By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a chilly 26 (F)-3 (C) with dark conditions and light snow throughout my watch

Click on the pics to see the full version

It wasn’t until 7:45am that I found a falcon. It was Dot.Ca (DC) up on the north ledge of the OCSR elevator shaft. I found him as I was parked at the Radisson Hotel by Main St. After a couple minutes DC turned around and eventually turned his back to the cold world outside of his man cave. The sun shone thru for a few minutes while I was there.

I left DC to look for Beauty-I found her about 8am on the Kodak Office playpen southeast corner. She wasn’t easy to see with the snow that was falling in varying degrees, but I was able to get a few pics that are somewhat clear. Beauty had her back to me at first, then she turned to the left to give a side view at least.

I shared space with the Beautyful one for about 20 minutes when she flew south out of view.

While making the rounds to look for Beauty I checked on DC-he was still in the elevator shaft with his back facing out. I wasn’t able to locate Beauty again. I had to be somewhere so I ended my watch at 8:40am. I wasn’t done though for when I got home to Seneca Towers I found a falcon on the east side as I was in the Northridge Church parking lot. I believe it was 99 on the top window ledge of the 2nd apartment down from the southeast corner.

99 gave me just enough time to take a few pics, then while I was taping him, he flew off heading north and didn’t return. So I saw 3 out of 4 Rochester Peregrine Falcons today which is worthy of a big old smile on this falcon watchers face! 🙂

Click on the links below to view todays videos
http://youtu.be/i-Ct4EORmzk

http://youtu.be/KhsprQu_Vdw

http://youtu.be/O6lTPbWa9DU

http://youtu.be/-qo2oq2wPKM

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

I steeped out from Seneca Towers this morning into a winter wonderland of fresh snow that covered everything. The temperature was 28 (F) -2 (C) degrees with light snow falling and virtually no wind making for a quiet and peaceful scene

Click on my pics to see the full version

Happy Thanksgiving!

I left Seneca Towers without seeing any falcons this morning but I was fortunate enough to find both Beauty and Dot.Ca (DC) downtown. My first sighting was from Woodbury Blvd. where I spotted Beauty up on one of the southeast corners of Bausch & Lomb (B&L). I drove over to Clinton Ave. parking out in front of the Frontier building to confirm it was her.

She turned her back on me so I went over to Broad St. between Midtown and Xerox where I could see that she was eating breakfast. As I pulled over I noticed DC flying above B&L then he vanished to the northwest behind Clinton Square.

Around 7:45am Beauty stopped eating and a couple minutes later flew off as DC came streaking in. She went northwest and he circled B&L 3 times then went southwest behind the buildings. I left to check around from the Broad St. Bridge and that’s where I re-established  a view of Beauty on a southwest corner of B&L. I went to Court St. by the Court St. garage for closer viewing and spotted DC was at the opposite end from the Beautyful one on a southeast corner.

A few minutes later Beauty flew east followed by DC-I lost sight of them behind Xerox at this time. They returned shortly after to B&L, both landing on the same southwest corner Beauty had been on previously. Beauty landed first with DC landing to the right of her then walking back behind out of view momentarily and showing up to the left of Beauty. She had gotten her leftovers while she was gone and he wanted some.

When it was apparent that Beauty wasn’t going to share, DC flew back to the southeast corner he had left before and then he flew up to the northwest corner of Xerox to watch Beauty as she finished eating her leftovers.

While I was taping DC a small bird flew right below him at which time DC flew off  Xerox, circled above Beauty then went back to Xerox. Beauty finished up her leftovers and perched on her corner to watch DC.

At 8:17am DC stooped off Xerox out of view then resurfaced to land on Archer’s corner-named after Beauty’s first mate Archer who spent about a week on this corner with 2 injured legs. This is one of the southwest corners of B&L-each corner of B&L has several corners. DC had caught his own Thanksgiving Day meal and started plucking feathers right away.

A couple bonus pics from after I ended my watch at 8:30am-snow on trees in Highland Park and a Red-tail Hawk in Mt. Hope cemetery

I  left  happy with a smile knowing our downtown pair of Rochester Peregrine Falcons had eaten and were safe and sound-a blessing I was very thankful for on a peaceful Thanksgiving Day morning! 🙂

Click on the links below to see todays videos
http://youtu.be/VMyJfHsOXBA

http://youtu.be/g_bGsRq5bmI

http://youtu.be/p6CxGj5XdaM

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Another dark overcast morning with a temperature of 34 (F) 1 (C)

Click on the pics to see the full version

I found a falcon on the 5th column from the southeast corner south side of Xerox at 7:30am as I was pulled over on Woodbury Blvd. I drove over to Chestnut St. for a closer look but it was gone when I got there. I’m pretty sure it was Beauty as that is one of her favorite spots. As I approached the Broad St. bridge (BSB) I spotted her up on the base of Mercury where she was plucking feathers.

