By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

A much better morning weather wise as it was partly sunny and a chilly 58 (F) 14 (C)

Click on the pics to see the full version

The days are getting shorter making for a later start for my morning watches. I arrived downtown about 5:30am and checked the east side first from Woodbury St. It was still dark out but I managed to spot Beauty on the south side of Xerox, 6th column over from the southeast corner.

The crows were being vocal as they gathered on the railing of the Blue Cross building from the trees in Washington Square Park. Beauty flew out and back to land on the 5th column (her favorite) then she hopped back over to the 6th column before flying off to the west over the river.

I didn’t see the Beautyful one from the Court St. bridge so I had a feeling she and Dot.ca (DC) were in the Powers nest box bonding. I checked the river real quick but didn’t see any ducklings. I did see a Great Blue Heron.

Next stop was the Andrews St. bridge where I spotted Beauty on the Powers camera. As I checked the archives I found that my suspicions were correct.

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From there Beauty flew to the Frontier Communications tower (FCT) to perch on her northeast cube. I drove over to Fitzhugh St. for a closer look and also found DC on a crossbeam below the southeast cube.

I went back and forth from the City Hall parking lot where I could see the front of DC to Fitzhugh St. in front of the Sister Cities parking garage where I could see the front of Beauty. They were both preening on and off with DC pulling white down feathers out of himself, so he is also molting now.

DC pooped while his mate watched him from above. lol I decided to leave them to it around 6:45am to see if I could catch any falcons at Seneca Towers or Hawkeye.

Unfortunately, no PEFA’s were seen so I ended my watch at 7am. Keep smiling! 🙂

Click on the link below to see today’s snippet video

https://youtu.be/U1GrzqHY2EI

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

A heavy mist was falling this morning with dark, overcast conditions and a chilly temp of  62 (F) 17 (C)

So, I’m thinking our downtown juvies have left us. Ontario was last seen by Dan on 7-19-17 and Rachel was last seen by me on 7-21-17. They may show up again but I’d say the chances are slim now. The last time the Seneca Towers brothers were seen was 7-23-17 by Joyce and I. I’m hoping to see them again but not counting on it. That said, we still have 4 adult PEFA’s to keep an eye on which brings me to this mornings watch. The weather was lousy but in the darkness and misty rain I managed to find Dot.ca (DC) in the OCSR elevator shaft on the north ledge staying high and dry from the elements.

I left him to go have a look around downtown and after a couple trips I found Beauty on the Kodak tower. She was on the west side arch ledge above where the old Mariah & Kaver nest box once was located.

I shared space with her for a bit and then made a couple more trips around the city with no luck finding any other falcons and DC was gone from the elevator shaft. When I returned to observe the Beautyful one she had her head tucked in under her wing. She was napping on and off.

I made one more trip around and when I came back through DC was on the northeast corner of the netting on Kodak. I tweeted it out and when I looked back up he was gone. He’s a sneaky little tiercel!

That’s all she wrote folks as I didn’t see anybody at Hawkeye or Seneca Towers as I passed through there. Even though it was a dismal morning watch Beauty and DC still put a smile on my face! 🙂

Just a short snippet video link below

https://youtu.be/0Wi_FfXya7g

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Another overcast, dismal and dark morning with a temperature of 67 (F) 19 (C)

Remember to click on my pics to see the full version

Yesterday afternoon around 2pm I checked the Hawkeye plant from my apartment and saw a falcon below the nest box. While I was eating my supper last night around 6:30pm I witnessed a juvie flying past my window heading north. I went out on the west balcony but he never came back. My last check of the night from the balcony around 8:10pm had me watching some ducks down in the river and the sun going down. Not much of a sunset as it was mostly cloudy.

As I did my scan of the area I spotted one of the Seneca Towers juvies eating a snack over on the south side ledge of the Veteran’s Memorial bridge. When he was done he flew off straight down to the tree tops on the east side (my side) of the gorge and disappeared into the trees. I have seen a juvie do this once before one night when KathyO came over to watch with me. So we know at least one of them roosts in a tree at night. That would be it as darkness fell.

