By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a dark overcast morning with some fog downtown and a temperature of  55 (F)  13 (C). Sprinkles of rain here and there

I started the day with Seth on the north window ledge and Billie on the west side railing of Seneca Towers.

I arrived downtown around 8am finding Beauty on the heel of Mercury from the Broad St. bridge.

About 10 minutes later the Beautyful one stooped on some pigeons down behind Thomson Reuters then resurfaced out over the river and flew up to the southwest corner of the Hyatt Hotel for less than a minute and took off as I was tweeting.

I hadn’t seen Dot.ca (DC) around so when I got a tweet that Lisa saw a falcon at the Brighton site (BS) where he used to go with Pigott I thought I better get over there and see if it was him. He was still on the south vent where she reported seeing the falcon when I arrived at 8:39am.

Boy, it’s been a couple years since I saw a falcon over there-it was really strange. Anyway, he flew off a minute or so after I found him went around the west side checking out the cubby he and Pigott used to meet in then back out to the southwest corner. It sure looked like DC to and it wasn’t until he flew from there at 8:47am that I saw the black/black band on his right leg confirming to me that I was watching DC heading in the direction of downtown.

I returned to downtown and made a couple trips around but didn’t find Beauty or DC so I continued on to the Medley Center arriving there about 9:30am. Big Frank was there on the glass peaked roof so I parked on the east side of the mall for the best vantage point. She flew off to the east about 15 minutes later while I was on the phone so I missed the take off shot. One of my pics showed no band on right leg and black/black on the left leg.

I left for the last leg of my watch and found Seth on the north window and Billie on the west side railing-the same spots I saw them on Seneca Towers as when I left for my watch at 7:30am. They both had a full crop so they did move while I was gone!

I ended my watch with a great big smile as I saw our 5 resident Rochester Peregrine Falcons! 🙂

Click on the links below to check out my videos

https://youtu.be/BYa9nb81cDI

https://youtu.be/Jmd9v1VaaSY

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

The temperature was 59 (F) 15 (C) with cloudy skies and pop up showers and a busy breeze

Seth was by himself on the north window ledge of Seneca Towers this morning as I went out to East Ridge Rd. to have a look.

As I was coming up St. Paul St. I saw a falcon fly into a stoop toward the river gorge from the northwest side of Hawkeye. I checked the perimeter of Hawkeye but saw no falcons. When I arrived downtown on the Andrews St. bridge at 8am I spotted a falcon on the large drum on the Frontier Communications tower.

While I was driving down to State St. I watched it fly off behind the drum so I went over to Fitzhugh St. in front of the Sister Cities parking garage where I found not one but 2 PEFA’s. Beauty and Dot.ca (DC) were on the cross beam to the large drum.

DC’s head was blocked by a beam from where I was located and they were facing each other at first but after a while DC turned his back to the Beautyful one.

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They were settled and I was in a hurry so I left them to check the Medley Center,Hawkeye and Seneca Towers. No luck at Hawkeye or the mall but I did find Buffalo Billie and Seth on the north window ledge across from each other.

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That’s all she wrote folks-I ended my watch at 9am with a smile after seeing our 4 resident Rochester Peregrine Falcons safe and sound for another day! 🙂

Click on the link below to view today’s snippets

https://youtu.be/9DxZnB3vBO8

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a sunny but chilly morning with a temperature of 31 (F) -1 (C)

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

I started my watch at Seneca Towers at 7:30am with Seth on the north window ledge and Billie on the northwest corner with her back to me from the north end of my parking lot so I drove out to Seth Green Dr. to see the front of her.

I left them and as I came up to the Kodak Hawkeye plant on St. Paul St. I spotted an unbanded male falcon on the north end of the roof eating. I pulled into the driveway of the Rochester School for the Deaf to observe and as I was there a bigger falcon flew in from the north and landed on the west side of the ring where the nest box is located.

I couldn’t see it very well so I went across St. Paul St. to the parking lot across from Hawkeye (HE) to the east. I couldn’t see the ring falcon at all from there so I kept taking pics of the male who had stopped eating after the other falcon showed up.

