Morning watch 3-22-14
By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK
This mornings watch weather was overcast, with wind swept rain on and off and a temperature of 44 (F) 7 (C)
It took half hour before I spotted my first falcon and that falcon was Beauty. I spotted her on the top ibeam southeast side of OCSR as I made my way back to the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) from checking Kodak Office. I drove down to the hole on Aqueduct St. for a closer view.
The Beautyful one was out of the weather a bit up there as she looked around for Dot.Ca (DC). She didn’t have to wait long as he arrived about 5 minutes later at 7:34am. She flew directly to the nest box while he went to the back of the northwest wing ledge of the Times Square building (TSB) and started eating. I can’t say if it was cached food that was already up there or if he brought it with him. In either case, it was small.
Beauty got impatient waiting at the nest box and flew up under to the northeast wing across from DC and started whining. Seconds later she flew over to DC and he took off with his little package and went to the top ibeam southeast side of OCSR where he started eating again. Beauty also flew over there but kept her distance while he ate and went to the Radisson Hotel by Main St. to watch.
<DC Beauty>
DC spent 10-15 minutes on his meal then flew off with a tiny bit of it in his talons. Beauty took off too and I watched them both fly to the nest box around 8am.
By the time I got back over to the hole Beauty was on the base of Mercury eating and I couldn’t see DC anywhere. I was thinking that DC gave her his leftovers and that’s what she was eating. 10 minutes later Beauty flew to the nest box and seconds later DC came shooting out with what looked like a teeny tiny morsel of food in his talons and headed east.
<Beauty DC>
Beauty remained at the nest box and I left for the Brighton site hoping to run into Larry who had tweeted that he saw Pigott on the northwest extension.
I arrived around 8:35am and missed Larry by a few minutes. I thought I had missed Pigott as well but on my second trip around the building I spotted her as she flew from the middle of the southwest extension roof out and around to land on the south side of the southwest extension. She wasn’t on the edge but back in on the roof a bit so I had to got out onto the service road behind the property to see more than her head!
Miss Pigott was hanging on in the wind and looking around most likely for DC! At 9:02am Pigott flew off to the southeast. I waited about 10 minutes and just as I was starting to leave I heard the familiar echo of echupping coming from the cubby.
So I went around to the west side and got ready to see DC shoot out of there like a cannon as he always does when their bonding sessions are over. I just barely got him in the frame as he left the area flying northbound. A few seconds later Pigott flew out to the southwest corner of the west extension.
A minute later she flew back to the roof of the southwest extension again giving me a feeling of deja vu.
I left for downtown thinking DC had gone there but when I arrived there was no DC that I could see and Beauty was right where I left her-perched at the nest box.
I ended my watch at 9:30am smiling in the fact that I had seen all 3 resident Rochester Peregrine Falcons! 🙂
Click on the links below to see our threesome on video
March 23rd, 2014 at 8:34 AM
Great description and wonderful pictures. A very successful watch!
March 23rd, 2014 at 10:01 AM
Thanks Nora-great to hear from ya! 🙂