By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

The temperature was 53 (F) 11 (C) at the start and sunny-the clouds rolled in making it overcast for the middle of my watch and the end was mostly sunny

As I was getting ready to leave for my watch, a Seneca Towers falcon flew outside my window on the 16th floor. I didn’t see it but I heard it vocalizing at 5:45am.

I joined Dan on the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) at 6am on this summer solstice-the longest day as far as light hours. We will begin losing daylight each day now.  Beauty was on cam 1 and Dot.Ca (DC) on the top ibeam south corner of OCSR. Buddy the gull was eating a brown, dried up piece of some kind of meat in the middle of the road and having a hard time getting it down.

Click on my pics to see the full version

Things stayed this way until DC flew off to the southeast wing ring around 6:35am. The kids were up and about practicing flapping their wings and such.

<Click it

At 6:50am Beauty flew over to the Philippone building (never seen a falcon on this building) and landed on the lower southwest corner-she seemed to be looking for something as she flew, hopped and walked her way to the upper southeast corner. A small bird appeared behind her and I wondered if that was what she was looking for. She never saw it and flew off at 6:55am-returning to cam 1.

<Click it <Click it

DC flew off the wing ring at 7:02am heading south-we followed him with our binoculars until he became a speck in the sky and vanished. 10 minutes later the Beautyful one flew over to the base of Mercury. The crew was back on the Main St. bridge to finish removing the logs and debris under the bridge that they had started 2 weeks ago.

Dan left at 7:25am and I went down to the hole to see the front of Beauty-she took off at 7:40am flying over the Blue Cross Arena and headed south.

I drove around to a different spot in time to see what she was flying after-DC was coming in with a small package. She followed him to the deck where she landed next to him, grabbed the food and flew to the base of Mercury with it. DC flew over to OCSR top ibeam south corner then Beauty returned to the deck with a tiny piece of food to feed to the kids.

At 7:49am Beauty flew to the heel of Mercury for a few minutes then flew to cam 4 to perch for a bit as she watched over the 4 soon to be fledglings.

<Click it

DC did some preening while one of his boys wandered out onto the well wall and started making his way north as Larry and Harold arrived. It was Mercury who made his way to the end of the wall where it leads to the building at the north end.

Beauty flew over to the top ibeam west corner of OCSR as DC remained on the south corner and Mercury hung out on the well wall. Larry and I ended the watch at 9am with visions of eyasses turning into fledglings by weeks end-something to smile about and give us a few more gray hairs! 🙂

PS-almost forgot-I saw Luzerne on the northwest corner of Seneca Towers when I got home today. I barely had time to get 1 pic and then she was off

Click on the links below to view a photo album and todays videos
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http://youtu.be/FOLG6_womp8

http://youtu.be/UmpNXIuuz8E

http://youtu.be/XdDWyLh6Kww

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

A chilly but sunny morning watch with a temperature of 53 (F) 12 (C)

The last watch for Ginny before heading back to New Jersey was quite a show for her. It started on the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) with Dan at 6am-Beauty was on cam 1 and Dot.Ca (DC) was on the northwest wing ring.

Remember to click on my pics to see the full version

Dan told us that both adults had done many unsuccessful stoops before we joined him. Around 6:20am DC flew off to the northeast after a couple crows behind the Thomson Reuters building (TR). He came flying thru a minute later and disappeared behind the Times Square building before resurfacing over the river by TR hot on the trail of a couple crows. One landed on a window ledge, but there was no escaping the wrath of a daddy falcon clearing air space around his family-he hit that crow very hard, the crow flew off and DC went after another crow. Thump on that one too! Another crow landed on the Blue Cross Arena (BCA) roof and he flew up and hit that one as well. DC cleared out about half a dozen crows chasing them over toward Cornhill and returned triumphantly thru a vacated sky to land on the Mercury money bag. He stayed only a minute then flew south out of sight. WOW, what agile maneuvering!

Meanwhile, up on Times Square Beauty watched over the kids who were all up waiting for breakfast. Dan left at 6:45am so we went down to the hole to observe Beauty and her ever changing family. The Beautyful one is molting and had a feather stuck to her head-we call that a fascinator.

At 7:02am Beauty flew over to Widows Walk coming to rest on the east side railing. She stayed long enough to poop, turn around, have a look around then fly back to cam 1.

The eyasses were squawking up a storm when she returned-no doubt crying for FOOD! We could only see one of them from where we were but we heard the rest of them very well. And then wing flapping occurred.

<Click it

Beauty did some stretching and preening while white down feathers kept sticking to her-it was very comical to watch as she would knock one off with a talon only to have another one resurface somewhere else.

Business came a calling in the form of DC with food flying in from the south-she flew out to meet him and beat him to the deck. She took the food from him and went back on the deck out of view.

