By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

I started todays watch on the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) at 6:40am with a temperature of 30 (F) -1 (C)  virtually no wind, bright blue skies and the sun at my back.

All I needed was a couple of falcons to make it complete-I didn’t have to wait for long as Beauty flew in and landed on the Mercury money bag (MMB) about 8 minutes later.

10 minutes later she flew to the nest box as Dot.Ca (DC) arrived at the southeast wing.

He didn’t stay put for long as a crow flew below him by the Democrat & Chronicle and he dropped off to hit it with a thump and send it on its way.

Remember to click on my pics to see full version

DC circled around the back of the Times Square building (TSB) and flew over to the MMB. Now I was parked down in the parking lot between the Wilder and Philipone buildings and in the way of a garbage truck trying to empty dumpsters -so I moved  and that’s when DC decided to fly off. I did however catch Beauty fly from the nest box to the MMB where she began preening.When DC didn’t show back up I left for the Brighton site(BS) where I found Pigott around 7:30am on a west side corner above where the cubby is located.

She too, was preening and scratching. No DC here so I went back downtown after waiting a bit.  Beauty was still on the MMB and there were cars starting to fill up the BSB so I parked next to the Blue Cross Arena to watch Beauty and people.

I asked a couple what the event was today and they said it was a running event for “No Boundaries”. By the way I didn’t see DC anywhere around there either. I watched Beauty until 8:30am or so and then I got impatient waiting for DC to show up. This was not normal and I wondered if he was trying t0 drive that unbanded Tiercel(male) from yesterday out of his territory so I went back to BS. I found Pigott on the southwest corner and I thought by herself until I spotted a PEFA on a top window ledge on the west side just out from the cubby. He flew off before I could get a pic and went to the northwest corner of the west extension.

It was 9 o’clock and for the next 15 minutes they both preened occasionally looking at each other as they were absolutely in each others line of vision. I wasn’t so lucky as the west side of the site runs close to a facility which we have been given strict instructions not to point binocs or cameras at by security. We don’t even go on that property to watch and I was too close to see both Pigott and her gentleman caller so I watched him while I could hear her whine very lightly on and off.  I started getting antsy wondering where DC was so I drove around checking the grounds in case he was down from a battle somewhere. I was way out on the service road near where I watched the battle yesterday and could see both falcons so satisfied that DC was not down anywhere I pulled over and watched from there. Soon after the male flew off  to the north and didn’t return while Pigott flew over to the northwest corner of the west extension. 10 minutes later I watched a falcon fly over to Pigott and they mated!  I think my eyes about popped out of my head thinking it was this new unbanded male so I immediately drove over. As I made my way around to the west side near the broken window that we believe may be a scrape from last year I spotted a falcon fly to it and go in followed by Pigott.

Pigott going to scrape

A very loud and lengthy echupping session took place with non other than DC shooting out thru the broken window afterwards. Luckily I was taping at the time so I know it was him. He flew the southwest corner where I got pics and could see that it was him because up til then I thought this was the rogue male. Phew, I was very relieved to see that it was DC.Pigott came out a couple minutes later going to the southeast corner.

<Pigott> Click em

<Pigott   DC>

I thought of fellow falcon watcher Brian as a balloon flew behind DC  because he always gets a big kick out of seeing balloons in the air when he’s out and about.  Suddenly I was put back into the here and now when DC took off and mated with Pigott on the southeast corner.

DC flew off to the west leaving the area and Pigott moved to the southwest corner of the west extension.

<Click it to see DC fly off      Pigott>

I left Miss Pigott and returned to downtown for my last check there before ending my watch at 10:30am from the Andrews St. Bridge. I could find no falcons before leaving but I was all smiles anyway for all 3 resident Rochester Peregrine Falcons had been seen safe and sound on my watch! 🙂

As always click the links below to view more pics and videos

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWrbvg

http://youtu.be/CGeNL49Pyos
http://youtu.be/YzhIkhcewhU
http://youtu.be/N8WrorZ_oNc
http://youtu.be/80ZMH5lB2Tg

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 6th, 2013 at 8:56 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.