By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

After two days of non-stop flying, UT, the unbanded Tiercel, relaxed just a bit on this beautiful Sunday afternoon.  Don’t get me wrong, there was still a lot of activity, but he and Beauty just seemed more settled this afternoon.

Watchers out during my watch included Kathy O, Dana, Dan, Joyce and John (a 1st time Watcher).

When I first arrived, I joined Kathy O down on Aqueduct St, aka the hole.  The weather people promised temps near 60 degrees, but it took awhile for it to warm up.  It was downright damp and chilly for the first couple hours of the watch.  Beauty and UT spent most of their time either in or on the nest box or on the Times Square Building (TSB) itself during that time.

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This was UT’s 3rd day here.  The last tiercel that visited only stayed for 24 hours.

He has been landing in so many different locations.

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What I’m trying to say is, if you are downtown looking for UT, he could be anywhere!  lol

First UT and then Beauty took off, both heading NW.  Kathy and I drove over to the Andrews St Bridge and checked out the area from there.  After searching the sky for awhile, we saw both B&UT flying over the Xerox Bldg.  They both headed west, towards the Times Square Bldg.  Beauty was in the lead, UT following.  Then UT put on the afterburners and wooshed past Beauty, veering towards us, heading north.  Right above us, UT intersected the flight path of a smaller falcon, a Kestrel.  He stooped repeatedly on the Kestrel, which finally escaped and hastily retreated north down the river and over the Genesee Brewery.  UT turned back and joined Beauty on the Times Square Bldg.  The more I watch his flying abilities, the more I am amazed by him.

Afternoon, Kathy O and I were joined by Dana.  We then found Dan on the south side of the Broad St Bridge.

We were soon joined by Joyce and John, a first time Watcher who decided to join us.  Welcome John!  Glad you came out today.

Beauty landed on the base of Mercury, while UT was on the south end of the Cross Rds Bldg.

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She stayed there for a very long time, preening, while UT remained at the nest box.

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We kept hoping he would join Beauty on Mercury.  Finally after a really long time, lol, UT flew off of the nest box towards Beauty.  All we saw was UT fly up to her and off again heading west.  Although I can’t be 100 % sure, I’m pretty sure it was a missed copulation attempt.  Beauty then took off and headed in the same direction that UT had gone.

Kathy, Dana and I walked down to Aqueduct St (the hole) to look for Beauty and UT.  We found UT on the NW corner of the Widow’s Walk and Beauty on the north side back extension of the Times Square Bldg.  This is a place that Dot.ca favored during the summer.  It was nice and shady there on hot summer days.

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Both flew off again, UST first this time, with Beauty following.  They flew to the west behind the buildings located there.  Every now and then, we would see a falcon fly between the buildings, but we weren’t sure what they were after.  Both returned to the TSB.  We were standing on the street on the other side of the TSB when Beauty flew up to the nest box and out again.

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We walked back to the Broad St Bridge to join the other Watchers.  Joyce and John were still there, but Dan had to leave.  We chatted for awhile and then Kathy, Dana and I said our goodbyes.  It had been a long day, which finally had warmed up to 60 degrees and a bit of sunshine.  I’ll take that any winter day!

Oh, and before Joyce joined us, she had visited with Pigott at the BS location, where she (Pigott) was by herself.  All was quiet there.

I’ll leave you with a few pictures from my watch.  Happy Sunday everyone and goodnight!

As always, if you would like to see any pictures larger, all you have to do is click on them.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, March 10th, 2013 at 11:51 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.