Beauty suddenly flew out and went south-DC flew over to the top ibeam south corner of OCSR.

At about 7:45am Beauty came out of nowhere and landed on the deck with  food vanishing quickly in a sea of young falcons. It was time to get Ginny to the train station for her trip home but she definitely was smiling as we drove away after a nice week spent with our downtown Rochester Peregrine Falcons! 🙂

Click on the links below to view todays videos

http://youtu.be/7w_zVp2praQ

http://youtu.be/85DDB18abJw

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

It was a very comfortable evening for a falcon watch.  When I arrived on the Broad St Bridge, there wasn’t much room to park.  Larry O had tweeted out that there was a swing dance band next to the library on Broad St and South Ave.  That’s the music we had been listening to on the live streaming video feed before I left for downtown.  Not just music, but some very talented swing dancers as well.  Since both Beauty and Dot.ca were no where to be seen, this entertainment was welcome.

I joined Larry O, Ginny and MAK at the east end of the Broad St Bridge, where they had been enjoying the music.  It soon ended and we were joined by watchers Kathy O and Dan.  We ended up settling on the south side sidewalk more in the center of the Broad St Bridge.  There was a whole lot of activity down on the river, now that the water levels are down.  Lots of critters surviving on what the river and the surrounding area has to offer. Water, food and shelter.

At approximately 7:00 pm, both Beauty and Dot.ca flew up to the nest box.  Beauty went into the nest box and Dot.ca landed on top of Camera #1 aka Pan Cam.  Beauty flew up to the top of Camera #4.  Dot.ca flew to the 2nd Ibeam down on the south side of the OCSR and Beauty took off and flew to the Mercury statue, landing on the heal.  That’s where they remained as I ended my watch  at a little after 8:00 pm.

Here are some pictures I took during my watch tonight.  Enjoy! and Goodnight!

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One last picture of fellow watchers Dan, MAK and Ginny. (left to right)

<–Be sure to click on this one to see the full picture.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was 63 degrees (F) 17 (C) with mostly cloudy skies to start but the clouds were breaking up giving way to blue skies by the end of our watch

Ginny and I started in the hole next to He’s Chinese watching Beauty on the south column opposite side of the nest box and one level higher. At 6:46am Beauty flew out to meet Dot.Ca (DC) but he had no food so she flew to the base of Mercury and he went up under the northeast wing of the Times Square building (TSB).

DC flew off at 7am  and we could see a wing flapping on the deck and then an eyas made an appearance.

Make sure to click on my pics to see the full version

Around 7:15am the Beautyful one left Mercury and returned soon after with what looked like a Mourning Dove to the base of Mercury and started plucking feathers. DebbieH joined the watch on her way to work. Beauty then took it over to the corner of the deck and started feeding an eyas. I was surprised the others didn’t come running over for a bite. DC came in with food and started feeding the others further back on the deck. Beauty spent 6 minutes feeding her baby then left to return to the base of Mercury.

Beauty plucked some more feathers and had a few bites for herself.  Debbie left around 7:30am about the same time that DC flew over to the top ibeam south corner of OCSR.

After eating a meager amount Beauty went back over to the deck and fed 1 eyas at first, then another came over for its share. Beauty flew north at 7:48am with leftovers.

Beauty returned a minute or so later and landed on cam 1 for a brief moment or two then flew out and back to the south side of the deck before going up onto cam 4.

We couldn’t see her from where we were in the hole so I drove over to the front of the Blue Cross Arena on Exchange Blvd. to observe at 8:02am-DC was still on OCSR.

At 8:10am Beauty flew to cam 1 where we couldn’t see her again-oh the falcon games we play! So, Ginny and I went back to the hole and finished out our watch there with Beauty on cam 1 and DC stretching on OCSR.

DC started dozing off and since everyone had eaten we figured they were all settled in, so we ended our watch at 8:30am. We were smiling after a very action packed watch following Beauty from one place to the other, and having seen eyasses being fed! 🙂

Click on the links below to view more pics and todays videos

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http://youtu.be/JOnFXo8NQ78

http://youtu.be/NgUR_P4Zmxk

http://youtu.be/8nY3LoGLu4I

http://youtu.be/qYYoVHIkEwk

http://youtu.be/Lfg3DfAzMy8

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

I joined Kathy O, Ginny and MAK on the Broad St Bridge.  There was flying and hunting by both Beauty and Dot.,ca, while storm clouds moved in from the northwest.  By 8:00 pm, it started to rain and Beauty made sure all 4 eyases were safely inside the nest box while she remained on the perch standing guard in front of them.

Rochester (NY) and much of the north east was hit by thunder & lightning, high winds and torrential rain.  We heard from our friends up in Ontario, Canada.  They were hit especially hard and quite a few of the young eyases nesting there came to ground.  All but one, a very small male named Heaton, survived.  I am very sorry for the loss of this young falcon.  Fly Free Heaton.