I started my watch this morning at 5:20am with Beauty on the northwest corner of the 5 Star Bank-she flew off immediately and headed east. This was not her usual spot on the bank but a few minutes later I would find out why she was there. I thought she had gone to the RGE antenna and when I was checking it out I spotted Dot.ca (DC) flying over to the bank only to land on the the northeast corner then fly off. He was dogging her!

There’s a round about (traffic circle) at Broad St. and Broadway and I was literally going around in circles looking for our downtown pair! As I was coming down Chestnut St. I spotted DC on the northeast corner of the Columbus building (at the corner of Chestnut and Lawn St.) and he was whining! I knew the Beautyful one had to be near with food and when I drove to the back of the Broadway Inn parking lot I found him begging his bride to share the food she had.

Beauty handed over the goods and flew off after feaking a bit. DC started plucking feathers to beat the band-white fluff filled the air!

I hung out with him for a bit and then I left to look around for juvies! I didn’t find any so I stopped on the Court St. bridge to check on my river friends. No Dan this morning as he told me yesterday he wouldn’t be out. He likes action and there hasn’t been enough for him lately. lol Anyway, I found my 2 duck families and spotted a Black-crowned Night Heron jumping around on a log below the Broad St. bridge.

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I left there and ended up on the Andrews St. bridge (ASB) where I saw a falcon on the Frontier Communications tower (FCT). I drove to the Hochstein School of Music parking lot to catch Beauty just before she flew off to the Powers building. I watched her go straight into the nest box out of view and then I heard DC chirping. I quick drove back to the ASB where you can see them if they’re towards the front of the nest box.

Next, I watched DC come out of nowhere and fly to the drum on FCT. I thought there was a bonding session going on in the nest box but when I checked the archives it showed only Beauty. If he was up there he wasn’t where I could see him or the cameras.

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I could see her near the front of the nest box when suddenly she flew out and over to the drum. She landed and DC flew off to the south. You can see the sequence of events on my downtown snippet video at the end of this report.

Beauty stayed on the drum for a minute or so then flew south as well-she was dogging him now!

I flew south as well and located DC on the top I-beam north corner of OCSR. From the hole I could clearly see his full crop. Soon after I got there he walked to the right and then flew west.

I was going to leave the hole when I noticed movement under the northeast wing of Times Square. It was Beauty at the back of the ledge eating. She picked up her pigeon wing and walked forward only to turn around and go to the back of the ledge to cache what was left of it. She did some feaking then flew off heading north.

I ended my watch at that point (7am) to go walk Bella before it started raining. On my way home afterwards I came upon Billie on at Hawkeye on the nest box ring. I stayed long enough to identify her as she was preening.

I didn’t see any juvies again today but Beauty and DC kept me smiling with their falcon games! 🙂

Click on the links below to check out today’s videos

https://youtu.be/u7ON-ruzlQY

https://youtu.be/G5H1LalSWos

https://youtu.be/l43W-TxOZVY

https://youtu.be/irZQQshGnI4

https://youtu.be/he-vwNUYbQo

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was overcast, dark and dreary with a temperature of 67 (F) 19 (C)

Click on the links to see the full version

I was out last night and didn’t get out to check on the Seneca Towers (ST) falcons until 8:20pm. As I stepped out on the balcony and looked up I spotted a juvie flying just before it disappeared to the north end of the building. At 8:34pm I spotted a large bird on the roof of Kodak Park but can’t say if it was a falcon due to distance and darkness as the sun was setting behind the clouds.

I began my watch this morning at 5:15am finding Beauty on one of her favorite perches, the northeast cube of the Frontier Communications tower (FCT).

Beauty was preening on and off, still working on those molting feathers and she did a lot of looking around. At 6:14am she flew off the cube and back to the FCT landing on the platform where she was eating something.

