By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I arrived downtown a little late due to a bad car accident on 490E.  But I eventually made it and found Beauty on the OCSR, top I-Beam at the south corner.  I parked on the Broad St Bridge after checking out the rest of the downtown area.  No other falcons found.  Beauty moved about a foot to her left and turned around to keep an eye on all the avian activity happening around her.  I stayed with Beauty for awhile before heading over to the BS location to check on Pigott.

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When I arrived at the BS location, I found Pigott on the southeast side on the back of the building.  Crows were flying above the west side of the building and a few landed there.

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Pigott did not like this intruder on her building, so she took off and chased them away, landing on the same spot the Crow had vacated.  The SW corner of the west extension.  The Crows continued to CAW CAW CAW above her, but they left her alone.  She settled down to do some preening and kept an eye on her unwelcome visitors.

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While Pigott was busy preening, a Crow flew in low carrying something very long.  At first I couldn’t tell what it was.   The Crow landed in a tree below Pigott.  I took a picture, so I could zoom in to see what the Crow had.  It was a Pigeon wing and I was sure that the Crows had snatched one of Pigott’s cached leftovers.  No wonder they were all over her building!

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While Pigott watched from above, the Crow carried the wing out onto the snow covered lawn and started to eat.  This was the second day in a row that I witnessed a Crow eating a bird.

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After the Crow finished eating, it carried the wing over to some bushes close to the building and hid it under the bush.  The Crow then flew off to the south.

I love observing the behavior of the Peregrines and the other birds around them.  I’ve seen Crows steal caches before, but they usually don’t stay close by to eat it and I’ve never seen them actually hide what remained afterwards.  Smart birds, those Crows.

I had a little bit of sun on my watch, but not for long.  It was very welcome!  I stayed and watched Pigott preen for awhile before the light started to fade.  It was time to head home via the downtown area.

Beauty was still on the OCSR, but she had moved to the west end of the top IBeam and she was looking south.  I went over to the Andrews St Bridge to check out the area to the south.  I could not see any falcons in that direction.

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So we continue to wait for the arrival of Dot.ca or possibly another tiercel. Beauty and Pigott are patiently waiting.

It’s time to Spring Ahead this weekend!  Remember to turn your clocks ahead one hour Saturday night.

Goodnight everyone and remember to keep your eyes to the sky!  There are so many interesting things to see out there!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

At 33 degrees (F) 1 (C) it almost felt like spring this morning when I left the house. Still no sun but I did NOT see one snowflake! 🙂

A quick check from the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) tagged no falcons, so over to the east side I went. And just like yesterday I found Beauty on the southwest corner of HSBC.

Beauty was in hunt mode looking to and fro for half hour when she got a bead on a pigeon. She flew off  to the east and when she reached the back of HSBC went into a stoop making me lose sight of her. I waited to see if she would come back into view and when she didn’t I took a ride down Broad St. to the bridge where I spotted her on the top ibeam west corner of  OCSR. I then went down to my spot on State St. across from the Rochester Plaza Hotel.

Beauty did some preening but mostly she was looking for a nice warm breakfast to pop out from hiding. I watched her for 15 minutes then I checked on the Lake Tower site-nothing there, not even a pigeon. A few minutes after I returned to see the Beautyful one was still on OCSR-she turned her body in one swift motion,readied herself for take off and flew off  around 7:45am.

Beauty meant business as she flew straight out going behind the Crossroads building,making a left at State St. continuing on straight up Exchange St. and going into a stoop as she rounded the Wilder building leaving my field of vision. Just as I was getting ready to pull away to go look for her she showed up back on the west corner top ibeam of OCSR with nothing to show for her efforts. 10 minutes later at 8:04am Beauty jumped off her spot and went into another stoop going back toward the river past the southwest side of OCSR and out of sight once more. Boy these buildings sure make us watchers miss a lot!

