By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a bit cloudy to start with a temperature of 60 (F) 16 (C)

Last night at Seneca Towers (ST) from the west balcony I spotted Sellie on the south side bridge ledge eating around 6:15pm. While I was on the balcony I also spotted an osprey in the osprey tree again south of here up river. And I took a couple pics of the small Koi fish pond below across from the main entrance to ST.

He finished eating about a half hour as I observed him from the window at the north end of my 16th floor where I had a bit of a closer view. Joyce was on the west side of the river and saw another larger juvie join Sellie a while later after I went back to my apartment. I think Cadence may be hanging out here the last couple days as I thought I’d seen a big juvie as well.

Sellie done eating

Fast forward to this morning-I spotted a falcon on the south top window ledge but it flew off heading east just as I came to a stop. I waited for it a little bit then headed south to downtown where I had quite a falconless watch until the very end. In my travels I spotted the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile at the Radisson Hotel and I watched the river inhabitants from the Broad St. bridge to entertain myself.

As always click on all my pics to see the full version

During another trip around downtown I took pics of flowers to keep me from getting bored while our falcons played hide and seek (mostly hide). Hold your cursor over the pics to see the caption that tells where the pics were taken.

I searched for an hour before leaving to run an errand and when I got back the roads were coned off for a running race and most roads were blocked off for the Puerto Rican parade and festival. Traffic was backed up and I didn’t have too many places I could go look for falcons. Floats for the parade were turning down Andrews St. at State St. and lining up on the bridge. I managed to spot Beauty on the bottom arm of the Frontier Communications tower from down on  State St. near Kodak Office.

I had to leave from there as I was in the lane for the runners and just before I pulled away a bunch of motorcycles for the parade went around me followed by a runner.

It was quite the strange falcon watch this morning but the Beautyful one came thru to give me reason to smile! 🙂

Click on the links below to see my videos

http://youtu.be/s7aMrGNoqTE

http://youtu.be/iU9KDCsHJfo

http://youtu.be/xagZfAy-F-g

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

What a difference a day makes! Yesterday morning it was 77 (F) degrees and muggy when I started my watch-today 64 (F) 18 (C) and no humidity.

Just before 8pm last night I saw 2 falcons flying south over the river at tree top level. They went past the osprey tree (OT) which had one in it at the time. It looked like a juvie that buzzed the osprey then they both flew off with the osprey returning to land back in the OT. It dropped what I believe was a fish and then a juvie landed in the tree above it.

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A few minutes later the juvie was gone and I noticed another osprey in a tree further up river from the OT. As you can see, the leaves in the gorge are turning color already.

15 minutes later as I was on the west balcony I heard a juvie and saw it fly in from the north and go above the building. It reappeared at the south end before flying east out of view just before dark.

This morning I neither saw or heard a falcon at Seneca Towers. It was a while before I found any falcons downtown but as I was stopped on the Broad St. bridge I spotted one on the top arm of the jail tower and one on the middle arm of the Frontier Communications tower (FCT). I decided to go to Troup St. to check the jail bird first-it turned out to be Dot.ca (DC).

I left right away to check out who was on FCT. I had a bad angle on it from the City Hall parking lot but I thought it was a juvie. It took off while I was checking my pic of it.

A few minutes later I spotted Beauty on the south side arch of Kodak Office (KO) preening. I then wondered if it had been Beauty on FCT with her dark coloring.

10 minutes later at 7:06am a juvie flew in jabbering and landed on the northeast corner of the 20th floor of KO. It was an old friend-Genesee!!!! I saw his silver right leg band confirming it was him-he hadn’t been seen for over a week and we thought he was gone for good. Or maybe it was him on HSBC yesterday morning or, as I suspected the bird on FCT a little while ago and not the Beautyful one. Still, the prodigal son has returned to downtown Rochester.

Since his back was to me I left my spot near State and Platt St. to go down to State and Brown St. where I had a better angle on him.

Genesee did some preening, pooped then walked to the south end of the ledge and flew off circling the tower and squawking no doubt at his mom on the arch.