I decided to go check in with Dan on the Court St. bridge while the Beautyful one ate. He told me that he watched Dot.ca (DC) stoop off the Spectrum tower successfully taking his small package over to the 2nd I-beam of OCSR to eat and then he flew to the Powers building. I could see him on the east side railing and then he left while we weren’t paying attention.

It was time to check on my river friends. I found a Great Blue Heron hiding in the bushes on the west side of the gorge south side of the CSB-it flew over to a log below the locks in the rapidly flowing waters. Mama duck and two kiddies sticking close to her. On the north side of the bridge I found 2 adult Black-crowned Night Herons. One of them was grabbing either bugs on the surface of the water or very small minnows-couldn’t tell which but you can see it on my snippet video.

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Dan got bored and decided to leave around 6:45am so I went back over to the FCT where I thought I had Rachel on the drum eating. I found DC on a crossbeam below the southeast cube with a full crop. Turns out it was Beauty eating on the drum as she finished eating and flew off to the northeast cube.

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At the time, I still thought it was Rachel and kept saying to myself boy, that looks like Beauty and I knew I saw her fly there so I checked from every angle looking for her as I also heard whining. I’m still not convinced that Rachel wasn’t up in that tower somewhere but if she was I couldn’t find her.

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I left Beauty and DC to digest their food and was hoping to catch the ST falcons around. Well I didn’t find any juvies but I found Seth on the Hawkeye nest box ring with his back to me and Billie on a northwest corner of the roof. Bad lighting today made for mostly bad pics but got a couple half way decent ones.

Seth made his way over to the opposite corner from where he had been where there was a swarm of some kind of bugs flying near him.

I ended my watch looking at both of their backs at about 8:30am. Unfortunately, I saw no juvies on watch today but I saw all 4 resident Rochester Peregrine Falcons and that’s more than enough to make me smile! 🙂

Check out the links below to see my snippet videos

https://youtu.be/BeMrYdWj_kg

https://youtu.be/jfF7znI7waQ

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Another warm, muggy morning here in Rochester with a temperature of 68 (F) 20 (C) blue skies with a few clouds

Click on my pics to see the full version

I spotted a falcon on the northwest roof of Hawkeye last night when I checked from the west balcony of my 16th floor at Seneca Towers (ST). 10 minutes later another falcon flew in from the west and buzzed the one on the roof and then went over to land on the nest box ring. The roof bird flew off to the south out of view soon after that.

10 minutes later the remaining falcon flew off and about a half minute later I had a screaming juvie flying towards the north end of ST and that was the last I saw of any falcons as the sun set. I did spot a Great Blue Heron in a dead tree up river before calling it a watch just before 9pm.

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This morning I began my watch at 5:15am on Woodbury St. where I spotted Rachel on the south side of the roof near the southwest corner. She kept looking towards the 5 Star Bank-thinking she was looking for her mom I drove over to Broad St. and found Beauty on the east side of the bank. I decided to go to the Strong Museum of Play parking lot where I would be able to see them both but when I got there they were gone.

I went to the Court St. bridge (CSB) to see if Dan had seen them. He said that he watched Rachel fly over the library heading west with a small package, possibly a starling, and that he lost her behind the Blue Cross Arena. While we had no falcons I checked on the river wildlife. Two duck families that I’ve been monitoring on the south side of the CSB have dwindled down from 10 to 3 and the other from 8 to 2 ducklings left-most likely taken by the Great Blue Herons (GBH).

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I saw one GBH and an adult Black-crowned Night Heron hunting on the north side of the Broad St. bridge and also a mink was diving for food between the Court and Broad St. bridges.

I walked up to where I could see the Frontier Communications tower (FCT) and Widows Walk from next to the Dinosaur BBQ grill. I could see a falcon on the 2nd arm of FCT whom I thought was Dot.ca (DC) and Beauty on the Powers cam. After checking the archives I found that Beauty and DC had been in the Powers nest box bowing just a few minutes prior to that. Beauty left Powers while I was watching the mink down in the river.