I gave it a couple minutes and then drove to the BSB arriving just in time to see Beauty fly in from the southeast over the Thomson Reuters building and land on the Times Square building under the southeast wing staying only for a split second and then off again flying east.15 minutes later as I was stopped at the traffic light at Main and South Ave. I spotted Beauty up on the southwest corner of the Hyatt Hotel above me.

I made my way to the BSB as there was nowhere closer to stop and watch Beauty. As soon as I stopped Beauty flew off fast after a pigeon above the river near Thomson Reuters. My adrenalin kicked in at this point as she stooped on it with both of them making some amazing maneuvers above Aqueduct Park. The pigeon had lady luck on its side for it escaped Beautys’ stoops not once,not twice but 3 times  as they made their way across the river. There were other pigeons up on the roof of the Radisson Hotel that scattered every which way but loose as Beauty and her mark made their way over there and then they vanished behind the building. WOW! I can’t tell you how exciting it is to see Mother Nature at work thru the speed that she has bestowed upon these birds we call Peregrine Falcons! 10 minutes later I was still pumped up over it!

I searched in vain for Beauty and I suspect I didn’t find her because she had been successful in her hunt and was eating somewhere in privacy. I left for the Brighton site around 9:00am but unfortunately Pigott had stepped out after Larry had reported seeing a falcon on the west side as he drove by earlier. I made my way back downtown after waiting 20 minutes for Miss Pigott to show up. I still couldn’t find Beauty so I stopped on the BSB to check out the mighty Genesee River. The locks south of the Court St. bridge were flowing pretty fast and the log jam below the Main St bridge had grown since I last looked.

Remember to click my pics for a full version

As I checked the east side one last time for Beauty I noticed the city crew had the Zamboni out at the Manhattan Square Park ice skating rink. Smooth ,clean ice is a beautiful thing!

I gave up on finding Beauty and ended my watch after checking Lake Tower one more time at 10:00am. I know it must get boring for all of you hearing the same stuff day in and day out but if ya keep coming back the routine should change every few days or so. And for me, well just having one day like todays watch is more than enough to keep me smiling and coming back for more! 🙂

I have provided 3 links below for videos of todays watch. See ya tomorrow I hope!

http://youtu.be/_4mqEEA7Jbc
http://youtu.be/i-4AYG-fEqY
http://youtu.be/bNMG7UtZFaE

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I checked KP before, during and after work today.  No luck finding any Peregrines.  But I did find another bird eating what appeared to be a small bird on top of a telephone pole.

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Interestingly, when the Crow finished, it took the remainder and rolled it up into a ball, so that it would be easier to carry away.  Which it did.

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Continuing my late afternoon watch, I checked all around the LT location.  No Peregrines there either.  Next stop DT.

From Kodak Office, where I found no falcons, I could see Beauty on the west end of the top IBeam of the OCSR.  I decided to check out the rest of the downtown area to make sure that there were no tiercels (male falcons) hanging out.  After driving around and not finding another Peregrine, I headed over to the Broad St Bridge and watched Beauty for awhile.

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She did not move from this spot, but she was very interested in the small visitor’s on one of her favorite perches.  They were very lucky that she had probably eaten earlier.

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On my way over to the BS location to check on Pigott, I spotted this pigeon on the Ford St Bridge.  It just caught my eye because of the beautiful coloring.

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At the BS location, I found Pigott on the west end of the building near the SW corner, just above the cubby hole.  She was very actively turning her head in all directions keeping an eye on her territory.  All was quiet here, and I could find no other falcons on the building, so I headed back downtown.  Beauty remained in her spot on the OCSR.

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Both resident females were on territory and no other falcons were found during my watch.  All of us continue to wait.

Goodnight everyone!  Remember to click on any pics you would like to see in a larger format.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

This mornings weather was a carbon copy of yesterday with very fine light snow for a short time and a temperature of 25 degrees (F) -4 (C). Overcast skies and no wind to speak of.

