By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was 31 (F) -1 (C) and clear as I left for my watch this morning. They called for sun this morning with clouds moving in this afternoon.

Upon arriving on the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) I could see Beauty at the nestbox and UT flying around the Thomson Reuters building. UT flew to the Crossroads building  and landed on the southeast corner.

He took off after something over by the Widows Walk (WW) and turned up a minute or so later by the Times Square building (TSB). UT flew across in front of the nest box which drew Beauty out of the nest box as she flew out and up under the southeast wing.

UT continued flying off to the east and Beauty soon flew off to the north. 15 minutes later I spotted UT tearing up the sky in the TSB area going up and down Exchange St. between the buildings from Main St. to Broad St. and behind the TSB. He landed under the northwest wing of the TSB for only seconds and continued to give me an aerial display zipping in and out and around the buildings. I am not used to such energy and activity from a falcon but I have no problem with getting used to it if he stays here!

I met up with DebbieH on her way to work by the stairs on Broad St. which we call Falcon Watcher Central around 7:50am. She said she saw Beauty go to the nest box and UT on the OCSR elevator shaft as she walked across the BSB coming from where she parked her car in the South Ave. garage. As we were speaking we spotted UT fly behind the TSB heading south toward the jail. Debbie left and I decided to go to Plymouth Ave. which is where the jail is located to have a look/see. When I got to the intersection at Broad and Plymouth Debbie was pointing to the sky where UT was flying. Deb went to work as we lost him to the east and I left to check the Brighton Site (BS).

As I pulled in the driveway at BS I saw a falcon circling above the building. When I got to the back of the building to park there were 2 flying and one was smaller telling me it was a male- immediately the adrenalin kicked in. Was this Dot.Ca returning from migration,was it BST returning from wherever he went or was it a falcon migrating thru. They kept flying back and forth between the front and the back (south side) of the building and I could hear lots of echupping. One of them landed on the silver rooftop structure at the tippy top of the building. I’d never seen any other falcon up there so I thought perhaps it was the male.

The distinct heart shape on the mustache made me think it was DC but without a look at the legs for a band there’s no way of knowing for sure. This falcon flew off after half a minute or so toward the front (north side) of the building and I couldn’t see either one of them.

Unfortunately my take off shot wasn’t clear enough to see if there were any leg bands. Pigott then resurfaced landing on the south side vent echupping very loudly.

She took off and then I saw a falcon land on the west extension northwest corner and again on my little LCD camera screen I saw a distinct heart shape on the side of the face and in the bright sunshine the chest looked very white. Turns out it was Pigott which shows how much a role the lighting plays when observing these falcons. Even Beauty can look very white in bright sunshine.

Notice in the 1st pic the mustache looks heart shaped and the 2nd not so much.

Pigott took off flying north out of view and I didn’t see the male or her again. I returned to downtown half hour later as I was concerned that if it was DC he might be doing battle with UT. Arriving  a little past the 9 o’clock hour just in time to see a falcon fly to the nest box. I took a pic and looked at it to see who it was and upon seeing a heart shape on this falcon I thought DC and tweeted it out! I apologize for any angst or excitement I caused anyone. I then texted Donna for an ID from the cams and she informed me it was UT.

I wish to thank Donna,Ei and Shaky for the assistance they give us out in the field-I truly appreciate it!  I also asked Donna if UT was seen at the nest box while I was at BS so we could rule out him as the male with Pigott. She confirmed that it couldn’t have been UT. While on the south side of the BSB I couldn’t help but notice the raging river below. I videotaped it as I don’t recall ever seeing the water so high.

At around 9:25am Beauty and UT were at the nest box bowing and when they were finished he shot out of the nest box flying east. There was a college event at the Rochester International Convention Center this morning and the BSB,Main St. Bridge and South Ave. were jam packed with parked school buses. On the BSB they were double parked on the north side and getting around was not an easy task.

I went to the Court St. bridge to get away from the busy bus areas and spotted UT on top of the OCSR elevator shaft about an hour after I last saw him.  Beauty was still at the nest box so to get a closer look I parked by the Radisson Hotel to observe UT.

Just before 10:30am UT took off flying northeast quickly leaving my field of vision. Beauty was now gone from the nest box and a few minutes later UT showed up at the nest box. I decided to go back to BS to check at this time but no falcons were there so I returned to downtown. As I approached downtown on Exchange St. I could see a falcon on the base of Mercury so I swung  down Court St. to see who it was but after just one bad pic it took off.

At about 11:ooam Donna and Ei confirmed that Beauty and UT were at the nest box for a bonding session. When I got back from looking for them a couple minutes later I saw UT leave and fly northwest from where I was parked in the hole (Aqueduct St.). He returned 10 minutes later flying around the TSB with Beauty still at the nest box. I decided all was quiet and ended my watch. Keep smiling everyone for with all the Peregrine Falcon activity in Rochester these days there is lots to be happy about! 🙂

Click on the links below to view more pics and videos from my watch

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWrYQg

http://youtu.be/JsbJsLjfGSM
http://youtu.be/jeRvilh15TM
http://youtu.be/qw7cj17Ocv4
http://youtu.be/qX8Li67efok
http://youtu.be/9WErgH22GLo

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 13th, 2013 at 4:47 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.