Morning watch 9-21-11
By Rochester falcon watcher MAK
Driving straight through to the east side after seeing no falcons near the Times Square area I spotted who I believe was Beauty on the southwest corner of HSBC. At 6:30am it is still a bit dark out these days and so I didn’t bother to take any pics of her. I drove around to check each side for Archer with no luck. When I got back to a spot to view Beauty she was gone so I drove immediately to the Broad St. bridge thinking she had seen Archer and headed to the nestbox for their bonding time. Sure enough I could see a falcon up next to the main cam. It was the Beautyful one!
I couldn’t tell if Archer was in the scrape and Beauty had disappeared while I moved the truck closer . I texted my trusty assistant Donna to ask if Beauty was in the nestbox and she let me know that she was not. I then drove down to Aqueduct St. and found Archer on the base of Mercury.
Archer was watching some Starlings down in Aqueduct park in one of the trees very intently. He was definitely in hunt mode! H e took a little time out for preening but mostly he was watching for the right moment to strike.
For the next hour I shared space with Archer while he looked around for a suitable breakfast. I thought it strange that he never went over to join Beauty in the scrape for some bowing. That probably explains why she left and I never saw her again. I had the camera fixed on Archer the whole time waiting to get a takeoff shot but he never went after anything. He spread his wings one time then pooped and I thought he might go but just settled back down into observing his surroundings.
I had to leave earlier than usual for an appointment but I was happy to have spent some time with Archer as he had eluded me the last couple days. The sun is shining on us in the fair city today so I shall be smiling and I hope you will too! 🙂
