By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was 62 degrees (F) 17 (C) with a brisk breeze out of the northwest and no humidity when I arrived downtown this morning making it feel downright chilly!

My first stop was the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) as is my usual routine and i spotted a fledgling right out of the gate as it flew to the small Frontier tower and landed. A couple minutes later it flew over to the FCT and joined another juvie on the platform railing-one on the east side and one on the south side. The 3rd juvie was on the 2nd arm and they all took off when Beauty came in with food.

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There was a food exchange and the 3 Falconeers ended up on the small tower fighting over it! One of them took off with the food as Dot.Ca (DC) came in and landed next to the remaining 2 with food. They started a tug of war and DC left them to it. Next there were 4 in the air space around FCT and the Sister Cities Garage where I stationed myself on the roof for this busy time.

What happened next was an adrenalin starter for a juvie chased after one with food and as they were wrestling in mid air not paying attention they kept losing altitude and dropped down to near Fitzhugh St. between City Place and the garage. Just before reaching ground they broke it off and the one without food flew right up the face of the garage and above my head within 6 feet of me! It was sensational and probably the most memorable thing I’ve witnessed-falcon speaking of course!! DC then came screaming across above me flying toward Times Square chirping and the juvie followed after him then doubled back at Widows Walk and landed on the northeast corner of City Place.

Turns out this was Voyager-a lovely little flyer after her slow start leaving the nest.  She then flew over to FCT landing on the platform railing. I saw another fledgling on the small tower. Next I watched 2 juvies chasing each other with one landing behind the satelite dish one on the northeast cube and Beauty landed on the southwest cube.

<Beauty <Voyager

Voyager left flying past the Powers building to near the OCSR and out of sight. The dish bird flew to the north side of FCT and either landed or kept flying north for I lost sight of it. Beauty was the only falcon I could see and she left a few minutes later stooping on something to the north and then there were none. A flurry of activity in my first half hour! I came down from the garage and went to the Broad St. bridge (BSB) where I spotted one of the girls on the southeast corner of the Crossroads building and she appeared to be eating.

Click the pics

She took off and flew above the OCSR and disappeared behind it to the north. I then spotted 2 juvies playing talon tag above the State St. area. I drove over to City Hall to find Rosetta on the north side railing of the platform.

Another fledgling landed on the platform and then Rosetta and the juvie flew southwest. I left for the Brighton site at this time and found the pretty Miss Pigott on the south side vent at the east end all poofed up staying warm on this chilly morning.

I shared space with Pigott for half hour as she checked out her surroundings for a potential meal. She faked me out a couple times as I thought she would take off but then would settle back down into her poofy state.

I had an early appointment so I ended my watch in Brighton at 8am. I must say it was a very quick start to my watch this morning and I’m able to say that I saw all 6 Rochester Peregrine Falcons which put a big old smiley face on me!!  🙂

Click on the links below to view my videos

http://youtu.be/D4fifvYAZzA
http://youtu.be/-OydFFd9cSQ
http://youtu.be/BIHbBXx9df4
http://youtu.be/L-LJHdFCkaY

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 24th, 2013 at 10:21 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.