By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

There was actually a little bit of sun during my watch today.  It was 30 degrees (F), but with sun, it was nice and warm inside my car.  I think this is the first time there was sun and no snow in quite a long time.  Before heading downtown after work, I first checked KP and LT.  No Falcons found.  Next stop downtown.

I was driving down Plymouth Ave, the road on the west side of the Frontier Communication Tower, heading south, I had to stop at one of the lights.  While I was waiting for the light to change to green, I noticed clumps of feathers falling around me.  The last time this happened, I found Unity eating on a building just above where I was parked.  So what was causing this falling feather phenomenon this time?  I circled the area, and the only thing I could find was prey on top of the church near City Hall.  I’ve seen falcons up there before.

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Looked like a pigeon wing and it looked fresh.  Was this leftovers from an earlier meal, left there by Beauty?  But that didn’t explain the feathers falling around my car while I was stopped at the stop light.  A mystery for sure.  Time to find Beauty.

After parking my car on the Broad St. Bridge (BSB), I found Beauty on the OCSR, top IBeam, NW side.  She had her back to me, so I couldn’t be sure it was Beauty at first.

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After awhile, Beauty turned around, pooped and took off, in that order.  lol  She flew around a little bit and ended up on the raised money bag hand on the Mercury statue.

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She stayed there for quite awhile.  It looked like she had a very large crop.  While I was watching her, Joyce texted that she and MAK were at the BS location and that Pigott was there on the west end.  I decided to stay with Beauty until the sun went down.  Which doesn’t take long this time of year.

Eventually, Beauty took off from the Mercury statue and flew over the river heading NE.  A small flock of approximately 25 pigeons took flight over the very crazy looking apartments on the corner of Andrews St and St Paul.  She lazily shadowed them from above.  Beauty finally broke off from the flock and headed west towards the Times Square Bldg (TSB).  I lost her behind the surrounding buildings.  After about 10 minutes of waiting, she returned to the OCSR, top IBeam, west end.

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Just as I was getting ready to leave at 5:35 pm, Beauty decided to take off.  I did not see what direction she took, so I again checked out the downtown area to see if I could find her.  When I arrived back at the Broad St Bridge, Beauty had returned to the same spot she left, the west end of the top IBeam on the OCSR.  She does this a lot.

It was peaceful and quiet, so it was time for me to head home.  Both Beauty and Pigott had been seen today and both remained by themselves.

On the way out, I stopped one last time at the church near City Hall.  There was absolutely nothing on top of the cross.  The pigeon wing was gone!  Guess we’ll never know what happened to it.  Goodnight everyone and as always, please remember to click on any pics you would like to see in a larger format.

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