Morning watch 4-3-14
By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK
3 mornings in a row I’ve had bright sunshine and blue skies-have we turned the corner into spring? Stay tuned! It was however, chilly at 26 degrees (F) 3 (C)
I decided to start my watch at the Brighton Site (BS) this morning-there were no falcons seen so I went downtown. Arriving at 6:50am I parked in the hole by Keybank and found Beauty on the column above the nest box-she was watching Dot.Ca (DC) who had food over on the back lower roof of the Times Square building (TSB).
As I was tweeting out my findings they both snuck off. I soon found out where-Beauty was on the northeast corner of the lower roof of Widows Walk (WW) eating and DC was on the Mercury money bag (MMB). So I think it’s safe to assume that DC cached the food on WW for Beauty.
I drove over to Fitzhugh St. to get up close and personal with the Beautyful one. She was plucking feathers to prepare to eat the food gift DC had left her. After a few bites she flew off with her gift in tow to the base of Mercury where she started eating it below DCs’ watchful eye.
Again Beauty ate only a small amount and then she and DC flew to the nest box for a bonding session. As usual DC came barreling out of the nest box.I was now parked on Broad St. next to the Blue Cross Arena (BCA).
He flew over to the heel of Mercury and came to rest on it and quickly went down to the base to start eating what Beauty left there.
I then moseyed up to the Broad St. bridge (BSB) for better lighting and a closer view of DC. He didn’t eat all of these leftovers which were going a long way for our downtown duo.
I could see Beauty up on the front perch of the nest box and she was watching DC too!
At 7:37am DC flew to the southeast corner of the deck and Beauty came over where a brief tug of war ensued. She got the small chunk of prey and took it to the northeast corner of the deck to eat.
DC watched for a few seconds then flew off as Beauty watched him go back to the Mercury heel. A couple minutes later he flew southwest prompting me to think he was going to BS as that’s the direction he went.
Well it was a big fake out on MAK for as I was almost there my phone went off-Donna and Campgee were tweeting that DC and Beauty were mating on Mercury. Well, I suppose he could have gone to BS and back downtown before I got there as it only takes him 1-2 minutes one way and it takes me 5-10! Thanks D and Camp!! So I checked BS and found no birds of any kind. I returned to downtown to find Beauty preening on the south side railing of WW and DC on the southeast corner of the deck calling for her.
They stayed in those spots for the remainder of my watch-Beauty preening and DC stretching, preening and calling out for Beauty. I ended my watch at 9am smiling all the way home after spending time with our downtown Rochester Peregrine Falcon pair! 🙂
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