Morning and afternoon watch 11-25-11
By Rochester falcon watcher MAK
Joyce picked me up this morning a little after 7:00am and then we got Brian and went to the Summerville Pier where the Genesee River and Lake Ontario meet. Other watchers that met us there were Lynda, Tim,Jeanne and LarryO. Our mission was to find Snowy Owls and the taste of sweet success was ours. After 3 weekends in a row for Joyce, Brian and I we had a young male at the end of the pier. 5 weeks out from my knee replacement surgery I wasn’t sure if I could walk that far but I sure was willing to try for this was my first time seeing a Snowy in the wild!
On the walk out we came upon this little guy that didn’t seem to be afraid of us at all.
The closer we got to the Snowy Owl, a very large bird of prey the more excited I got.
Don’t forget to click on pics for full version! Naturally MAK the gimp was last to arrive and being quite the emotional gal that I am the tears started to fall as I know I would never do something like this if it weren’t for my falcon family! Once I straightened up I began to click,click,click away!
I turned around and took some shots of the surrounding area.
Oh yeah we have a juvenile male Snowy Owl to look at don’t we? And peeps too!
Joyce likes to get down and dirty! Ask her what she sat on with those white sweats!? Let’s just say that big black splotch on her backside wasn’t a mole!
On the way back to shore we passed some ducks. There was a very high step I had to navigate and I was really running out of steam so Tim took my hand from on top to pull and Lynda pushed my behind on the count of 3 and everybody got a big laugh out of that!
A good time spent with good people on a good morning!
On to my afternoon watch with Beauty. I spotted her on the FCT as I was driving down Church St, When I arrived at the city hall parking lot Brian and Joyce were there. We watched her move around on her favorite spot under the platform.
Brian and Joyce left to check out the RPC but before they did Brian gave me the remains of one of Beautys’ meals.
I stayed with the Beautyful one as she preened in the sunshine until it faded into dusk.
I had to leave to meet with a doctor about my knee as it looks like it is infected but Beauty and I have a parting gift for you that I think will make you smile! 🙂
🙂
Links below to a video of Beauty and an album from the day. Enjoy!
| What a fun day with birds of prey |
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November 26th, 2011 at 7:20 AM
Great day…great watch…great friends…great report!
November 26th, 2011 at 9:27 AM
Good for you MAK – I do hope you went home and laid down to rest your knee for the rest of the day. I live in Lemay (St. Louis) and I follow Beauty/Archer because, well, she is so BEAUTIFUL. No chance of seeing any Snowy owls in STL. We do have a captive bread one at the World Bird Sanctuary. In all the years of seeing her she only sits on the ground in one place and swivels her head around like you captured this one doing. My GUESS would be the reason she seemed so “tame” when you approach her is really her natural behavior. It takes a great amount of energy (calories) to launch yourself from a dead stop on the ground especially if there is no wind. She is sitting at the end of the pier, I would guess, because there are frequent strong wind gusts to help lift her up if needed to flee quickly. Again, my guess, would be you would have to be pretty aggressive for her to deem you enough of a threat to feel threatened enough to spend the needed energy to flee. Again, it would only be my guess. If she saw you limping she was probably think well that one can’t be that much of threat she is limping LOL – You all all so lucky to have such an outing – I am green with envy – Thanks for sharing!!
November 26th, 2011 at 10:09 AM
MAK…What a wonderful day you had!
The Snowy is gorgeous and what great views you captured.
That is a day to remember for sure and ending it with Beauty is the BEST!
Take care of that knee and I do hope it is NOT infected….
Smile 🙂
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November 26th, 2011 at 11:02 AM
The snowy is such an awesome raptor and your got your wish MAK. You took the most “excellent” pics. Your story is pretty funny also. Beauty’s gift!! LOL Thanks and hope you see many more of these magnificent creatures!
November 26th, 2011 at 3:50 PM
Thanks everyone! Boy what a day it was indeed!! Ginny, the doc was pretty sure my knee is infected so he took a culture and put me on antibiotics. I hope we caught it early enough so that it doesn’t become a big problem. I’m glad all of you enjoy my pics because you are the reason I take them. It’s not as good as being there live but I think it’s the next best thing! 🙂
November 26th, 2011 at 7:45 PM
Awesome MAK!!! The next best thing to being there. I hope you have a quick recovery.
November 27th, 2011 at 7:26 AM
Thanks Deb! I will be on watch Monday morning(my last day with the truck) and I hope to run into you. Call me. 🙂
November 27th, 2011 at 11:15 PM
What a fun day! Good weather, good friends, once in a lifetime pics of a snowy. I would cry too!
Beautiful. Made me cry just looking at them now. Good for you! Thank you from “us”.