From Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I decided to go out for a Falcon Watch even though rain was heading our way. On my way to downtown, I pass Kodak Park, so I checked there first. No luck finding Unity.

When I go downtown, I have a certain route I take to check out all the different areas we are used to seeing Beauty. Kodak Office is my first stop and I didn’t need to go further this time. There she was. Beauty was on the NE corner of what the Watchers call the launch pad, which is above where the old nest box was located. You can still see netting covering the playpen area. The playpen is the level just below the old nest box. It was called the playpen because very often some of the eyases would find their way down there. It was a safe area that allowed them to run and flap their wings under the watchful eye of their parents.

I drove over to the street on the east side of the tower next to the condos that were built over what used to be the Kodak Visitor’s parking lot. This area has changed so much.

It started to rain and I was joined for a short time by Joyce and her dad Herb who was visiting from Florida. It was very nice meeting him. We stood in the rain, until it started to turn to ice pellets. Joyce and her dad had to leave, so I got back into my car to warm up and dry off and continue my Watch.

As I watched, Beauty sprinted across to the SE corner of the launch pad. Have you ever seen a Peregrine run before? Well, it’s pretty hilarious. They may be the fastest creature on the earth, but they were not made for running on those big yellow feet! lol

She picked up a small piece of leftover prey she must have cached there. It didn’t take her long to finish and obviously she was still hungry. She took off and flew around the tower, again landing on the NE corner of the launch pad. I was taking video at this time and watched her walk back out of sight. It wasn’t long before she returned dragging a large wing portion of what looked like it came from a pigeon.

On the NE corner of the launch pad, she started to pluck feathers and eat her fill. She is definitely using the Kodak Tower to cache food and eat her meals.

After finishing her lunch, she settled in to preen, stretch, doze and poop. Ah, the life of a Peregrine Falcon. 🙂

About a 1/2 hour later, she again took off, this time flying around the north side of the tower where I lost sight of her. I drove around to the north and found her on the NW corner of the launch pad. It was time for me to leave.

On the way home, I made one more stop at KP to look for Unity. She was again absent. I had seen her on Christmas Eve, so I knew she was still visiting this area. It was just sometimes hard to find her.

Kathy O, Joyce and her dad joined me for a short while, before we all headed home.

I wanted to share two videos I took of Beauty eating on the Kodak Tower. Sorry for the quality of the video. Just click on these two Youtube links.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGxdVrnlhtY&list=UUkL-m83o7PVaDyTQPEbi-aw&index=2&feature=plcp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGFQd3u-v9M&list=UUkL-m83o7PVaDyTQPEbi-aw&index=1&feature=plcp

Enjoy!
Carol P.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 28th, 2011 at 10:30 PM and is filed under Falcon Watch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.