Friday Early Afternoon/Evening Fledge Watch – 3 Juvies Seen! – 8/8/14
By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.
4:00 to 8:30 pm
Another gorgeous afternoon with temps in the 70’s (F), blue sky and a little bit of a breeze. When I was walking out to my car after work today, I said to my friend Patty, it’s a perfect day for falcons to fly.
I’ve fallen into my normal routine of checking out the Kodak Tower first. After only seeing Beauty and Dot.ca yesterday, I was hoping for a juvie sighting today. I parked on the side of the Frontier Field Stadium and checked out the west and south sides of the Kodak Tower. Nothing. The next thing I do is pull in front of the stadium to check out the Frontier Communication Tower. Still no falcons. But what was that sound above! So familiar, yet I hadn’t heard it for awhile. I looked up just in time to see three falcons flying overhead. One adult and two juvies were flying towards the Kodak Tower! I quickly drove around to the east side and from there I could see Beauty on the 19th floor looking down at two juvies on the southeast corner of the 17th floor.
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There must have been a food exchange that I missed. One juvie was mantling food, while the other, smaller one, stood nearby. There was still a lot of loud vocalizing from the juvies. After awhile Beauty took off, heading southeast over the gorge towards downtown. One juvie immediately took off and followed. The 2nd juvie stayed for a little while and then also took off. Well, that was fun! 🙂
Now of course I had no falcons in sight again. I took off and drove all over, first checking the gorge from the pedestrian bridge and then driving around the downtown area. I did spot two falcons flying high over the Midtown area, but soon lost them behind buildings. I ended up on the Broad St Bridge, where I met Brian H. Joyce soon arrived and she and Brian went up to the top of the South Ave Ramp Garage for a look around the area from a higher vantage point. I headed out again and drove around looking for the falcons. That’s when Kathy O sent out a tweet that there was a falcon on the top arm of the Frontier Communication Tower.
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While we were watching this juvie, we were approached by one of the folks that works inside City Hall. His name is Alan, and he was very interested in the Rochester Falcons. Kathy and I answered all his questions and gave him a card. He promised to come back and join us one day, this time with his binoculars. 🙂
This juvie took off and we didn’t realize that he had landed lower on the 2nd arm down. Kathy O was the first to spot a juvie eating dinner on the very top of the OCSR. Based on size, we believe this was a female. She took a very long time eating her meal and ended up going out of view on the roof with a very large crop.
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Joyce and Brian joined us and let us know that the falcon that had been on the top arm of FCT had flown down to the 2nd arm. Joyce was able to positively ID this falcon as Mercury!
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Brian and Kathy O left and Joyce and I enjoyed some time watching Mercury moving about the framework of the Frontier Communication Tower. At one point, he was joined by a very irate Robin that continuously vocalized its displeasure at Mercury’s presence. The Robin got way too close to Mercury who showed a lot of interest in the brightly colored bird. Not to worry, the brave Robin finally flew away safely.
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Jeanne joined us and I decided it was time for me to leave. But, of course, I have a way of not being able to tear myself away from a good falcon watch. lol I said goodbye to Jeanne and Joyce and headed back towards the Broad St Bridge where I spotted a familiar figure sitting in his chair. I couldn’t leave without saying goodbye to Dan! As I approached him, he was intently watching the jail communication tower. There was an adult on the top arm and Dan told me a juvie was at the very top, but very hard to see. He said if he hadn’t seen the juvie land there, he probably would not have known it was up there.
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Dan explained to me that this juvie had been following the adult around while it hunted, displaying the behavior of a young falcon wanting to be fed by the parent. The juvie was flying with its wings drooped down and vocalizing. Due to Dan’s report, I had to assume that this was a 3rd juvie. Joyce still had Mercury on FCT and the juvie we had seen eating on top of the OCSR had a very full crop after finishing a meal. So this 3rd juvie was hungry and looking for food.
The adult took off and headed north. From the Broad St Bridge, I could see a falcon on the cupola of the Kodak Tower.
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Joyce reported that Mercury had taken off from the Frontier Communication Tower heading south towards the Times Square Bldg. We did not see where he went. The juvie at the top of the jail communication tower stood up and we were able to get a better look. By this time it was getting dark and there was no way to ID this bird.
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Just before 8::30 pm, the jail bird took off and flew over the Cornhill area where we quickly lost sight of it. It was time for the watchers to end their watch and head home. I am so glad the weekend is here and that it promises to be a couple of beautiful summer days. Woohoo!
Goodnight everyone and have a wonderful weekend!
