Friday afternoon/Saturday morning Falcon Watch 10-9/10-10-15
By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK
A sunny morning with a chilly temperature of 42 (F) 6 (C)
On Thursday afternoon there were a pair of unidentified falcons on Hawkeye while Billie and Seth were at Seneca Towers (ST). They looked quite comfortable there and we all knew that there would be trouble as the distance between them was only half a mile.
Nothing seen that evening other than a couple young bucks east of Seneca Towers by the off ramp to route 104, but yesterday afternoon Donna and I witnessed 2 males (presumably Seth and male from Hawkeye) battling above the tree tops of Seth Green Park from the west balcony of my 16th floor. They disappeared up river to the south of Seneca Towers and we didn’t see any more last night.
<Click-Hawkeye pair
This morning when we went on watch only Billie was present at ST on the south window ledge and I became a bit concerned for Seth as he is pretty much always here to start my morning watch. Donna and I checked Hawkeye on our way downtown but there was nobody there. Arriving on the Andrews St. bridge about 7:45am I spotted a falcon on an antenna above the bottom arm of the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT).
I drove us over to the Hochstein School of Music parking lot where Donna spotted Beauty on the south side platform railing and DC was still on the antenna.
As you can see they were looking at something below them and we soon found out just what as first DC flew off followed by the Beautyful one.
They were tandem hunting after pigeons around FCT but they were unsuccessful. That was my first time seeing those two tandem hunt-what a thrill, and Donna was pretty excited too! I had just started taping them when they took off.
We found Beauty on the west corner top I-beam of OCSR and then after checking the OCSR elevator shaft I spotted DC from Bragdon St. over on the Elwanger & Barry building eating. We went to Corinthian St. for a front row seat as he finished his most likely cached meal.
DC took off to the north after feaking and cleaning up a bit. Donna and I decided to leave to check for Big Frank at the Medley Center and also Seneca Towers.
We were more focused on seeing Seth to ease our concerns about that battle yesterday. Beauty was on the northeast cube of FCT as we left downtown around 8:30am.
I stopped at the lower falls by the Driving Park bridge to show Donna-there were plenty of fisherman along the river fishing for salmon and we witnessed one being caught. The fall foliage is really starting to pop on the west side of the river gorge.
<Click
We saw nobody at Hawkeye, Medley Centre or Irondequoit Bay. When we arrived home to Seneca Towers Billie was still on the south window ledge and no Seth. We decided we had a better chance of seeing falcons flying from the west and/or east side balconies so that’s what we did. A check of the perimeter a while later found Billie on the northwest corner railing. Finally at 12 noon Carol reported that Seth had joined Billie on the north end window ledge. All was right with the falcon world and we were all smiling! 🙂
Click on the links below to see a couple videos
October 10th, 2015 at 3:56 PM
Thank you MAK, very happy that Seth is okay after the battle. Hopefully the other pair is okay too and have moved on. I hope Frankie is safe too.
October 10th, 2015 at 4:39 PM
We’re all very happy that Seth is ok. Hopefully Frankie will show up for somebody. They seem to have better luck in the afternoons than I do in the morning seeing her at the mall. Fingers crossed! 🙂
October 10th, 2015 at 4:56 PM
That had to be nerve wracking to see Seth have a fight with a stranger.Relieved as well that all is well.Thanks for lovely pictures today of the falcons as well as the fall pictures. Carry on with the good work MAK.
October 10th, 2015 at 7:26 PM
Thanks Diane! Yes, it was quite unsettling to see. I watched Beauty and Pigott battle for 2 days couple years ago and that was just agonizing to see. 🙂
October 11th, 2015 at 7:00 AM
One problem is we love them all…Don’t want anyone hurt.. Fingers crossed(What else CAN we do?)Thanks MAK for keeping us up to date,,..J.
October 11th, 2015 at 9:55 AM
No problem June! Each and every one of them is special. 🙂
October 11th, 2015 at 3:12 PM
Wowser, glad Seth is ok, scary this time of year, wonder if Frankie has moved on, checked at MC today on our way back from Zerpentines & Braddock Bay no sign of him
October 11th, 2015 at 3:12 PM
I meant her
October 11th, 2015 at 4:35 PM
Linda, I think Frankie is still around-maybe just changed her routine. 🙂