By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

11:00 am – 6:30 pm

Temps in the mid-70’s (F) and partly cloudy.  A perfect day!

Watchers During this Time: Dana, Dan, Larry O, Joyce, Susan, Brian and Carol P.

At 11:00 am, I joined my friend and fellow watcher Dana on the pedestrian bridge.  She had spotted Beauty in the Falcon Sucking Tree (FST), a dead tree hanging over the top of the east side gorge wall.  Beauty would not be the last Peregrine Falcon to visit this popular spot during my watch.

Beauty remained there for about 1 1/2 hours.  Dana and I went into the Brewery for lunch and when we returned to the pedestrian bridge a little before 1:00 pm, Dan was there, checking out the falcon in the FST.  We joined him, thinking that it was Beauty, but surprise, surprise, Genesee had replaced his mom.  lol  Genesee didn’t stay long.  He took off, heading west.  He gained altitude to climb over some buildings and headed towards the Kodak Tower.  He landing on the southeast corner of the 15th floor.  As we watched him, he walked around to the south side and pulled out a food cache.  It looked like a wing.  Genesee brought it back out to the east side ledge and ate a small meal. (1:10 pm)

At 1:40 pm, Genesee finished eating and returned the wing to where he had found it.  He then took off and returned to the gorge, landing on the FST.  Larry O and his two grandchildren joined us.

2:30 pm – Genesee left the FST and flew in front of the falls.  He turned back and skimmed the water in front of the trees on the south side of the island below.  He never came out the other side of the trees.  I walked down to the east end of the bridge and found Genesee in a tree on the island.  We all agreed that he had chased something into the trees.  He is definitely attempting to hunt and I would not be surprised that he has been successful.

Genesee left the tree and flew towards the east side gorge wall.  Over the next 1/2 hour, he landed on 4 different spots on the wall.  It is very difficult to find a falcon on this wall.

At about 3:10 pm, Genesee took off for the 5th time and flew along the gorge wall, then landed in the FST.  He wasn’t alone. We were very surprised to see Cadence there!  We never saw her arrive.  Both juvies were looking towards the gorge wall. Something had their attention.  We soon found out what it was when a squirrel walked down the limb towards Genesee and scared him off! Genesee quickly returned to the FST, landing behind Cadence, who had not moved, and the squirrel was gone.

3:20 pm – Genesee took off, quickly flying west.  He met up with Dot.ca just south of the Kodak Tower and there was a food exchange between them.  Genesee took his meal towards the Frontier Communication Tower and Dot.ca landed on the Powers Bldg.  Cadence remained on the FST.

Joyce, Susan and Brian joined the watch.  We spotted an adult falcon on the Kodak Tower, south side arch ledge.  We thought it was Beauty.

After awhile, Cadence took off and flew over the river, diving on the gulls, ducks and geese.

She returned towards the FST, passed it and landed on the BOWED TREE!  I had been waiting a very long time to see a falcon land there.  Finally a falcon on the Bowed Tree, which is a dead tree limb off the east side gorge wall closer to the pedestrian bridge.  She remained there for a long time, checking out the people waking by on the bridge, the deer walking below her and the small birds that flew by her.  Oh, and how could she resist the lose piece of bark in front of her.  This girl does love to chew on things.  lol

Cadence again took off, this time flying under the bridge.  Dana and Brian quickly walked to the other side of the bridge to see if she went through, but she did not.  Cadence had landed under the bridge.  Another spot we had seen many falcons land in the past.  From the east end of the bridge, we had a very good view of her.

Many of the juvies have markings on the back of the heads that look like a face.  Doesn’t it look like Cadence has eyes in the back of her head?  🙂

At about 5:50 pm, Cadence left the gorge, heading south towards downtown.  The only falcon in sight now was Beauty on the Kodak Tower.

6:15 pm – We spotted a falcon zipping in from the east.  It went supersonic as it stooped into the gorge in front of us.  A juvie named Genesee had arrived in the gorge.  He didn’t stay long.  After chasing the gulls for a few moments, he flew over the falls and headed south towards downtown.  Well, that was a fun way to end my 7 1/2 hour watch!

Many people stopped by to ask what we were looking at and were thrilled to see our young falcons.  Every day we see our two juvies is a gift.  I am so happy that so many watchers were on hand to see both juvies and adults.  It was a wonderful day for a Falcon Watch!  Goodnight!

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 6th, 2015 at 11:59 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.