Morning Fledge Watch 7-27-15
By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK
It was a clear sky when the sun peeked out from the horizon with a pleasant temperature of 63 (F) 17 (C)
As I stepped out onto the west side balcony I spotted a juvie fly below me just above the tree tops to the north and out of view. After a few minutes I left for my car and went out to Seth Green Dr. where I saw a juvie on the southeast corner below the building. On the top window ledge south end of building with her back to her son was Billie. He started whining at her and she went to the other side of the ledge so she could see him. Probably didn’t want to get knocked off by the juvie without warning.
The louder the juvie got the more Billie ignored him-she would not look his way! lol
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I don’t know who flew off first because I was taping the juvie when he flew off and when I looked at the window ledge Buffalo Billie was gone too. I caught a glimpse of them as they flew southwest over the river disappearing behind the trees with the juvie screamimg the whole time. 5 minutes later I heard a juvie and looked up to see one land on the west side below the railing just above the west side balconies.
I left for downtown after it was apparent the juvie wasn’t going anywhere too soon. I drove around the city a few times with no falcon sightings. I didn’t see anyone from the pedestrian bridge at High Falls either so I left for the Andrews St. bridge. I was just about to pull away when I spotted a falcon fly to the southeast corner of the Frontier Communications tower (FCT) and another one to the platform near northeast corner. I drove over to the City Hall parking lot in time to see Cadence fly over to grab food from Dot.ca (DC) on the platform railing.
Cadence then took her prize down to the platform and started whining as she mantled it. DC flew south a minute later and she immediately stopped mantling and whining as she got to work pulling feathers out before eating.
Cadence ate half then started making her way down the east side of the platform and eventually crossing the platform and ending up in the northwest corner. I had gone down to Fitzhugh St. in front of the Sister Cities parking garage to observe her better while she was eating on the south side. After Cadence went to the northwest corner, I drove down to the City Hall parking lot to watch as I couldn’t see her from Fitzhugh St. I lost sight of her and I believe she left without me seeing her fly off.
I left not knowing if Cadence was still up there and didn’t see another falcon until after 9am as I was parked on the Court St. bridge. I caught a glimpse of a falcon flying from behind OCSR’s north side heading west. Again from the Andrews St. bridge I spotted a falcon on the top I beam west corner and it flew off as I was enroute to get closer to ID it. I didn’t find it again and so I left for Seneca Towers. As I was crossing the Veterans Memorial bridge I saw 2 falcons flying above ST with one landing on the northwest corner of the refuse shoot.
From Seth Green Dr. I could see the head of a juvie peeking out then disappearing only to turn around and show his tail feathers. From the up and down motion the tail told a tale of a juvie that was eating. He eventually went completely out of view at which point I ended my watch at 10am.
The mornings have been hit and miss for seeing our Rochester Peregrine Falcons but the downtown juvies have been seen flying and playing in the High Falls gorge in the afternoons and evenings. Before we know it the juvies will be gone, but in the meantime they continue to make us smile! 🙂
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