By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

(Be sure to click on the pics to see the full size.)

I and other watchers have been out most days, keeping an eye on our 3 young tiercels, Jupiter, Lakota and Phoenix.  Over this past week they’ve been tearing up the sky above downtown Rochester.

Today was no exception.  When I arrived downtown, I found Beauty on the north end of the Cross Rds Bldg and Phoenix on the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT).

<— Beauty on Cross Rds Bldg.

<— Phoenix on FCT.

I made my way over to City Hall where I found a parking spot with a great view of Phoenix.  He was in total hunt mode, watching everything that moved.  His head was in constant motion.

He took off, chasing a Robin over the City Hall Roof and back towards FCT. Mid-flight, he broke it off and ended up chasing a pigeon towards City Place.  He was right on their tails, so close to a successful hunt.  The pigeon landed and Phoenix returned to the Frontier Comm Twr.

It wasn’t long before he took off again, chasing pigeons and landing on the church just north of FCT.

<— Phoenix on church roof.

Phoenix took off again, heading west.  I could hear loud kakking, but couldn’t figure out where it was coming from.  Finally, I spotted Phoenix flying and swooping over a building (we’ll call it the owl bldg.) to the west.  He was going after the two fake owls on the roof.  Back and forth, kak kak kak!  It make me laugh, watching this young falcon defend his territory.

After beating those dastardly plastic owls, Phoenix returned to FCT.

<— Phoenix on FCT.

Dana joined me and we settled in to watch Phoenix’s attempts at hunting.  If he hasn’t already had a successful hunt, he’s very close.

<— Phoenix on FCT.

After awhile, Phoenix took off, heading east.  We waited for awhile, but he did not return.

<— Phoenix heading east.

Joyce joined us, and we all met on the Court St. Bridge.  Dana had spotted Beauty on top of the Jail Communication Tower.  Beauty took off and flew over us, heading towards Xerox.

We chatted for awhile, but saw no further falcon activity.  So, we split up to search the area.

I found Beauty on the north side of Xerox.

<— Beauty on Xerox.

Dana tweeted that she had three juvies playing on City Place.  I got there just in time to see them all go in different directions.  Jupiter settled on FCT.

<— Jupiter on FCT.

While Dana and I were watching Jupiter, we saw an adult, probably Beauty do a food transfer to Lakota and Phoenix.  They ended up over by Widows Walk (WW).

<— Food Transfer Adult to two Juvies.

Jupiter took off and headed in that direction, and so did we.  I found Lakota on the north side of WW, lower ledge with food.  Dana found both Jupiter and Phoenix up on the west end, back of the Times Square Bldg.

<— Lakota with food on WW.

It didn’t take Lakota long to finish his meal.

<— Lakota on WW.

Joyce joined us.  It started to rain and Lakota took off.  He joined his brothers on the back of the Times Square Bldg.  It was great seeing all three brothers together.

<— l-r Lakota, Jupiter and Phoenix

It was time to end my morning watch.  🙂

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 21st, 2019 at 9:49 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.