By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

I was expecting warmer temps this morning but instead it was colder than yesterday at 30 (F) -1(C) but that’s because it was clear with no clouds to hold the heat in thus allowing cold air to settle. Clear is good for it means sunshine and blue skies!

I was downtown by 6:25am and still it wasn’t early enough for when I checked HSBC where I have found Beauty every morning for a while now she has been there. Not today-that’s because Dot.Ca (DC) came a calling much earlier. When I got back to the Broad St. Bridge(BSB) he was on the money bag of Mercury and Beauty was in the nest box.

DC stooped down into the river and returned without prey to Mercury. He then went over to the northeast wing after circling in front of the Times Square building(TSB) a couple times. He took off again and next I spotted him at the back of the northeast wing ledge with food. He started plucking feathers and Beauty must have seen them floating by the nest box cuz she flew over to Mercury and started watching him.

Click the pics to see the full version

In the next half hour Beauty preened while DC ate and at some point he snuck off without me seeing him and Beauty flew to the northeast wing.

I had high hopes that he had left some of what he was eating for her but when she just perched I knew the little devil had either eaten it all or taken it to Pigott. With that in mind I went to the Brighton Site(BS) and sure enough DC was there perched on the southeast corner above the roof top tree and Pigott was on the southwest corner of the east extension and she looked to have a slightly filled crop.

<DC Pigott>

Around 8:15am Pigott and DC flew off to the north(front) side of the building and when I got to that side I saw her go into the broken window scrape echupping and DC land on the ledge outside. DC took off and Miss Pigott came out a minute later.

DC

I drove around the back of the building in time to see them finish copulating on the southeast corner. She remained whining while DC went to the northeast corner of the east extension.They both flew off and I lost track of them for a bit-as I came around by the northwest side I spotted Pigott fly out of the scrape and I followed her to the west end of the south side vent.

It had been 10 minutes since I last saw DC so I went downtown. Arriving at 9:00am I found Beauty at the nest box and DC on the Mercury money bag.

10 minutes later DC flew down to the base of Mercury and took off with a small package to the northeast wing of TSB.

He quickly flew off with his little treasure circled around the back of the TSB and went southwest toward BS. Beauty flew over to the money bag of Mercury and I headed back to BS. When I got there Pigott and DC mated on the southeast corner again.

After they finished they went to the cubby on the west side, I only knew this because as I rounded the building over there I could here very loud echupping-no visual. DC came out of the cubby minutes later and landed up on the west extension roof.

Pigott joined him soon after and they were very vocal up there. I didn’t see DC leave but Pigott came out to the edge and walked to the corner with a small item of food.

She just stood there for a minute turned around a couple times with it hanging from her beak and then she flew off with her small morsel in her left talon. When I made my way around to the north side of the  building Pigott was on the broken window scrape ledge. She flew off still with that piece of prey in her talon. Next I found DC on the southeast corner above the roof  tree and Pigott on the southeast corner of the east extension. I was getting dizzy chasing them around that building-there certainly wasn’t a dull moment! Now I’ve seen Peregrines dive on hawks,ducks,geese,crows and more in the air but today was a first when Miss Pigott dive bombed a wild turkey on the ground! It was a slow steady stoop not once but twice and each time that turkey had plenty to say about it!!

<DC Pigott>

After that Pigott and DC went to the cubby on the west side. I could hear soft chup sounds coming from there and then DC flew out to the east and returned to the cubby and then there was very loud echupping. After a few minutes of that session DC flew back around to the southeast corner on the other side of the building and Pigott came out to the southwest corner of the west extension-she was whining. About 10 minutes later they were in the broken window scrape echupping briefly then they each left. Pigott flew to the east side extension and perched on the northeast corner.

It was 10:15am and there was no sign of DC so I tweeted that he may be headed downtown where Dana,Kathy and Dan were on watch from the BSB. Sure enough less than a minute later Dana tweeted that Beauty went to the nest box as DC  arrived and went to the northeast wing. Beauty and DC copulated on the Mercury money bag right after I made it back downtown to join my fellow watcher friends on the BSB. The last I saw of Beauty and DC they were flying with each other downriver to the north. Kathy and I were about to leave when CarolP came along so we stayed a bit longer to chat and I ended my watch around 11:15am. All I can say is our 3 resident Rochester Peregrine Falcons cannot be followed on foot and sometimes by car, for they are much too active these days between the 2 sights. I’m happy to do it for they keep me smiling! 🙂

Click on the links below to view more pics and videos

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWrarg

http://youtu.be/cVjZQ7xhZS0
http://youtu.be/SPu1IkYbrr8
http://youtu.be/qHMnLi10YtI
http://youtu.be/fFHIWqwslC0
http://youtu.be/TD5ko-nwZT8
http://youtu.be/QIMw6n_SYck
http://youtu.be/ItetcVHCBGg

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 30th, 2013 at 8:58 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.