As I was looking to the ring the male left and then a female took over the spot where he had been eating. She had a black/red left leg band and a purple right leg band. She didn’t eat anything while she was up there so I don’t know if she was not interested or if the male had left with the food since I didn’t see him leave.

The female spotted something and turned around before flying west toward the river then south behind the building out of view at 7:54am.

I thought I had better go check on Billie and Seth since HE is only half a mile from Seneca Towers. Seth was still on his north end window ledge and Billie was on the roof above him facing Hawkeye at first then she turned around before flying out over the bridge then back to the roof facing me.

At 8:18am Lisa reported seeing a falcon at the Brighton Site. I left for downtown at that time and on the way found the HE female on the ring right behind the nest box. She flew east out of view at 8:20am.

Finally made it downtown and didn’t find any falcons during my first 2 trips around. I was on the Andrews St. bridge (ASB) when Donna reported seeing a falcon on cam 1 so I headed over to Times Square. I found a Kestrel on the Mercury Money bag and I believe that’s who Donna saw on cam 1.

The Kestrel flew off and so did I, ending up back on the ASB where I spotted Dot.ca (DC) on the northeast cube of the Frontier Communications tower (FCT). At the time I didn’t see her but when I was checking my pics on the computer screen I noticed Beauty on the large drum and it looked like she was eating in the pic.

Not knowing the Beautyful one was present I drove over to FCT and positioned myself in the City Hall parking lot for the best angle on DC.

DC flew off real low toward Kodak Office where I lost him behind trees and buildings. I left to check the Medley Center around 10am where I found nothing. When I got home to Seneca Towers Billie and Seth were on the north window ledge preening together.

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I ended my watch at 10:30am smiling after seeing our 2 pair of resident Rochester Peregrine Falcons safe and sound! 🙂

Click on the links below to see today’s videos

https://youtu.be/hEWnRFih4FE

https://youtu.be/1dAMjgUljLQ

https://youtu.be/h8gcbXMehjg

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

35 (F)  2 (C) degrees and frozen snow on my car with a beautiful sunrise followed by overcast, cloudy skies

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As I was waiting for the elevator I couldn’t help but notice the sun rising in the eastern sky. When I checked the north end of Seneca Towers (ST) from the back of my parking lot I could just barely see the back of a falcon. I drove out to East Ridge Rd. to have a better view but it was gone when I got there.

I proceeded to downtown where I came upon Beauty and Dot.ca (DC) on the northeast corner of Legacy Tower (LT). I pulled over on E. Broad St. below Midtown to observe as she was eating and he was watching her from a few feet away.

Please click on all my pics to see the full version

You could see the pleading look DC was giving Beauty so she would share. He waited just so long and then he made his move back behind her and grabbed a small piece, bringing it out near her to eat it.

DC polished it off quickly and went back to watching his Beautyful one eat away. Again, he could only take it for so long then he tried another sneak attack from behind but this time she turned around and he flew off at 8:09am.

I don’t know where he went but I believe it was somewhere that he could see her. Beauty finished eating not too long after DC left and did some feaking and talon picking, then just stood perched on the corner for a while.

Beauty flew off around 8:20am when I wasn’t looking and before I could put my car in gear to leave, DC was on the corner picking at her leftovers.

DC settled down and started looking around for something to catch-I left him there around 8:45am and headed over to the Medley Centre. All I saw there was the carcass of the gull that Big Frank was eating yesterday-it had been moved about 50 feet away from where she had it and there was not a bit of meat left. Now when I arrived at my spot on East Ridge Rd. and St. Paul St. there was a falcon on the northwest corner of ST with its back to me.

