By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

My part of the Rochester Falcon Watch was all about aggression.  But by the end of the day….well, let’s just say there was a change in behavior that surprised all of us.  Now for my part of the watch.

It started at about 10:30 am.  I arrived on the Andrews St Bridge in time to see Dot.ca chasing Beauty all over the downtown area.  This was just the beginning of what I would witness during my 6 1/2 hour watch.  Due to a show at the convention center, there was no where to park on the Broad St Bridge during the time I was there.  I ended up on Aqueduct St aka the hole.  From there, I could see both Dot.ca on the Mercury statue’s moneybag hand and Beauty was on the 2nd IBeam down near the south corner on the OCSR.

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Both had their eyes on the other.  After all the flying and chasing they did before I arrived, they were both taking a breather.

11:35 am – They were both off!  The chase continued.  Beauty flew up into the nest box and Dot.ca did a few passes in front of her before ending up on the SE wing ledge at the top of the Times Square Bldg (TSB).

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11:45 am – Dot.ca left the TSB and flew down to the Mercury statue, landing on the moneybag hand.

11;50 am – Beauty came out of the nest box.  This time it was her turn.  She flew straight at Dot.ca and knocked him off of the Mercury statue.  Beauty chased Dot.ca across the river heading NE.  I lost them pretty quickly after they flew behind the Hyatt.  When they didn’t return, I drove around looking for them.

From the Andrews St Bridge, I could see that Dot.ca had returned to the Mercury statue.

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At that point Brian H had joined the Watch.  He was up on the South Ave ramp garage and texted that Beauty was on the top Ibeam of the OCSR at the south corner.  Back I went, to Aqueduct St.

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At 12:40 pm, Dot.ca again took off and flew towards the OCSR where he dove on her a few times before gaining altitude and flying high above the TSB.  I lost sight of him, but Brian H reported that he flew south past the Cornhill area.  We both thought he might have headed back to the BS location.  Lisa McK had joined me and we both decided to join Dana over at the BS location, after warning her that Dot.ca might be on his way.  We were all right.  That is exactly where he headed.

When we arrived, we met Dana on the west side of the building.  She pointed out Pigott who was on what we assume will be their scrape ledge and she was vocalizing loudly.  Dot.ca had arrived and he flew around the south side of the building.  I followed and found him on the SE corner.  It wasn’t long before he took off heading east.  We all thought there was a good chance he would end up downtown again.  Before I headed back downtown, I found Pigott on the SW corner of the west extension.  She continue to vocalize and look off towards the north.  I said goodbye to Dana and Lisa and headed back downtown.

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From in front of the Blue Cross Arena, I could see that Beauty was inside the nest box on the TSB.

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When I turned the corner, I found a spot to park and found Dot.ca where?  Yep, you guessed it.  He was back on the Mercury statue.

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2:15 pm, Another stand-off with Beauty at the nest box and Dot.ca on Mercury.  I saw a familiar car drive by.  It was Joyce and Brian heading out.

At about 2:30 pm, both took off again, heading south west.  Again I lost sight of them quickly.  I checked all over the city and had no luck find them.  It was time to go back out to the BS location.

2:50 pm.  No falcons at the BS location.  It was very quiet out there.  I stayed for a little while, but when no falcons appeared, it was time to go back downtown.

I drove all over looking and could find no falcons.  Finally!   At 3:35 pm, I saw a falcon fly in and land on top of the Xerox Bldg on the SW corner, but not for long.  I quickly found a parking spot and got out of my car.  The falcon on Xerox launched itself from the building and clashed with another falcon.  I could hear their cries from the street below.  To me they were very close in size and I had to wonder if this was Beauty and Pigott.  You be the judge.  Here are a couple pics I got of the combatants.

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Most of the time I was looking up into the sun, so it wasn’t long before I lost them.  Time to head back to the Times Square Bldg.

At 4:00 pm, I found Beauty again at the nest box on the TSB and Dot.ca back on the Mercury statue.  I assumed this was Dot.ca.  At 4:10 pm, he flew up to the TSB and dove a few times on the nest box and then settled on the SE wing ledge at the top.   At 4:20 pm, Dot.ca took off and flew towards the NW.  I hoped he was headed back to BS.

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At 4:35 pm – Back to the BS location where I found Pigott on the SW side of the west extension.  She was very quiet, so I assumed Dot.ca wasn’t there.

At 4:45 pm – Back downtown.  One falcon on the SW wing ledge on the TSB.  Dana and Donna verified that Beauty was not in the nest box.  Thanks ladies!  I was very sure that this was Beauty at the SW wing.  She was preening and looking very relaxed to me.  No sign of Dot.ca at either location.  At 5:00 pm, it was time for me to call it a watch. Now for the rest of the story!

At 6:20 pm, Joyce and Brian returned downtown and found Beauty on the corner of the Wilder Bldg, making soft noises.  Dot.ca was on, you guessed it, the Mercury statue.

At 6:40 pm, the first witnessed copulation between Beauty and Dot.ca happened on the Wilder Bldg.  Afterwards, Dot.ca returned to the Mercury statue.

At 7:25 pm, a 2nd copulation!  and a 3rd after that! Here is a picture of Beauty on the corner of the Wilder Bldg where they copulated, taken by Camera #1 from the nest box.

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After watching the aggression between them all day, I couldn’t believe it.  But, I was very happy that it happened.  The next few days should be very interesting indeed.

Remember to click on any pictures you would like to see in a larger size.

Goodnight everyone!

I’ll leave you with this picture I took of a log on the river below the BSB.  The ice formation coating the one end reminded me of a crystal chandelier.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 24th, 2013 at 11:38 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.