Starting my watch on the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) at 6:25am I didn’t see Beauty on any buildings in that area so as per usual I drove to the east side. As I stopped on Woodbury St. near Washington Square Park so I can check Xerox, Bausch & Lomb (B&L) and HSBC on their south and west sides I spotted Beauty. She was on the southwest corner of HSBC so I drove over to Chestnut St. and parked by Manhattan Square Park for closer viewing.

Beauty flew off to the northwest 15 minutes later and I found her 5 minutes later on the south side of B&L. I parked on Court St. to observe her as she was filling the air with feathers from the catch she had made or the cached food she had up there.

Beauty spent less than 10 minutes on the southwest corner preparing and eating when she sprang up and looked around in an alarmed way. She then flew off going around to the northwest corner of B&L where I spotted her from the Court St. Bridge. I drove around to Broad St. and parked by Tim Hortons at the Central Library. This is where Unity was run over by a car last year on Good Friday. I think of her fondly whenever I am near this spot.

I don’t know if the Beautyful one cached her leftovers up there or somewhere else when I couldn’ t see her but when she flew off 10 minutes later she was empty taloned. She went straight to the west corner top ibeam of OCSR. I drove down to State St. across from the Rochester Plaza Hotel for the best view of her. It was 7:20am so Beauty had kept me pretty busy in the first hour of my watch.

Beauty turned her back to me after a bit so I left to check the Lake Tower site for a PEFA-again no sighting of one there. It’s over a week since one has been spotted there so perhaps it has moved on or it is the Kodak Park falcon that was seen a couple days ago. Returning to see that Beauty was still on OCSR I left for the Brighton Site (BS) to see if Miss Pigott was home. On the way I saw a Merlin chasing after a couple pigeons in the Cornhill area near the Ford St. Bridge as I sat waiting for a red light. Upon arriving at BS about 8:30am I found Pigott was indeed home in hunt mode on the southwest corner of the west extension.

15 minutes later she got restless and flew out and landed on the northwest corner where she started eating cached food. I guess she couldn’t wait any longer for a fresh kill!

It took Pigott less than 5 minutes to eat her little snack. She wiped her beak off on the edge of the roof,shook herself,spread her gorgeous wings and flew back over to the southwest corner.

I consider that northwest corner her dining room for she caches and eats food there a lot and I guess she didn’t want to clean up from her meal there thus flying back to the southwest corner. Pigott pooped,preened,stretched and cleaned her talons in the next half hour.

I left Pigott just before the 10 o’clock hour and as I passed thru downtown saw that Beauty was still on the west corner of OCSR. I ended my watch with a smile for having seen both of our resident female Peregrine Falcons had eaten and were safe! 🙂

Click and view the links below for more pics and videos from my watch

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWrXfg

http://youtu.be/kXmMee5qaWg

http://youtu.be/nh9utZW1eko

http://youtu.be/nQtevI929IM

http://youtu.be/L87S0R5L3Hg

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

There was actually a little bit of sun during my watch today.  It was 30 degrees (F), but with sun, it was nice and warm inside my car.  I think this is the first time there was sun and no snow in quite a long time.  Before heading downtown after work, I first checked KP and LT.  No Falcons found.  Next stop downtown.

I was driving down Plymouth Ave, the road on the west side of the Frontier Communication Tower, heading south, I had to stop at one of the lights.  While I was waiting for the light to change to green, I noticed clumps of feathers falling around me.  The last time this happened, I found Unity eating on a building just above where I was parked.  So what was causing this falling feather phenomenon this time?  I circled the area, and the only thing I could find was prey on top of the church near City Hall.  I’ve seen falcons up there before.

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Looked like a pigeon wing and it looked fresh.  Was this leftovers from an earlier meal, left there by Beauty?  But that didn’t explain the feathers falling around my car while I was stopped at the stop light.  A mystery for sure.  Time to find Beauty.

