By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a bit chilly this morning again with bit of a breeze and a starting temperature of 50 (F) 10 (C) but it warmed up quick as the sun shown through.

As I pulled off 490 at 5:30am and took a look at the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) I could see the shape of a falcon under the platform and when I stopped in the parking lot next to Hochstein Music Academy I spotted another one on the top arm east side but could no longer see the one under the platform. The FCT is a tricky place to look for PEFAs as the slightest angle change can make a bird disappear.

Suddenly 2 flew out from under the platform followed by the one on the arm-so one was hidden from me. They flew west and returned playing talon tag around the FCT being as verbal as ever. One at a time they landed under the platform on crossbeams-2 on the north side and one on the east side at the same level.

You must click on my pics to view the full version

One of the north side juvies flew off up to the small tower and then Dan pulled up next to me.

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I gave him the scoop and said I was going up on the Sister Cities garage and he said he’d join me. He loved the view from up there and shortly after we got up there Dot.Ca (DC) flew over us with a small package heading southeast and landing on the Crossroads building northeast corner where a juvie was waiting for him. DC dropped off the food and left only to be replaced by a juvie who wanted a share of the meal.

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5 minutes later they both flew off heading west-one of them had the food in its talons. One went to the Widows Walk (WW) and landed briefly on the east side railing before flying east out of view. Dan and I couldn’t find any PEFAs so at 6:25am we came down from the garage and went over to the Broad St. Bridge (BSB). We were falconless there as well for the next half hour but there’s always something in the river to keep you occupied. I taped some baby ducklings moving rather fast on land and in the water and saw both the adult and juvie Black-crowned Night Herons.

<adult BCNH  Juvie BCNH>

Dan left at 7am so I took a ride but I didn’t go far as I spotted 2 fledglings on Widows Walk after I turned on Exchange Blvd off of Broad St pulling over in front of the Philipone building. 1 was on the east side railing and the other on the south side.

I couldn’t ID them as they weren’t showing their bling and had their backs facing out so I couldn’t see the front of them either. 10 minutes later the the fledgling that was on the east side flew west only to return landing on the west end of the south railing.

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It left again so I took a spin over to Broad and Fitzhugh for a better view of the remaining juvie. I still couldn’t tell who it was as it flew off heading east right into the sun blinding me long enough to lose sight of it. I went to Brighton around 7:30am to see if Pigott was there but nothing there either. I must say this was the slowest watch I’ve had in a very long time. As I returned to downtown I spotted a juvie on the west corner of the OCSR roof from the hole.

About 20 minutes passed when it started vocalizing and flew off to the north. Next thing I knew Beauty had taken its place on the roof and I could see wings pop up past her so I figure she brought in food and the juvie was eating.

Half hour went by when I decided to drive to the Andrews St. Bridge to see the north side of OCSR. I found Rosetta on the roof at the north corner eating.

That’s all she wrote folks-I ended my watch at 8:45am leaving Rosetta and the Beautyful one on the OCSR roof. I saw all 5 downtown Peregrine Falcons this morning albeit with not much flying observed. No falcon videos today and no photo album but we can still smile knowing they are all doing well! 🙂

Click on the link below to view some very fast baby ducklings

http://youtu.be/hUbLA3UUTDs

This entry was posted on Friday, July 26th, 2013 at 3:08 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.