Morning watch 10-16-11
By Rochester falcon watcher MAK
Hi folks! Truly this will be my last morning watch report for awhile as tomorrow is the big day…the beginning of a new life for me with my first of 2 new knees. I can’t wait to ride a bike again!
My dear friend Joyce picked me up to go falcon watching and the falcons came through for us. First we found Beauty on the top ibeam north corner of OCSR. For clarity this is the side facing away from the Times Square building so the cameras can’t see them when they are over there.
It seemed like she was hunkered down for awhile so we headed over to KP to see if we could find Archer since the last time he was seen was on Oct. 12. We had no luck in finding any falcons at KP so we returned to the downtown area to find the Beautyful one in the same spot where we left her. Suddenly Joyce noticed a falcon to the left on the top ibeam from where Beauty had been and now she was flying above us where we were parked on the Andrews St. bridge. 
She flew to the north and we drove over to Bragdon St. by the Radisson Hotel for a closer look. Beauty returned to the OCSR building and landed a couple feet away from Archer.
They both flew off to the southeast and returned to OCSR top ibeam northeast side quite a distance apart but facing each other.
You will have to click on the pics to view a larger version. Sorry! After a few minutes they both flew off together circled around and returned to their previous spots on OCSR. At this point Dana and CarolP joined us. It was getting close to the time I would have to end my watch and get home to take care of some things in preparation for going to the hospital tomorrow. I’m not sure when I’ll get out to see our fabulous falcons again but I know I miss them already! I have a link for an album from this watch at the end of my report. As I said my goodbyes and we were on our way down Main St. one of the falcons flew off the building toward us over the river and then returned to OCSR. It seemed to me like it was giving me a nice sendoff and saying goodbye! Have a great day today, tomorrow and all the days to come until I return and can say it again to all of you! And give a SMILE as often as you can!!! 🙂
October 16th, 2011 at 3:02 PM
Is that Archer? I don’t see a white spot and his head seems darker than Archer’s. And if it’s him, it’s really late for him to still be around. But I guess you watchers know better than I do-that’s for sure! Great watch for you to end with before your surgery! Good luck tomorrow!
October 16th, 2011 at 3:28 PM
Thanks Kris. Unfortunately there’s no way to be sure if it was Archer without seeing the leg band. In one of my pics I thought I could see a faint white spot on the right wing but it was a very blurry pic and upon looking at it Joyce couldn’t tell either. We too felt at times it might be a different tiercel but he and Beauty were acting like they were bonding on the OCSR building so…we shall have to wait and see what happens next. Sure is a bad time for me to be out of the loop! 🙂
October 16th, 2011 at 4:12 PM
I’ll be keeping you in my thoughts & prayers tomorrow. Take care & I’ll know we will all miss your reports & photo’s.
October 16th, 2011 at 4:26 PM
MAK….I will be thinking and praying for you tomorrow! 🙂
October 16th, 2011 at 4:34 PM
I’m having a tough time telling for sure. I don’t see the wing spot, but it may have finally molted out. The malar stripes look like Archer’s and he definitely is banded with a silver band on the right leg…you can see the band most clearly in pic 5. So…I guess we’ll keep guessing for now!
October 16th, 2011 at 9:30 PM
After looking at the pics of Mr. T that Mak posted on FB just recently, these pics — to my unpracticed eye – look more like Mr. T than they do Archer.
I’m also used to seeing A and B in the nest box more .
Maybe there is a new T, or maybe it is MR. T back in town!
And if that third falcon today was around the psych center, well, there is that winter falcon back in town!
October 16th, 2011 at 10:13 PM
Thanks Ginny and Braveheart! Ei and Margaret I’m as sure as I can be that it was Archer. On my little computer screen I couldn’t see the band on his leg so it absolutely can’t be Mr. T cuz he was unbanded. Joyce and I actually joked about it being Mr. T but I put that idea to rest when I watched the behaviour between he and Beauty. It definitely seemed familiar! 🙂
October 19th, 2011 at 4:14 PM
We wait your next report (evenwithout any falcons in it) with bated breath, MAK, especially as it means you are out of the hospital and back at your keyboard.
October 19th, 2011 at 5:12 PM
MAK is recovering from her surgery and doing very well. We’ve been visiting her daily making sure she has everything she needs. She says hello to everyone! 😉