Friday Falcon Watch – 12/20/13 – Falcons at BS & a Snowy Owl Downtown (Video)!
By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.
When I stepped out of work today, it was raining and very foggy. I could barely see the smokestacks at Kodak Park. I went over to check for a falcon, but it was impossible to see anything.
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I considered not continuing my Watch due to the poor weather, but decided to try my luck at finding the falcons. BS was my 2nd destination. There I found both Pigott and Dot.ca on the east end of the building. Pigott was on a south facing window on the east extension. Dot.ca was above her on the southeast corner of the east extension.
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It started to rain even harder, so I headed downtown to look for beauty. I checked all the normal spots from the Broad St Bridge before heading over to the Radisson to see if she might be up inside the OCSR elevator shaft. On my way over, I spotted a large bird on the Widows Walk, but couldn’t stop due to the traffic. No falcons were in the elevator shaft. Beauty had been seen at Kodak Office this morning, so that was my next destination. But first I backtracked to Fitzhugh St to get a look at the bird on Widows Walk. I parked in front of the church and got my first good look. This was not a falcon. It was big and white and it was a Snowy Owl! There was a Snowy Owl in Downtown Rochester. 🙂
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It’s too bad it was so cloudy and overcast. The lighting was horrible for taking pictures. The snowy took off and then came back landing on the northwest corner of the Widow Walk. I think the sirens scared the owl. After a short while, the owl was gone again. I waited to see if it would return, but it didn’t, so I took another look around from Beauty. By just before 5:00 pm, it was already dark, so I called it a Watch.
I’ll leave you with a 2 minute video I took of the Snowy Owl on Widows Walk. Just click on the link below to my Youtube video. Enjoy and goodnight!
December 21st, 2013 at 11:33 AM
Is it unusual for a Snowy Owl to venture into the heart of a city? It was interesting watching (her?) observing the surroundings during all of the sirens and other city noises. I wonder how Beauty would react to the owl being in her territory? Thanks for your report, photos and video, Carol!
December 21st, 2013 at 3:59 PM
Hi Barb! I found a Snowy Owl downtown a couple of years ago. This is only the 2nd snowy I’ve seen downtown, but I would guess there are more there than we know about. Especially this year with all the snowy’s that are coming down from the north. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised to see the gorgeous owl on one of our familiar falcon spots. I am sure that Beauty and Dot.ca would not be as happy to see the owl as I was. 🙂