By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Rain was in the air today, but I had a little bit of time before the next wave hit.  I took advantage of it.  When I arrived downtown at 3:50 pm, I spotted a falcon on the Frontier Communication Tower on the northeast box.  It was Beauty.

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I left Beauty to check on the rest of the downtown area.  When I couldn’t find any falcons, I decided to go out onto the pedestrian bridge.  From there I could see that Dot.ca had joined Beauty on the Frontier Communication Tower.  He was on the 2nd arm and there was a Robin that kept flying at him and landing nearby. (4:30 pm)

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There were only a few people on the pedestrian bridge.  Dark clouds were moving in from the west.  It was going to rain again.  At 4:55 pm, both Beauty and Dot.ca were gone from their spots.  Now there was one falcon eating the the FCT platform and one on the southeast corner of the platform railing.  Based on size, I believe that it was Dot.ca on the railing and Beauty eating on the platform while he watched.

It was time to move again.  This time I parked on the Andrews St Bridge.  Dot.ca was still on the railing, but he had moved over, closer to where Beauty was eating.  Dot.ca took off at 5:20 pm, heading north towards Kodak Office.  He turned towards the east, flying fast over the river and brewery.  I kept watching him, hoping to see what had his attention, but the buildings got in the way.  I waited, hoping he would return.  He wasn’t gone long.

Ten minutes later he flew back in from the east, and he wasn’t alone!  I heard the wonderful vocalization of a juvie falcon as they both flew up to the OCSR.  There was a little bit of talon tagging and the juvie and Dot.ca flew around the building.  The juvie came back around and flew towards the Frontier Communication Tower, landing on the north side below the platform.  Dot.ca did not follow, but I did!  The juvie was moving around inside the metal framework of the tower, ending up on the southeast box.  I found a spot to park and took a few pics.  The lighting wasn’t great for taking pictures, but I do believe it was Mercury, who had been here all weekend with his brother Nor’easter.

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Mercury was hyper alert and watching everything that moved around him, including the many small birds flying by.  He took off, heading south, over City Place and back around the other side.   Mercury ended up landing on the lower roof line on the north side of City Place, probably on the lookout for any cached food.  I was able to get a few pictures before he again took off, this time heading east.  I headed in that direction and drove all over downtown, but was unable to find him again.

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He didn’t stay long, but I was very happy to see that he was still in the area.  You can bet the Watchers will continue to be on the lookout for glimpses of our four young falcons.

Kathy O tweeted that she had also drove around looking for Mercury, but was unable to find him.  We were only able to find one falcon and that was an adult on the Kodak Tower facing in.

Both Brian H and Jeanne texted a warning that thunderstorms were heading into Rochester soon, so Kathy and I decided to call it a watch at 7:55 pm.  As I was driving out of the city, the rain arrived.  Tomorrow will hopefully be a nicer day.

Goodnight everyone!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 12th, 2014 at 11:12 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.