Here are some pictures from my Tuesday evening falcon watch.

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This is what the sky looked like as the storm started to subside.  The lighting was very eerie.

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Wednesday, June 18, 2014

The evening falcon watchers again met on the Broad St Bridge.  Tonight’s watchers included Kathy O, Lisa McK, Dan, Ginny, MAK, Carrie, Shaky and me, Carol P.  After last night’s storms, the cooler temperatures and cloudy sky were very welcome.

Dot.ca brought in food and met Beauty at the nest box.  She took the food from him and went to the base of the Mercury Statue to prepare it.  While feathers were flying there, Dot.ca flew up to the northeast wing ledge on top of the Times Square Building.  After prepping the food, Beauty returned to the nest box platform where she fed all four eyases.  I walked over to the front of the Blue Cross Arena aka Rochester War Memorial, where I had a better view.

Here are some pictures from tonight’s Falcon Watch.  If you place your cursor over the picture, it will tell you what is going on in that pic.  You can also click on any pictures to enlarge them.  Enjoy!

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Here’s a picture of some of the Rochester Falcon Watchers that were on watch this evening.  Goodnight everyone!

– Be sure to click on this one to see the full picture!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

After some strong t-storms last night we started the day with overcast, humid conditions with a temperature of 67 (F) 20 (C)

Ginny and I joined Dan on the Broad St. bridge (BSB) at 6:30am. Upon our arrival Dan promptly gave us the scoop-Beauty had flown south just before we got there and Dot.Ca (DC) was on the top ibeam south corner of OCSR. We could see all 4 eyasses up at the nest box. Well, 3 eyasses and 1 eyas head! lol

Dan left at 6:45am and a few minutes later Beauty showed up on the south column 1 level above the nest box. We went down to the hole to observe. A minute later she flew off heading north toward DC as he flew off OCSR and went up to the northeast wing ring. I forgot to tweet this out-sorry!

<Beauty   DC>

Beauty flew to the column above the nest box-it stayed this way until DC flew off at 7:18am into a stoop toward the river and didn’t return.

5 minutes later Beauty took off toward the river stooping over the Blue Cross Arena (BCA)-she returned to land on the main cam.

The Beautyful one stayed perched there until 8:11am  when she flew north and returned to land on the south column once again.

Beauty hung out there until she flew off  kakking at 8:21am after a Turkey Vulture.  She returned to Times Square and landed on the column above the nest box one more time.

We ended our watch at 8:45am leaving a peaceful scene with Beauty perched above her babies. I found another neat pic at Seneca Towers as I saw it across from the elevator on the 2nd floor-made me smile! 🙂

Click it to see a larger version

Click on the links below to see todays videos
http://youtu.be/981NBwE66L4

http://youtu.be/4ZMBBT0b17E

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

A great morning for a watch with a temperature of 64 (F) 18 (C) and sunny blue skies

The day started out with a fly by from Luzerne outside my Seneca Towers apartment. The other day as I was stopped on the 4th floor I noticed across from the elevator there was a picture of Mercury and the Times Square building, so last night I took a pic of the pic.

make sure to click on all my pics to see the full version

As we were getting ready to leave I got a message from Donna that Beauty was alarm calling at the nest box downtown, so Ginny and I left straight away. When we arrived on the Broad St Bridge (BSB) at 6:15am Dan was sitting in his chair on the south side of the bridge. I asked what was going on and he said that Dot.Ca (DC) had come in with food and Beauty chased after him kakking. DC landed on the top ibeam of OCSR near the south corner and was eating while Beauty went up under the northeast wing of the Times Square building (TSB).

Just before 6:30am Beauty went down to cam 1 and we could see 2 eyasses out on the deck

<Click it

About 5 minutes later the Beautyful one flew out to chase DC back to the deck where she grabbed the tiny bit of food. Beauty fed it to the kids and  DC went to the Mercury money bag (MMB). DC was after something down in the hole behind the Thomson Reuters building where we couldn’t see him as he swooped down in there 3 times returning to the MMB each time.

DC settled down to do some beak picking as he had feathers stuck to it.

Beauty finished feeding and returned to cam 1. Things were quiet for a bit so we checked out the river-I saw my first Great Blue Heron (GBH) of the season.

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Dan left at 7:15am and we went down to the hole-just a couple minutes later both Beauty and DC  stooped on the same bird near the Blue Cross Arena (BCA) -both missed! Beauty returned to cam 1 and DC flew up under the northeast wing of TSB.

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Beauty flew off 5 minutes later when we weren’t looking. DC kept us entertained while she was gone.