After parking my car on the Broad St. Bridge (BSB), I found Beauty on the OCSR, top IBeam, NW side.  She had her back to me, so I couldn’t be sure it was Beauty at first.

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After awhile, Beauty turned around, pooped and took off, in that order.  lol  She flew around a little bit and ended up on the raised money bag hand on the Mercury statue.

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She stayed there for quite awhile.  It looked like she had a very large crop.  While I was watching her, Joyce texted that she and MAK were at the BS location and that Pigott was there on the west end.  I decided to stay with Beauty until the sun went down.  Which doesn’t take long this time of year.

Eventually, Beauty took off from the Mercury statue and flew over the river heading NE.  A small flock of approximately 25 pigeons took flight over the very crazy looking apartments on the corner of Andrews St and St Paul.  She lazily shadowed them from above.  Beauty finally broke off from the flock and headed west towards the Times Square Bldg (TSB).  I lost her behind the surrounding buildings.  After about 10 minutes of waiting, she returned to the OCSR, top IBeam, west end.

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Just as I was getting ready to leave at 5:35 pm, Beauty decided to take off.  I did not see what direction she took, so I again checked out the downtown area to see if I could find her.  When I arrived back at the Broad St Bridge, Beauty had returned to the same spot she left, the west end of the top IBeam on the OCSR.  She does this a lot.

It was peaceful and quiet, so it was time for me to head home.  Both Beauty and Pigott had been seen today and both remained by themselves.

On the way out, I stopped one last time at the church near City Hall.  There was absolutely nothing on top of the cross.  The pigeon wing was gone!  Guess we’ll never know what happened to it.  Goodnight everyone and as always, please remember to click on any pics you would like to see in a larger format.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was almost like a heatwave this morning as the temperature was 25 degrees (F) -4 (C) with no wind and just the finest of light snow falling.  It has snowed everyday since February 11 here in Rochester! That’s 22 consecutive days and that’s not a record. I remember one winter back in the late 90’s when it snowed like 43 days in a row.

I started my watch at 6:20 as it was just starting to turn light out. I didn’t find Beauty on my maiden voyage around the city so I took a ride to the Lake Tower site-once again there were only pigeons lining the window ledges. Half hour later as I made my way down Broad St. to the east side I spotted Beauty on the southeast corner of HSBC. I parked over in front of Manhattan Square Park on Chestnut St. for the best angle. I barely had my finger on the shutter of my camera before she took off flying northwest behind Midtown where I lost sight of her.

I found Beauty 10 minutes later as I caught her flying up to the top ibeam of the OCSR southeast side from the Broad St. Bridge. I went down to Graves St. to be closer to her.

While I was there I watched city workers take down the Christmas lights off the trees on Main St.

Click the pics for the full version

I stayed with the Beautyful one for an hour and a half as she preened and watched for a breakfast item to fly thru. I believe she tried to adjust her crop as she kept making a weird head movement as if something wasn’t quite right in there-maybe a leg was jabbing her or something.

I left Beauty as she turned her back to the world giving me the hint that she was cinched in for a while. I arrived at the Brighton site about 8:45am but Pigott was not at home. I waited 20 minutes but she was a no show so I went back downtown and found that Beauty was still on the OCSR. I ended my morning watch at 9:15am. I started my afternoon watch around 12:15pm when Joyce picked me up to look for falcons and eagles at Irondequoit Bay and the surrounding area. There were lots of ducks,swans and gulls on the bay. Joycie and I went to Seabreeze checking by the outlet to Lake Ontario from the bay and were entertained by some long tail ducks.

We didn’t see any falcons but we did see an adult Bald Eagle flying near Empire Blvd., a couple Red-tail Hawks and a possible juvie eagle in a tree at one of the points on the bays southeast end.

We made our way to Brighton and found Miss Pigott to be home on the northwest corner of the west extension and she was sporting a full crop.