Genesee came to rest on the northwest corner of the playpen netting still vocalizing. He may have been crying to mom to feed him as there was nothing in his crop. Genesee flew off around 7:30am circled the tower a few times then all went quiet.

I drove around to the south side of KO and could see that Beauty was gone as well. It would be nearly 2 hours before I saw another falcon. Just when I was about to leave downtown, from the Andrews St. bridge I spotted who I believe was DC because of the whiteness in the Powers nest box.

I ended my watch at 10am at Seneca Towers with no falcons present. What a nice surprise to see Genesee this morning making me smile! 🙂

Click on the links below to see today’s videos and a bonus video of an osprey from yesterday

http://youtu.be/eHQUzy4mI0c

http://youtu.be/uOTB9c8apUQ

http://youtu.be/-EOFcMCcmhY

http://youtu.be/EKzVueNouFE

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a very balmy and humid 77 (F) 25 (C) degrees at 6am this morning with a busy breeze and partly to mostly cloudy skies

Today was the first time in a while that I didn’t see any falcons at Seneca Towers in the morning. Kids are branching out and the adults seem to be out there with them as well. I am however, still seeing at least one juvie downtown-I guess it’s not over til the fat lady sings eh!?

I found Dot.ca (DC) on the northeast corner of the Kodak Office playpen netting just about the same time as Shaky tweeted out that there was a falcon on the west corner top I-beam of OCSR. I stayed with DC briefly then went down to park on State St. across from the Rochester Plaza Hotel to see that it was Beauty on OCSR with her back to me.

After a few minutes the Beautyful one  took off heading southwest. As I looked up toward Times Square I thought I saw another falcon meet Beauty over Exchange Blvd. then they quickly went out of view.

I went in search of her and instead found a juvie on the southwest corner of HSBC on the east side of the river from Woodbury Blvd. I drove over to Chestnut St. for a closer look but I couldn’t get a clear enough pic to see if it had leg bands or not so I can’t say if it was one of ours or just one passing through our fair city. It was easy to see that it had a full crop though!

This juvie flew off at 7:22am going in the direction of the river to the west.

10 minutes later I spotted a juvie on the 2nd arm of the Frontier Communications tower from the Andrews St. bridge. By the time I got over to check it out it was gone. I think it was the same one that was on HSBC.

After a look around for it I found Beauty and DC on KO from State and Platt St. She was on the northeast corner of the launchpad and he was below her on the left side of the east arch above the playpen.

<Click>

I switched angles and drove down to Brown and State St. where I could see the front of DC. The lighting was not as good there but at least I wasn’t looking at his back from there.

They were both doing some preening-DC pooped and was napping as well.

I left them around 8:20am and headed for home to check for the ST falcons. I had no luck finding any falcons but when I got up to my apartment I spotted a Great Blue Heron and an Osprey in the same tree up river from ST on the west side bank. This is the same tree I’ve seen both species in before but not at the same time. The Osprey was eating a fish with its back to me. I officially ended my watch at 9:15am from my living room.

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I guess if you can’t find falcons to make ya smile an Osprey and Great Blue Heron will do the trick! 🙂

Click on the links below to see today’s videos

http://youtu.be/erIUSIzybqo

http://youtu.be/EV_VBlfIxwk

http://youtu.be/jO4fhdS_S2o

http://youtu.be/GMO_N0ASvEo

http://youtu.be/1g9FQ8Mdv1Y

http://youtu.be/FfnzWcyUo-0

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

6:15 – 8:30 pm

It’s been sizzling hot here in Rochester, NY over the last few days.  Today was no exception, with temps reaching close to 90 degrees (F) and high humidity.  I decided to wait until early evening to head downtown to search for our falcons.

I arrived downtown at about 6:15 pm.  For about a 1/2 hour, I drove all over downtown Rochester looking for falcons.  Finally at 6:45 pm, I spotted a falcon on top of the RGS antenna.   I quickly parked my car and turned on my camera.  When I stepped out of my car to get a picture, the falcon was gone.

For the next 1 1/2 hours, I drove around downtown Rochester looking for falcons and not finding any.

