Some observations over the past three days.

Today I saw DC on pan cam watching over the little ones. I’m more used to that being Beauty’s position. So I will just have to be prepared for the unexpected.

Yesterday I could the little ones out on the platform from the Court St Bridge. We are getting closer to the ‘watch’ period. The eyeases are getting braver in exploring to their little world.

The mornings so far have been beautiful to be downtown, watching the falcons.

When DC leaves the box, he goes to the northwest for some reason. One of these days I will have to park out that direction to see if I can locate where he goes. After each departure, I have checked out the Frontier comms tower and Kodak. I did not find him there. He may have been on the north side, but I think he goes elsewhere.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P. (10 am – Noon)

It was another very warm day here in Rochester, NY.  Temps up into the mid-80’s.  I found some shade down on Aqueduct St (aka “the hole”), set up a chair and enjoyed a couple hours of watching our falcons.  There was a beautiful breeze.  When I arrived, Beauty was up at the nest box with her 4 eyases.  Dot.ca was no where in sight.

It was almost an hour before I saw any activity.  Beauty flew out of the nest box and headed north.  From my position, I could not see where she went.  Possibly towards the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT).

About five minutes later, Beauty returned, landing on Camera #1.  Dot.ca came in with her, landing on the west corner of the top IBeam on OCSR.

Beauty went back to the nest box and Dot.ca took off, heading south.

For the remainder of my watch it was quiet.  I ended my downtown watch at noon.  As I was pulling out of the parking lot, I spotted Dot.ca on the Widow’s Walk railing.  He was definitely in hunt mode.  I spent a few moments with him before he took off, looking for food for his four hungry young ones.

Hope everyone is keeping cool on this Memorial Day Weekend!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I think we’ve skipped right over Spring into Summer.  When I first arrived downtown, it was close to 80 degrees.  Now it’s 90 or more!

Because there is no parking on the Broad St Bridge, I parked on the next street over, the Court St Bridge.  To give you an idea of what we can see from there, here are some pictures of my view.  From there, I could see Dot.ca on the top Ibeam of OCSR and Beauty inside the nest box shading her eyases.

I moved over to Aqueduct St aka “the Hole” for a closer look.  From that angle, I could not see into the nest box.  Here is what I could see.

Dot.ca remained on the top IBeam of OCSR.

Since all was peaceful and quiet and very hot, I moved on to the path across from Seneca Towers.  Dana was out, so she joined me there.

We found one falcon on the bridge and one hawk flew overhead.  I believe it was a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk.  Because of the heat, there wasn’t much activity and we didn’t stay long.

It was time to check out the Firehouse Woods in Greece, NY, which is a suburb of Rochester.  I was ready to take a walk and look for birds in the shade.  🙂  Today Dana and I saw two life birds, (birds I had never seen before). The first was a Woodcock and the 2nd a Black-billed Cuckoo.  Nice!

Hope everyone enjoys their Memorial Day weekend!  Keep cool!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

A very happy Mother’s Day to Beauty and all the moms out there!  Every moment I have with my mom, I consider a gift.

I arrived downtown around 10:30 am.  Lots of folks were out and about and it wasn’t easy finding a parking spot.  Especially now that work has started on the Broad St Bridge and it is closed to parking.  Something was going on at the Blue Cross Arena (aka Rochester War Memorial).  I finally found a spot on Aqueduct St (aka “the hole”).

When I first arrived, Dot.ca (DC) was on the south corner, top Ibeam on OCSR.  He didn’t stay long.  He was off, either on a hunt, or picking up cached food.  At 10:50 am, DC flew up to the nest box bringing in food.  Beauty took the food, flew out from the nest box, and circled back, landing on the platform on the opposite side of main cam from DC.  She took the food into the nest box to feed the 4 eyases.  Dot.ca took off and headed back to OCSR, landing on the top IBeam, west corner.

At 11:08 am, Beauty finished feeding the eyases and cached the leftovers on OCSR, 2nd IBeam down.  Dot.ca flew into the nest box to watch over his young ones.  Beauty finished caching the food and returned to the nest box.  Dot.ca came out and again landed on OCSR on the west corner.  This is the perfect spot for him to watch over his family.

When I ended my watch, Dot.ca was on guard on OCSR and Beauty was in the nest box with their four eyases.  All was quiet and peaceful.

Before leaving I walked up to Broad St. to check out the work being done.  The two outer lanes, that would normally be used for parking are open to traffic.  The center lanes are closed off and being worked on.  According to what I heard on the radio, this work could continue into next summer.  This could cause some problems for us during the fledge watch.  We’ll have to wait and see. I’ll leave you with some pictures of the work being done on Broad St and the bridge.  Take care and Happy Mother’s Day!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Not too much going on around the Times Square Bldg while incubation continues.  So, we wait for the eyases to appear.  Lots of loud peeping coming from the eggs could be heard by those watching the Rfalconcam Streaming Video yesterday.  A hatch should happen soon!

Yesterday, I got a text from Larry O.  He would be bringing his dog Harold down for a watch.  Harold is very ill and this would probably be the last chance I would have to see him.  Dana, Kathy O and I joined Larry and Harold on Aqueduct St (aka “the hole).  Beauty was up on the top Ibeam of OCSR.  She didn’t  stay long.  Beauty flew up to the nest box and Dot.ca flew out to take her place on OCSR.

That was the only activity we had until a wayward Turkey Vulture (TV) flew a little too close to the Times Square Bldg (TSB). Dot.ca was off and quickly caught up to the TV as it flew to the north side of the TSB.  We all watched as the Dot.ca hit the TV at least 5 times.  They were hard hits and the TV did all it could to get away.  Finally it did and Dot.ca again settled on the west corner, top IBeam of OCSR.

We ended our downtown watch.  Dana and I headed over to Seneca Towers where we found Seth (we believe) on the bridge.  He flew around to different spots, finally settling in a tree on the east side of the river.  If we hadn’t seen him land there, it would have been almost impossible to find him.

Dana spotted this nest nearby.  We believe that it was a squirrel’s nest covered in cotton material.  Smart squirrel!

Here are some pictures from my watches last weekend.

Saturday – April 23, 2016

Sunday – April 24, 2016

I will end my report with a tribute to our friend Harold.  Over the years we have lost fellow watchers and the friends that accompanied them.  We miss them all….