Four Rochester Falcons Flying on the Last Day of May – 5/31/12
By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.
Date : 5/31/12 (Thursday)
Time: 4:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Weather: Another beautiful day! Sun, a few clouds, temps in the high 60’s. What a welcome change from the sweltering heat, and humidity of the past week!
Watchers: Larry O, Barb, Kathy O, Lisa, Jeanne & Carol P.
Places: Downtown Rochester (Times Square Nestsite) (TS)
Peregrines Seen: Beauty (at TSB), Dot.ca (at TSB and maybe BS) & Pigott (at BS) and time to officially add #4 a tiercel sub-adult with black over black bands (at KP)
Beauty = B
Dot.ca = DC
Pigott = P (the female falcon formerly known as SA or Sub Adult at BS Location)
KP Tiercel = KPT (Male Sub-adult – Not ID’d yet but hopefully we’ll ID this little guy soon)
Times Square Bldg = TSB
Brighton Site = BS
Broad St Bridge = BSB
Baush & Lomb Bldg = B&L Bldg
Old Changing Scenes Restaurant = OCSR
Kodak Park aka Eastman Business Park = KP
It’s time to officially add a 4th Falcon to the Rochester Falcons family. He’s a small tiercel out at KP. I’ve found him out there twice now and there is evidence that he’s been there for awhile. I am pretty sure this is the same bird I saw last Friday, but due to the distance, I can’t be 100% sure.
Today I started my watch out at the BS location with a very active Pigott. When I first got there, she was on the east side of the building. She then flew around to the front (north side). I remained with her for awhile before heading downtown.
When I arrived downtown around 5:00 pm, Dot.ca was on the eggs and Beauty was, well somewhere. Probably in her secret place. Someday, we Watchers will figure it out. 🙂 She’s a tricky one! Larry O joined me and then Barb.
My on-line Watcher helpers were ezsha, Kris G and Ei. Thank you ladies!
It wasn’t until 6:20 pm that Beauty flew up to the TSB and landed on the platform. She remained there until 7:00 pm before letting it be known to D.C. that it was her turn to warm the eggs. He took off, flew around a bit and landed on the ladder on the Wilder Bldg, a little below the roof level. I said my goodbyes to Barb and Larry O and headed down to Aqueduct St to watch D.C. who was preening every feather he had one at a time. At 7:20 pm he finished. It was time to do some Crow chasing, and that he did. He stooped off of the Wilder Bldg and chased the Crows out over the river. I lost sight of him behind the buildings and did not see him again this evening. I decided it was time to go home after checking the BSB to make sure no other Watchers showed up. Nope.
On my way home (7:50 pm), I made my usual stop at KP and was happy to find our #4 Rochester Falcon on the east stack on a railing in front of a red door. This was the exact spot I had noticed all the white wash (aka Pefa Poop) on the stack and this falcon was in a perfect position to have caused it. He hopped over to a nearby electrical box and stayed there for awhile. I tweeted out that there was a Peregrine at KP in case anyone wanted to join me.
I decided to stay at KP until dark, just to make sure there wasn’t a 2nd falcon there. There wasn’t. At 8:15 pm, KPT (KP Tiercel) took off heading east. Strong, quick wing beats. I jumped out of my car for a better view as he went further east. Then he stooped and I lost him. Back up into my view and he circled back, but he wasn’t alone. Two Crows were following. That didn’t bother our KPT. He headed back towards the stacks and then did a “U” turn. Now he was chasing the Crows! Another “U” turn and the Crows were chasing him! Another “U” turn and he was chasing the Crows? You get the idea. He then headed back to the east stack, minus the Crows and landed on the back (north side) of the catwalk.
While I moved my car in the parking lot to get a better view, he took off and landed and took off and landed , finally on an arm that juts out from the east side of the stack and this is where he remained until I left at 9:30 pm. Before I left, Lisa McK and Kathy O joined me. It was their first time seeing him. The sun set and it got really cold, so we all decided to call it an evening.
Oh, and during our Watch, we received a tweet from Jeanne that she had 2 Falcons over at the BS location and they were vocalizing. I guess we have to assume that it was D.C. visiting Pigott.
So, FOUR Rochester Falcons seen today. A very good day indeed! This is just another good reason to keep your eyes to the sky!
