By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a chilly 21 degrees (F) -6 (C) when I left for downtown this morning. An inch or two of fresh snow had fallen during the night covering all the dirty stuff  making it look sparkly. Light snow was falling as well-winter is hanging on but good here in Western New York.

Arriving on the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) at 6:25am my first half hour was spent looking for Beauty and I also checked the Lake Tower site without any sightings. While sitting on the BSB I spotted what I thought were 3 pigeons flying over the river until one of them landed on the southeast corner of  the Blue Cross Arena. The approach and landing were not that of a pigeon and the front was white so I thought maybe a falcon. Turns out it was a Coopers Hawk and the Aqueduct pigeons were not happy that he was on their roosting roof.

I think this may be the bird Donna saw on Mercury yesterday that was too small to be Beauty. So after a falconless first hour I set out for the Brighton Site where I wasn’t disappointed. I found Pigott on a south side window ledge 2 down from the top to the east side of the vent.

She had her back to me so at first I wasn’t sure it was her and I had never seen a falcon on this particular window before either. Once she started turning her head  around and moving a bit I could see that it was indeed Miss Pigott. She kept trying to bring up a pellet in the little over an hour I spent with her. She  finally did and I managed to get it on video. After that, she seemed to get settled so I left for downtown to find the Beautyful one who had managed to for the second day in a row elude me in the beginning of my watch. I made the rounds checking the Kodak Office tower last and there she was on the east side of the arch that is above the old Mariah & Kaver  nest site. This would be on the south side of the tower which faces downtown. The falling snow,darkness and distance didn’t make for good pictures so forgive the poor quality.

Beauty was asleep when I arrived and also when I left doing some preening in between.  She had a full crop which made me smile as I ended my watch at 9:15am! 🙂

Click on the links below to view videos from my watch

http://youtu.be/fgK-ZpD3GZg
http://youtu.be/Nngs1VLKmcc
http://youtu.be/Toh1NxmMGgY

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Today I checked 3 falcon free spots before going downtown.  KP, Medley Ctr & LT = No Falcons.

Downtown I finally found a falcon on the Kodak Office Tower on the SE launch pad.  I could not positively ID this falcon as Beauty, but it was probably her.

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I checked out the downtown area to make sure there were no other Peregrines.  I couldn’t find any, so I headed to the BS location where I found Pigott (I think) on the SE corner of the building.  The back of the building.  She was very alert and kept turning her head back and forth watching over her territory.

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While I was watching Pigott, I heard loud clomping sounds approaching from my left.  I turned in time to see four deer charging  from the NW.  In single file, they galloped (do deer gallop?) past the front of my car, heading towards the wooded area on the SE side.  Something tells me they weren’t staying under the posted speed limit of 20 mph!  lol

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It was time for me to head home, but first one more check downtown.  Beauty was gone from the Kodak Tower, so I searched the downtown area, but was unable to find  her.  The weekend has arrived! Yay!

I’ll leave you with a few pictures I took while on watch tonight.  Goodnight everyone!

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By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

We got a very light dusting of snow over nite with light snow falling when I left for my watch. The temperature was a tad bit below freezing at 31 degrees (F) -1 (C) and not expected to get much higher than that throughout the day.

I arrived on the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) at 6:20am and Beauty was nowhere around that area so I took a ride around the city. She wasn’t anywhere that I could see so I drove the mile and a half down State St. to check the Lake Tower apartment unit.  No falcon there again for a few days now. I wonder if it has moved on. Anyway I did find Beauty at 7:30am on the top ibeam southeast side of OCSR.

I stayed with the Beautyful one for about an hour as she kept an eye on her territory thru the steady light snow that was falling on us. She had a full crop so I know she ate this morning in some secret place that I couldn’t find. The little sneak! There was a stiff northerly breeze this morning which made the snow fly horizontally at times and the OCSR flags.

Beauty obviously wasn’t going anywhere any time soon so I left to check the Brighton site. Arriving at 8:45am I found Pigott on the west end of the south side vent for the 3rd day in a row.

I also spent an hour with Miss Pigott while she struggled to keep her eyes open and judging from the size of her crop I believe it’s safe to say she was in a food coma. Returning to downtown for a last check of Beauty I found that she had not moved from the spot I left her on the top ibeam southeast side of OCSR.  Even tho it was a quiet watch with no action to speak of I still had to smile knowing our 2 resident female Peregrine Falcons had eaten and were safe! 🙂

2 links below for videos from todays watch just click and view

http://youtu.be/3xqbeKX_AYU
http://youtu.be/u1i1MMvf46g

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Ran out of time to leave my report from today, but here are some pics I got.  Saw Beauty and Pigott.  Even saw Beauty night hunting off of the HSBC building.  Awesome!

