By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Sorry for the lateness of this report.  A very intense storm system moved through Rochester last night and I didn’t want to get on my computer.  Lots of folks with no power this morning.  Our friends in Toronto were hit first and sent out warnings that it was heading in our direction.  High winds, falling temperatures (much welcomed), heavy rains and thunder and lightning.  Crazy storm!

Again due to the heat, I did not get downtown until approximately 6:0o pm.   My first stop the Frontier Communication Tower  (FCT).  I found Voyager on the north side railing of the platform.

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I only got a few quick pictures before she took off, heading east.  I followed heading towards the Andrews St Bridge.  From there I witnessed a fantastic air show by all three juvies over the river.

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After they settled, Kathy O joined me and we decided to watch from the Broad St Bridge (BSB).  Dana, Joe B (aka Viper) and his family joined us there and we found two of the juvies on top of the OCSR elevator shaft.

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We could not find the 3rd juvie.  A storm was approaching fast from the north.  It was still really steamy and hot.  Here is a few pics of the storm approaching from the north.

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The storm was getting closer and closer and we we could see lightning in the clouds.  That’s when one of the juvies from the top of the elevator shaft took off and flew fast to the SE.  We looked in that direction and spotted what had her attention.  It was Beauty coming in from the SE carrying a very large pigeon!  The juvie flew up to Beauty and went talons up! and grabbed the pigeon.  For awhile both Beauty and the juvie were holding on, neither letting go.

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Finally, Beauty released the pigeon and the juvie, female for sure but we could not positively ID her, flipped back over.  She got a good good grip on her “prize”.  The pigeon was almost as big as she was, but she flapped hard heading back towards us and over the river.  She was losing altitude, but was able to clear the TR Bldg.  The whole way, Beauty remained close by following her young daughter.  We lost sight of her as she flew over the TR bldg.  Beauty landed on the Mercury statue.  It was time to move.  We drove down to Aqueduct St (aka the hole) and found the juvie with the pigeon safely landed on top of the northeast end of the Wilder bldg.  Whew!  She made it!

Now you know why the juvie’s talon tag.  All that practice helped her successfully complete this food transfer.  Again playfulness with purpose.  lol

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Larry O joined us there for a short while.  The storm was on top of us by this time and we noticed something strange.  The course of the Genesee River had reversed!  Instead of flowing from south to north, it was now flowing north to south, and there were white caps.  I’ve seen this happen closer to the lake, but never up this far into the city.  That was pretty incredible!

Beauty and the two other juvies were flying around, landing on the Times Square Bldg, Cross Rds Bldg and OCSR.  One of them actually visited the nest box for the first time since leaving it.  The two other juvies left the one with the food alone.  She had finally gotten the hang of how to prep her food.  Feathers were flying.  That’s when the sky opened up and it started to pour.  All the Watchers left except for Kathy and I.  The juvie on Wilder dragged her food to the NE corner of the building and then started to dance in the rain.  Flapping wings and prancing around until she got up the corner and we lost sight of her.  The temps dropped into the 70’s, from close to 90 (F).  It felt so refreshing after all the hot oppressive air we have had over the past week.

When we left a little after 9:00 pm, we had two juvies in sight.  One on the south end of Cross Rds and one on the top IBeam of the OCSR.  We were pretty sure that the one that had been eating was hunkered down on the Wilder Bldg.   Beauty had been there before being chased off by one of the juvies.  Oh, and before I forget, Kathy O had stopped at the BS location before coming downtown and had seen Pigott there.  DC is the only one I can’t say for sure was there, but knowing him, he wasn’t far away.

It was a wonderful stormy evening falcon watch.  Young Watcher Joe B was so excited to see a food transfer!  I am sure he will never forget it!

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 20th, 2013 at 10:29 AM 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.