By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

After reading all the tweets from my fellow watchers throughout the day, I couldn’t wait to end my work day and get downtown to help with the watch.  There was a territorial battle for the downtown nesting area.  Three falcons seen.

First I want to thank my fellow watchers MAK, Kathy O, Larry O, Joyce and Brian H for keeping their eyes to the sky and reporting what they saw today.

I arrived just before 4:00 pm.  Here are the tweets that were sent in by the falcon watchers from 4:00 pm on.  It will give you an idea of what was happening during that time.

4:00 pm – ” I see no falcons from Andrews St Bridge.” – Carol P.

4:10 pm – “Downtown Falcon watch. Difficult to see through the snow. Did not see anything from Andrews St Bridge.” – Larry O.

4:20 pm – ” DT falcon report – from south ave garage haven’t seen anything since seeing one flew off north about 1/2 hour ago .. Snowing sideways up here.” – Kathy O.

4:50 pm – “Brian & Joyce checked KO and LT – nothing seen. KathyO called it a day. CP checking city again.” – Joyce and Brian

5:10 pm – “DT falcon report – just drove around KO .. Nothing” – Kathy O

5:50 pm – “I have been sitting in my car at different spots and have seen no falcons at all. This snow sleet mix will probably keep them hunkered down.” – Carol P.

6:00 pm – “On the BSB. No birds flying. Pigeons have all gone to roost. Will stay on watch til 630 pm.” – Carol P.

6:10 pm – “Pigott is on the NW extension west side windows next to column 2 floors down.” – Joyce

6:20 pm – “Finally! One falcon on OCSR TOP Ibeam NW side near west corner.” – Carol P.

6:40 pm – ” 2 falcons at BS. 1 still on the window same location, the other flew into the scrape echupping.” – Joyce

6:40 pm – ” I do think it was B. She took off before I could get my scope out to verify. She flew over the TSB hovering there then headed DT.” – Carol P.

6:50 pm – “Both came off bldg separately and flew around. After watching both in flight, it was the male on the window and P? in the scrape.” – Joyce

7:00 pm – “Both no longer on the building. Both banded. Have no idea who is who. I’ll try to do some comparisons when I get home, but have no computer.” – Joyce

7:00 pm – “Cant be sure but I do think this is Ms Beauty gracefully patrolling her territory from above. I believe she landed on the south side of B&L” – Carol P.

7:10 pm – “BS: One returned to same window on NW side then flew to P’a night roost NE inside corner 4 floors down. Has ti be P.” – Joyce

7:11 pm – ” BS: Tiercel doing display flying. Harrassed a gull that came too close to building. At first I thought not another falcon.” – Joyce

7:20 pm – “Leaving B I think somewhere on B&L. All quiet finally. Heading home for some dinner.” – Carol P.

7:20 pm – “BS: one PEFA settled in on inside NE extension, now 5 floors down & 2nd PEFA on NW extension outer end 2 floors down on single window. Nite.” – Joyce

At the end, Joyce and I had 3 falcons, two at BS and one downtown that I am almost positive was Beauty.

I started my watch before 4:00 pm, but it wasn’t until 6:20 pm that I saw a falcon.  I drove around the downtown area and sat in my car in different locations, hoping to see a falcon.  Finally I did.  From the Andrews St Bridge, I spotted a falcon on the OCSR on the NW side top Ibeam.  This was a larger falcon, so based on size and behavior, I do believe it was Beauty.

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Did I mention that the weather had taken a turn for the worst?  It was snowing and sleeting the whole time I was on watch and it still is as I write this.  This made it hard to see and take pictures.  But I thought a few bad pics were better than none.  lol

Beauty took off and hovered over the Cross Rds Bldg,   She then circled the Times Square Bldg, turned towards the east and headed towards Xerox.  I saw Beauty floating above the Xerox bldg for a few moments.  She then headed towards the Chase Lincoln bldg. and past it, back to the OCSR.  I drove over to the Broad St Bridge and parked just in time to see her repeat this flight path, again heading in front of the Chase Lincoln bldg and between the Xerox and B&L bldgs.  I watched her do some stooping maneuvers between the buildings and then she was high above Xerox again.  This time she stooped down to the B&L bldg and it looked like she landed on the SW side where I could not see her.

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It was good to see her patrolling her territory and flying extremely well, after what went on this morning and afternoon.  At the same time I was watching Beauty checking things out, Joyce was at the BS location with two banded falcons, Pigott and a tiercel.  Joyce will check her pictures to see if she can ID the male.

I was loosing what little light I had and it was still sleeting and snowing, so at 7:20 pm I decided to call it a watch and so did Joyce.  I left Beauty somewhere on the B&L bldg and Joyce left Pigott and a banded tiercel at the BS location.  Three Rochester Peregrine Falcons seen during our watch.

Here’s hoping that tomorrow will be a more peaceful day for the Rochester falcons!  Goodnight everyone!

This entry was posted on Monday, March 18th, 2013 at 10:44 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.