By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

As the temperatures are rising here in Rochester, NY, we continue to see our young female juvie Cadence.

Friday – 8/14/15 (10:45 am – 7:30 pm)

I started my watch at the west end of Kodak Park (KPW), where we have seen many Peregrine Falcons over the years.  This location is not that far from Seneca Towers.  My thought was that the two tall stacks at this location may be a magnet for young falcons.  Well, there were none there on Friday morning.  Joyce stopped by while I was there.  She went to Seneca Towers, where she reported seeing one falcon, and I headed downtown.

Beauty was on the south side arch ledge on the Kodak Tower.  From the Broad St Bridge (BSB), I spotted a juvie falcon on the north end of Thomson Reuters on the northeast corner.  She was watching the birds on and above the river below her.

Cadence took off while I wasn’t watching her, so I didn’t know which direction she went.  She wasn’t gone long.  For the next few hours Cadence mostly remained on the base of  Mercury, flying off and returning 4 or 5 times.  During that time, I was joined by Joyce and Brian.  Dark clouds moved in and so did the rain.  Dot.ca flew in and landed on the south side of OCSR on the top IBeam.  It took me awhile, but I finally saw Cadence’s blue-taped band.

It started to pour, so I jumped back into my car and waited it out.  Finally the dark clouds moved out, the rain stopped and the sun appeared.  Since Cadence had her back to me, I decided to move to Aqueduct St aka “the hole”.  From there, she would be facing me and the sun would be behind me.  Joyce returned from taking Brian home and I was also joined by Pat and Debbie H for a short time.  It was great seeing both of them.  🙂  After they left, Kathy O joined the Watch.  Cadence was vocalizing quite loudly, letting her parents know she was hungry.

At 5:45 pm, Cadence took off again heading NW. After she left we looked up to see that Beauty had replaced Dot.ca on the OCSR top Ibeam.  We could not find Cadence, so we all split up to look for her.

I returned to Aqueduct St at 6:15 pm.  As I was approaching, I saw a falcon fly up to the base of Mercury on the east side.  I attempted to see this falcon from the small parking lot on the north side of Mercury, but could not see it.  When I turned around, I spotted a falcon eating on the east end of the Wilder Bldg near the SE corner.  It was Cadence.  She had a large bird, and feathers were flying.  Kathy drove up to the Broad St Bridge and reported back that Dot.ca was on the base of Mercury eating, even though he had a very large crop.  Beauty remained on OCSR.

None of us witnessed what happened, so we’re not sure how Cadence got her meal.

At 7:30 pm, we ended our watch, as Cadence continue to fill her crop with a good meal.  Beauty remained watching over her from the OCSR.  Dot.ca had flown northwest earlier.

Saturday – 8/15/15 (3:30 pm – 8:00 pm)

Main St, Broad St, Court St and much of the surround area was closed for the Rochester Twilight Criterium a bike race that officially didn’t start until 8 pm.  But, they were racing while I was there, probably preliminary runs.  Due to this, I could not get near where I normally watch from.  I circled the downtown area, checking it from all directions.  I had no luck finding any falcons until I was checking out the east side.  A falcon flew over me and landed on the RGS bldg.  I quickly parked my car and saw that it was a juvie.  I am fairly certain it was Cadence, but I never saw the blue band to verify.

She took off and I soon saw two falcons flying over heading east.  I parked behind Midtown Plaza and watched from there.  A juvie returned and hovered over the Chase Tower, vocalizing.  I assume that it landed up there when it was quiet.  Brian arrived and said he saw a falcon stoop heading north.  We remained behind Midtown for awhile before heading to the pedestrian bridge at High Falls.

Before I left at 7:30 pm, we had two falcons in view from there.  An adult on the south side arch on the Kodak Tower and a falcon facing west on the top arm of the Frontier Comm Tower.  Pretty sure that was also an adult.

On my way home, I made a quick stop at Maplewood Park, across the river from Seneca Towers.  I could not see any falcons from there.  Also none found at the Kodak Research Labs.

It’s been great seeing Cadence.  While I was watching her yesterday, she did stoop from the base of Mercury on a pigeon flying over the river.  She chased it, but was unsuccessful catching it.  So, she is practicing her hunting skills and may have already caught something on her own.

The last time we had all four downtown Rochester Falcons confirmed was at approximately 8:00 pm on Tuesday, 8/11/15.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 16th, 2015 at 12:22 AM 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.