Beauty on OCSR Top IBeam SE Side

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Pigott at BS Location

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Beauty Night Hunting off HSBC Bldg.

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Goodnight all!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Today when I started my morning watch it was 32 degrees (F) 0 (C) with very light snow falling and no wind to speak of. Yesterdays slushfest is now only a memory!

I was driving down Court St. by Xerox when I saw Beauty up on the southeast corner of  HSBC. I turned down Chestnut St. to park in front of Manhattan Square Park but she took off as soon as I pulled over at 6:40am. I watched her fly straight up Broad St. toward the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) so I followed. I didn’t find her with a trip around the city so I went to the Lake Tower (LT) apartments to check for a PEFA-nobody there. Returning to the BSB I found the Beautyful one on the top ibeam southeast side of OCSR-she was preening.

I watched Beauty preen,nap and watch the area for a potential meal. An hour and 15 minutes later she flew off to the west,went into a stoop after 2 pigeons.

One of them veered off to the north with Beauty staying on the other ones tail. As they approached the Telesca building on the corner of Main and State. St. the pigeon put on a spectacular move and flew off free as Beauty gave up the chase flying north out of view behind the Crossroads building. Again I followed behind and found Beauty on the west corner top ibeam of OCSR. I parked across from the Rochester Plaza Hotel on State St. and observed Beauty for 20 minutes before she flew off.

I watched as she flew behind the Crossroads building, then she turned left and shot straight up Exchange St. disappearing behind the Wilder building. 25 minutes later at 9:15am as I was on the Court St. bridge I noticed Beauty had returned to the southeast side top ibeam of OCSR. I decided to go to the Brighton Site (BS) to check at that time finding Pigott on the west end of the south side vent’

In the 15 minutes that I shared space with Miss Pigott there were 3 Canadian Geese honking away causing quite the racket. They nest on the roof of a lower building on the south side of the property which is below the vent Pigott was on.

Pigott flew off to the east and didn’t return so I made my way to the back road out of the property where I spotted 2 crows dive-bombing a Red-tailed Hawk in the sky. As I returned to downtown my search for Beauty was in vain so I went to LT and then the Kodak Park (KP) site-both were void of any falcons.  I spotted a Red-tailed Hawk in a tree at KP that was being harassed by a couple of crows. Boy oh boy crows are quite the bullys with raptors eh!?

Red-tails are my favorite hawk and this one sent me on my way with a big smile on my face as I ended my watch at 10:30am! 🙂

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

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWrXGA

http://youtu.be/QwI6uz_KsLw
http://youtu.be/yNb6sOhu_oc
http://youtu.be/ex_EZj2BZHA
http://youtu.be/SjS5PW6IjsQ
http://youtu.be/wRL7F4LvqY8 http://youtu.be/of-BaAj6K4w
http://youtu.be/of-BaAj6K4w
http://youtu.be/HfAD1zjlX30

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

It was a mishmash of weather today.  During the day, it constantly changed from sleet to snow to rain and back again.  When I started my watch it was somewhere in between rain and snow.  Thankfully the roads weren’t bad.  The city did a great job keeping up with the slippery wintery mix.

I first checked out the KP area, no falcons there.  My next stop was the LT location.  I checked both sides and found no falcons.

When I got downtown, it was more snow, so it was really hard to see.  I checked the whole downtown area and couldn’t find any falcons.  I ended up back on the Andrews St Bridge and looked back towards the Kodak Office Tower.  Was that a falcon on the arch ledge above the old Mariah and Kaver nest site?  I drove over to get a closer look and found out that it was Beauty  up there.  She was facing SE, keeping an eye on her territory.  I circled the Kodak Tower checking to see if there might be a 2nd Peregrine up there, but there wasn’t.

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All was quiet and she seemed settled, so I headed over to check for Pigott at the BS location.  I quickly found her on the NW corner of the building, keeping watch over her territory.  Two turns around the building and I was quite sure she was by herself.

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Like Beauty, Pigott seemed to just be biding her time waiting for the return of her mate or possibly another male.  There is no certainty that things will remain the same.  As we’ve all found out over the years, change is inevitable.  That is just the way it is.

I left BS and returned downtown for one more look, then it was time to head home.  It was snowing even harder, and I could barely see Beauty on the arch ledge.

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I watched her for a few moments and then headed over to the LT location for one more look.  Again, I did not see a falcon there.  Time to end my watch.

I’ll leave you with this picture of the Kodak Tower, showing some of the places labeled that we have been mentioning in our watch reports.  I know many of you are not familiar with this building.  I spent years staring at this building when Mariah and Kaver were there.  Hope it helps.

