Tuesday Falcon Watch – 1/7/14 – The Polar Vortex Hits Rochester!
By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.
What is the Polar Vortex? Not to be confused with the Polar Express. It’s a large pocket of very cold air, typically the coldest air in the Northern hemisphere, which sits over the polar region during the winter season. The frigid air found its way into the US when the polar vortex was moved south. That’s how the weather folks explain it. All I know is it is darn cold out there! When I woke up this morning it was -5 degrees (F) with a windchill close to 30 below zero. As I type this at 7:36 pm, it is 4 degrees and feels like 18 below zero. Thankfully, tomorrow the temperatures will start to rise, 20 degrees tomorrow and up into the 40’s by Saturday.
When I left work today, I headed straight downtown to look for Beauty and Dot.ca. Larry O and Joyce had been out earlier and both had seen a falcon at the BS location. Joyce was pretty sure that it was Pigott.
My route took me by Kodak Office first, so I checked out that area. When I didn’t find any falcons there, I headed over to the OCSR to look up into the elevator shaft. When I first arrived, there was blowing snow, making it hard to see anything that high up. Finally the snow stopped. I was losing light, but without the snow, my visibility was much better. There was definitely one falcon on the north ledge of the OCSR elevator shaft and I am fairly certain that the other falcon was on the south side ledge. Both had their backs to me. Because of this, I could not tell which was Beauty and which was Dot.ca. Here are some pictures of what I saw. I’ve added arrows to point out where the falcons are.
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I stayed there for close to an hour before the sun set. Both falcons remained in the elevator shaft, an excellent spot to get out of the cold, snow and wind.
Goodnight everyone!
Sunrise at 7:41 am. Sunset at 4:52 pm.
January 7th, 2014 at 9:25 PM
Frost Quakes, Polar Vortex…Wowsers…I sure don’t recall these things back in that area of the country while growing up in Rochester, NY! Thanks campgee, djweeds, fladonna and Carol P for the education! Carol, it’s really something you were able to find Beauty and DC in their hiding places. Thanks to Carol, Larry O and Joyce for braving these extreme elements to check on the 3 Resident Falcons!
January 7th, 2014 at 10:06 PM
Carol, I sat at the window in our cafeteria at work for half an hour at lunchtime staring at the OCSR elevator shaft today. Of course, I wouldn’t be able to see a falcon on the south ledge, but twice I thought I saw something on the north ledge move. Even with binoculars, I was too far away to definitely identify it as a bird, though. Thank you for braving the elements to get closer. Hopefully we’ll see all three of them out and flying again soon, in warmer weather.
January 7th, 2014 at 10:20 PM
Thanks Barb and Pat.
Pat – It was really hard to see that a falcon was up there. Every now and then it would move its head and I’d get a flash of white. The sound side bird was much harder. The ledge goes further around.
I am so ready for warmer weather! 😉
January 7th, 2014 at 10:21 PM
That should be “The south side bird was much harder to see.”
January 11th, 2014 at 12:51 PM
I can imagine things going through DC’s head. I could have been in the South right now soaking up the sunshine but NOOOOO I decided to stay here with my women folk grumble grumble.
🙂
January 22nd, 2014 at 11:25 AM
lol bc!