As I was ending my watch and heading home, I made one last stop at the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT).  It was 8:20 pm and the sun had set.  But I was still able to see that there were two falcons on the tower.  One, an adult, was on the 2nd arm down from the top, facing southwest.  The 2nd falcon was on the southwest box below the platform with its back to me.  It was too dark for me to tell if it was a juvie or adult.  But, I could clearly hear a juvie vocalizing now and then.  So, there was a juvie up there.  Five minutes later, they were both gone.  It was time to end my watch.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was like a sauna when I stepped out today with overcast conditions, a temperature of 71 (F) 22 (C) and high humidity

Last night (Monday) around 4:15pm I checked for falcons from the west balcony of my 16th floor of Seneca Towers (ST). I spotted a juvie as I looked down at the tree tops below me in Seth Green Park. It flew straight up toward the heavens out of view. I went back to my apartment after it didn’t return.

Half hour later a juvie flew past my living room window so back out to the west balcony I went. From there I witnessed the juvie fly to the bridge and go to several different spots and barely touch down then off again. It went under the middle arch of the bridge a couple times and eventually disappeared to the north. I believe he was looking for cached food. Later in the evening I found what I believe was an osprey up river in a tree on the west bank of the gorge.

The moment I set foot on the west balcony this morning I heard the distinct sound of a juvie whining. Before I had time to get my camera out of the case and turned on a juvie came flying out from the south end of the building. He flew back toward the east out of view and all went quiet.

I then went down to my car to check the perimeter of the building. As I was parking on Seth Green Drive I spotted a juvie on the west side railing near the northwest corner then off when I stopped the car. He flew around squawking the whole time and landed on the west side railing below the refuse shoot then off to the southeast corner of the building and quickly off again to land on the south end of the building below the tall antenna.

I believe this juvie was Sellie-5 minutes later he quietly flew off to the east and never returned.

I left for downtown at 6:45am and drove around in search of falcons for an hour before finding a falcon on the jail tower as I was pulled over on the Broad St. bridge (BSB). It had its back to me and looked like Beauty.

I drove to Troup St. for a better look  and to my pleasant surprise found that it was in fact, a juvie. I’m pretty sure it was Cadence as she resembles her mother and has fooled me in the past thinking I was looking at the Beautyful one.

She flew off while I was tweeting my findings and I was not able to find her or any other falcons again thus ending my watch at 8:30am. It’s slim pickings these days for us falcon watchers but as I had an all juvie watch today I’m still smiling! 🙂

Click on the links below to view todays  videos

http://youtu.be/PMMI-HFBaoI

http://youtu.be/BJJnhmPzUOY

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

The weather yesterday and today has been hot, humid and quite sunny with temperatures near 90 (F)

The heat of the last couple days has slowed the falcons and the falcon watchers down but there has been some activity at Seneca Towers (ST) while Donna has visited from New Jersey. Last night (Sunday) she and I witnessed Bith and Sellie flying from the trees down in Seth Green Park up to the bridge, first landing on the south side ledge then up under it a few times and back out.

We believe they spent the day down in the trees to escape the heat. Joyce came over around 5pm to join us on the west side balcony of my 16th floor here at Seneca Towers. The falcons were quiet after the bridge shenanigans. Around 8pm Donna spotted an Osprey in a tree south of ST on the west side bank of the river. I call her old eagle eye. lol

Joyce thought this was a juvie and a few minutes later once again Donna saw another Osprey land in a tree south of the first one. Joyce thought this one was an adult. This osprey wasn’t facing us so it blended in much better with its brown wings.

About the same time a juvie came flying thru going to the south end of the building out of view. The sun set and Joyce left, just as Donna and I thought we were done for the night a juvie flew out from the north end of the building crossing the river into the darkness vanishing into the trees near Nazareth High School on Lake Ave.

Click on all the pics to see the full version

The moon was a sliver in the sky that prompted us to call it a day.around 9pm.

This morning just after sunrise we witnessed 2 falcons flying back and forth from west to east sides of the river bank then going north past the bridge where a 3rd falcon joined them as they went ou of our field of vision. Around 6:45am 2 juvies attacked a gull that was passing thru over the river low. One was in front and the other behind the gull like they were escorting it. They all went out of view until 20 minutes passed. A juvie appeared. landed in a tree then off to another one where he tried a couple different branches and slipped off as they weren’t strong enough to hold his weight. He returned to the original tree he was in.

