Tuesday & Wednesday Evening Falcon Watches – 6/17 & 6/18/14
By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
I joined Kathy O, Ginny and MAK on the Broad St Bridge. There was flying and hunting by both Beauty and Dot.,ca, while storm clouds moved in from the northwest. By 8:00 pm, it started to rain and Beauty made sure all 4 eyases were safely inside the nest box while she remained on the perch standing guard in front of them.
Rochester (NY) and much of the north east was hit by thunder & lightning, high winds and torrential rain. We heard from our friends up in Ontario, Canada. They were hit especially hard and quite a few of the young eyases nesting there came to ground. All but one, a very small male named Heaton, survived. I am very sorry for the loss of this young falcon. Fly Free Heaton.
Here are some pictures from my Tuesday evening falcon watch.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
This is what the sky looked like as the storm started to subside. The lighting was very eerie.
*
*
*
*
*
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
The evening falcon watchers again met on the Broad St Bridge. Tonight’s watchers included Kathy O, Lisa McK, Dan, Ginny, MAK, Carrie, Shaky and me, Carol P. After last night’s storms, the cooler temperatures and cloudy sky were very welcome.
Dot.ca brought in food and met Beauty at the nest box. She took the food from him and went to the base of the Mercury Statue to prepare it. While feathers were flying there, Dot.ca flew up to the northeast wing ledge on top of the Times Square Building. After prepping the food, Beauty returned to the nest box platform where she fed all four eyases. I walked over to the front of the Blue Cross Arena aka Rochester War Memorial, where I had a better view.
Here are some pictures from tonight’s Falcon Watch. If you place your cursor over the picture, it will tell you what is going on in that pic. You can also click on any pictures to enlarge them. Enjoy!
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Here’s a picture of some of the Rochester Falcon Watchers that were on watch this evening. Goodnight everyone!
– Be sure to click on this one to see the full picture!
June 19th, 2014 at 9:35 AM
Thanks for the great shots of the birds, the people and the storm’s aftermath, Carol. I am so very thankful that we have a very roomy but safe nestbox area here at the Times Square Building, and that Beauty is such a great mom. It was truly a wonder to watch her parenting skills in action during that storm. Now let’s just hope we don’t get any more storms like that in the next few weeks when the kids are fledging. The 4th of July fireworks will be enough for us to worry about.
June 19th, 2014 at 1:55 PM
Thanks Pat! Peregrines are incredibly protective parents. Love t watch them! 🙂
June 19th, 2014 at 3:54 PM
Oh how I wish I could join you, but it’s a long way from Cape Cod (and I’m 82…don’t travel well!). But I do enjoy your descriptions and pictures of it all … Thanks again…Keep up the good work of sharing what amazing birds these are that we are trying to protect. I also like the pictures of all your “friends” joining in the watch! THANKS!!
June 19th, 2014 at 4:14 PM
Thank you very much June! I wish you could join us too! Our Quest visited with you on her travels. Be well. 🙂
June 19th, 2014 at 11:05 PM
So very sad to hear about Heaton. 🙁
The weather was certainly nasty. We didn’t receive so much as a drop of rain here, but there were tornado warnings within an hour radius pretty much all around us and lots of devastation where one did touch down.
Glad Beauty, DC and family weather the storm.
June 20th, 2014 at 7:07 AM
Thanks Beth. It’s always sad to hear about losing one of these beautiful creatures. 🙁