Today Donna returned to NJ so it was sad to have a watch without her. Come back soon, Donna! Mak put out a call for watchers and I was able to spend the day! I went to Frontier Communication Tower (FCT) first and saw him on the edge of the platform. He looked like he was nibbling on something. Thankfully, I saw him because the second I reached for my camera, he walked in to the platform and I couldn’t see him! For the next couple of hours, nothing. I began to doubt that he was there but I knew I hadn’t seen anyone fly. Sure enough, just as I was getting worried, he popped up! The FCT has many railings, some discs and a couple of platforms so it is like a jungle jim. Orion uses the railings to fly/walk fast and then goes to different areas. I “thought” he had gone down to a railing and convinced myself that his resemblance to an adult was just my imagination. Then I heard screaming and realized it was Beauty who was on the railing and Orion was above her. I love that sound (because it is from him and it also lets watchers know he is around) but Beauty did not look enthusiastic. She either looked at him or slept! Orion did his share of flapping or just extending his wings. It is an awesome sight. At one point, he just circled around the FCT and then went out a bit farther toward the Widow’s Walk. It was breathtaking. He rode on the wind– flying slowly or just hovering atop the wind current. It was hard to believe I was seeing a juvie who just fledged a week ago. I still keep fingers crossed that he will be safe but I also am in awe watching him. Carol P joined me and we were able to see him make short but dynamic flights. Through the late afternoon, we had Beauty and Dotca come in. And we had a very screechy young falcon! Many city employees stopped by to ask what was happening since FCT is across from City Hall. People are very interested in the falcons. One woman said she had seen a falcon flying earlier today and heard screaming:) One of the security guards is particularly interested and would stop by on his rounds and take a look at our falcon family.

It was nice to see both parents with our young falcon and to see him negotiate the winds. Nice to have watchers out tonight– Kathy O, Larry, Dana, Lou and Dan were out.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 9th, 2012 at 10:56 PM and is filed under Fledge Watch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.