As I was pulling away to check from Seth Green Dr. it flew off, circled back around and landed momentarily on the north end roof then off again heading southwest. I didn’t see it again after that so I ended my watch at about 9:30am. Today, DC was the maker of my smile with his food antics! 🙂

Click on the links below to view today’s videos

https://youtu.be/TF0-y1MWcoo

https://youtu.be/Is4KYun4Lbk

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

There was lots of sun and occasional clouds to block the warmth of it as the temperature was only 36 (F) 2 (C)

Billie and Seth have definitely changed up their morning routine as I didn’t see them on Seneca Towers again this morning. As I arrived downtown and didn’t find anyone there initially, I thought I was going to get skunked. On my second trip around I spotted Beauty and Dot.ca (DC) on the top I-beam southeast side of OCSR from the Broad St. bridge. I drove down to the hole for a closer view.

The angle wasn’t the best so after the Beautyful one flew off to the south I went looking for her to no avail and returned to watch DC from the Radisson Hotel by Main St. He had quite the full crop!

I figured since he had eaten he wasn’t going anywhere except maybe to his man cave in the OCSR elevator shaft so I took one more ride around to find Beauty and left for the Medley Centre after an unsuccessful search. I circled the mall once and when I came around to the north side on the second trip I stopped to check out a row of pretty yellow trees.

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As I was rounding the corner I noticed lots of white feathers and when I looked to the end of them I found Big Frank (BF)-she was eating a juvenile gull. She sure does like a big breakfast!

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At first I wasn’t sure if it was BF because I hadn’t seen her for a long time but when I saw no band on her right leg and the black over black band on her left foot I was convinced. She then moved her prey and showed me her identifying left leg band showing the S/39 for a positive ID.

On my little LCD camera screen it’s hard to see details so I couldn’t decide whether she had a pigeon or a gull as I was seeing brown on the wings. Frankie likes to move her prey from one spot to the other-I noticed that when I witnessed her eating a duck a few weeks ago. She is a formidable opponent and if I were a Peregrine I would not mess with her!

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I noticed a couple pigeons on a light post above BF watching her and probably saying how happy they were that she was in the mood for gull this morning. They didn’t stick around to see if she wanted pigeon for dessert.

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Frankie had her fill and flew off at 9:13am circling around to the glass peak roof where she landed to digest her meal. Dana came by and confirmed that it was a juvie gull as she had checked the remains. I left for home at that point finding no falcons at Seneca Towers again. I ended my watch at 9:45am with a big old smile after having seen Frankie for the first time in almost 3 weeks! 🙂

Check out today’s videos by clicking on the links below

https://youtu.be/FDoZDbG6VZY

https://youtu.be/6Nb0Mg6Aa6w

https://youtu.be/_3j3jMTaoYM

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Fall has arrived and there may be a hint of snow in the air in some areas near Rochester, NY this weekend.  Brrrr.

Here are some reports and images from my afternoon Falcon Watches over the past few days.  Enjoy!

Monday, October 10, 2015

I found both Billie and Seth home at Seneca Towers.  They were on the north end window ledge.  This was my view from Maplewood Park, across the river.

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

On Wednesday I found both Beauty and Dot.ca up inside the OCSR elevator shaft.  I found no falcons at Hawkeye, Medley Center or Seneca Towers.

But, I did find a Peregrine Falcon hanging out on the base of the top railing on the west stack at Russell Station.  It was too far a distance for me to get any good pics to tell if it was banded or not.  Based on size, I believe it was a female and she had food on the platform behind her.  She remained about an hour then went on her way.

Thursday, October 15, 2015

I spent most of my watch downtown with both Beauty and Dot.ca.  I first found Dot.ca up inside the OCSR elevator shaft.  He took off and Beauty landed on the north side of OCSR on the top IBeam.  Before I left downtown, I found Dot.ca on the north side of Kodak Office on the arch ledge.  I found no falcons at Hawkeye, Medley Center, Seneca Towers or Russell Station.

Friday, October 16, 2015

When I arrived downtown, I found Dot.ca on the south side arch ledge of Kodak Office.  He soon took off and landed on the Frontier Communication Tower on the south side, just below the platform.

Beauty flew in from the east and landed next to Dot.ca on the Frontier Communication Tower.

I drove over to the City Hall parking lot for a closer look.  After taking one picture, both Beauty and Dot.ca started to alarm kak kak kak!  They both took off heading south and I followed.

