By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was 0 (F) -18 (C) degrees with a wind chill factor of -21 (F) when I ventured out in the frozen tundra this morning. We got around 5 inches of snow over nite with winds of 15-20 miles per hour which created drifts all around my car. When I left downtown the temp had dropped below 0 and it was hard to tell if it was snowing or just blowing the snow around

I left early today-before 7am and once I got the lock de-icer to free my car door from its frozen state and got the snow and ice removed I was in business and ready to head downtown to check on our beloved falcons. The main roads were clear but snow packed as salt doesn’t work too good in these temperatures. Arriving around 7:15am I checked the OCSR elevator shaft and thought I could see the form of a falcon on the north side ledge. There was nowhere to park near the Radisson Hotel so I had to stop on Main St. momentarily for a quick look then I moved on to the east side. I finally found Beauty on Kodak Office on her south side arch spot.

The light kept turning on and off as the wind blew the snow on and off like a light switch in front of the Beautyful one. Amazingly, I caught her sleeping in the arctic conditions-nature is such a wonderment isn’t it?

One of the snippets on my snippet video this morning catches me saying idiot-that was for a car that almost side swiped me with no snow brushed off his car or with his lights on. A little common sense goes a long way!! Sorry, had to say that! Anyway, I don’t know if the wind blew Beauty off or what but suddenly she flew out about 10 feet and back to her arch and once back she lost her footing and had to repeat the process.

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She got settled back down and started dozing off again so I left her to check for Dot.ca (DC). I ended up finding him right where I thought he was-on the north side ledge of the elevator shaft. I stayed only long enough to get a somewhat clear enough pic of him since I had stopped in the middle of the Radisson Hotel’s driveway-there were trucks, vans and busses parked on both sides.

Once again my phone was not sending out my tweets-my first one didn’t post until after 8am and the rest didn’t go until I got home at 8:45am. When I got home to Seneca Towers I did find 99 on the top window ledge south side. He was looking around for breakfast and Billie I think as the wind whipped up the snow from the roof around him when it gusted.

Needless to say I didn’t stay out there on St. Paul St. observing 99 but just a few minutes before ending my watch. It was a bit frustrating this morning but falcons once again made me smile! 🙂

Click on the links below to see today’s videos

http://youtu.be/DNgVaLkcWBk

http://youtu.be/-H4pjHzVGaU

http://youtu.be/ju-jXfrdU94

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 15th, 2015 at 11:57 AM 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.