She had her back to me so I went down to Aqueduct St. in the hole to observe while she prepared her breakfast.

The Beautyful one decided to turn around and show me her back again so back up to the bridge I went. Beauty’s crop looked like she had swallowed a tennis ball!

I left Beauty to have a look around downtown for Dot.Ca (DC) but there was no sign of him. When I got back to check on Beauty I found that she was done eating and had cached her leftovers on the green part of the base where she was now perched. I parked on Broad St. next to the Blue Cross Arena to hang out with her a little longer. A wing from her cached leftovers was sticking straight up to her right as she feaked and picked at her talons.

At 8:57am Beauty flew off and went up into the OCSR elevator shaft-the last shot on my snippet movie today shows her going up and in.

Another check for DC proved futile so I left for home after an all Beauty morning falcon watch as when I got home to Seneca Towers at 9:20am I didn’t see Billie or 99.  Any time spent with Beauty always brings a smile to my face! 🙂

Click on the links below to see videos of Beauty
http://youtu.be/9pK1N_rtWwg

http://youtu.be/ZixU1W6l-ZI

http://youtu.be/1xOBcvFo4SQ

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a very dark overcast morning with a temperature of 43 (F) 6 (C)

Click on the pics to see the full version

Right out of the gate today I heard a falcon vocalizing as I crossed the parking lot to my car at Seneca Towers. I looked up but didn’t see it anywhere on the east side, nor did I see one as I left and checked the west and south sides. Onward to downtown where I found Beauty on the top ibeam southeast side of OCSR.

I left her to look for Dot.Ca (DC) but wasn’t able to locate him and when I returned Beauty was gone. I did see 2 Black-crowned Night Herons in the big tree at Aqueduct Park so I took a walk down there to check them out.

Right around 7:30am Donna tweeted that DC was on the nest ledge. Thanks Donna-with all the leaves gone I was able to see him thru the trees.

As I made my way up to the hole I saw DC fly from next to the main cam around to the back of Times Square (TSB).  He came to rest on the north side near the northwest corner and soon after DC flew back around to the front  of the building landing under the northeast wing, then off again to the north out of sight.

I went north too and came upon both Beauty and DC on the Kodak Office (KO) launchpad. He was on the northeast corner and she was in the middle of the east side. It looked like she was eating something from behind as she had her back to me as I was parked on State St. near Platt St.

DC turned around so I went further up State St. just past Brown St. where I could see the front of them. At 8:07am DC went off into a stoop heading north at break neck speed straight down State St. and as he reached Jay St. he hung a left and flew out of view.

Beauty had flown off too and when DC returned to KO they circled around KO together presumably looking for prey. Beauty landed on the northeast corner of the launchpad with food. She walked back to the spot on the east side where she had previously been with the food in her talon.  DC landed on the northeast corner right after she moved.

DC flew off after a quick look at the food Beauty had and landed on the southeast corner  to watch the Beautyful one as she plucked feathers.

DC walked toward Beauty and she turned her back to him, so he flew off around the building and returned to the southeast corner.  Every time DC made a move toward Beauty she turned her back to him-he went from one corner to the other. It was pretty darn funny to witness as he tried to sneak up behind her a couple times and give up when she turned to face him and thwart his attempts to get some grub.

Beauty settled on the northeast corner and watched Beauty eat for a few minutes then he turned his back on her.

At 8:26am DC took off again leaving my field of vision-I caught a glimpse of him flying below the southeast corner at which point Beauty stopped eating and walked over to the northeast corner of the launchpad. She feaked and pooped then walked half way back stopping between her leftovers and the corner.

Suddenly around 8:45am DC returned to grab the leftovers and took them to the southeast corner to eat as Beauty watched. This is where I left them as I had to get a couple teeth pulled and had to get going.

When I arrived at Seneca Towers I spotted a falcon on one of the the south end antennas as I pulled into my parking lot. At first I thought it was 99 but when it flew off a couple minutes later I knew it was Billie, as it was much too big to be him. She flew down the west side toward the northwest end out of view.