I arrived on the Broad St Bridge, just as one falcon was returning heading back towards the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT). Back on the Andrews St Bridge I was able to see a falcon on the FCT southeast box.  I could not tell if it was Beauty or Dot.ca.

While I was keeping watch for the 2nd falcon to return, A Coopers Hawk flew over the river and the pigeons that had been on a nearby building took off and flew in panicked flight as the Coop passed over heading south down the river.  The falcon on the Frontier Communication Tower, did not move.

I checked at Hawkeye, Medley Center, Seneca Towers and Russell Station, where I had no luck finding any falcons.

At Medley Center, I was having fun watching two Mockingbirds that appeared to be in a mock battle.  To me it looked more like playing by two young ones.  They were chasing each other and vocalizing quite loudly.  Here are a couple pictures I took of them.  🙂

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

We had changeable weather this morning-sun, rain and sun while raining. It was mostly cloudy at first, then the skies cleared, only to be inundated with clouds again. The starting temperature was 46 (F) 8 (C)

Surprisingly, there were no falcons at Seneca Towers when I started my watch. Just as I was making my way downtown, watcher Pat reported a falcon flying east from the southeast wing of Times Square (TSB) past the Chase building at 7:40am. As I was stopped on the Court St. bridge after checking the east side, I spotted Beauty on the east railing across from the Powers nest box. I drove down to the end of Aqueduct St. as she flew off toward the Frontier Communications tower (FCT). I found her on the northeast cube.

Beauty did a little preening and worked hard on extracting a pellet from her pretty much empty crop. She flew over to Kodak Office (KO) at 7:55am.

I found not only the Beautyful one but Dot.ca (DC) as well on KO. She was on the southeast corner of the 17th floor and he was on the southeast corner of the launchpad. I stopped at State and Platt St. but they weren’t facing me so I drove up to State and Brown St.

They were looking over their territory and looking up and down at each other occasionally.

I left them around 8:15am-as I was crossing the Veteran’s Memorial Bridge on my way to the Medley Centre I noticed a falcon on the north end roof of Seneca Towers. I pulled into the Northridge Church parking lot real quick and took a couple pics but couldn’t say for sure who it was-I think Seth.

No luck seeing Big Frank at the mall again-I hope she comes back to grace us with her awesome presence. I ended my watch at 9 am. In my travels I took a few pics of the fall colors-I hope they put a smile on your face as they did on  mine!

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Click on the links below to see today’s videos

https://youtu.be/2RvxUOGsX5I

https://youtu.be/buARCk_XH1M

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

A chilly start with a temperature of 40 (F) 4 (C) and bright blue sunny skies

Billie and Seth were on opposite ends of the north window ledge this morning as I started my watch at 7:30am.

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When I arrived downtown on the Andrews St. bridge Beauty was on the northeast cube of the Frontier Communications tower (FCT). I drove over to Fitzhugh St. first where my view of her was a bit blocked by a beam so I went to the City Hall parking lot where I could see her back quite well. lol

I left her to look for Dot.ca (DC) and I found him under the northeast wing of the Times Square building just before 8am. I parked on Basin St. in the hole-it was nice to be at the old stomping grounds for a while with a falcon on Times Square. DC seemed to be in hunt mode as he was watching something below him.

Naturally he flew off when I wasn’t looking-I thought perhaps he went over to FCT to join Beauty but when I stopped on State St. by the Rochester Plaza Hotel only the Beautyful one was there-still on her northeast cube. I took a couple pics and a video of her before leaving for the Medley Center (MC) around 8:30am.

I didn’t find Big Frank at MC but I did find a juvenile Turkey Vulture (TV) on the east side of the mall on a retaining wall being harassed by a crow. The crow kept sneaking up on it and pulling at its tail feathers-the TV flew after it a couple times to say get out of my space!

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The crow went back for more and the TV gave up and flew off.

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I left for home and when I got to Seneca Towers Seth was on the north end window ledge as I pulled over on East Ridge Road-he took off while I was checking his pic on my camera screen and that ended my watch at 9:10am.

