Evening Falcon Watch – 6/24/13
By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.
7:00 – 8:30 pm – Watchers that joined me Kathy O, Larry O.
What an absolutely gorgeous summer evening. Perfect for watching our falcon family.
When I arrived downtown I parked on the Broad St Bridge (BSB) to get a good look at the surrounding area. Dot.ca was up underneath the NE wing on the Times Square Bldg (TSB) and Beauty was on Camera #4 at the nest box.
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I could see the eyases moving about on the nest box platform below Beauty. Since the sun was in my eyes on the bridge, I decided to move up to Falcon Central, where we Watch at the top of the stairs leading down to Aqueduct St. I was in the shade and there was a nice breeze, making the 80 plus degrees (F) very enjoyable.
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Beauty went into the nest box and then out to the base of main camera where she picked up leftovers. Soon feathers were flying and she was feeding the eyases. But, not for long. She took off and flew over me heading towards Mercury. She was carrying the remainder of the meal and she landed on the base of Mercury where she cached (stored) it. Beauty then took off heading back towards the TSB, but this time she was alarm kakking. I looked all over, but couldn’t see what was bothering her.
Beauty flew back and forth a couple times and then headed back up to the nest box landing on the main camera.
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Beauty remained on main camera looking north. She continued to vocalize on and off. Dot.ca was still up under the NE wing on the TSB and he was also looking north. First Kathy O and then Larry O joined the Watch.
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After awhile they got quiet and Beauty started to preen. RFalconcam Watcher Ei tweeted out that Beauty had the eyases stay still during this time. Thanks to Ei and Amy for letting us know what was going on at the nest box.
Soon after this, we noticed that there were a couple of people out at the north end of the Cross Roads bldg. One was hanging over the side and looked to be doing some repairs on the building. This is the opposite side from the nest box.
While Beauty was up on Main Cam, we could see first one and then two eyases come out on the platform beneath her.
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It looked like Dot.ca was getting ready to take off. He spread his wings and launched himself off of the building. He went into a classic Peregrine stoop, folding in his wings and rocketing down and over the Blue Cross Arena (War Memorial) over the river. We lost sight of him for about a minute before he returned to the TSB empty-taloned, landing below the NE wing again.
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It was quiet for the remainder of our Watch, except for the beautiful song of this finch, who sat on a fence nearby. He can sing for me any day!
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At 8:30 pm, it was time to head home. All was peaceful and quiet. Oh, and Kathy O had stopped by the BS location on her way downtown and spent some time with Pigott there. So all three adult Rochester Falcons were seen this evening along with the 3 eyases at the nest box, making it a good Watch for the three of us. When I left downtown it was a balmy 84 degrees (F). Night everyone!