Next a quick ride thru downtown to find Beauty on OCSR top ibeam southwest side before Joyce dropped me off at home around 5:00pm. Thank you Joyce for taking me on what was a nice change of pace for me. I always do a lot of smiling when we go on a watch together! 🙂

Click on the links below to view more pics and a video from my day

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWrXXA

http://youtu.be/FoBIHcoCtMw

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Not much to report tonight.  I got a very late start and by the time I arrived downtown around 5:30 pm, the light was already fading.  The clouds weren’t helping  and the temperature was only 29 degrees (F).  But at least it wasn’t snowing!

I checked out the downtown area.  When I couldn’t find Beauty, I headed over to the BS location.  Pigott was on the SE side of the east extension.

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All was very quiet and peaceful there and it was quickly getting dark.  I headed back downtown and searched one more time for Beauty.  Again, I had no luck finding her.  By this time it was too dark to see anything, so I headed home.

Tomorrow I hope to get an earlier start.  Can’t wait for the days to get longer!

I’ll leave you with a picture I took while out and about on watch.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Today was warmer than yesterday as I ventured out for my morning watch-1 whole degree warmer! lol Another inch of snow fell during the night and the temperature was 22 (F) -6(C).

Within a couple minutes of arriving on the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) I saw Beauty fly in from the west and go to the top ibeam of OCSR southeast side.

Parked by the Radisson Hotel by Main St. I observed Beauty for an hour and a half as she preened,stretched and looked for breakfast to fly by.  At exactly 8:00am Beauty flew off going around the OCSR building and soaring above it before flying across the river to the east.  I took her lead and searched for her on the east side without finding her so I headed toward Kodak Office (KO) where I found the little sneak on the south side arch. She tried to give me the slip! 🙂

After 20 minutes I drove north a mile and a half down State St. to the Lake Tower site. There was no falcon on site but plenty of pigeons lined the window ledges. At this point of my watch I chose to go to Brighton to see if Pigott was home.  She was indeed as I found her on the east extension top window near the corner.

Miss Pigott kept stretching her neck to look toward the east where she eventually flew off to at 9:20am.  I waited 20 minutes and when she didn’t return I went back downtown.

Click the pic for a full version

Beauty was right where I left her over an hour ago on the south side arch of KO. She was fixated on something below her as she kept looking down. After 20 minutes Beauty flew off heading east/southeast at 10:13am.

Once again I followed her lead and ended up finding her 10 minutes later on the southeast corner of Bausch & Lomb. From Washington Square Park I could see that she was eating but her back was to me so I drove over to Broad St. to watch.

10 minutes later as I was taping Beauty she took off abruptly with what was left of her meal in one talon flying south out of view. She startled me as one second she was bent forward eating and the next in one swift motion she was gone from my camera screen.  I then drove straight down Broad St. to the bridge where I spotted Beauty on the top ibeam southeast side of OCSR.  I ended my watch from Graves St. which is right next to Aqueduct Park across Main St. from OCSR.

I couldn’t tell if she had the leftovers with her or not but it didn’t matter to me, for knowing she had eaten on a cold early March morning was enough to send me on my way smiling! 🙂

To view more pics and videos all you need do is click the links below

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWrXOg

http://youtu.be/pso-U50xwPM
http://youtu.be/sLJtqAvxwKI
http://youtu.be/1MrhCl29Mz4
http://youtu.be/B4iP3gmz7So
http://youtu.be/4LXD1ve3q3U

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

My Watch started at Kodak Park, where I was very happy to see a Falcon on the east stack catwalk, south side.  It had been awhile since I had seen one there.

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Between the steam rising off of the buildings and the ever present snow, it was hard to see the falcon.  I stayed for awhile, and then headed 1st to the Medley Center aka Irondequoit Mall and then to the LT location, where I found no falcons at all.  Next stop downtown Rochester.

Beauty was back up on the Kodak Tower on the arch ledge above the location where Mariah, Kaver & Cabot-Sirocco’s nest box was located for many years.

