By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

My watch started out at 32 degrees (F) 0 (C) with a brisk  chilly wind and just a few clouds passing thru at 6:35am. I made my way to the east side just in time to watch Beauty take off from the southeast corner of HSBC.

And so I was off and running with what turned out to be another busy morning watch. Beauty had gone straight to the Times Square building (TSB) and to her nest box as Donna so nicely let me know on my way over. Thanks!  When I reached the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) I could see Beauty in there and Dot.Ca (DC) under the northeast wing.

The sun was peeking over the horizon just enough to cast a rosie shadow on the TSB and DC. As is his pattern, DC kept an eye out for possible prey and on the territory occasionally looking down at the nest box area. He took off  at 7:15am when Beauty went to the southwest corner of the Wilder building. I was parked by Keybank at the time, which is connected to the Wilder building. Beauty flew off and went to Widows Walk and started to pick and pull on a leftover pigeon wing. I don’t know where DC had gone.

She finished up her tasty treat and turned her back to me, so I drove over to Broad St. and parked in front of the Ebenezer Watts building where DebbieH works for a better view of the Beautyful one.

Beauty flew off to the southeast wing of the TSB and after checking around for DC I decided to check the Brighton site since it had been over half hour since I last saw him. I found Pigott all by her lonesome on the northwest corner of the east extension.

DC may very well have been there before I arrived as it only takes him a couple minutes to fly the 2.7 miles from downtown. Miss Pigott was mostly looking west/northwest which is the direction downtown is from there. I stayed 30 minutes and left when DC didn’t show up in that time frame. He seems to be spending more time downtown the last couple days and I hope Pigott doesn’t get impatient and decide to pay a visit downtown. I got back downtown by 8:45am to find DC under the southeast wing at which point Donna and Ei confirmed Beauty to be in the nest box. Thank you ladies!

I parked down in the hole again to observe and 10 minutes later DC flew off after a starling on his way to the money bag of Mercury.

He barely touched down then flew off to the east directly into the sun blinding me so I lost him. While I drove up to the BSB for a better view of things Beauty flew to the money bag and DC to the base of Mercury.

As always you must click on my pics to see the full version

DC flew off a minute later followed by Beauty who went to the nest box. I didn’t see where he went as I followed Beautys’ flight. On a hunch I drove back down to the hole and found DC over on Widows Walk eating, I couldn’t have seen him there from the bridge.

DC finished off his snack, wiped off his beak a few times and flew to the southeast wing. As he passed by the nest box on his way, I heard the familiar sound of his chirp for the first time since he has returned from migration, and I wondered if it was heard on the cams. Some how I missed both of them leave the TSB then at about 9:15am I watched DC chase Beauty (tight on her tail feathers) to the nest box and fly up under the southeast wing of the TSB.

They were off again flying out of view toward Mercury and as I got  past the Thomson Reuters building to see, I caught the tail end of them mating on the money bag.  Beauty went to her nest box and DC up to the northeast wing. 10 minutes later Beauty flew back to the Mercury money bag while DC remained on TSB. After 20 minutes she flew to the southeast wing and DC flew off the northeast wing. I found him on Mercury a minute later as Beauty flew down to the nest box. DC flew off Mercury passing by the nest box on his way up to the northeast wing. Busy,busy,busy!!

Back up to the BSB I went and 20 minutes would pass before Beauty flew out the nest box with DC right after her. They flew over the river by the Radisson Hotel and then Beauty landed on the Mercury money bag. DC came up behind her, they copulated, then he flew to the northeast wing of the TSB. They both flew off when I wasn’t looking and I called it a watch at 11:00am. Beauty and DC seem to be getting more settled with each other as time goes on. They’re keeping me on my toes and keeping a smile on my face! 🙂

Click on the links below for more pics and videos from this very active watch

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWraQA

http://youtu.be/sDQyd6KqppM
http://youtu.be/3-Hk9HMd4o8
http://youtu.be/Dd1pHK-Ql5A
http://youtu.be/T8KTP3jIAyI
http://youtu.be/uCs2ewIKDgI
http://youtu.be/RC93JvDtiLY

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 27th, 2013 at 3:21 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.