSR same spot.

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Dan left at 7am so I went down to the hole to be closer to Mr. Daring-Genesee. He went back out to the end of the wall again while his sister Cadence watched.

<Cadence   

Genesee went back to the deck and Beauty flew over to the heel of Mercury. I drove up to the BSB just in time to see her take off and go to the main cam. I looked toward the nest box and saw one of the kids in the boy cave-wasn’t there for long. Back to the hole I went!

As I arrived Beauty was gone and DC was on cam 1 with his back to me. If Donna (Thanks) hadn’t reported it was him I would have thought it was Beauty whom  I spotted  on the top ibeam near the south corner of OCSR. DC jumped down to the nest box and left soon after.

Around 8am Beauty ended up on cam 1 and DC was back over on OCSR watching the window washers from the top ieam south corner.

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I ended my watch at this point and headed home where I spotted a falcon north of Seneca Towers. What a busy 3 hour watch I had making me smile multiple times! 🙂

Click on the links below to see todays videos

http://youtu.be/hLm5M3g4f-k

http://youtu.be/yABUBQ85RZs

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

6:00 to 8:30 pm

Tonight’s Watchers: Pat, Kathy O, Lisa McK, Dan and Carol P.

Weather: 70’s and, at first sunny, then dark clouds moved in.  Lighting, not very good for pictures.

Kathy and Pat beat me downtown this evening.  I arrived at about 6:00 pm.  We set up at Falcon Watch Central, at the top of the stairs leading down to Aqueduct St.  We were soon joined by Lisa McK.

Dot.ca was on Cam #1 (aka Pan Cam) watching over the eyases.  We thought it was Beauty at first.  There was very little movement by the eyases at the nest box.

For the majority of our watch, it was very quiet.  Pat had seen both Beauty and Dot.ca before I arrived, but Beauty was no where to be seen.

At 7:30 pm, we noticed that Dan was out on the Broad St Bridge.  I took a walk and joined him.  I could see that there were storm clouds over the lake to the north.

While we were talking, Dot.ca flew off of Cam #1 and approached us, flying over low, heading towards the library behind us. He turned and headed back to the Times Square Bldg, again landing on Pan Cam.  That’s when we noticed that Beauty was on the corner of the library, eating a Pigeon.  We had all noticed that she had become thin since taking care of her growing eyases. This is normal.  Dan and I watched as she ate her fill.  By the time she finished, she had a very large crop.  It was good to see her eat so well.

After finishing, Beauty took off with what remained of her meal and took it to the nest box to feed Cadence, Genesee and Bronx. Dot.ca took off from Cam #1 and flew over to the Mercury statue, landing on the heel.

While Beauty was feeding the eyases, there were a lot of wing flapping.

After she was done feeding, Beauty took off with what was left and flew east towards the river.  Dot.ca followed.  Beauty quickly returned, flying low. Dot.ca right behind her.  He landed on the southwest corner of the Wilder Bldg, while Beauty cached the food somewhere on the Philippone bldg.  Dot.ca was watching.  Beauty flew up to Cam #1 and Dot.ca flew down to the Philippone bldg and retrieved the cached food.  He brought it to the 3rd IBeam down on OCSR and enjoyed his dinner.

After finishing, Dot.ca took what was left up to the nest box.  I’m pretty sure, he just wanted to feed the eyases. Beauty flew down to the nest box and loud ee-chupping filled the air.  She took the food from Dot.ca and went to the base of the Mercury statue where she ate some more.

At 8:30 pm, we ended our watch.  There were storms heading into the area.  They’ve passed by us now and I just took a look at the live streaming video.  Beauty is on guard on Cam #4 and Cadence, Genesee and Bronx are sleeping in the nest box.

All is peaceful and quiet.  Goodnight!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

This morning it was 56(F) 13(C) when I started out and when the sun came up it stayed out

Dan was on the Broad St. bridge (BSB) when I arrived at around 5:15am. Beauty was on cam 1 and Dot.ca (DC) on the 3rd ibeam south corner of OCSR. As I was unfolding my chair he took off out of view quickly. There were 2 eyasses in view up on the deck.

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Approximately 5:45am Beauty went down to the nest box ledge showing us her back. I had a feeling DC was on the Wilder Green strip (WGS) so I took a walk down by the Blue Cross Arena (BCA) and sure enough he was next to the fire escape ladder and he was snoozing!

