By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Hazy and humid is the way it’s been around here and the forecast doesn’t call for anything different until the middle of next week. The sun broke thru the haze somewhat with a starting temperature of 69 (F) 21 (C)

Billie and Seth greeted me once again from their spots up on the top north window ledge at Seneca Towers. I didn’t stay more than a few minutes with them this morning.

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I checked all the usual spots downtown and as I was crossing the Court St. bridge to check the east side I saw a dark figure on the west side ledge below the roof on the Rundell Library . I backed up and pulled over on the south side of the bridge to observe Beauty who was eating on the ledge.

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She ate for a few minutes then stopped and looked around for a while. She turned outward while and I got the feeling she might be looking for one of her kids to share the fresh red meat she had.

The Beautyful one resumed eating around 7:20am. She has a lot of loose white down feathers as she continues the molting process.

When Beauty was finished eating she roused and started feaking and picking lots of leftovers off her talons.

As soon as Beauty was done cleaning up she flew off to the north then she headed west after she got behind OCSR toward the Frontier Communications tower (FCT).

The take off shots show evidence of the many white down feathers that are just waiting for her to pick or shake off. I left for the City Hall parking lot as I was sure Beauty had gone to FCT. I found her on the north side platform railing and upon checking below the platform I spotted Dot.ca (DC) on the east side red section.

They weren’t doing much of anything so I left them to rest around 8:30am as it was starting to heat up.

I drove to the Medley Centre mall in Irondequoit to look for Little Big Frank (BF) and I wasn’t disappointed as he was on a round vent cap just northeast from the carousel roof. He was hunting and keeping a low profile.

BF was facing the north mostly as I was on the south side of the mall. A Great Blue Heron started circling above then made its way out of the area heading toward the Irondequoit Bay.

At about 9am BF flew north out of view to the other side of the mall so I drove around to check it out as he was in hunt mode. I found him on the tallest peaked glass roof.

BF spread his enormous wings and took off  in a big hurry heading west. I circled the mall a couple times but he didn’t return.

I ended my watch at 9:15am after seeing all four resident Rochester Peregrine Falcons and a potential resident named Little Big Frank. Smiling-you bet! 🙂

Click on the links below to see today’s videos

http://youtu.be/cRrAe3u0lRc

http://youtu.be/7HakOwy-w1A

http://youtu.be/X0X5JBalldo

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Another hazy humid morning but a bit brighter than yesterday with a starting temperature of  65 (F) 18 (C)

Billie and Seth started the morning with me on their north end top window spots as I looked on from below at the back of my parking lot at Seneca Towers.

They don’t do much other than gaze across at each other when the day starts so when someone stretches I get all excited. Seth stretched, Billie and I watched and that was it for action. lol

I left them to it and headed downtown where I spotted a falcon from the Andrews St. bridge (ASB) on the base of Mercury with its back to me.

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I set out immediately for the Broad St. bridge but it was gone when I got there. As I sat there in my car I noticed the sun in my side view mirror peaking out from behind HSBC-the haze muffled its brilliance so that you could look at it without squinting. I then went to the east side to look for falcons and again the sun got my attention as I was behind HSBC at this time.

No PEFA sightings on the east side but I did find Dot.ca (DC) around 7:15am on the northeast corner of the Kodak Office launchpad. I drove to my spot near Brown and State St. to face him as he looked to the north. He pooped then turned his back to me.

A minute later DC ran down to the southeast corner of the launchpad showing me his back again so I moved down State St. further by Platt St. to get a side view of him.

DC looked over his shoulder in my direction every once in a while and at 7:47am he flew off to the east and that would be the last I saw of him or any falcons downtown.

Beauty is in vacation mode I think, where she leaves downtown on and off either keeping track of her kids or just enjoying her freedom. I made a few more trips around but gave up and left to check out the Medley Centre. No Big Frank and no juvie seen there this morning so I headed home after a few rides around the mall. As I pulled over on East Ridge Rd. by St. Paul St. I spotted Buffalo Billie on the northwest corner of Seneca Towers eating just around 9am.

She had quite the bulge in her crop that was hanging over the food. She stopped eating only a couple minutes after I arrived then turned her back to me. With that, I took off for Seth Green Dr. where I could see the front of her. To my delight Seth was on the west side railing not too far away from his mate. Now I knew why she stopped eating-didn’t want to share her breakfast with him.

Seth turned around and spread his wings which prompted Billie to mantle her food. He then walked down closer which made her give him a verbal warning that he was close enough.

Seth gave her a half hearted Falcon Power sign then flew off to the north, circled around and landed farther down on the west side railing which seemed to satisfy Billie as she started eating again. He kinda looked my way as if to say she won MAK!

I ended my watch at 9:45am not only smiling but chuckling out loud from what I had just witnessed! 🙂

Click on the links below to see today’s videos

http://youtu.be/VuRgefTq2wc

http://youtu.be/HXewRrIglog

http://youtu.be/V2bjeRdWWBs

http://youtu.be/C6_brLFzB68

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Foggy, hazy, humid overcast were the conditions for this mornings watch with a temperature of 69 (F) 21 (C)

The dark conditions are making the falcons look dark-even Mr. Whiteness himself (Dot.ca) isn’t looking all that white the last couple days. That being said I was fooled into thinking I was looking at Billie on the north end top window of Seneca Towers when I started out this morning. It turned out to be Seth on the wrong end of the window to further mess me up.

I drove out to my spot on Seth Green Drive where I spotted Billie on the west side railing. I’ve not seen a ST juvie in a few days so I suppose they’ve left the area. It could have been one of them at the Medley Center the other day with Big Frank but since they aren’t banded there’s no way of saying for sure.

Buffalo Billie flew off at 6:56am going down the face of the west side around the south end then north. I have a feeling she went to the back of the building to join Seth. I opted to go downtown at that time.

It wasn’t until my second trip around downtown that I found Dot.ca (DC) on the northeast corner of the playpen netting of Kodak Office at 7:20am. I parked at Brown and State St. as he was facing north.

DC flew off a few minutes later then landed on the southeast corner of the launchpad. He looked to be in hunt mode with a depleted crop.

He was facing south so I went down to Platt and State St. to watch him. DC didn’t stay long before he was flying off to the northeast rather nonchalantly.

I left when DC didn’t return and after checking the Times Square area to no avail from the Broad St. bridge I turned my attention to the river below. Among the usual suspects was a Great Blue Heron walking in the shallow water near the Rundell Library. Unfortunately, no place is safe from littering humans as the remnants of a beer party were on the flats.

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I made a couple more unsuccessful trips around downtown then headed for the Medley Centre in Irondequoit. Arriving around 8:30am I found Little Big Frank (BF)on the roof top vent cap where the carousel is housed-he was in hunt mode.

BF stretched his neck way up a few times as he was zeroing in on prey, then he would turn and crouch down, and back to his original position facing me. One time as a pigeon landed on the lower end of the roof below him he strteched out his wings and I thought he would go but then he settled back down.

BF flew northwest then doubled back and ended up on the roof peak further to the east from the carousel roof peak. I found him there when I drove around to the north side of the mall parking lot.

BF decided to take off while I wasn’t looking and I didn’t see him again. I ended my watch at falcon-less Seneca Towers  at 9:45am.  There wasn’t a whole lot of action today but of course just seeing falcons is enough to make me smile! 🙂

Click on the links below to see today’s videos

http://youtu.be/7nqARftwDOc

http://youtu.be/FcOdWxcSR_s

http://youtu.be/i7lyct0iLi8