Dan left at 6:30am so I took a ride around downtown and from the Andrews St. bridge I spotted a falcon under the northeast cube of FCT. When I got over to the City Hall parking lot on Fitzhugh St. that bird was gone but I found the Beautyful one under the southeast corner of the platform facing me.

A few minutes later I heard the sound of a whining juvie. Rachel was on the east side in the lower red section of the tower with her back to me. And then Beauty moved to show me her back as well.

Rachel was very alert to all the bird activity below her, twisting and turning her head every which way to look at them. She turned to face me for a bit and then around again to show me her back before flying off to the south. I looked up to see that Beauty was no longer where she had been.

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I caught up with Rachel who had gone to the jail tower. I took a couple pics of her from Troup St. and then I had to get going.

I ended my watch at 7:40am happy to have seen Rachel but wondering if Ontario had left the area for good as he hasn’t been seen in a couple days. It’s sad to see them go but it sure does keep you smiling while they’re here! 🙂

Click on the links below to see videos from my watches

https://youtu.be/LnjfUmbhG1I

https://youtu.be/G2InYvNS784

https://youtu.be/sXFz1vQAE9g

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was partly sunny and a muggy 68 (F) 20 (C) degrees

Click on the pics to see the full version

I went out to check for the Seneca Towers (ST) falcons at 8:10pm last night and was happy to see the brothers flying around Hawkeye (HE). They kept coming in and out of view as they would drift off behind the plant to the south side. A couple times one landed on different northwest corners of the roof briefly then off again.

At some point Joyce observed the boys playing on the south side roof in between my sightings from the north. I caught one of the juvies landing not so good on a roof which you’ll be able to see in my snippet video. It happens!

Around 8:30am I heard the familiar cries of a juvie and was able to make out 2 very fast flying falcons down in the gorge on the west side across from me. I could not get any pics until just before they flew under the bridge to the north and they were a blur!

The sun was setting as they came back through where I could see them again. This time they were on my side of the river just above the tree tops for one more round and then gone under the bridge again and that would be the last I saw of them. It was another gorgeous sun set. I watched a couple Great Blue Herons fly in and land on separate logs down in the river.

Around 8:50pm Joyce reported seeing Seth on an east side roof of HE and I was able to spot it from my vantage point on the 16th floor west side balcony and that would be all she wrote for last nights watch.

I began this mornings watch in the dark with the Beautyful one who was on the southeast corner of the 5 Star Bank. I started from Broad St. then drove over to Chestnut St. so I could see the front of her. She flew over to the RGE antenna and landed but took off while I was driving over to be closer to her so I went to the Court St. bridge (CSB) to join Dan.

Dan gave me his report that he had seen Rachel under the northeast wing of Times Square before she flew over to the Powers building and that Beauty had flew in to join her briefly. I checked the archives and found pics of them.

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I saw a falcon on Widows Walk (WW) about 25 minutes later. I think it may have been Rachel.

There were 2 adult Black-crowned Night Herons and a Great Blue Heron in the river between Court St. and Broad St. Sadly I haven’t seen any ducklings in two days.

Beauty was chased by Rachel over to the jail tower where they landed and left immediately heading northwest out of view behind the jail.

Around 6:50am Dan spotted somebody flying over the jail with a package. It looked large so probably a pigeon and we think it was probably Rachel as she was losing altitude and disappeared somewhere over the jail. Dan left after that sighting and I went in search of. After a trip around downtown I came upon Beauty on the north side railing of WW from Fitzhugh St. She had her back to me and at first sight she was pulling white down feathers from her left side. Molting is itchy and painful for them.

She turned around, fanning her tail nicely showing the gap where a feather was pulled out of it. Our Beautyful one is looking a bit raggedy these days while she molts!

I shared space with her for half hour or so and then she stretched and took off to the southwest.