I re-joined Dan up on the bridge and a few minutes later DC appeared over the river crossing over the bridge to our left and disappeared to the southeast. Dan left after that and I packed up and went down to the hole where I spotted DC flying over the Wilder building with food in his talons. He flew out over the river around Mercury, came back through circling Widows Walk (WW) back over Wilder then behind Times Square (TSB) then I lost sight of him as he went southeast. I left Beauty and the kids up at the nest box to look for DC.

I didn’t find DC until I returned to Basin St. in the hole to watch Beauty who was now on the column above the nest box. She was pointed toward the back of TSB so she actually led me to DC. He was on the back lower north side of the building just below the roof line plucking feathers from his prey.

DC started eating and when he finished he seemed like he was contemplating what to do-should I stash it here or take it somewhere else?

DC opted for taking it with him-Beauty flew out to meet him over the Philipone building but he didn’t give it to her so she started squawking at him and gave chase, catching up to him over the parking lot next to the TSB and grabbed the food from him.

I drove up to the BSB to see where everybody went. The Beautyful one had taken the leftovers to the base of Mercury, had a few bites then took what was left to feed to the kids. DC went to the 2nd ibeam south corner of OCSR.

At 7:14am DC flew off OCSR and swooped down over the top of the nest box area then flew over to the heel of Mercury to pick at his talons from his breakfast.

Meanwhile Beauty was finishing up feeding the kids’ their meager meal.

Beauty went to cam 1 to relax after the kids were done eating-DC remained on Mercury’s heel as I left for awhile.

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While I was gone Larry stopped for a quick watch before work reporting Beauty and DC where I had left them and that he saw an eyas winging and one near the main cam. When I returned around 9:30am Beauty was on cam 1 sleeping and DC was on the Mercury money bag.

I had come full circle by ending my watch the same way I started-seeing Beauty on cam 1. I checked Seneca Towers when I got home at 10:10am-there were no falcons on the building. That’s ok because our downtown Rochester Peregrine Falcon family gave me plenty to smile about on this morning watch! 🙂

Click on the links below to check out todays videos

http://youtu.be/pu6OgEEuKwI

http://youtu.be/LYwTHIAQ-fM

http://youtu.be/nYFZFIw3EIw

http://youtu.be/Qy-VQ4V3O_U

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Tonight I was again joined by fellow Watcher Kathy O.

5:45 – 8:00 pm

After an almost all day rain, it was nice to have a little dry time to watch our falcons.  The sun made a brief appearance before it clouded up again.  Temps were in the 60’s I believe.  I needed a jacket since it was a little chilly.  Tomorrow we will return to much warmer temperatures.

We started our watch out on the Broad St Bridge.  From there we could see all three eyases at the nest box.  Both Beauty and Dot.ca were soaring high above the Times Square Bldg.  I believe they were doing a combination of keeping their territory clear, looking for hunting opportunities and showing their young ones a bit of what flying is all about.

For the first 15 minutes the sun was full in our faces, making it very hard to see the nest box.

Once the clouds moved in, it was much easier to see the activity at the nest box.  Lots of wing action up there.

Beauty came down lower, flying around the Times Square Bldg and then settling on the Mercury statue’s heel.

This was our view from Falcon Watch Central, on Broad St at the top of the stairs leading down to Aqueduct St, aka “the hole”.

From there we had a very nice view of the eyases when they came out onto the nest box platform.

Dot.ca flew over us and around the Times Square Bldg, definitely giving flight instructions.  He flew up to the very top of the building and landed on the southeast wing ring.

Beauty took off and flew high again.  Kathy and I were thrilled to see her make a long stoop to the northwest.  She returned empty-taloned to the top of the Mercury statue.  Dot.ca flew past the nest box and over to OCSR and landed on the top IBeam.

During all of this flying by Beauty and Dot.ca, there were a lot of wings flapping away at the nest box.

Beauty again took off (we assumed on a hunt) and Dot.ca flew to the Mercury statue, landing on the heel.

Kathy and I ended our watch at 8:00 pm.  All was peaceful and quiet.

Soon the eyases will start to take those first flights.  We figure it might happen as soon as this Sunday, June 14th.  So we will be starting the official fledge watch on Saturday.

Goodnight everyone!