By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a gray cloudy morning with a starting temperature of 55 (F) 13 (C) but so much better than yesterday when we had a deluge of rain

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After being sidelined the last 2 days with a sore back and neck, I was happy to be able to get out to watch our fantastic falcon family!

It was a slow start as I wasn’t able to find any of our feathered friends at the start from the Broad St. Bridge (BSB). I then joined Dan on the Pont De Rennes pedestrian bridge at High Falls and he wasn’t having much luck either. He saw 1 falcon on Times Square (TSB) when he first got there and another one flying from near Xerox toward Cornhill but that was it for him. I spotted a falcon on the northeast corner of HSBC just before Dan called it quits.

It left before I could get over there and after a trip around the city in search of falcons, I finally found a couple upon returning to the east side. Dot.Ca (DC) was on a south side column of Xerox and there was a juvie further down on the roof-both had their backs to me.

I left Woodbury St. and went over to Chestnut St. for a better angle after the juvie flew around the corner to the east side roof. Another juvie landed near the southwest corner of HSBC and after a few moments walked toward the east , then flew the rest of the way to the southeast corner.

DC and the Xerox juvie flew off going behind HSBC out of view-the HSBC juvie, who I was able to ID as Mercury, flew off while I was watching the other 2 and returned to the southeast corner of HSBC. 5 minutes later he flew northeast and didn’t return.

While I was taking care of some business Nettie visited the nest box area with food, which Beauty took from her as reported by Donna and Shaky. Thanks guys! When I arrived on the BSB Beauty was on cam 1 and Tesh was on the base of Mercury with food.Soon after, the Beautyful one flew over to the heel of Mercury to Teshs’ displeasure as she half mantled the food from mom and had quite a bit to say to her as well.

Next up, I heard another juvie whining and suddenly it landed next to Tesh, who mantled the food. They both flew off-Tesh went down to the east side railing below Mercury with the goods and the other one knocked Beauty off the heel, then went to the well wall briefly. Ei reported to me later that it had been Nettie who had quite the full crop. Thank you!

As I moved from the BSB to Aqueduct Park, Tesh finished eating and walked to the northeast corner of the railing-feaking the whole way. It was then that I spotted Beauty on the top ibeam south corner of OCSR and she was looking really sweet with a feather stuck to her beak.

I shared space with them for about a half hour-Tesh was very alert watching everything around her. She waved good bye and  flew off to the northeast, circling above Andrews Place apartments and the Radisson Hotel then disappeared.

Beauty was preening as she continues to deal with her molt. One of the boys showed up above OCSR,circling a few times then flying north. While I was looking for them I came across a couple people at the Federal building giving horse rides as I passed on Andrews St. Now that’s different!!

<Beauty missing a tail feather or two    

I ended my watch at 11am but I wasn’t done seeing falcons, for as I made my way down Seth Green Drive (my road) to Seneca Towers (where I live) I spotted the very dapper Veteran on a pole near the northwest corner of the building.

After seeing all Rochester Peregrine Falcons except for Nor’Easter, I’d say I had more than enough for a happy return to make me smile! 🙂

Click on the links below to view more pics and videos
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http://youtu.be/xWAPtSsWCH4

http://youtu.be/xRcgyi6t_wI

http://youtu.be/7f_cqviRq7w

http://youtu.be/zbFdWiCMRQ4

http://youtu.be/2w30qD-QDEM

http://youtu.be/o4Vy9Ne_f2Y

http://youtu.be/JAymJxIkpCs

http://youtu.be/IbymkAPJMds

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 29th, 2014 at 5:14 PM and is filed under Fledge Watch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.