Morning Falcon Watch/Big Frank has a friend 11-10-15
By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK
Overcast, dark conditions with a temperature of 45 (F) 17 (C)
As I started out at Seneca Towers this morning I found Seth in his usual spot on the north window ledge from below in my parking lot. Once out on Seth Green Drive I spotted Billie on the west side railing.
Moving on to downtown I spotted Beauty on the Mercury money bag (MMB) and Dot.ca (DC) on the northeast cube of the Frontier Communications tower (FCT) from the Andrews St. bridge (ASB).
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I drove over to Fitzhugh St. first to check out DC and then off to the Broad St. bridge (BSB) to watch the Beautyful one.
Beauty was in hunt mode but took time out to do some stretching and a little preening.
At 7:38am Beauty took off to the south chasing pigeons over the river to Cornhill then giving up and circling back toward the east side only to disappear behind Legacy Tower.
I took a ride to the east side but didn’t find Beauty and that would be because she went over to FCT and joined DC on the northeast cube as I found them when I stopped on Fitzhugh St.
I thought I’d have a better angle from the City Hall parking lot so I went over there but it wasn’t much better. Soon after I arrived Beauty flew across to the south side of the cube.
Beauty had spotted something that intrigued her so off she went flying south at 8:06am with DC hot on her tail.
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I left for Medley Centre at that time and boy was I in for some action over there. I found a falcon on the glass peak roof and I thought it was Big Frank (BF) at first-turns out, when it flew east abruptly at 8:44am the take off shot showed no leg bands.
And then a few seconds later BF came flying from the west over my head and after the unbanded falcon (UF). They were chasing pigeons over East Ridge Rd. to the northeast of the Medley Centre mall. They gave up on the pigeons and started diving on something repeatedly north of East Ridge Rd. behind Kentucky Fried Chicken. Then they started flying over E. Ridge Rd. (no aggression toward each other observed) before the UF flew east and Frankie doubled back chasing a gull over the north parking lot and diving on it 4-5 times but pulling up at the last second as the gull flew toward the ground.
I felt like I was on safari as I drove around the empty mall parking lot trying to keep up with the action! BF gave up and flew east out of view as well. I took a trip around the mall and ended up in the north parking lot again as I spotted BF on a light pole close to the Sears store at the northeast end of the mall and the UF on the glass peak at 9am. At the time I wasn’t sure who was who so I chose to try to ID the one on the pole as it was close-however, I couldn’t keep track of the bird on the peak from there.
From one angle I could see that there was no band on the right leg but BF doesn’t have one on that leg so I still couldn’t be sure. I drove around to where I could see the left leg but it wasn’t until she stood up to fly off some 45 minutes later that I got a glimpse of the black band. Watcher Dick joined the watch a few minutes before Frankie took off.
I circled the mall one time but didn’t see anyone on the peak as I left for home. When I arrived on E. Ridge Rd. by St. Paul St. I could see Billie and Seth on either side of the northwest corner-he had his back to me on the north railing and she had a full crop on the west railing.
I opted for going over to Seth Green Dr. as it’s a smidgen closer to finish my watch sharing space with Billie and Seth.
I ended my action packed watch at 10:15am smiling big time after having seen 6 Peregrine Falcons! 🙂
Click on the links below to see today’s videos
November 10th, 2015 at 2:45 PM
What a productive “watch”this AM,good for you MAK.The falcons were cooperating!!Love the tail shots,beautiful.Thanks as always.
November 10th, 2015 at 4:09 PM
It was a fun watch as well Diane! 🙂