Wednesday Afternoon Falcon Watch – 3/19/14 – All Three Rochester Falcons Seen
By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.
I was able to get out for a quick watch this afternoon. When I left work, Beauty was in the nest box. Just before I arrived downtown at 3:45 pm, she was gone. I looked around and could not find Beauty or Dot.ca. By this time it had started to rain.
I headed over to the BS location and found both Dot.ca and Pigott on the north side of the building. Pigott was on a north facing window on the NW extension and Dot.ca was on the top of the north side center section of the building.
*
*
*
*
* Dot.ca at BS
Both Dot.ca and Pigott took off. DC headed downtown and Pigott landed on the south side of the west extension. She vocalized by wailing softly now and then. Pigott didn’t stay there long. She took off and flew around the building, ending up on the northwest corner of the NW extension.
*
*
*
*
* Pigott at BS
*
*
*
*
*Pigott at BS
At 4:45 pm, Pigott took off again. This time she hovered above the building, just hanging on the wind. To me this is one of the most beautiful things to watch a Peregrine Falcon do. She did this for about 5 minutes before heading east fast. I believe she was either on a hunt or going off to clear out her territory.
*
*
*
*
*Pigott on Patrol
I had to be somewhere at 5:30 pm, so I headed downtown and found Beauty tucked into the OCSR elevator shaft on the south ledge. It’s very dark in this picture, but you can just make her out. I’ll lighten it up too.
*
*
*
*
*Beauty in OCSR Elevator Shaft
Many thanks to Donna, NCA and Pat for helping me out during my watch! 🙂
Goodnight everyone!
March 19th, 2014 at 9:38 PM
I thought all the broken windows at BS had been boarded up outside as they were dangerous but I see Pigott perched in front of one in your report. Too bad she made such a bad choice of buildings to settle on when she came to Rochester. Love that Beauty goes into the elevator shaft for her nightly roost, getting out of the elements…good place to go! Thanks for your report & pics!
March 19th, 2014 at 10:22 PM
Thanks Kris. Beauty has a very protected place to roost at night. 🙂
March 20th, 2014 at 8:26 AM
Durand, the resident female at the Rhodes State office tower in Columbus, Ohio (and older sister of Pigott) laid her first egg of the season last night. Hopefully Beauty and Pigott won’t be far behind!
As for Pigott, the ledge where she hatched has no nestbox and is pretty open and exposed. Maybe she just chose a building that was similar to what she was used to. Do they do that? (Just a guess, although Beauty sure has a better spot to shelter.)
March 20th, 2014 at 9:44 AM
Thanks for that info about Pigott, Beth! Very interesting. Actually, the first spot Pigott and DC chose was boarded over by the DEC. That is actually the window she was at in my picture above. We believe they have chosen a new spot that the watchers are calling the Cubby. It is a covered area.
When Quest was looking for a nest site with Kendal, she was bound and determined to find a nest location with a nest box. 🙂
Congrats to Durand!!! Woohoo!