Donna and I moved from the balcony into my apartment and watched from my living room window as the juvie flew off to the north and vanished into the greenery of the trees. A bit later a Great Blue Heron landed in a tree near where the juvie had been.

No activity was witnessed for the middle of the day as the heat was too much for all of us falcons and humans as well. Donna and I went downtown so she could see our downtown falcons. Unfortunately, she saw only Beauty on the Frontier Communications tower.

The Beautyful one was preening and pulling out feathers when we arrived at the City Hall parking lot. She turned her back to us before taking off to the north.

We left for the Pont de Rennes pedestrian bridge where Joyce and Brian caught up with us to visit for a while. We didn’t see any falcons there and so we left for ST hoping to see some action before the sun set for another day. Right after we arrived 2 falcons appeared at the south end of the building. One of them was a large looking juvie (could Cadence be visiting ST?) who was chasing an adult screaming loudly. The juvie landed on the southwest corner then left and we never saw another falcon ending our watch with another gorgeous sunset.

We’ve had some good times watching the ST falcons since Donna arrived on Friday. She will be going back to New Jersey tomorrow leaving me with many smiles from our visit! 🙂

Click on the links below to see a couple videos I taped

http://youtu.be/TKICRfbUpac

http://youtu.be/X0uxuUv1IhM

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

1:00 pm – 3:15 pm

I am changing my reports back to  falcon watch reports from now on, since we are seeing less and less of the downtown juvies.

Temps were in the mid-80’s during my watch this afternoon.  It was the three H’s, Hot, Hazy and Humid!  Or Hot, Hot, Hot!

This will be a quick report.  I did see two falcons (Beauty and Dot.ca) and one falcon watcher (Kathy O) during my watch. About half way through my watch, from the Andrews St Bridge, the sweet sounds of ee-chupps filled the air.  A falcon came in and landed on the east side railing on the Powers Bldg.  Then it was gone.  Then there was one in front of the nest box.  I believe it was Dot.ca.

A 2nd falcon flew in and landed for a moment.  An adult with a missing center tail feather.  This was Beauty.  She didn’t stay long.  I saw her stoop off the Powers Bldg. heading southwest.  Kathy O was also out and we both went to try to find where Beauty went.  Neither of us could find her.

I really thought I heard a juvie at one point, but could not find it.

Kathy had to leave, so I headed over to the Kodak Tower to check it out.  Nothing there.  Next I checked the gorge from the pedestrian bridge.  Again nothing.  Due to the heat, I decided to call it a watch at 3:15 pm.  Joyce had just texted that Dot.ca was on the Frontier Comm Tower under the platform.

When I saw my friend Debbie H a few days ago, she told me that she had seen a garbage pail full of flowers on Main St in front of Nick Tahou’s, Home of the Garbage Plate.  Very clever!  Thanks for letting me know Debbie!  🙂

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a clear morning as the sun came up with a temperature of 66(F) 19(C)

Cam watcher and very good friend Donna, and her daughter Kara, came in from New Jersey Friday night for a weekend visit. I met them out in the visitor parking on Seth Green Dr. and as we were walking to the building a juvie flew in welcoming them and went down the west side of the roof out of view. We’ve been busy since they arrived and so I didn’t have a report written yesterday. Any falcon watching we’ve done has been here at Seneca Towers on both the 16th and 22nd(top) floor west and east balconies at dusk and dawn.

Friday night as we were on the east side 22nd floor a juvie and an adult suddenly appeared from above the roof to our right and flew east. Then a second later the other juvie flew out from right above us-we could have practically touched it if we had reached up. It flew around and appeared a couple times whining practically the whole time. Saturday morning there was a juvie on the south side bridge ledge for maybe a minute, then it was gone. No other sightings on Saturday as we were busy doing this and that.

