By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Yes!  I can now officially include Orion in my Falcon Watch Report.  We had a nice view of him on the nest box perch, from the Broad St Bridge (BSB).

It was a cooler day, so I decided to head right over to the BS location after work to check on Pigott.  No such luck. I drove around the building a few times slowly, but never did find her.  Kathy O tried after I left and she also could not find her.  Not to worry though.  She had been seen multiple times over this past week.  It was time to head for Downtown to check on Beauty, Dot.ca and Orion.

When I arrived downtown around 4:00 pm, I found Beauty on the west corner of the top IBeam on the OCSR.  Dot.ca was on top of the Times Square Bldg (TSB) at the very top of the SE wing ring.

I was joined for a short visit by Debbie H who was on her way to her car.  We chatted for awhile and she told me she had seen Dan S early that morning on the bridge.

Just after Debbie left, Dot.ca took off from the top of the TSB and flew quickly to the south.  He slowed down just past the Dinosaur BBQ and started stooping on something out of my view.  Up and down, up and down.  I have a feeling a Red-tail Hawk might have been his target.  After a couple minutes, Dot.ca headed back, flew over me and landed on the base of the Mercury Statue, where he enjoyed a bit of leftovers.  I was joined first by Kathy O and then Dan S.

While Dot.ca was on Mercury, Beauty remained on the top IBeam of OCSR and Orion made an appearance on the nest box perch.  He was very visible from the BSB, even without binoculars.

While watching the falcons, we enjoyed watching the end of the American Legion parade.  I spoke to a woman who said her father was a member and that they were having the NYS American Legion convention in Rochester.  It was very nice to see.

Larry O joined us on the bridge.  Just after he arrived, D.C. and Beauty left while we weren’t looking.  It wasn’t long before Dot.ca returned and landed on top of the TSB, this time on the NE wing ring.  🙂  Beauty did not return before Kathy and I left.  We left Dan and Larry on the Broad St Bridge, while we checked on KPT at KP.  We had not luck finding him either.

Tomorrow morning at 9:00 am, we have our Fledge Watch Meeting at Aqueduct Park.  Hope it’s a good turnout!  We could sure use the help.

Oh, and one last thing.  Both Debbie H and Dan S told me what they saw early this morning.  Dan had arrived on the Broad St Bridge very early.  He loves to watch them hunt in the morning.  Around 7:15 am, Beauty went on a hunt on the south side of the TSB.  He saw a pigeon fly by and the chase was on.  Beauty stooped behind a building and Dan lost sight of them.

He didn’t have to wait long before Beauty flew back into sight carrying the pigeon.  Her hunt was successful.  She attempted to carry the pigeon up to the TSB, but it was too heavy.  Missing the landing there, she flew towards Dan and the river.  She was losing altitude, so she attempted to land on the roof of the Rochester Convention Ctr.  But the roof was steeply sloped, so off she slid still gripping her prey.  She finally landed on the RG&E bldg just north of the BSB on the edge of the river.  This isn’t a very high roof, but she was safe there.

Debbie arrived for a short visit and she and Dan watched as Beauty prepped the meal, feathers flying.  But, she wasn’t alone.  Three Crows arrived and landed on the roof with her.  They wanted their share!  Beauty was not in a sharing mood and the Crows soon gave up.  But they weren’t happy and they let the world know, CAWING their displeasure.

I always love hearing Dan’s stories about what he see’s on his early morning Watches.  I used to join him when I worked downtown and loved it.

Here are a few pics from today’s Watch and an album with a few more.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, July 21st, 2012 at 12:17 AM 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.