By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Todays starting temperature was 72 (F) 22 (C) with partly cloudy skies and breezy.

I arrived in the hole (Aqueduct St.) at 5:20am and didn’t see any falcons. At 5:38am I spotted Beauty and Dot.Ca (DC) flying in from the northeast to the deck and landing. Cam watchers Campgee and Annette told me that Beauty took food from DC and was feeding the eyases. I was parked on Exchange St. in front of the Times Square building (TSB) when this occurred so I didn’t see much-thanks for the assist ladies. I got out the car to take some pics from below TSB to give y’all a perspective of how things look as we are watching the eyases wander up there outside the deck rails. DC flew from the deck to up under the northeast wing after the food exchange was made.

DC on northeast corner of deck 

On the south side of the deck where cam 4 is there is a column below from the cam to the back of the nest box that they would land on if they fell. Behind that column is a narrow well also. From the cam to the front of the deck there would be a drop straight down to the sidewalk where I was standing. The north side of the deck has a well that they would fall into.

<Taken from in front of Blue Cross Arena

I returned to the hole across the street to continue my watch. Beauty flew out and around the back of the TSB out of view and DC remained under the northeast wing.

I went up to the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) to look for Beauty a little after 6am and joined Dan who was sitting in his spot on the south side of the BSB. He said that Beauty had flown to the jail tower but flew off as I was pulling up. About 10 minutes later I spotted Beauty coming from the southwest over the Wilder building. She crossed the river in front of the OCSR building and continued east over the Granite building. She then turned south going behind the Chase building before we lost sight of her. She was in hunt mode as I could see pigeons in panic mode flying every which way but loose.

I drove to the east side to look for the Beautyful one and I found her while stopped at the Broad and Chestnut St.traffic light. She was soaring above Xerox and Bausch&Lomb going in and out of view as I shot a video of her. I then rejoined Dan on the BSB to see if he saw her. He didn’t because he was watching the TSB where there was a couple eyases on the front ledge of the nest box that could be seen.

Young watcher Joe and his dad, Mike joined us as Beauty was still flying high near Xerox. Today is Joes’ birthday so he was getting a nice aerial show from Beauty as he turned the ripe old age of 12. 10 minutes later Beauty was circling above the TSB before flying across the river only to turn back and land on the Mercury Money Bag. Dan spotted DC on the top ibeam south corner of OCSR just before 7am.

Another birthday treat for Joe as Beauty and DC went a pigeon by the Thomson Reuters building. They missed, making it a lucky day for that pigeon! Beauty flew to the column above the nest box and DC went up under the northeast wing.

<DC     Beauty> Click all pics for full version

2 eyases were out front by the main cam that I pointed out to Joe as Beauty flew east again and DC watched his kids from the northeast wing ledge.

< Joe and his dad

That’s a smile he got when I said I was taking a pic of him to put in my report. Dan left at this time. DC took off fast at 7:30am flying across the river over the Radisson Hotel and returning to the northeast wing.

I asked Joe if he had ever been to the Brighton Site and he said they had tried once but couldn’t find it so off we went to see if Pigott was home. Unfortunately she wasn’t but we did see 2 Turkey Vultures on a window ledge above the east extension.

Joe and his dad had to get going and I had somewhere to be so I ended my watch at 8:30am. As I was about to leave I got a report from cam watcher Donna that Beauty had a big breakfast that she was feeding the family. It made me smile to know that Beauty accomplished the mission she was on all morning! 🙂

Click on the links below to view some videos I shot

http://youtu.be/0av2XWMKY5Q
http://youtu.be/xJfbvS0Cl0w
http://youtu.be/5acQApDT9RA
http://youtu.be/sYUwNlEVmug
http://youtu.be/p_kwdm6eWvg

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 23rd, 2013 at 4:04 PM and is filed under Falcon Watch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.