This morning (Sunday) just as the sun was coming up Donna heard juvies and then saw them fly over the river then up over the building possibly landing out of view. 10 minutes later a juvie was flying above building squawking loudly, flying north to south a couple times then it went silent with no more sightings. Fast forward an hour on my 16th floor west side balcony-we heard a juvie down below us in Seth Green Park, then saw 2 falcons fly just above the surface of the river to the west side of the gorge shoreline and land in a half dead tree. Only one juvie was visible

A minute later they both flew out crossing the river and landed in a tree on the west side right below us but not in view. We believe one adult and one juvie at this point. Less than a half hour later we spotted 3 falcons flying over the river close to the shore on the west side of the gorge. 2 of them landed in the trees on the west side, like before we couldn’t see them. The other one, (a juvie) flew out over the river after a gull that was passing thru. It tagged it, driving the gull to land in the river then made a couple passes, tagging it again while it was in the river.

<Click

The juvie then flew back to the east side and joined the others in the trees below us. About 20 minutes later one juvie and one adult were seen flying up and down the river close to the west side going in and out of view between the trees and landing in the trees. That was it, there was no more activity witnessed as I believe they settled in for a rest period. We hope to get downtown this evening to check out those falcons. We are doing a lot of smiling! 🙂

Below is the link for a very short snippet video

https://youtu.be/WkTmY8Nb8vQ

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

As the temperatures are rising here in Rochester, NY, we continue to see our young female juvie Cadence.

Friday – 8/14/15 (10:45 am – 7:30 pm)

I started my watch at the west end of Kodak Park (KPW), where we have seen many Peregrine Falcons over the years.  This location is not that far from Seneca Towers.  My thought was that the two tall stacks at this location may be a magnet for young falcons.  Well, there were none there on Friday morning.  Joyce stopped by while I was there.  She went to Seneca Towers, where she reported seeing one falcon, and I headed downtown.

Beauty was on the south side arch ledge on the Kodak Tower.  From the Broad St Bridge (BSB), I spotted a juvie falcon on the north end of Thomson Reuters on the northeast corner.  She was watching the birds on and above the river below her.

Cadence took off while I wasn’t watching her, so I didn’t know which direction she went.  She wasn’t gone long.  For the next few hours Cadence mostly remained on the base of  Mercury, flying off and returning 4 or 5 times.  During that time, I was joined by Joyce and Brian.  Dark clouds moved in and so did the rain.  Dot.ca flew in and landed on the south side of OCSR on the top IBeam.  It took me awhile, but I finally saw Cadence’s blue-taped band.

It started to pour, so I jumped back into my car and waited it out.  Finally the dark clouds moved out, the rain stopped and the sun appeared.  Since Cadence had her back to me, I decided to move to Aqueduct St aka “the hole”.  From there, she would be facing me and the sun would be behind me.  Joyce returned from taking Brian home and I was also joined by Pat and Debbie H for a short time.  It was great seeing both of them.  🙂  After they left, Kathy O joined the Watch.  Cadence was vocalizing quite loudly, letting her parents know she was hungry.

At 5:45 pm, Cadence took off again heading NW. After she left we looked up to see that Beauty had replaced Dot.ca on the OCSR top Ibeam.  We could not find Cadence, so we all split up to look for her.

I returned to Aqueduct St at 6:15 pm.  As I was approaching, I saw a falcon fly up to the base of Mercury on the east side.  I attempted to see this falcon from the small parking lot on the north side of Mercury, but could not see it.  When I turned around, I spotted a falcon eating on the east end of the Wilder Bldg near the SE corner.  It was Cadence.  She had a large bird, and feathers were flying.  Kathy drove up to the Broad St Bridge and reported back that Dot.ca was on the base of Mercury eating, even though he had a very large crop.  Beauty remained on OCSR.

None of us witnessed what happened, so we’re not sure how Cadence got her meal.

At 7:30 pm, we ended our watch, as Cadence continue to fill her crop with a good meal.  Beauty remained watching over her from the OCSR.  Dot.ca had flown northwest earlier.

