Sunday Morning, Afternoon & Night Falcon Watch – Peaceful & Boring – 5/19/13
By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.
Peaceful and Boring, just how we like it, while we wait for the eggs to hatch in the nest box on top of the Times Square Bldg (TSB).
I actually had two falcon watches today.
Falcon Watch – Part 1:
I arrived downtown at about 10:30 am. It was a beautiful morning with sunshine and blue skies. By the afternoon, it was in the 70’s (F). I joined MAK and Kathy O on the Broad St Bridge (BSB). Kathy had found Dot.ca on the north side of the OCSR when she arrived, and Beauty was in the nest box on the eggs.
About an hour into my watch, our very special guest Bobbie from Ireland arrived. I was very happy to see her again. Other watchers joined us to say hello to Bobbie; Brian H, Joyce, Carrie and Shaky. Just before Bobbie left, both Beauty and Dot.ca appeared. I believe both were at the Mercury statue. Beauty returned to the nest box and Dot.ca flew over us, heading south. It wasn’t long, but at least they made an appearance. lol
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After Bobbie & MAK left, the rest of us watched the work being done at the Main St Bridge. There was a whole mess of trees and logs jammed up against the base of the bridge. They were slowly working on the left side of the bridge (west end).
At 12:30 pm, we saw that a falcon was up on OCSR on the top IBeam at the west end. It looked like Beauty, but we had not seen Dot.ca return. Many thanks to Annette and Ei for keeping us informed about what was going on at the nest box through the cameras. We were informed that Dot.ca was now on the eggs and that it was Beauty on the OCSR.
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We saw Beauty stoop off of the IBeam, heading northwest and out of sight. Everyone had left but Joyce, Brian and I. I left them on the BSB and drove over to the Andrews St Bridge. At 1:00 pm, I spotted a fast moving falcon flying in from the north. Heading south down the river, she landed on the base of the Mercury statue. I tweeted it in and then headed home for the afternoon.
Falcon Watch Part 2:
It was such a nice evening, I decided to head downtown for another falcon watch. When I left, Beauty was snoozing in the nest box. My first stop was the Andrews St Bridge. From there I could see a white chested falcon on the OCSR on the top IBeam, north side. It was Dot.ca and he was eating his dinner up there. White feathers were cascading off of the IBeam, caught in what appeared to be spider webs. All those plucked feathers would probably remain trapped there for awhile.
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I watched for awhile and then joined Dan S on the Broad St Bridge (BSB). We sat in our chairs enjoying the beautiful evening. After awhile, Dot.ca finished his meal and made his way to the north side of the OCSR top IBeam south corner. (6:55 pm)
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Dot.ca then flew by the Mercury statue and then towards the Times Square Bldg landing on the NW Wing ledge. (7:10 pm)
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At 8:00 pm, Dan and I left for home, leaving Beauty in the nest box and Dot.ca on guard under the NW wing above her. Two peaceful and boring watches in one day. It doesn’t get much better than that!
I’ll leave you with a few pics of the progress they made on the log jam at the Main St. Bridge today. Goodnight everyone!
May 20th, 2013 at 3:56 AM
Despite being “peaceful and boring” you had a busy day!
Clearing the log jam didn’t look like an easy task. Does this happen every Spring? Beauty certainly did not approve of the blasts.
It was nice of Beauty and Dot.ca to be so accommodating to Bobbie from Ireland!
I’m very happy that Dot.ca is back and holding his own. Thank you for your report, Carol.
May 20th, 2013 at 9:32 PM
Thanks for the nice comments Barb. I think they clear out the debris under the bridges as needed. They did not do it last year, but this year a whole lot of trees, logs, etc came down from the south this winter. It was worse than I remember seeing it before.