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Beauty took off, vocalizing.  She kakked her displeasure that a Red-tailed Hawk was flying above her nest location, the Times Square Bldg.  She flew quickly towards the hawk, but never made contact with it.  She flew low and I lost her.  Time to head downtown.  I found Beauty on the Mercury statue, guarding her territory.

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Beauty remained alert for a long time, preening now and then.  She then spread her wings and flew towards the north west.  I thought she might be heading back to the Kodak Tower and I was correct.

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I found her there on the SE corner of what we have always called the launchpad.  It is above the arch ledge that Beauty has been favoring lately and has missile like structures on the four corners, hence the name launchpad.

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OK, it was time to check on the BS location where I hoped to see Pigott.  When I first arrived, it was quiet, no Peregrines on the building.  I circled a couple times checking every windowsill and nook and cranny.  Nothing.  On my 3rd circuit, I heard loud kakking approaching from the west.  I stepped out of my car just in time to see a very vocal Peregrine chasing a Red-tail Hawk that was clutching prey.  The hawk was flying fast, whipping around the east end of the building and out of sight.  The falcon was faster, hot on the Red-tail’s tail.  I could hear the loud kakking move around to the back of the building.  I jumped in my car and arrived on the south side of the building just in time to see the falcon and the hawk fly off to the south west.  I caught this one picture before they flew out of sight.

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I have no idea what happened.  Was Pigott after the RTH’s prey?  Or was she just trying to get it to leave her territory?  Pigott soon returned and landed on the NW corner of the building looking in the direction the hawk had gone.

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Pigott took off and floated over the building for awhile before landing on the SE corner.  She was very actively looking in every direction.  Her crop was not full, and I think she was in hunt mode.

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After awhile, Pigott took off heading NE.  I watched her through my binoculars until she became a small spec in the sky, flapping her wings rapidly the whole way.  I waited about a 1/2 hour and she did not return.  I hoped that she had hunted successfully.

For most of my watch, it snowed, with temps in the mid-20’s (F).  Sounds like we will continue to get snow and cold in the coming days.  Stay warm everyone!

REMEMBER TO CLICK ON ANY PICTURES YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE IN A LARGER VERSION.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was like deja vu when I left for my watch this morning. The temperature like yesterday was 21 (F) -6 (C) with light snow falling and an inch of fresh snow had fallen during the night. I can’t even remember the last day we didn’t have snow fall from the heavens.

Another similarity to yesterday is that I found Beauty on the Kodak Office tower but it didn’t take as long today. As I made my way down Broad St. to start my watch I stopped to take a pic from the west side of downtown so you can see what I see as I approach every morning.

Click pic for full view>

I started out on the Broad St. Bridge at 6:25am watching the Aqueduct pigeons fly up from their night time roost under the bridge. They flew around in 2 separate groups for almost 10 minutes up and down the river before finally coming to rest on the Blue Cross Arena roof-river side. I took a drive around to the usual places looking for Beauty and found her just before 7:00am on the east side of the arch above the old nest site of Mariah & Kaver.

While Beauty napped I drove down to the Lake Tower site and came up empty on finding a PEFA but there was plenty of pigeons lining the window ledges. I returned to share space with the Beautyful one until 8:00am when I left her preening in the snow to check on the Brighton site.

Pigott wasn’t present on this day so after waiting and watching for about 20 minutes for her I left to check Highland Park for the Eastern Screech Owl that frequents a certain tree there. No luck but I did stop to take a pic of the Colgate Divinity School which I see every day. It has interesting architecture making  look like it’s wearing a crown.

I returned downtown but  Beauty had left the Kodak tower and I wasn’t able to find her again so I ended my watch a little before 9:ooam.  Make sure to smile often my friends as it surely can lift your spirits. 🙂

1 video link below-all you need do is click and view

http://youtu.be/eAZzon8oj1Q