By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I was finally able to get out for a falcon watch!  The sunshine was awesome, but I would have liked it to be a little bit warmer than the 26 degrees (F) I read on a downtown clock.  Brrrr!

*

*

*

*

*

JUST A REMINDER TO CLICK ON A PICTURE TO SEE THE LARGER VERSION

Kodak Park and the BS locations were the first places I checked.  No luck finding any falcons there.  I headed downtown and spotted a Red-tailed Hawk on a light pole near the pull-off on Exchange in Cornhill.  After I took a few pics, the hawk took off and headed east, towards downtown.

*

*

*

*

*

I turned my attention towards downtown.  From the Exchange pull-off, I was able to see two falcons on the B&L building, both on southwest corners.  That’s where I headed.

*

*

*

*

*

From the south side of B&L, I could see that it was Beauty on the top and Dot.ca on the bottom.

*

*

*

*

*

I found a spot that was a little closer to watch them on Court St.  Beauty spread her wings and took off, stooping over St Mary’s Church, which was behind me.  My last view of her was as she flew low over the church with her talons hanging down.  The nearby pigeons had taken flight and I assumed she was on the hunt.  Dot.ca remained on B&L and he was looking in the direction Beauty had headed.

*

*

*

*

*

When Beauty didn’t return, I started to wonder if she had a successful hunt and might be on a building back behind the church. So, I headed over to the other side, but had no luck finding her.  But, I did find out what probably caused her to stoop low over the church.  A juvie Red-tailed Hawk (RTH) was on the house just to the south of the church.  My bet is that this church hawk was probably Beauty’s target.

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

After the hawk took off over the park, I returned to my spot on Court St.  Beauty had rejoined Dot.ca on B&L.  I was happy that the RTH had been able to leave without being harassed.

*

*

*

*

*

Since the gates were up on the Court St Garage I headed up for a different view.

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

A Coopers Hawk was hunting just north of the B&L building.  It was scaring up pigeons as it passed over.  I looked up in time to see Dot.ca take off and  stoop straight down the face of the building.  He pulled up and raced to the north, chasing the Coop. Dot.ca then turned back and took a swipe at the pigeons that had taken flight.  Before returning to his spot on the B&L building, he flew directly over me.

*

*

*

*

*

Just as I was tweeting that I was going to end my downtown watch, both Beauty and Dot.ca took off heading northwest towards the Times Square bldg. and OCSR.  I did look for them, but was unable to find where they went.

On my way home, I checked out Seneca Towers and found one falcon on the south end, SW corner antenna.  I could only find this one falcon.

*

*

*

*

*

I ended my afternoon watch at Russell Station, finding no falcons there.

It was so nice to get out for a falcon watch today!

I’ll leave you with a picture I took of a very patriotic Mercury.  🙂

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 7th, 2014 at 8:15 PM and is filed under Falcon Watch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.