Be sure to click on any pictures you would like to see in a larger format.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

When I left the house there was a good 2 or 3 inches of wet slushy snow on the ground with more expected. At 34 degrees (F) 1 (C) it was going to stay sloppy. During my watch it snowed and sleeted in varying intensity.

Starting out on the Broad St. bridge I could see no Beauty and no mystery tiercel on any of the buildings visible from there. The Mercury statue had snow stuck on its back side.

Click pics for the full version

I drove around looking and ended up checking the Lake Tower apartments for our other mystery PEFA with no luck. When I returned to the downtown area I found Beauty at 7:05am on the west corner top ibeam of OCSR a spot she has been frequenting lately.

I started out on Aqueduct St. a place I lovingly call the hole because you’re surrounded  by buildings and it feels like you’re in a hole. I then drove over to State St. and parked across from the Rochester Plaza Hotel to share space with the Beautyful one.

Just like yesterday Beauty moved around the corner to the north side probably to avoid the heavy sleet that was pelting her. I stayed with her until a little after 8:00am took a spin around downtown to look for mystery man and ended up at the Brighton site. It was half snowing and half sleeting when I arrived with Pigott on the west end of the south side vent.

Pigott was watching a Canadian goose that was on a lower roof below her and generally keeping an eye on the trees for a meal. She did do a little preening but let’s face it with wet snow and sleet coming down so hard it wasn’t improving her looks ! lol She also napped briefly making me think of her sleeping prince BST. I miss the little cutie and hope he is safe!

I left  Miss Pigott after an hour or so to see  if  Beauty was still on OCSR or perhaps the tiercel from yesterday was around. No luck on either falcon so I ended my watch at 9:44am. I’m thinking M (mystery tiercel) stopped in Rochester to get some rest before continuing his migration and has moved on now. It was fun following him around-made me smile! 🙂

Links below are for videos of Beauty and Pigott-just click and view

http://youtu.be/bYikkTMd9iI
http://youtu.be/ZTmx7TBkJok
http://youtu.be/ctroQ-D49GU
http://youtu.be/dIBQIIoar9s

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

After a very long day at work, I was ready to head downtown to watch Beauty and the new, unbanded tiercel I had seen flying so gracefully for her yesterday.  Sadly, I had no sightings of the tiercel during my little over two hour watch.  But, Beauty was there, spending most of her time on the OCSR, top IBeam on the NW side. She moved from the west end corner to a foot or so in on the NW side.  She preened a bit, but the majority of her time was spent looking intently to the northwest.

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When I first arrived on the Broad St Bridge at about 3:45 pm, I found Joyce and Steve (with Casey and Abby) parked near the east end.  Brian was with them.  He had been out much of the afternoon watching the falcons and they were going to take him home.  We chatted for awhile before they had to leave.  Joyce said that she and Steve would stop at the Brighton site on their way home to check on Pigott.  They tweeted at 4:34 pm that they saw Pigott fly from the BS bldg. to a nearby cell tower.  I was happy to hear that she was seen today.

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Since Brian does not leave Falcon Watch reports, here are his tweets from this afternoon.

1:19 pm – PEFA flying around Xerox.

1:44 pm – 2 Falcons same size, squared off over Xerox. Gone now.

2:34 pm – I’m on the garage. B and Tiercel flying around. I think they’re on Xerox.

2:43 pm – I think B on OCSR and Tiercel on Xerox.

3:25 pm – Think its B on NW corner OCSR. I’m on bench at BSB.

Beauty was still at the same spot when I arrived.

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I watched from the Andrews St Bridge, where I had the best view of Beauty.  She remained there until close to 6 pm, when she finally took off and flew down to land on the Mercury statue.  I drove over to the Broad St Bridge to take a couple pics and to check out the area to see if the tiercel had returned.  I looked all over for him, but could not find him.  By the time I looked back at Beauty, she was gone.

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I drove all over downtown, but had no luck finding Beauty or any other falcons.  It was dark by this time and it was time for me to head home.

Looks like the weather in Rochester (NY) is going to get nasty tonight.  Rain, changing to sleet and wet snow overnight, with more snow tomorrow.  High 37 degrees (F) tomorrow.

Finally, I’d like to add that I do not believe that this unbanded tiercel is BST, the tiercel that spent so much time with Pigott at the BS location.  This is of course, is just my opinion.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was forecast to be sunny this morning with clouds and snow coming in the afternoon. The temperature when I left for my watch at 6:15am was 26 (F) -3 (C).

