By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a sunny morning with blue skies and a starting temperature of 59 (F) 15 (C)

Click on the pics to see the full version

I began my watch at 6:45am in the Northridge Church parking lot at the intersection of St. Paul Street and East Ridge Road.  I could see Seth on the top window ledge at the north end of Seneca Towers. He was very alert and seemingly in hunt mode. A woman was walking her dog and stopped to ask what I was looking at and while I spoke to her, Seth left. I waited a couple minutes for his return to no avail so I headed for downtown.

While stopped at the traffic light on State St. near the inner loop I spotted Dot.ca (DC) flying to the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) so I turned right and parked in the City Hall lot. DC was on a cross beam on the north side and then I noticed movement on the east side of FCT where Beauty was perched with her back to me.

The Beautyful one was whining on and off and while she was preening DC flew off and returned to land on the northeast cube. They both look to be in good condition as they near the end of their molt. I observed Beauty as she pulled out one small, white down feather.

DC let out a whine of his own before stooping off to the northwest only to return and land on the large drum with nothing to show for his efforts.

He wasn’t there for long when he flew back to the tower landing under the southeast cube. During that time Beauty moved in to a another beam next to where she had been.

I left them preening on the FCT and headed over to the Court St. bridge to check on the scene there. Last time I was on watch I said I would video tape the area behind the Dinosaur Grill where the walkway is being built and surrounding area so make sure to check it out at the end of my report. The Genesee River is very low exposing all the flats where gulls and ducks are enjoying the calm waters. Looking north I spotted a couple cormorants and a Great Blue Heron through the opening below the Broad St. bridge.

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Now for the highlight of my watch. I walk watcher, Jeanne’s dog, Bella 3 times a week and since she lives right around the corner, I check the Brighton Site (BS) each time for falcons but I don’t usually have my camera or binoculars. Well today I did have my equipment and when watcher, Larry tweeted that he saw a falcon at BS I went over there post haste. I’ve seen a falcon there the last couple times I checked so I was anxious to get a good look this morning. I’ve determined that this is an adult female based on size and she has no leg bands. She was on the top window of the east extension in the corner where it meets the south extension.

She had her back to me at first and then she acted like she wanted to hop across to the east face window across from her. She spread her wings then turned around and walked along the window ledge. She has a salmon colored upper chest and white above her cere-she appears to be in good condition.

A blue jay and a couple starlings grabbed her attention for minute before she flew across to the opposite window-she went to the shaded side of it and once again showed me her back.

I left at that point to walk Bella and afterwards I checked Hawkeye, Seneca Towers and the Medley Center mall in Irondequoit with no luck finding any falcons. I ended my watch at 9:45am smiling after a successful watch in which I saw 4 Peregrine Falcons! 🙂

Click on the links below to view today’s videos

https://youtu.be/W07kXflNpyQ

https://youtu.be/1nOC4pHCbwU

This entry was posted on Friday, September 15th, 2017 at 4:38 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.