FalconWatch

Archive for October, 2016

Morning Watch 10-1-16

Saturday, October 1st, 2016

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a dark overcast morning with a temperature of 55 (F) 13 (C) with a very light misty rain coming down at the end of my watch

I started out at 6:30am when it was still quite dark out as the sun doesn’t rise until after 7am. I checked the perimeter of Seneca Towers (ST) but didn’t find any falcons, so I left for downtown. I arrived just in time to see the lights on Tower 280 (formerly Midtown) before they were shut off.

Make sure to click on pics to see the full version

I drove around downtown many times in the next hour and a half checking all the usual spots but didn’t find either Beauty or Dot.ca (DC) so I headed over to the Brighton site (BS). No falcon there either but there were about half a dozen starlings flitting around on the east side of the building. I returned to downtown and as I was making my way through on State St. I spotted a falcon on the northeast cube of the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT). Drove over to the City Hall parking lot just in time to get a couple shots of the Beautyful one before she flew off.

She left while I was checking her pic on my camera’s LCD screen. I found her on the top I-beam northwest side of OCSR-she had her back to me but kept turning her head to have a look around.

I left her after a while to look for DC but no such luck. I stopped on the Andrews St. bridge (ASB) before leaving downtown and got a better angle of Beauty on OCSR albeit from a longer distance. From there I could see she food in her crop and she was snoozing on and off.

As I approached ST from St. Paul St. I spotted the tail feathers of Billie on the southwest corner and she was eating. Below her on the southwest corner of the railing was Seth looking up at her occasionally and watching below for prey.

Soon after, Seth flew off and then Buffalo Billie followed. They went south at first then came back to the west side of the building where I couldn’t see them. I drove down to check the north end when I saw who I believe was Seth with Billie’s leftovers in his talons. After he went out of view I saw Billie go to the west side after him. I then doubled back to Seth Green Dr. where I found Billie on the west side railing.

She kept looking over her shoulder and then Seth flew up to the railing with his back to me. I believe he finished off the leftovers on the roof behind his mate beforehand. After a short stay, Seth flew off vocalizing and after a failed attempt to land on the south roof antenna came to rest on the top window ledge of the south end of ST. I left Billie on the railing to go back out on St. Paul St. for a closer view of Seth.

I left to check for Genesee from the Summerville side of the river to no avail-he wasn’t on the Coast guard antenna where the other watchers have seen him. I’ve looked for him several other times but haven’t had the pleasure of seeing him yet-his regular time is early morning and early evening. Perhaps luck will be on my side soon.

As I approached ST from Seth Green Dr. I could see both Billie and Seth on the west side railing.

<Click it