Quite a 4 Falcon Day – 9/8/11
From Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.
Interesting happenings here in Rochester. Today we had 4 Peregrines visiting our fair city. This morning I had Archer and Unity at KP along with a mystery Tiercel that was hunkered down inside what we are calling the Chnook, which is a small nook underneath the chute leading up to the “Pigeon Box”. I had to get to work, so I couldn’t wait to see if anything would happen.
After work I arrived at KP around 5:30 pm, to find Dana on Watch. There were two Falcons on the stills and I was able to positively ID them as Unity & Archer using the scope.
MAK & Joyce were downtown and they reported seeing two Falcons there. Beauty and our mystery Tiercel. So he was visiting both nest sites. Interesting.
Dana and I stayed at KP and MAK & Joyce remained downtown. After awhile, first Archer and then Unity took off, both heading towards downtown. I quickly sent out a tweet to warn the girls downtown. Dana and I decided to go downtown. On our way, we received a tweet from MAK & Joyce that Beauty and Mr C (just a nickname for now because he likes to sit in the Chnook) had taken off. OK, now we were down to no Falcons!
Everyone was looking. Kathy tweeted from KP that she and Dan were there and no Falcons in sight, only a Red-tail Hawk.
Finally, we found two Falcons on the jail tower. At first we only saw one, but I soon saw a 2nd lower in the framework. I yelled out that there were two. J&M already knew. I started to get my scope out and Joyce told me she had seen a white feather, so I packed the scope away. It was Beauty & Archer. Where was Unity and Mr C.
I told MAK & Joyce I’d be heading back to KP for a look and said goodbye. It was getting dark and I was surprised to see that M&J had arrived before me. They tweeted that there was a Falcon in the Chnook. Where was #2?
So, who is our mystery Tiercel? Where did he come from? Will he be one of our own, or from another place? Only time will tell, but we will make every effort to ID our new Tiercel.
Keep your eyes to the sky! You never know what you might see!
September 8th, 2011 at 9:44 PM
Carol we probably beat you to KP because I took 490 to 390. It’s faster than going down Lake Ave. with all the traffic and lights. I put 4 of my pics of the tiercel on the falcon watch/twitter thread. 🙂
September 8th, 2011 at 11:08 PM
Mak, am I missing a thread? falcon watch/twitter thread? This is too exciting! Who is this mystery falcon, and who is he hanging with? (Sorry…”with whom is he hanging?)
That sounds weird too!
What do all of you experts “think” is going on? Is it one of our hatchlings? Mr. T? ( I hope!) Our Ms. B looked so happy flirting with Mr. T last winter!
September 9th, 2011 at 8:32 AM
This may be what Archer needs to make a choice…I hope he stays and Rochester will have 2 nest sights with chicks 🙂 I know I’m counting before the eggs are even laid.
September 9th, 2011 at 9:50 AM
The falcon in the corner nook of the chute and pigeon box baffles us. Is it the falcon’s protected spot or his a hiding place? Why does this falcon spend so much time there? Has Unity gone in the chnook, or has it always been Mr. C since we first discovered a falcon there?
These are questions we are asking ourselves. it is possible that we just have a migrating falcon. Very interesting that Archer is keeping tabs on both locations. Apparently he doesn’t feel threatened. I remember last year when three falcons were seen perched on OCSR.
Lets hope we get better lighting and a closer location so we can see if this 4th peregrine has bands. It sure did make for an exciting watch…especially when Dana confirmed Archer was at KP.
September 10th, 2011 at 10:13 PM
I know all of you expert watchers will keep us posted, and we are holding our collective breath! Thank you!
September 11th, 2011 at 7:51 PM
It was actually using the scope that ID’d Archer at KP.
September 11th, 2011 at 7:52 PM
@Margaret – I’m sorry to say that no one is an expert in this situation. We’re all just observing and reporting. Hopefully, someday soon, we’ll get some answer. 🙂