Saturday – 8/15/15 (3:30 pm – 8:00 pm)

Main St, Broad St, Court St and much of the surround area was closed for the Rochester Twilight Criterium a bike race that officially didn’t start until 8 pm.  But, they were racing while I was there, probably preliminary runs.  Due to this, I could not get near where I normally watch from.  I circled the downtown area, checking it from all directions.  I had no luck finding any falcons until I was checking out the east side.  A falcon flew over me and landed on the RGS bldg.  I quickly parked my car and saw that it was a juvie.  I am fairly certain it was Cadence, but I never saw the blue band to verify.

She took off and I soon saw two falcons flying over heading east.  I parked behind Midtown Plaza and watched from there.  A juvie returned and hovered over the Chase Tower, vocalizing.  I assume that it landed up there when it was quiet.  Brian arrived and said he saw a falcon stoop heading north.  We remained behind Midtown for awhile before heading to the pedestrian bridge at High Falls.

Before I left at 7:30 pm, we had two falcons in view from there.  An adult on the south side arch on the Kodak Tower and a falcon facing west on the top arm of the Frontier Comm Tower.  Pretty sure that was also an adult.

On my way home, I made a quick stop at Maplewood Park, across the river from Seneca Towers.  I could not see any falcons from there.  Also none found at the Kodak Research Labs.

It’s been great seeing Cadence.  While I was watching her yesterday, she did stoop from the base of Mercury on a pigeon flying over the river.  She chased it, but was unsuccessful catching it.  So, she is practicing her hunting skills and may have already caught something on her own.

The last time we had all four downtown Rochester Falcons confirmed was at approximately 8:00 pm on Tuesday, 8/11/15.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Had a great start weather wise with sunny blue skies and a temperature of 66 (F) 19 (C) but by the end clouds took over

So I hadn’t been seeing Seth or the juvies at Seneca Towers lately but now I’m not even seeing Billie in the morning. Been quiet at night too. I’m not ready to say good bye yet!!! Anyway, downtown falcons have been scarce too the last few days but I have managed to see Beauty, Dot.ca (DC) and Cadence at times. Today I didn’t see a falcon until nearly 2 hours after I started out. After the first hour or so I decided to check the University of Rochester campus and Strong Memorial Hospital as I had gotten a couple tips that falcons had been seen and heard at both sites recently. I never saw or heard any but I saw some deer that eventually got scared off by a man walking his dog.

<Click>

While I was checking these places I got tweets from Donna (thanks D) saying there was a falcon on the northeast cube and then the platform railing of the Frontier Communications tower (FCT). And Larry tweeted from Winthrop St. (East Ave. area near Little Theater)  that he could see no falcons from there. When I returned to downtown I went straight to the City Hall parking lot where I found Beauty on the middle arm of FCT with her back to me.

Although I knew the back lighting would be awful from Plymouth Ave. I decided to go there anyway so I could see the front of the Beautyful one. She stayed about 10 minutes then stooped to the west at 8:49am.

I drove west and checked out all the buildings near Main and Broad St. but didn’t find her. 15 minutes later as I was driving east on the Broad St. bridge (BSB) I spotted 2 falcons flying above Xerox. They were the same size and one had rough looking wing feathers so that told me it was Beauty and Cadence. They were riding the therms as it was quite breezy out. I moved to Court St. across from the Court St. parking garage after they disappeared and reappeared.

<Beauty<Cadence

After 10 minutes they split up with Cadence going to the northeast corner of the railing below Mercury. I caught up with her on the Broad St. bridge.

It was during this time that the clouds really started to take over between 9-9:30am. Cadence was busy watching pigeons fly back and forth over the river below her and also the rest of the area with a little preening in between.

Crews were lining up portable bathrooms near the Rundell library for an event and so I decided it was time to go and get out of the way as there was lots of activity on the BSB. Cadence gave a wink as I said goodbye ending my watch at 10:15am.

So another ladies only morning watch down in the books with a smile! 🙂

Click on the links below to see today’s videos

http://youtu.be/M_LK6z_2f6A

http://youtu.be/G9owGNs1vaY

http://youtu.be/z2GQy_F72Eo

http://youtu.be/YY2xRPTZmdg

http://youtu.be/i6aZRG6xFqU