I drove around downtown twice and didn’t find any falcons until I spotted Beauty on the jail tower from Troup St.

I ended my watch at 8am after beginning and ending my watch with my favorite falcon who never fails to make me smile! 🙂

Click on the links below to check out snippet videos from last night and this mornings watches

https://youtu.be/O15LXDE9iXo

https://youtu.be/7pHFEJahD3I

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was 62 (F) 17 (C) with calm, sunny conditions

Click on the pics to see the full version

From my apartment at Seneca Towers (ST) I checked the Hawkeye (HE) plant a little after 8pm and could see the brothers playing talon tag over the river so I grabbed my camera and went out to the west side balcony on my 16th floor. They had stopped flying and were perched side by side on the north end of the roof over there. Joyce had reported seeing an unknown adult over at HE earlier in the evening and she also saw Billie on the south side window ledge of ST.

At one point while I was watching the boys Seth came flying in from the south past me and up towards the northwest end of ST. I just barely got a shot of him before he disappeared. I watched the sun set in the western sky. If you check out my snippet video you’ll see it go down in stages. Below are the first and last pics of it.

I started my morning watch on the Andrews St. bridge where I spotted 2 falcons on the Frontier Communications tower (FCT)at 5:19am. One was on the 2nd arm and the other on the platform railing south side. I drove over to Fitzhugh St. for a closer view as it was still dark out and by the time I got there the railing bird was gone. I believe it was Dot.ca (DC) on the arm and probably Beauty on the railing as the archives show them both at the Powers nestbox just a few minutes before I arrived downtown.

DC stooped like a bullet near the church and I next found him over on the Kodak tower perched on the northwest corner of the netting. He flew south soon after.

I drove over to the Court St. bridge (CSB)and joined Dan who reported having 2 falcons on the jail tower at 5:20am so between the two of us we had seen all four falcons this morning. I had the adults and he had the juvies. The only thing I saw while there was an adult Black-crowned Night Heron. A little after 6am Dan decided to go to the High Falls. I met him over there after I had the Beautyful one on the northeast corner of Kodak below the netting from State St.. She flew off while I was tweeting.

When I got to the pedestrian bridge Dan was leaving as he had seen a falcon flying above Xerox so I followed him back to the CSB. Of course when we got there the show was over but Dan spotted somebody on the Spectrum tower. I wanted to know if it was a juvie so I drove over there and found it was Beauty. She was preening when I sent out a tweet and when I looked up she was gone so back to the CSB I went. She sure was a busy bird today!

Beauty managed to get past Dan when she flew off Spectrum and ended up on the Mercury money bag behind us. She then took off and started flying over near Xerox and Legacy tower (LT) coming in and out of view. She then landed on the slanted part of the LT roof below the spire. Pics pf her flying show that whe has pulled out feathers from both wings and her tail as she is in the midst of a molt.

She stayed up there for a few minutes looking around and then she flew southeast into the sun where we lost her from being blinded by the sun.

We ended our watch at about 7:30am. Boy, it was fun chasing Beauty all over downtown and you know I was smiling the whole time! 🙂

Click on the links below to see snippet videos from Seneca Towers and downtown

https://youtu.be/GPoU01yqBeI

https://youtu.be/MaPtaJvWkeU

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

The temperature at the start was 62 (F) 17 (C) with calm conditions. A cool breeze developed after the sun came up

Click on the pics to see the full version

Last night I saw 2 Seneca Towers falcons after 8 pm as the sun was setting. There was one on the nest box railing at the Hawkeye plant that stayed there until just before dark when it dove straight down and never resurfaced. The other one flew in and landed on the roof below the nest box structure for a moment then it flew off when I wasn’t looking. No way of telling if they were adults and/or juvies.

The sun had clouds above and below it as it made its descent towards the horizon.

This morning after checking the east side first I found Beauty on the northeast corner of the Powers building. From Aqueduct St. and Main St. I took a couple pics before heading over to the Court St. bridge (CSB) to join Dan. I love getting out of my car to see his great big smile to greet me!