I ended my watch at 9:10am with a smile after a very entertaining watch! 🙂

Click on the links below to see todays videos
http://youtu.be/NeDG5ZKHO7c

http://youtu.be/ptkposH9SVw

http://youtu.be/f715f-ZV2ek

http://youtu.be/R_PDVruWhEw

http://youtu.be/gsUMZWhMCbw

http://youtu.be/lGFuMw5jwfc

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

When I left for my watch this morning it was a balmy, breezy 59 (F) 15 (C) degrees the sun made its way up to shine and blue skies prevailed

Click on my pics to see the full version

There were no falcons at Seneca Towers as I began my morning watch-as a matter of fact, there were no falcons downtown either until nearly 8:30am. I searched the city many times until finally Dot.Ca (DC) appeared under the northeast wing of Times Square (TSB). He didn’t exactly greet me with a smile as he lifted his tail feathers to poop! lol The wind was blowing his feathers pretty good and I thought it might blow him to the next county after a couple gusts.

Sometimes it looks like DC is posing for my camera and when the sun shines on his whiteness it can almost be blinding.

I got to share space with DC for about 40 minutes when he decided to fly west at exactly 9am.

10 minutes later I found DC on the northeast corner of the Kodak Office launchpad.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find Beauty this morning.

I left DC basking in the sun and headed home. Now that the trees are bare I can check the south and west side of Seneca Towers (ST) from St. Paul St.-nothing seen so I drove further down to the Northridge Church parking lot where I check the east and north sides of ST. Just as I got there I spotted a falcon flying in from the north-it looped around and back to the northwest corner where it landed. A shot of its leg bands showed yellow tape on the right leg so I knew I had 99 in my sights.

99 moved to his left a bit getting off the corner-I imagine because the wind was so strong. He then went back out to the corner and flew off going into a stoop down toward the river gorge.

I called it quits at 9:45am after an all boy morning watch which left me smiling! 🙂

Click on the links below to see todays videos
http://youtu.be/JRfh_a0pZKc

http://youtu.be/ofNpwZDd90M

http://youtu.be/Il5SshFCtR0

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Another cloudy day, but the temps were a little more tolerable than past days.  Tomorrow, Rochester is under a high wind warning from 1 pm (Monday) to 4:00 am (Tuesday) with southwest winds at 25 to 35 mph with gusts up to 60 mph, with a high temperature of 65 degrees (F).  Hold onto your hats!

I arrived downtown and parked on the Broad St Bridge.  Beauty was on top of the Mercury statue and Dot.ca was on top of the Times Square Bldg on the ledge under the southeast wing.

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I could also see the two Black Crowned Night Herons that are still hanging out here in Rochester, in a tree in Aqueduct Park.

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As it started to lightly rain, first Dot.ca, then Beauty took off and flew east.  I watched Beauty as she circled the Xerox bldg and did not return.

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I drove over to the south side of Xerox and found Dot.ca on the southeast corner of HSBC.  Since these two have been inseparable lately, I had a suspicion that Beauty was somewhere nearby.  I was right.  From the Strong Museum parking lot, I was far enough away to see that Beauty was also on HSBC on the northeast corner.

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Brian and Joyce joined me and we chatted for awhile.  It was time to end my downtown watch.  I wanted to check Seneca Towers and Russell Station before the sun set, which happens around 4:40 pm now.

I found two falcons at Seneca Towers on the north end of the building on the west side.  They were both facing west.

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My last stop was Russell Station, where I found no falcons.  I ended my weekend watches with sightings of all 4 Rochester Falcons.  I just love the weekends!  🙂

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

We’re having a warm spell as the temperature this morning was 21 degrees higher than yesterday at 46 (F) 8 (C). It was overcast and dreary with a light breeze

Click on the pics to see the full version

I didn’t find any falcons at Seneca Towers as I left for my watch this morning but I did see one fly over Hawkeye as I made my way down St. Paul St. I received a message from Donna that Beauty had flown off Mercury so when I reached the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) I looked there first and found Beauty on the green part of the base. 2 minutes later Dot.Ca (DC) flew in to join her landing on the cement part of the base. I believe he was checking to see if she had food.