So all 4 resident Rochester Peregrine Falcons were seen doing well. I had fun watching the TV and crow-they were definitely good for a smile! 🙂

Click on the links below to see falcons, a turkey vulture and a crow

https://youtu.be/emWd3sC6D7I

https://youtu.be/EttYMdYgE6s

https://youtu.be/Mt1J7Y7nrU4

https://youtu.be/k4t0ofOXdt4

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a dark, overcast morning with a temperature of 51 (F) 11 (C) and a fine misty rain here and there

Seth was on his north side window ledge to greet me this morning as I started out.

When I arrived downtown on the Andrews St. bridge Beauty was over on the southeast cube of the Frontier Communications tower (FCT).

I drove over to the City Hall parking lot for the best view after checking from Fitzhugh St. in front of the Sister Cities parking garage first. I don’t know if she lost her balance and flew off to the southwest or went after a bird around 7:45am but she returned within seconds to the cube.

The Beautyful one did a little preening, pooped and roused in between looking around the area. I left her about 8am to search for Dot.ca but I wasn’t able to find him. Perhaps he was out flying around with Genesee. As I came back thru past FCT I could see that Beauty was still on the southeast cube.

Over at the Medley Centre I saw a crow dive bombing something back behind the carousel roof from the south side of the mall. I drove around to the north side to find out what it was going after-a Red-tailed Hawk.

I waited around for a while hoping Big Frank would come by but no luck. When I got home to Seneca Towers Billie and Seth were on the top south window ledge. Buffalo Billie took off soon after I pulled over on Seth Green Dr. heading south.

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I ended my watch at 10am after a pretty much uneventful morning but still smiling! 🙂

Click on the link below to see snippets from my watch

https://youtu.be/deFIpSusv0I

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

A warm, dark start with a temperature of 61 (F) 16 (C) rain in the area

I began my watch with who I think was Billie on the north window-it was so dark out still at 7:30am that I couldn’t tell for sure.

Upon arriving downtown I didn’t see anybody initially but when I stopped on Woodbury Blvd. I suddenly spotted 2 small falcons talon tagging by the south side of Legacy Tower. They disappeared as fast as they appeared-it was probably Dot.ca and Genesee. When they didn’t return I drove to the Broad St. bridge (BSB) where I spotted Beauty on the base of Mercury about 8am.

She was in hunt mode as she took off after some pigeons at 8:16am down toward the river and then reappeared flying above Xerox.

She spent 5-10 minutes looking for prey, floating effortlessly from one side of Xerox to the other. She finally spotted something and went into a stoop toward the river out of view. I stopped on the Court St. bridge where I saw the Beautyful one under the northeast wing of Times Square. I whipped over to the hole just in time to catch her flying off to the northwest.

I drove over to the Frontier Communications which was the general direction Beauty flew. I found her on the northeast cube

I left downtown at that point and headed over to the Medley Centre where Big Frank was nowhere to be seen again. Joyce saw 2 falcons over by the Irondequoit Bay last night so perhaps one of them was her. I ended my watch at Seneca Towers where I saw both Buffalo Billie and Seth. When I first arrived in my spot at East Ridge Rd. and St. Paul St. I spotted Billie up on the roof above the north end windows.

While I was tweeting Billie took off and ended up landing on the northwest corner of the railing. She had her back to me so I decided to go over to Seth Green Dr. where I could see the front of her.

Billie only stayed there a couple more minutes when she stooped straight down out of view. I next spotted her on the southwest corner where she was eating-don’t know if she caught something or if it was cached food.

Next thing I knew Seth was on the roof right behind Billie. I guess she didn’t want to share for she took off and when Seth checked where she had been he only found a couple small pieces of leftovers.

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Seth flew off at 9:47am circled around the building then landed back on the southwest corner on top of a transmitter/antenna.

Seth didn’t stay there for long either as he flew off going southwest and this time he didn’t return.

I said goodbye and ended my watch at 10am smiling after a very active watch this morning! 🙂

Check out the links below to see today’s videos-footage of Beauty flying and hovering

https://youtu.be/TpqyeO7t92w

https://youtu.be/BmpF8m7_rQs