It stayed that way for about an hour so I turned my attention to the river on the south side of the CSB. There was a juvie Great Blue Heron, mama duck with 3 babies, and a juvie Black-crowned Night Heron (BSNH). I also checked the north side of the CSB and found an adult BCNH right below the railing of the bridge.

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The 3 ducklings stuck together and near to their mom as the juvie GBH and BCNH were on either side of the area. The larger duck family never came out of hiding while I was watching. A Fedex plane came through behind Powers and I spotted a Great Egret perched on a log above one of the locks south of the CSB.

Around 6:30am Beauty seemed to change her stance as if somebody else was there or flying in so I checked the cams and sure enough Dot.ca (DC) had snuck in and gone into the nest box. The Beautyful one then went in for a quick bow with her mate and then out again and up to land on the cam.

A few minutes later DC snuck back out of the nest box without Dan and I seeing and around this time Rachel came crashing in to knock mom off the cam and take her place. Beauty flew out and returned to land on the northeast corner once again.

Soon after, Beauty flew over to the Mercury money bag where she remained for the rest of my watch. Rachel also stayed on the Powers cam until Dan left for home.

I drove over to Aqueduct St. real quick to share space with the girls before ending my watch at 7:20am.

I certainly was happy to see Rachel as I left downtown smiling! 🙂

Click on the links below to see today’s videos

https://youtu.be/xD_vUiYhed8

https://youtu.be/dTMgGrskf3k

https://youtu.be/FQXoU4OwJS0

By Rochester Falcon Watcher  MAK

Thunderstorms followed by partly sunny skies with a temperature of 68 (F) 20 (C)

Click on the pics to see the full view

Last night around 6:30pm when I went out to the west balcony on my 16th floor at Seneca Towers I spotted 3 falcons flying over the nest box area at the Hawkeye (HE) plant half mile away.  At the same time a juvie appeared above me and flew to the south end of the building and headed east out of view. I only saw it because it whined at first and drew my attention to it. It’s nearly impossible to get a camera up and get the falcons in focus when they suddenly appear out of nowhere as they are too close and fast. So at this point I had 4 at the same time-the whole family! Only 3 stuck around taking turns flying on and off the nest box railing at HE and talon tagging.

Sometime in between all of that the boys came over to visit me. I looked up and there they were flying right at me at eye level then they flew to the north end of the building playing talon tag and whining before disappearing. Back to HE to observe some more flying in, landing and flying off again. I caught a jet skier zipping by down in the river at one point during my watch. Activity on the river is at a minimum due to the raised levels of Lake Ontario and all water ways linked to it.

The brothers were hanging out next to each other on the HE railing when they flew off and next I had them chasing Seth in front of me whining very loudly and then all 3 disappeared past the south end of ST. Seth came through soon after all by himself-seemingly he had given his rowdy boys the slip. I spotted 2 Great Blue Herons up river in a tree.  After a bit, I noticed not one but two falcons on the south ledge of the Veteran’s Memorial Bridge eating. For sure the one closer to me was a juvie-the one that was at the west end of the bridge may also have been a juvie-distance and poor lighting makes it hard to say for sure. Seth flew by me twice during this time. Both bridge birds flew off at different times and both times I missed their departure but one of the juvies flew past me and went north. The tour boat called Harbor Town Belle made a u-turn in the river below me as darkness fell and headed back to the north.

It was wet when I left ST this morning but when I got downtown it started pouring as a couple thunderstorms rolled through. It was quite a while before I found a falcon after checking the Court St. bridge (CSB)for the second time. I saw that Dan had arrived and was sitting in his car waiting for the storm to pass. I drove over to the Radisson Hotel to check the north side ledge of the OCSR elevator shaft. Nothing there but when I went up to Bragdon Place where I could see the south ledge I found Dot.ca (DC). It was dark at first and still raining some but after a while I was able to get a half way decent pic of him and his white chest.