Beauty and DC flew east at the same time-he went toward Xerox and she toward Chase-both disappeared behind the buildings. 10 minutes later at 7:35am after checking the east side I returned to the BSB to find Beauty on the Mercury money bag (MMB) and DC way up on the northwest wing ring of Times Square (TSB).

I decided to go down to the hole so I could be in between them-while I was taping Beauty, DC left the wing ring . From down in the hole the back lighting on the Beautyful one was bad, making for dark photos so I played around with them in Picassa.

Beauty kept looking down at something, bobbing her head many times and finally she flew off down toward the river and out of view at 8:17am.

I made my way up to the BSB where I spotted Beauty flying and hovering above Xerox. I drove to Court St. across from the Court St. garage where I had a close view of her flight show. Beauty flew south and when she didn’t return I went back to the BSB where I spotted her under the northeast wing of Times Square. I went down to the hole and noticed DC on the back part of TSB on the north side eating, at which time I crossed over to the parking lot by TSB.

Beauty was keeping an eye on her mate and as I was taping him she flew over his head which stirred him up. He msut have been afraid she was going to take his food for he took off with his small package. Beauty landed a couple columns away from where DC had been eating (most likely looking to see if he left any behind) then she flew over to the Widows Walk railing, east side. She didn’t stay but a moment then flew south behind TSB out of sight.

A few minutes later I spotted Beauty soaring above Xerox again-once more I parked on Court St. to watch her. She stooped behind me toward the river after 5 minutes of entertaining me with her winged prowess. I stopped on the Court St. bridge to check out the river on my way thru.

I ended up on Bragdon St. to check the elevator shaft after having no luck finding anybody around 9am. From there I could just barely make out the white of DC across the river on the green strip of the Ellwanger & Barry building on State St. across from the Rochester Plaza Hotel.

By the time I got over to State St. DC was gone-I found him right around the corner on the south side of the platform railing of the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT). He didn’t stay there for long as he flew over to the northeast cube. He was watching something below him then he looked up and flew down to the north side of the tower.

I couldn’t see him so I went down to the City Hall parking lot where I found out what had his attention-Beauty. She was on a north side beam under the platform and he was on an east side beam same level as Beauty, covering up leftover food.  After a couple minutes he flew off with the goods and a minute later Beauty flew off too.

I didn’t follow as I had to be somewhere but I had a good time following them today as I ended my watch at 9:30am with a smile! 🙂

Click on the links below to view todays videos
http://youtu.be/cMnKVyc8wgk

http://youtu.be/0lFDqCMxedI

http://youtu.be/2e_i1zYs-e0

http://youtu.be/rA4YxPltvPA

http://youtu.be/6tQgd2L_1lA

http://youtu.be/InYc1MxKTbA

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Had to start out by saying, HOORAY for the weekend!  🙂

My watch started at 10:00 am and ended at 12:30 pm.  It started with a little bit of sunshine before clouding up.  I was happy to get out for a watch.  I started at the BS location, where I found no falcons and saw no birds at all.  That was very unusual.  I usually see lots of  Canada Geese and Crows there.

Just before I arrived downtown, I received a tweet from MAK that she had seen a falcon flying by her window at the ST location. After searching the downtown area, I made my way over to the Radisson to check up inside the the OCSR elevator shaft. There I found a falcon on the south side ledge.  I think it was Beauty, but couldn’t be sure.

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I went looking for a 2nd falcon.  From the Andrews St Bridge I checked out the Frontier Communication Tower and the Kodak Tower.  No falcons seen until the falcon from the OCSR elevator flew out and headed north, very fast.  I watched this falcon until it reached the Kodak Tower and a second falcon appeared.  Both falcons flew around the tower and each other.  Weaving in and out and around each other until one landed on the base of the playpen at the northeast corner and the other landed just above the other on the playpen netting.

These pictures were taken from the Andrews St Bridge.

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I made my way over to the Kodak Tower to get a closer look at the two falcons there.  During my watch, I was never able to make a positive ID on either falcon. But I do believe it was Beauty (B) and Dot.ca (DC).

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Both took off and returned to the tower.  Again, flying around it and each other. Mock talon tagging and what I can only describe as playful behavior.  That is not something I am used to seeing from these two.  It was fun to watch.  There was no vocalizations.

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Both returned to the Kodak Tower.  Dot.ca landed on the northeast corner of the launchpad and Beauty on the base of the playpen.

Beauty took off and flew around the tower.  She then landed a few feet to Dot.ca’s left on the launchpad.  It started to rain, so I left them both to their tandem preening on top of the Kodak Tower.

