By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Even during the busy holiday season, the Rochester Falcon Watchers are out and about.  All three Rochester Falcons have been seen over the past few days, reported by Larry O, Kathy O, Lisa McK, Joyce, Dana, Lou, Pat, and me Carol P.  Thanks to you all for taking time to go out and check on the falcons.

On Friday, 12/27/13, I found two adult Peregrine Falcons hanging out on the smokestacks at Kodak Park.  I saw one here last week.  So, are they a pair just passing through?  We’ll definitely keep an eye on this location, which is where we first saw Unity.

*

*

*

*

*

On Saturday, 12/28/13, I checked out KP, but could not find any Peregrines.  But there was a smaller falcon there, an American Kestrel.

*

*

*

*

*

BS was my next stop, but Pigott was not home.  Later in the day, Joyce found her there.

Downtown, Dana and I found Beauty and Dot.ca on the Kodak Office Tower.

*

*

*

*

*

They both took off, heading south towards downtown.  We found Beauty on the Widows Walk.

*

*

*

*

*

Beauty took off and we found both Beauty and Dot.ca back on the Kodak Office Tower in the same spots they had left.  They both seemed settled, so we headed down to the lake (Ontario) to see if any Snowy Owls were there. Kathy O met us there and she saw her first Snowy way out on the ice on the other side of the Summerville pier.  We were watching the Mergansers diving between the Mallards.  Every now and then a Merganser would come up right under a Mallard.  Pretty funny to watch.  Fellow Watcher Jeanne joined us and she also was able to see her first Snowy of the year.  Here are a couple of pics of a Merganser that caught a fish, and after a few tries, was able to swallow it.  GULP!

*

*

*

*

*

The ice between the beach and the lake water looked like an alien landscape.

*

*

*

*

*

Sunday, 12/29/13

The Watchers were out again and falcons were seen at the BS location (probably Pigott, according to Dana) and Beauty downtown.  We again ended up at the lake to look for Billy at Russell Station (no luck) and Snowy Owls at Charlotte/Summerville.

When I arrived, Kathy was already out on the Charlotte Pier and Dana & Lou were on the Summerville Pier.  There was a Snowy far out on the Summerville Pier.  A jogger ran down to the end of the pier and the Snowy took off, landing near the end of the Charlotte Pier, landing on a railing.

*

*

*

*

*

The Snowy was scared off again by a passerby, this time flying off to the west.

Later in the day, Dana found a Snowy Owl at Irondequoit Bay.  Kathy O, Joyce and I joined her.  The Snowy was on a dock eating a gull.  We were able to remain in our cars at a far distance.  Thank goodness for zoom lenses and binoculars!  This Snowy Owl found a nice, quiet spot to enjoy its’ meal.  We were joined, for a short while, by a birder named Richard and his friend.  They were thrilled to see the Snowy.

*

*

*

*

*

A Kingfisher flew in, vocalizing loudly and landed on a nearby plastic owl.

*

*

*

*

*

What a wonderful holiday weekend of birding!

I’ll leave you with this video of the Snowy Owl enjoying its’ meal.  It’s truly amazing that we are being visited by so many of these beautiful birds.  Goodnight everyone!

Just click on this link to my youtube video.  Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/_Ty6PGT4G_c

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 29th, 2013 at 10:59 PM and is filed under Falcon Watch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.