By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

The fledge watch continues as three young falcons spread their wings and command the sky above Rochester, NY.  It’s amazing the different spots we have seen them on since they left the nest box.  Tonight was no exception.  Let me start by saying we (Kathy O, Larry O and I) saw all three juvies during our evening watch.  It was a really hot day with temps in the 90’s (F).  The weather people kept saying it would feel like it was 100 degrees!  Rochester (NY) is in the grip of a true heatwave right now.  Looks like the temps will cool down a bit on Sunday.  So in the meantime, instead of going out on my usual afternoon watch, I’ve waited for it to cool down a bit.  When I arrived downtown it was only 90 degrees.  Hot and Humid.  lol

I arrived downtown at about 6:30 pm.  Kathy O beat me by about 1/2 hour.  She had tweeted out that there was a juvie on one of the antennas sticking out near the top of the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT).  My route into the city brings me right by the the FCT.  As I pulled off of 490, I immediately spotted something different on the FCT.  So I pulled over and parked my car and took a closer look.

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After taking a few pics, I was able to ID this falcon as Rosetta.  These juvies love to stand on small perches.

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It wasn’t long before Rosetta spread her wings and took off heading south towards the Times Square Bldg (TSB).  I followed the best I could.  When I got to the Broad St Bridge (BSB), I found a juvie on the base of the Mercury statue and Dot.ca up in the metal grid work at the top of the TSB between the SE and NE wings.  Dot.ca was keeping guard over his young.

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Kathy O joined me on the BSB and we settled in to watch the area.  Finally the juvie on the base of Mercury showed me her leg.  It was Voyager.

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While Voyager preened and stretched, she suddenly started to cry out and looked to the north.  We looked in that direction and saw Beauty flying towards us heading north to south following the river.  She circled gracefully above us heading towards the east.  Kathy noticed that there was a juvie flying way above Beauty, circling higher and higher.  We were witnessing a flight lesson.  Just beautiful.  They both flew out of sight.  While we continued to watch Voyager and Dot.ca a 2nd juvie flew in and landed on the base of Mercury next to Voyager.  It was Baron.  He searched around the base of the statue and found a scrap of leftover prey.  Voyager and Baron shared what they found.

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After they ate, first Baron and then Voyager took off and the chase was on!

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Kathy and I watched as both juvies flew above us chasing each other and talon tagging when they came together.  There was a lot of vocalization between the two young falcons, especially when they came together.  This is one of the things I truly love to watch.  You can’t help but laugh and cheer when they are up there.  It’s playfulness with a purpose.  Everything they do teaches them a skill they will need in the future to survive.

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They both flew over and around the buildings surrounding Aqueduct St (aka the Hole).  Baron zipped around them at high speed, coming out the other side so he could continue the chase.  Both of them headed northwest towards the Frontier Comm Tower.  I headed over there and found one juvie on the SE corner of the FCT platform.  Kathy O tweeted that she had one over on the TSB.

Suddenly, I heard loud cries overhead.  It was Beauty and she was being chased by one of the girls.  They both landed on the top arm of the FCT and the juvie continued to scream and droop her wings.  Classic behavior when the juvie wanted to be fed.  Beauty did not have food, so after a few moments, the juvie charged her.  Beauty stood her ground and the juvie finally gave up and flew over to join her sister on the SE corner of the platform.

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Larry O joined us near the end of our Watch in the City Hall parking lot.  Dot.ca came to the FCT and landed below the platform, below Beauty.  Larry left at about 8:30 pm and reported that he had seen a falcon fly up to the cupola on the Kodak Tower.  Before 9:00 pm, this juvie returned to the FCT.  In the fading light, we could see 3 falcons there (2 adults and 1 juvie).  There may have been more.  We wondered if this might be their nighttime roosting spot.

Kathy and I left a little after 9:00 pm.  Kathy texted me that she could see one falcon on the SW corner of the TSB.

It was time to end our evening Fledge Watch after seeing the whole family.  The sun was setting and it was time to head home.

Be sure to click on any pictures you would like to see in a larger format.  Goodnight!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 17th, 2013 at 11:36 PM and is filed under Fledge Watch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.