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On my way home, I passed Seneca Towers and found one falcon on top of the building at the north end on the northwest corner.

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My watch ended at Russell Station where I saw two Red-tailed Hawks soaring above the buildings there.  Below them was a flock of pigeons in panicked flight. The hawks flew south and the pigeons settled on the east end of the building.  I saw no falcons there.

It was a wonderful way to end my watch!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

As I stepped out of my apartment I couldn’t help but notice the beautiful site of a new day dawning out the east side balcony windows. Naturally I went out and shot a couple pics!

Todays starting temperature was 25 (F) -4 (C) with mostly cloudy skies and a busy breeze out of the south

Click on the pics to see the full version

After a trip around downtown with no luck finding a falcon I went back to Kodak Office and while checking the west side from Verona St. by Frontier Field I spotted the familiar shape of a falcon on the northeast wing ledge of Times Square (TSB) around 7:25am.

So I drove directly down to the hole parking lot and to my sweet surprise both Beauty and Dot.Ca (DC) were up there facing each other.

The wind was ruffling their feathers as they preened together-seemingly copying each other as they would stick one leg forward and go back to preening.

At 8:09am the Beautyful one flew north as DC watched her wind up and fly off.

DC followed suit and flew off less than 30 seconds later. I then departed myself to find out where they took off to.

As I drove down State St. I spotted Beauty up on the northeast cube of the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT). I parked in the lot next to the Hochstein School of Music for the best view.

I stayed just a few minutes after checking each side for DC who wasn’t up there anywhere. I headed back toward the Times Square area and found DC back under the northeast wing of Times Square. This time he was facing  out and perched in a buddha style position with feathers foofed to keep warm.

DC was moving his head very fast from one side to the other, obviously in hunt mode and looking for some poor unsuspecting prey bird to fly in his air space. I had to get going so I left him after a few minutes. On my way out of downtown I stopped by to say good bye to Beauty who was still on the northeast cube of FCT. I ended my watch at 9am.

I didn’t see Billie or 99 at Seneca Towers while on watch this morning but as I put my report together I have seen a falcon fly past my living room window twice-southbound the first time and northbound the second time about a minute later and it was in stoop formation. This makes me smile because I haven’t seen a PEFA here in a few days! 🙂

Click on the links below to see todays videos
http://youtu.be/73GN_45_MAE

http://youtu.be/m8rJqrmv3vE

http://youtu.be/62QtNQY6Jsk

http://youtu.be/sWgFP5ewbiU

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was overcast with a starting temperature of 19 (F) -7 (C) toward the end of my watch the sun came out

Click on the pics to see the full version

No falcons were seen at Seneca Towers again today. I found Beauty around 7:20am on the south side arch of the Kodak Office Tower (KO).

While I tweeted that Beauty was there she flew off so I had no idea what direction she went. I was just about to leave when she returned and landed on the southeast corner of the launchpad and she had food. She didn’t take long to scarf it down so I think it’s safe to say it was cached food. She started feaking and cleaning up when the sun made its way up high enough to shine right on her.

Like night and day as the sun reaches Beauty

She did some preening and scratching for the next 15 minutes or so.

At 7:40am the Beautyful one flew back down to the south side arch of KO and started preening in the sun.

I left Beauty to look for Dot.Ca (DC) but was unsuccessful in finding him. I returned to KO to find Beauty in the same spot on the arch.

I shared space with Beauty until about 8:40am leaving her as light snow was falling all around her and the sun disappeared.

As I was checking the elevator shaft of OCSR from Bragdon Place by the Radisson Hotel I spotted DC on the top ibeam southeast side of OCSR. I drove to the other side of the hotel by Main St. for a clear and closer view of his whiteness.

When I first got there DC was feaking and he had a full crop so he had obviously just finished eating his breakfast. He looked around for a few minutes then flew over to the elevator shaft and came to rest on the north side ledge.

I had to get going so I left DC to hang out in his man cave. I checked KO to see that Beauty was still there on the arch. I ended my watch at 9am with a smile knowing that our downtown Peregrine pair had eaten and were doing fine! 🙂

Click on the links below to view todays videos
http://youtu.be/Vq56FS0cgSc

http://youtu.be/fbQCz6P6-6c

http://youtu.be/Cz82NYtaiJM

http://youtu.be/1Ad_q4e32PQ