By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

*Be sure to click on any pictures to enlarge them.*

It was a beautiful, end of Winter, Sunday morning.  Lots of sun and blue sky.  A wonderful day for a falcon watch.

I left my house at about 8:30 am and first checked out the DSS and BS locations.  I had no luck finding a falcon at either.  Yesterday, Joyce and Brian H had reported seeing an unbanded juvie Peregrine Falcon at the Brighton Site.

On my way downtown, fellow watcher Larry O, was texting that he was watching Dot.ca hunting from the top of the Times Square Bldg.  He also had Beauty at the nest box.  By the time I arrived and parked on the Court St Bridge (CSB), Larry was gone.  But, Dot.ca was still up on top of the Times Square Bldg (TSB) on the SW wing ring.  I could not find Beauty.

<— DC hunting from the top of the wings on the Times Square Bldg.

I moved down to the “hole” (aka Aqueduct St.), where I had a nice view of DC and the nest box.  At 9:24 am, Dot.ca took off and flew down to the nest box, where Beauty joined him.

<— Beauty and Dot.ca meet at the TSB nest box.

While Beauty watched from the platform, Dot.ca entered the nest box and did some scraping.  Ten minutes later, Dot.ca flew out of the nest box and ended up on the ledge under the NE wing, which was directly above.  Beauty took a turn doing some pre-egg preparation on their scrape.

<— Dot.ca on the NE wing ledge.

An hour later, they both remained where they were.  The pigeons were quite active during this time, flying here and there.  Dot.ca watched with interest from above.

<— The neighbors.

I had a nice view of Beauty, when she moved out of the nest box.  At this point, all was very quiet and peaceful.

<— Beauty and Dot.ca on the Times Square Bldg.

Ten minutes later, Dot.ca took off when I wasn’t looking.  I had no idea where he went.  Beauty remained in front of the nest box, throwing her head back every few seconds, attempting to rid herself of a pellet.

At 11:00 am, Dot.ca returned, carrying a food gift for Beauty.  It was a small, dark bird.  Beauty vocalized her approval quite loudly and grabbed DC’s offering.  She took off and landed with it on the SW corner of the Wilder Bldg.  Feathers were flying almost immediately.

<— Dot.ca brings a food gift to Beauty at the nest box.

Dot.ca remained at the nest box, patiently waiting for Beauty to finish her meal.

<— Dot.ca on TSB and Beauty on Wilder.

It took Beauty only 15 minutes to finish.  She turned towards the TSB and vocalized to Dot.ca above.

<— Beauty finished her meal.

Dot.ca was quickly off!  He flew to Beauty and mated with her on the corner of the Wilder Bldg.

<— Beauty and Dot.ca mate on the Wilder Bldg.

Afterwards, Dot.ca took off leaving Beauty on Wilder.  I have no idea where he ended up.

It was time for me to end my watch.  I left Beauty, soaking up the sun on a cold, winter morning.  Spring will be here before we know it!

<— Beauty on Wilder.

On my way home, I did check out Seneca Towers from Maplewood Park.  I was not able to find either Billie or Seth.  But I wasn’t worried, since MAK had reported seeing both of them this morning.

I’ll leave you with a falcon mute! 🙂

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 18th, 2018 at 2:47 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.