By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I was able to get downtown earlier today, arriving at about 4:30 pm.  I found both Voyager and Baron on the west side of the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT) platform.  Both showed me their bands, making it possible for me to ID them.  It was Voyager on the left and Baron on the Right.

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First Voyager and then Baron took off heading north towards the Kodak Tower.  I followed the best I could in the 5:00 pm traffic.  On the way, I could see both of them flying near the Kodak Tower.  By the time I parked, I was only able to find one of them on the 17th floor, east side.

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This juvie walked around the corner to the south side of the building.  After that, I was not able to find either juvie there.  So, I left Kodak behind and checked out the whole downtown area.  No luck finding any falcons.  Where could they have gone?  I decided it was time to head to the pedestrian bridge, time to check out the gorge.  From there, I could see a falcon in the “falcon sucking tree”.  This tree that hangs off of the east side gorge wall was given this name by our friend and falcon fan Dale from Chicago.  It seems to catch every falcon that passes by.  lol  This falcon was not a juvie, it was an adult.  It was Beauty in the gorge!  But where were the juvies?

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I checked every nook and cranny and found two juvies on the fencing on top of an old structure on the east side of the High Falls.  Time to walk out to the observation deck.  Dark clouds were moving in and by the time I got out to the observation deck, it was lightly raining.  Not good for my camera, but I still took a few pictures.

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It was Baron for sure on the corner of the fence and I assumed the other juvie was Voyager since she had been with him earlier, but I can’t be sure. From where I stood, I had a front view of Beauty on the gorge wall.

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It continued to rain and the winds picked up.  Voyager took off while I was taking a picture of Beauty and Baron flew to the end of the fence, closer to the top of the falls, with the water rushing behind him.  He then took off and flew low behind the Gorsline building, heading south west.  I never did see him come out the other side of the building.

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It started to rain a little harder and I headed back to the parking lot to put my camera away until it stopped.  On the way, I met Dana and Kathy O, who had just arrived.  The dark clouds pushed through and it stopped raining, We walked out to the pedestrian bridge and saw that Beauty was still there, but no juvies in sight.

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There were all kinds of critters out and about below us, including (and we counted them) 10 deer and at least 6 or 7 Great Blue Heron scattered about and arguing with each other.  Seems prime fishing spots were worth fighting over.

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Kathy O had to leave and Lisa McK joined Dana and I on the Watch.  It wasn’t long after that when we spotted 1 – 2  – 3 young falcons enter the gorge from the south!  We were thrilled to see all three chasing and playing with each other in this beautiful setting.  I wish it could have lasted longer, but too soon, they chased each other to the Kodak Tower where we caught glimpses of them as they circled the building.  Finally, we could not see them any more.  Here are a series of pictures of the juvies as they flew above us.  Most of the time they were flying on the north side of the bridge, directly in front of the sun.

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Beauty left the gorge while we weren’t looking, but her exit did not go unnoticed.  While we were walking back to our cars to go look for the juvies, we received a tweet from Joyce that she had just arrived out at the observation deck in time to see Beauty fly by, heading towards the east end of downtown.  Great timing Joyce!

Dana, Lisa and I went searching for where the juvies ended up.  Lisa and I caught up with Dana on the west side of Kodak Office, actually Carestream’s building.  From there, we could see all three, Baron, Rosetta and Voyager sitting on top of one of the large lights that lit up the field at Frontier Stadium.  In the past, many young falcons have been seen there, but it was the first time I saw one there since the nest box was moved off of the Kodak Tower.  There they were, all three with their backs to us, looking south.  One by one, Baron last, they took off heading downtown.

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At 8:30 pm, it was time to end my Watch.  Dana left also, leaving Lisa and Joyce to enjoy an awesome aerial display by all three juvies over the downtown buildings.  Today was a wonderful day to be out watching our Rochester Falcons.  Can’t wait til tomorrow!  Goodnight everyone!

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