After it stopped raining and DC flew off I headed over to to the CSB to join Dan. We watched DC stoop on something around 6:30am over the Cornhill then fly over to land on his favorite hunting spot on the Spectrum tower. He wasn’t there for long when he flew off to the southeast until we couldn’t see him anymore. I then switched my attention to the river on the south side of the CSB where the ducklings reside. An adult Black-crowned Heron was hunting and a juvie Great Blue Heron was also down there. They had a stand off in the end when the BCNH made his way back to where the GBH was hanging out. Dan and I were marveling over how the sun was lighting up the clouds top edged from behind.

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I spotted Beauty on the top I-beam west corner of OCSR just before 7am and soon after Dan called it a watch so I drove over to the hole to be closer to the Beautyful one. She flew southeast at 7:25am.

I went in search of the rest of the family but was unsuccessful. I spotted Beauty on the northeast corner of the Powers building. She wasn’t there long and I next found her back on OCSR west corner top I-beam.

For the next 45 minutes I looked for more PEFA’s but never did find any so I ended my watch just before 9am. It’s that time of year when we’ll be seeing the juvies sporadically as they get ready to leave the area to start their life’s journey. Until then, I’m sure they’ll keep me smiling! 🙂

Click on the links below to see snippet videos of last nights ST falcon watch and today’s downtown watch

https://youtu.be/5xb6hbLHMOI

https://youtu.be/VwoLmJ25pyo

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was partly cloudy with a temperature of 62 (F) 17 (C)

Click on the pics to see the full version

Starting with last nights sighting of Seneca Towers juvies. As is the usual case I saw the boys fly by as I was doing PT at my living room window. I went out to the west side balcony but they were gone. I resumed and finished my exercises then I went back out to the balcony to find a falcon on the Hawkeye (HE) nest box railing. Soon after another falcon flew in and the railing bird joined him in some talon tag over the river and HE and then they were gone.

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This morning I started my watch at 5:15am with Beauty on the southeast corner of the 5 Star Bank. She flew off to the west 5 minutes later so I drove over to the Court St. bridge (CSB) to join Dan.

Dan said it was Rachel on the jail tower (JCT) who had been there since he started his watch at 5:10am. 5 minutes later she flew south out of view.

I had walked over to check the river for the herons who usually hunt between the Court St. and Broad St. bridges. The river has flooded from recent rains and the water was running too fast for them so I didn’t see any. As I was returning to the south side of the CSB to join Dan I spotted Ontario flying after a gull near the locks. He thumped it 3 or 4 times before turning back to fly over by the Rundell library. I kept yelling to Dan about it and then I saw that he was watching Rachel stooping down into the river between the bridges. Then both juvies were taking turns diving down and back up north of the Broad St. bridge several times before they disappeared from sight. It was fantastic to see! Lil O ended up on the JCT briefly then he flew west.

Ontario was next seen flying north of Legacy Tower. He flew out from the east side of it and landed momentarily on the west side roof near Archer’s corner.

That would be the last I saw of the kids today. Dan was ready to leave at 6:30am so I went in search of our beloved falcons. 20 minutes later I spotted the Beautyful one from the Andrews St. bridge (ASB)-she was on the platform railing east side of the Frontier Communications tower (FCT). She had her back to me from there so I drove over to City Hall on Fitzhugh St. to share space with her.

She was mostly preening during the time she was there. She started looking intently to the south towards the Powers building and then she flew that way. I caught up to her as she was on the front ledge of the Powers nest box as seen from the ASB.

I went looking for the rest of the family but had no luck, when I returned Beauty was now on the Powers cam.

I ended my watch at 7:30am smiling because not only did I see the juvies but saw them in action! 🙂

Click on the links below to see snippet videos of  last night and this mornings watch

https://youtu.be/sMRM5zhibB4

https://youtu.be/sWqWc_mhr8Q