I went straight away to the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) to check the Hyatt Hotel for that’s where the new mystery tiercel(male) Peregrine Falcon was last seen. I have named him M as in Mystery for ease of tweeting and IDing. M was still on the Hyatt on a lower roof south corner.

I left the bridge to go up to the top level of the South Ave. garage for closer viewing since it’s connected to the Hyatt. I was able to get many pics of M and some leg shots that showed he was wearing no leg bands.

M stayed up there for an hour before flying toward the Times Square Building (TSB). At 7:40am I could see Beauty at the nest box and M circling above the TSB. Beauty left the nest box to fly with M briefly and then he flew behind TSB and came around the south side landing somewhere. From my vantage point I couldn’t see where exactly and neither could Beauty for she flew to Mercury and was looking for him.

I decided it was time to get down off the garage at this time and while I was in transit Beauty left Mercury but as I parked in front of the Blue Cross Arena on Exchange St. I had  a clear view of M on a south side column of TSB.

There was no aggression shown between Beauty and M at any time during my watch. Beauty came flying in above M checking him out and then she disappeared for half hour. At 8:44am M flew off and met Beauty for a brief fly together near the Wilder building and then Beauty flew to the nest box with M going to the ledge on the south side of TSB across from the nest box where Calidora in 2010 and Orion last year fledged to.

<No bands on M   Beauty>

Then they both flew off going behind the TSB where I lost them. At 9:24am M went to  the south column opposite nest box one level up and Beauty to the west corner top ibeam of OCSR.

A few minutes later M flew over near Beauty on OCSR and did a little display flying for her. She flew off with him going behind OCSR and she returned to her west corner top ibeam of OCSR as M never returned and that was the last time I saw him on my watch. She flew off a few minutes after that and then I couldn’t find her either so I took a ride to the Lake Tower and Brighton sites to check but I could find no PEFAs at either location. I then returned to downtown and parked on the BSB where I spotted the Beautyful one back on the OCSR west corner top ibeam at 11:00am.

She was in the bright sunshine as she stayed there for the next 30 minutes. At first I thought Beauty had flown north but Donna let me know she had just gone around the corner as I parked on State St. across from the Rochester Plaza Hotel to observe. At 11:41am Beauty flew off OCSR and came straight  across between the Crossroads building and the hotel to land on a pole directly above me. The address on the front of the building was 39 State St. and it’s connected to the Powers building.

Beauty flew off the pole heading southwest and I quickly lost sight of her being surrounded by buildings. I took a ride around the city without finding Beauty or M and ended up on the Andrews St. Bridge where Joyce and Steve met me. It was at this point I ended my 6 hour watch which flew by and seemed more like just a couple hours. Keep smiling as we begin the season here in Rochester with 3 females and one unbanded male-I know I will! 🙂

Click the links below for more pics and videos of  M

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWrWxA

http://youtu.be/4B88dk9pLcw
http://youtu.be/MsfEv1qKVoc
http://youtu.be/92-Prwj2rXk
http://youtu.be/t5Xy156dh5o
http://youtu.be/Bmt3zZtBvOg

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Today was supposed to be our best chance for sun in the next few days but it didn’t happen for my morning watch. The temperature was 31 (F) -1 (C) same as yesterday with hardly any wind and no precipitation of any kind.

From the Broad St. Bridge I spotted Beauty on the top arm south side of the jail tower at 6:40am. I drove over to Troup St. to be closer but she didn’t stay long after I got there-maybe a minute and a half.

Right after this one pic I started to record a video and seconds into it she flew off into a stoop toward the river and I lost sight of her. I found her on the top ibeam southeast side of OCSR as soon as I got back to the Broad St. Bridge.

As I sat by the Radisson Hotel I noticed the American Flag waving in my side mirror from across the street in front of the Rochester Convention Center. I do love our flag!

I stayed with Beauty until about 8:ooam as she preened and kept an eye on things in her air space and below.

During that hour I did take the mile and a half ride to the Lake Tower site but didn’t see a falcon there. I arrived at the Brighton location around 8:1oam and found Pigott in the PEFA tree. The 3 crows that harassed her the other day showed up within a few minutes of me getting there but this time she didn’t stand her ground. They successfully convinced Miss Pigott to get out of that tree as she flew off to the north. She didn’t return until after the crows left-smart girl!

I would like to have stayed longer but I was to pick up Joyce at 9:00am and travel to Buffalo for a falcon watch. I checked for Beauty on my way thru downtown but she was gone from the OCSR so I ended my watch at 8:30am. Our resident female falcons always send me home with a smile on my face! 🙂

Links for 3 videos are below-just click and view

http://youtu.be/2dr1kXQMTPk
http://youtu.be/Zbe7J32Te7s
http://youtu.be/g-weXQdOTI4