Morning Fledge Watch 8-11-15
By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK
The air was thick with moisture as there were pockets of fog up and down the river gorge after a night of rain with a temperature of 69 (F) 21 (C) and dark overcast conditions
As I was getting in my car a falcon flew past me at about the 6th floor level heading south down the east side of Seneca Towers-it took a right turn and disappeared behind the building. I went out to my spot on Seth Green Dr. where I spotted an adult (I believe Billie) on the railing near the northwest corner. I looked down for a second and when I looked back up she was flying above the tree that I was parked under heading south over the river.
I was about to leave a couple minutes later when I heard a juvie. I looked up and saw him land on the roof behind the railing near the northwest corner. I thought he had food at first but he didn’t as he flew off a few minutes later and gave me a little flight show.
This juvie flew back and forth above the roof from north to south attempting to land a couple times but changing his mind and eventually flew out of view to the northeast never to return while I was there.
As I made my way down Seth Green Drive I came across a mother deer and her 2 fawns in Seth Green Park. They were eating the fruit off a crabapple tree. What a treat for them and me!
<Click>
<Click
I left them to it after a couple minutes to head downtown. As I was stopped in traffic on St. Paul St. just south of the Genesee Brewery I could see the Frontier Communications tower (FCT) through the trees so I took a look with my binoculars and could see a falcon on the southeast cube. I stopped on the Andrews St. bridge (ASB) for another look to make sure I was seeing a falcon before heading over to the City Hall parking lot. I was able to ID it as Dot.ca (DC) when I got there at 7am.
DC turned around facing me and after a little preening and stretching he flew rather quickly to the southeast.
I went back to the ASB where I could see DC on the Powers building near the nest box and before I could get my camera turned on he flew off heading north in my direction and went into a stoop toward the High Falls gorge around 7:30am. 5 minutes later DC was on the northeast corner of the FCT platform railing. Back to the City Hall parking lot I went.
City Hall workers were starting to come into the parking lot-a couple asked me how the falcons were doing but most of them gave me the look like I was bugging them by being there so I was getting antsy to get out of there. 10 minutes later I said-“come on DC I wanna get outta here” (it’s on the snippet video) and just as I was saying it he took off! I love it when they do what I ask!!! Haha!
I wasn’t quite sure where he went as it looked like he might have gone down to the platform but at any rate he was gone and so was I. As I was driving down Exchange Blvd. toward Broad St. I spotted a falcon on the east side railing of Widows Walk (WW) so I pulled down Bank Place to the hole where I ran into (not literally) falcon watcher Pat. I told her there was a falcon over there and when we got out from behind the Philipone building it was gone. I then spotted who I thought was DC on one of the Irving Place chimneys-it turned out to be Beauty with food.
I got settled in over on Basin St. in the hole and 5 minutes later Cadence came flying in screaming and landed on the east side railing of WW around 8:10am. I taped a video and didn’t even notice DC down below the railing on the north side as I was focused on Beauty and Cadence.
A bit later Cadence flew down to mom and a scuffle broke out with the Beautyful one losing the battle over the food to her daughter.
Cadence started squawking at mom as she mantled the food from her. Beauty ate a tiny morsel she was able to salvage and then she flew off. Meanwhile, daddy was still on WW watching the whole ordeal.
Beauty returned a few minutes later landing on the south side railing of WW and after standing perched over the food this whole time Cadence started plucking feathers and eating.
Beauty left at some point and around 9:15am DC flew in landing next to Cadence and just watched for a minute or so and then he left without incident flying north. He probably figured if Beauty lost the food to their daughter then he didn’t stand a chance of getting it from her.
Miss Cadence finished eating around 9:30am feaked a bit then flew north with a full crop.
That’s all she wrote folks, I never saw another falcon downtown or at Seneca Towers when I got home. What a fun watch which left me with a big old smile on my face! 🙂
Click on the links below to see today’s videos-make sure to see the snippet video which shows a lot of action today
August 11th, 2015 at 8:14 PM
Glad you got to see Cadence today! And a food fight! LOL 😀
August 11th, 2015 at 8:25 PM
Yeah, they really duked it out Patty!! lol KIDS!!! 🙂
August 12th, 2015 at 11:50 AM
Obviously Beauty and DOT ca taught Cadence a lot about food, but not manners. tssk! But yeah, I’m smiling,too!! J.
August 12th, 2015 at 2:30 PM
Learning to survive begins at home. Glad Cadence is spending her time here honing her skills.
August 13th, 2015 at 6:29 AM
You are right,Joyce..I’d rather Cadence was eating than sharing ..Much better for her survival out in the wilds.Here’s hoping they are not too wild and we get to see her sometime in the future..
August 13th, 2015 at 11:17 AM
The fact that Cadence wrestled that food from Beauty tells me that she is one strong juvie. I’m confident that she’ll do well on her own in the wild. 🙂