Beauty returned to cam 1 for a brief stay then flew south and at 7:52am DC flew out around Mercury then headed north.

Ginny and I went for coffee while we didn’t see any falcons and when we got back we had OCSR top ibeam bookends with Beauty on the west corner and DC on the south corner.

At about 8:20am Beauty left OCSR and returned a couple minutes later to the same spot with DC remaining on his corner. We ended our watch at 8:30am leaving a peaceful falcon world with a smile! 🙂

Only 1 video link to click on to view today

http://youtu.be/UUSkKvUyZGs

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

This morning started out sunny with blue sky and started to cloud up toward the end of the watch with a starting temperature of 60 (F) 16 (C)

Fellow watcher and friend Ginny from New Jersey is in town and staying with me until Friday morning so she will be joining me on my watches this week.

We arrived on the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) around 6:30am today and spotted Beauty on cam 1 so I drove down to the hole parking lot for a closer look.

At 7:02am the Beautyful one flew off to meet Dot.Ca (DC) who was bringing a small package in from the north.

DC landed under the northeast wing and Beauty landed next to him quite vocally, snatched the food and took it down to the nest box to feed their fast changing/growing eyasses.

<DC

Beauty landing sequence

It was such a small bit of food that we couldn’t even see it in her talon so at the time we didn’t know she had food until Annette tweeted that food had arrived. Thanks! DC looked down toward the nest box then north and flew off at 7:04am stooping after something. He returned with nothing and landed under the northeast wing again.

Annette (TY) reported Beauty left the nest box about the time we saw DC fly off toward OCSR at 7:20am. He joined his Beautyful mate on OCSR.

Beauty was on the top ibeam west corner and DC was on the south corner-as Ginny said, they were bookends. Beauty started napping right away.

<Beauty    <Click it  <DC

At 7:54am Ginny saw Beauty fly off to the northeast-she went out over the river then flew to cam 1 while DC stayed on OCSR. We stationed ourselves on Aqueduct St. where we could  keep an eye on both of them. Beauty continued her napping while DC looked her way.

<DC 

Around 8:10am Ginny spotted DC walk a few feet from the corner into the shade as I watched Beauty give a couple hand signals.

Our downtown dynamic duo then began snoozing on and off so Ginny and I decided to end our watch with big ole smiles on our faces! 🙂

Click on the links below for more pics and videos from today

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http://youtu.be/iHIy3qTDuN0

http://youtu.be/5Sl4Yi6sljU

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Flag Day and Fathers Day!  A most beautiful weekend.

Lots of flying and hunting by Beauty and Dot.ca this weekend.  One eyas has made it out to the platform below main camera.  White fluff is falling out and gorgeous brown juvie feathers are appearing.  Soon Tesh, Nor’easter, Mercury and Nettie will join their parents high above downtown Rochester.  : )

Here are some pictures from this weekend.  Enjoy!

Saturday, June 14th (Flag Day)

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Sunday, June 15th (Fathers Day)

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Have a nice evening everyone.  Goodnight!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Mostly cloudy skies prevailed this morning with a temperature of 55 (F) 13 (C)

As I stopped on the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) to start my watch and have a look around I could see Dot.Ca (DC) on the top ibeam south corner of OCSR.

Then I spotted Beauty 1 level above the nest box on a south column of the Times Square building (TSB)-I drove down to the hole at this time to get closer.

<Beauty   DC>

Beauty would glance down at the nest box now and again while she looked around for a prey bird to fly thru. She kept track of DC as well waiting for him to possibly catch breakfast so she could feed their family of 4.

Just before 7am DC switched corners and flew to the west corner top ibeam of OCSR-I mistakenly tweeted out that he went to the south corner at the time. I missed Beauty leave Times Square while watching him.

I went in search of the Beautyful one when she didn’t come back. When I returned to the BSB she was on the base of Mercury and DC was gone from OCSR. I stopped by the Blue Cross Arena to watch Beauty from there just before the 8 o’clock hour

5 minutes later Beauty flew northwest and DC showed up on OCSR top ibeam south corner a minute later. I thought perhaps there had been a food exchange between them but Beauty never returned. I went down to the hole for closer viewing of DC

I took a drive after about 10 minutes but couldn’t find Beauty-I believe she was probably on the hunt somewhere I don’t know about. No worries, as DC was watching their 4 not so little anymore darlings in the nest box. I ended my watch on that note, around 8:30am.

As I pulled onto Exchange Blvd. which changes into State St. when you cross Main St. I could see the right lanes on both Main and State streets were closed with cones blocking them. Police were blocking all side streets along the route as well, which was more than likely for some kind of running event to take place.  Happy Fathers Day and keep smiling! 🙂

Click on the links below to see todays videos

http://youtu.be/dtlAUgZVxVc

http://youtu.be/bvy1yXGd7uk