By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Wow!  Can this really be the last day of 2012?  So much happened this year, good and bad.  But in the end, one young eyas flourished in front of our eyes.  We were all saddened by the loss of Unity and Archer earlier this year, but happy that Beauty’s injuries healed and that she was able to return to Rochester to raise young Orion along with her new mate Dot.ca.

Next year is an unknown.  Beauty has remained here in Rochester and so has Pigott.  A new, unbanded tiercel has been hanging out with Pigott at the BS location. 2013 will definitely be a very interesting year.  Stay tuned.

I had quite a nice afternoon watch today with all three current Rochester Falcons.  Here is my last report of 2013.

My tweets, along with the tweets of the Rochester Watchers that  do not post their own reports:

11:30 am (Carol P) – “BS. After seeing Mak DT I decided to head over to the BS location to visit with the very handsome BST who is still on the same window.” – Beauty was on the to I-beam of the OCSR, north side.

12:00 pm (Carol P) – “BS. BST left without a sound in stealth mode!”

12:10 pm (Carol P) – “BS. BST has returned.”

12:30 pm (Carol P) – “BS. BST just started kakking and tore around to the front of the bldg. He is not happy with the noisy crows!”

12:30 pm (Carol P) – “BS. There was a falcon in the tree in the south side. Just as I was going to take a pic it tore off low to the east!”

12:50 pm (Carol P) – “BS. No falcons have returned yet. Larry and Harold have joined me.” – Harold is Larry’s new dog.

1:10 pm (Carol P) – “BS. No falcons have returned yet. Larry and Harold have joined me.”

1:30 pm (Carol P) – ” BS. P&BST here now. All 3 Roch Pefas seen today! Just saw tandem hunting as 1st P then BST went after a pigeon.”

1:51 pm (Brian H) – “RTH on top of Monroe Square, formerly Sears bldg.  Cool!  I’ll keep looking as I wander

2:00 pm (Carol P) – “DT. On my way home via DT. Miss B is up on the TSB at base of NE wing.”

2:30 pm (Carol P) – “At KP for a end of year look. No falcons seen.”

2:30 pm (Brian H) – “Short Wander today.  Too much slush for me.  Hawk was gone.  No other raptors spotted.”

3:50 pm (Lisa McK) – “At BS, found 2 falcons.  1 on NE  corner of east extension.  1 tucked in on the window sill on SE side of east extension.”

4:00 pm (Lisa McK) – “Found the little gray screech owl again.  Happy New Year’s everyone.”

4:30 pm (Larry O) – “BS Falcon watch. Both Falcons on east extension.”

4:40 pm (Larry O) – “BS Falcon watch. BST did what appeared to be a quick stoop to the north, but broke it off quickly, and flew back to the extension.”

4:40 pm (Larry O) – “BS Falcon watch. BST flew around to the north face of the East extension and it against the window sill.” – I’m pretty sure Larry saw BST go to the nighttime roost.

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Although it was bitter cold and the wind was blowing the snow around, the sun was bright.  Perfect for a winter falcon watch.

I decided to check out Beauty first, so I headed downtown arriving around 11:30 am.  My first stop is usually always the Andrews St Bridge (ASB).  On my way, I passed MAK who was also checking on Beauty.  We both ended up on the ASB and after spotting Beauty on the top IBeam of the OCSR, NE side, we had a nice chat before splitting up.  MAK was going to get closer for a few more pics of Beauty and I decided to head to the BS location.

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By noon, I was parked and watching BST on a windowsill under the tree ledge on the east end of the building.  He was very actively watching everything around him, head continuously turning back and forth.

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BST (the unbanded tiercel at the BS location) took off and returned to the tree ledge on the east side.

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At 12:30 pm, BST started to KAK KAK KAK!  I looked around, but all I could hear was the loud CAWing of the neighborhood Crows.  BST was not happy with them.  He took off and tore around to the front of the building (north side).  I waited to see if he would return, but he didn’t.  I checked out the area and found a Peregrine in the same tree in the south side woods that Dana and I saw Pigott awhile ago.  Just as I was going to take a picture, the falcon took off, flying fast and low heading east.  I am not sure if this was BST or Pigott.  I parked my car where I had a good view of the east side of the building and was soon joined by Larry O and his new dog Harold.

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I left Larry and Harold and took a ride heading east.  I really wanted to know where P&BST were headed when they flew in that direction.  I was stopped at a red light when I spotted a falcon heading back in flying towards the BS location.  I turned around and headed back, finding a falcon on the NE corner.  This Peregrine was kind enough to show me her banded legs.  Yep, it was Pigott.  She had finally returned.

At 1:30 pm, Pigott took off heading east, this time chasing a Pigeon.  BST came off of the SE side of the building (I didn’t know he had returned) and followed Pigott as she chased the Pigeon into the tree line.  Neither had luck catching the Pigeon.  I had witnessed my first tandem hunt between Pigott & BST!

Pigott landed back on the NE corner and BST landed on the tree ledge on the SE corner.  That is where I left them at 1:45 pm.

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On my way home, I drove through the downtown area looking for Beauty.  She was pretty easy to see up on the NE corner of the Times Square bldg at the base of the NE wing.

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I was very happy to end my last watch of 2012 after seeing all three current Rochester Falcons.  Happy New Year everybody!

I just have to leave you with one more picture I took today.  It’s a picture I love to get, 2nd only to the take-off shot.  Remember to click on any picture to see a larger version.  Bottoms up from Pigott! 🙂

This entry was posted on Monday, December 31st, 2012 at 9:40 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.