By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

9:00 am to 3:00 pm

Watchers (During this Watch): Dana, Pat and Larry O.

I arrived downtown just after 9:00 am.  The first falcon I found was on the NW corner of B&L and while I was tweeting, it took off.  Continuing around to the east side of HSBC, I found a falcon (could have been the same one) on the SE corner.  While I was taking a picture of this falcon, another popped in.  Tag!  You’re it!

Both juvies flew around a bit and then both landed on the east side railing of HSBC.

They again took off and flew between HSBC and B&L.  At one point Beauty was up there.  While Cadence and Genesee were talon tagging, she headed northwest.

They flew around to the other side of B&L and I followed.

They both took off heading west.  Again I followed.  Beauty was on Mercury’s heel and I saw one juvie turn the corner at Exchange and Broad, heading for the jail.  Dana joined me and we went looking for them.

For only a moment, we found one on a short antenna on top of the jail, then it was gone.  It was really getting warm and humid, so I headed to Aqueduct St (aka the hole) to find some shade.  Dana joined me there.

At first, there were no falcons in view, except for Beauty on Mercury.  Then we heard the first alarm kaks.  There was a Turkey Vulture (TV) passing overhead.  All at once, there were three falcons in the sky.  One adult was quickly catching up to the TV, while two juvies followed.  They didn’t quite get the concept of what the parent was doing.  While the adult was going after the TV, Genesee and Cadence decided it was a good time to stoop on each other!  At first Dana and I thought that there was an intruding falcon in the area.  lol

After the Turkey Vulture was vanquished, I checked the Mercury statue.  Beauty was gone.  I believe it was her that went after the TV.  I thought at first it might have been Dot.ca.

Everything was quiet for a little while.  Beauty flew over us heading east.  We checked Mercury again and found Genesee on one side of the base mantling food with Beauty on the other side.

Genesee took off and headed west, carrying the food.  We found him on the Widow Walk Bldg.  Beauty flew over and landed next to him.

Just after Beauty landed next to Genesee, he took off again, with the food.  He headed west and so did I.  I could hear all kinds of juvie cries echoing off the buildings, but where was he?  I drove towards Main St and turned right.  Directly in front of me, heading east, was a low flying juvie.  I followed and saw it land on the south side of the Powers bldg.  Beauty was also there and so was Cadence.  They kept flying back and forth between the Powers Bldg. and the Monroe County Bldg (MCB).  Somehow Cadence now had the food!  She landed on a top window on the MCB.  Beauty landed above Dana and I on a lower SW corner of the Powers Bldg and Genesee ended up on top of the MCB.

Genesee flew around and landed on different parts of the MCB, before finally joining Cadence.  He slowly moved closer and closer to Cadence and was able to grab a few pieces of food for himself.  They both filled their crops, while Beauty kept watch.

After finishing her meal, Cadence took off and landed on a window on the Union Bank Bldg.  This building is just east of the Monroe County Bldg.  Pat joined us for a short visit on her way through downtown.  Genesee filled his crop and Beauty landed next to him to eat what was left.

Beauty was the first to take off, then Genesee and last Cadence.  All took off heading west and turning south.

After they all left, Dana and I drove around trying to find where they went.  Dana spotted a juvie on the Times Square Bldg under the SW wing.  It was Cadence and she was hunkering down in the shade from the wing.  We did not see where the others went. We decided to take a lunch break at the Genesee Brewery.  While we were there, Larry O tweeted that he was downtown looking around.  After lunch, we went out to the pedestrian bridge, but found no falcons there.

During the day, I saw a lot of falcons flying that I could not positively ID.  Dot.ca may have been around keeping an eye on things, while Beauty handled the feeding of her young today.

It’s going to be even warmer tomorrow with temperatures near 90 degrees (F).  Keep cool everyone!

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 18th, 2015 at 11:17 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.