Playing Tag with Sundara! – Sunday Morning – 7/29/18
By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.
*Please be sure to click on any pictures to see the full image.*
I’ve been searching for juvies this past week and seeing very little of them. When I have, it’s been at a far distance and I haven’t been able to positively ID them. Today, at 6:30 am, as I passed by the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT), I heard the very familiar and much missed wailing of a juvenile Peregrine Falcon. It’s like a siren song to the falcon watchers. I first spotted an adult on the middle arm. It was Beauty.
Finally, I found the source of this beloved sound. There was a juvie eating on the FCT below the platform. I was even able to see the 90 black/green BA band on the left leg. Yes! It was Sundara! I hadn’t seen her in such a long time.
I drove over to the south side of FCT to see if I could get a better look.
Beauty took off, heading east and Sundara followed. Sundara soon returned, landing on the middle arm of FCT.
She moved over to the other side of the arm and I moved back over to the City Hall parking lot.
Sundara took off again, this time heading south and returned a few moments later. This time landing on the east side of FCT below the platform. I found a nice picnic table and settled in for a Sundara watch. 🙂
I was really enjoying the cool temps and bright sunshine, sipping my coffee and watching the parking lot fill up with early morning churchgoers. It was a beautiful morning, spent watching a beautiful girl!
We stayed in each others company for quite awhile, before she took off, again heading south. I looked over at Kodak and saw that Dot.ca was on the NW corner of the playground netting. He took off on a hunt and ended up on the east side.
I was off again, in search of Sundara. Love playing tag with the falcons!
As I drove down to Aqueduct St (aka “the hole”), I spotted a small head up on the platform of Rochester’s Mercury statue.
It was Sundara and she was wailing again. A perfect clue that this was a juvie and not one of the adults.
Soon after I arrived, she took off again, heading northwest. I caught up with her quickly. She was up on the SE corner of the railing on top of the Powers building and she wasn’t alone. She was there with an adult, who had passed over food that she was now mantling.
After parking my car in the hole, I took a walk over to the Powers Bldg where I had a very nice view of Sundara eating her 2nd breakfast of the day.
Sundara quickly finished eating and got down to a good preen. It was time to make herself pretty. lol
Soon she was on her way again. She flew behind the Cross Rds Bldg and ended up on top of the OCSR roof on the south side corner.
About 10 minutes later, Sundara flew around the back of OCSR. I did not see her come out either side, so I figured she landed over on the northside, in the shade.
I was right! From the Andrews St Bridge (ASB), I saw that she was now on the top of the OCSR on the northside corner. Here’s a view of what I could see from the ASB.
Before I ended my watch just before 9 am, Sundara had moved from the corner, walking towards the west corner. She was gone from view when I left.
I ended my watch with a quick check of the Kodak Tower, hoping to find a falcon there. No such luck. But, I did find a bit of road that had been dug up, exposing the bricks that once paved an old road. I really enjoy seeing stuff like this. 🙂
On my way home, I stopped by Maplewood Park for a quick look at Seneca Towers. From there, I could see one falcon sitting on the westside railing. I was too far away to ID this falcon. All was quiet and peaceful here. A nice way to end my Sunday morning watch.
This was one of my favorite pictures of Sundara from this morning. She’s looking skyward. Sundara would soon master the sky and hopefully find a mate of her own and raise children. We do love to hear about our young ones after they leave Rochester. Fair winds Sundara, Letchworth and Mike.
July 29th, 2018 at 2:47 PM
Nice favorite pic, but Sundara had you fooled. She just pretended to be looking up. Her eye is rolled back looking at you. Glad to know juvies are still showing up.
July 29th, 2018 at 2:52 PM
Looking at Sundara on FCT…does she still have down under her wing? Wouldn’t it be gone by now?
July 29th, 2018 at 5:10 PM
She was probably looking for mom and dad and a 3rd breakfast. lol 🙂 Not sure about the fluff. Maybe it takes awhile to get rid of every bit of it.
August 5th, 2018 at 3:09 PM
We need a falcon fan to move into Seneca Towers again:-)
As I read about you moving from place to place to follow Sundara, I think how clumsy it is to have to keep getting in and out of a big automobile, not to mention finding a spot to park. Falcon watching seems to be the ideal use for one of those electric scooters that are taking so many cities by a storm these days. 20 mph with zero parking problems would seem to fit the bill.