Morning watch 5-23-11
By Rochester falcon watcher MAK
First of all I apologize for being so late getting this report posted. Let’s just say I’ve had a couple of issues today that got me way behind. I checked near Times Square,Wilder and Mercury with no sightings. I then went to the east side near Xerox,HSBC and Midtown again with no luck. I decided to go over to city hall and check the Frontier Communications Tower once more no falcons to be seen. I then took a look through my binocs at Kodak Office…bingo. I saw a big white chest sticking out from the 16th floor ledge. I raced up State St. as my heart was also racing for I was afraid of another territory battle. Let me ease your minds right now by saying it was NOT Unity from Kodak Park and there was no battle. Phew! These 2 pics do not look like any falcon I’ve ever seen.
As I was texting my findings this mystery falcon vanished and the next time I looked up there was a falcon flying above the Kodak tower.
It flew to the cupola and landed on the northeast corner. After taking a pic and zooming it I could positively identify it as Beauty.
She was looking around for something so I assumed she saw this intruder, flew over and it either was hiding somewhere that I couldn’t see it or it just left the area. While all this took place a man walked down the street toward me on the other side of the road and crossing as he got closer to the truck giving me a murderous look and walked by the passenger side real close. Kinda scary at the time. Anyway back to the Beautyful one. She moved over farther on the cupola to the east side still looking around and down.
Once again while I was tweeting I missed Beauty fly off and so I frantically left and started driving the perimeter of Kodak Office when I got a message from Donna that Beauty had gone to the nestbox and Archer was now out. I never saw that mystery falcon again and so I went to city hall once again after not finding Archer near the Broad St. bridge area. He wasn’t on the Frontier Communications Tower either but suddenly I saw that guy again, the one that gave me the look and he was staring at me and walking toward the truck again. As if my heart wasn’t pounding enough already he came up to my passenger side window as I was trying to ignore him and said I want to talk to you. With that I hit the lock button and put the window down about 2 inches and asked what he wanted. He said are you following me and I said no,then he asked if I was taking pics of him and I said no I’m taking pics of Peregrine falcons. He said what are those I told him and then he didn’t believe me so I showed him the pics of Beauty on Kodak he still didn’t believe me. He said he could be from the CIA or FBI and that I should be careful of what I take pics of. I showed him all the pics in my camera from the morning and he said you could have it in another file. Trust me if I can do that I don’t know how, I told him it was all good and that I wasn’t taking pics of him. He still wouldn’t believe me and so I said I gotta go and I peeled outta there. Good grief! I did a quick drive around the city looking for Archer with no sign of him I decided to go to KP. At first I didn’t see anything but I eventually spotted a figure on the northeast side of the tall still railing.
I wasn’t sure it was Unity from this vantage point so I went to the east end of the parking lot for a better view and I was quite sure I was looking at Unity.
I watched her for awhile and then she flew off to the north and out of sight. I surveyed the entire power plant for about half hour with no more sightings and left to end my adrenalin rushing watch. 🙂
For more pics of my watch go here: http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=300047832213%3A382681729&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharer
May 23rd, 2011 at 3:02 PM
MAK:
You poor thing! Here you are, just trying to do a good job on your watch, and you have to deal with somebody’s paranoia! Thanks for your report, and hope your heart has returned to normal.
May 23rd, 2011 at 3:05 PM
Oh great! Just what we need…another female for Archer and a paranoid man. I think you should take a picture of this guy and post it here so in case you get harassed again we have a picture to show the police!! Also, other watchers would be able to recognize him so they can avoid him. Or maybe recruit him as a winter watcher…..it takes a slightly wacko person to sign on for that! 😉
May 23rd, 2011 at 3:21 PM
Wow what a morning for you – I’m glad to hear you are ok. I saw your tweet about there being another falcon just before I left for work & was worried about another fight so I’m glad to hear that did not happen. You do a great job.
May 23rd, 2011 at 3:42 PM
I can still sense the adrenalin coursing through your writing! That person who came up to your truck sounds a little “odd”.
That bird is huge! I can’t figure out what it might be. It’s so light.
Let us know when you find out what it is.
May 23rd, 2011 at 4:51 PM
Mak,
Been looking through my bird guide book and some internet sites; could it have been a gyrfalcon; it showed various colors and Canadian Falconry Home Page has a gorgeous pic on it of a white and black. It comes in several colors. Supposed to be the largest falcon. . .Just something to look into. . .
Glad you are safe and thanks for all the beautiful pics you send. They are all so awesome!
Christiane
May 23rd, 2011 at 5:05 PM
Glad you are ok! Downtown folks can be a little weird sometimes. Thanks for all the info and updates!
May 23rd, 2011 at 6:57 PM
I’ll say the guy was odd! I think he was probably guilty of something or he wouldn’t have been so paranoid about it. He did NOT want to let it go! Let’s just say I’m thankful for push button locks! The bird was scrunched down so who knows how much bigger it might have been. Gyrfalcon sounds like a good possibility to me but I’m no expert. It does my heart good to share my pics with all of you! 🙂
May 23rd, 2011 at 8:25 PM
If that guy ever bothers you again, just dial 911 and let law enforcement take care of him.
May 23rd, 2011 at 9:00 PM
Keep your fingers on those push button locks, MAK, but keep on taking these awesome pictures. I am intrigued as to the identity of this bird. For some reason I thought gyrafalcons were smaller than this one pictures. Now I have to do some research!
I do know that last Monday, on 490 in Penfield, rush hour, a huge hawk/falcon like bird caught my attention. It was big and it was WHITE! At least that’s what it looked like to my one eye on the bird, one eye on the trafffic. It was pretty clear out, and I had a good view. I remember thinking , “A white hawk?”
Didn’t think of it until I saw your picture.
May 24th, 2011 at 10:33 AM
A friend of a friend thinks your bird may be a Northern Goshawk. Images that I viewed do look the bird you captured.
May 24th, 2011 at 2:21 PM
MAK, I don’t want to sound as paranoid as the gentlman who approached and frightened you on 05/23, but if he scared you – listen to that inner voice. He may be harmless or he may need mental health care. Tell a local policeman what happened.
Thanks for your wonderful pics and reporting on the peregrines. Maria
May 24th, 2011 at 8:49 PM
Be careful out there MAK. I bet the guy just forgot his foil hat today.