By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Morning Watchers: Dana, Larry O, Linda & Carol P.

Weather: Nice morning with a cool breeze and low humidity. Temps expected to go up into the 90’s later today.

After a very loud evening of fireworks everywhere, I wanted to get downtown early to take a headcount of our Rochester Falcons. A big thank you to Pat, Jeanne and Larry O for checking on them yesterday afternoon.

My watch started when I spotted Beauty on the Frontier Communication Tower. Next was Hope with food on Thomson Reuter. A dark headed juvie was sitting on Mercury’s head. I couldn’t tell if it was Roc or Geraki.

Later during the watch, Hope was sitting on Widows Walk when Beauty flew in with food. Hope tried to grab it, but Beauty wanted to beak feed. That lasted a few minutes before Beauty gave up and left the food with Hope. Hope does love her food. lol

Geraki flew in from Mercury’s foot and wanted a bite. Beauty grabbed the food from Hope, who was just sitting on it, and gave it to Geraki. Hope moved in to try to get it back, but Geraki was mantling the food. Hope finally gave up and walked to the other side of Widows Walk, leaving Geraki to her breakfast.

I was checking out the Frontier Communication Tower, when Roc flew in, crying loudly. He landed below the platform. Hope flew in and landed on the north side railing. Dana had Geraki on the west side of Widows Walk. That made all three juvies seen this morning.

All three took off and there were four falcons flying above City Hall. Dot.ca was up there with them. I didn’t see any food, but there may have been.

The sky was filled with flying juvies, talon tagging and chasing each other. Love it!

Two juvies landed on Cross Rds, and Dot.ca landed on OCSR. Maybe the third juvie was somewhere with food?

The temps started to rise and we ended our watch just before 10:30 am.

Here are some pictures from my morning watch. Enjoy!

By Watcher Pat C.

Watchers Larry, Jeanne and Pat met downtown for a late afternoon Independence Day Falcon Watch. After searching most their favorite spots, they began to make themselves known to us. Larry spotted Hope on Thomson Reuters. She then flew off and headed in the direction of FCT. Off we went. At FCT we found one adult, Beauty, and two juvies, Geraki and Hope. Shortly after, Dot.ca flew by with prey, and Roc followed. One of the juvies from FCT also followed Dad. I lost sight of all three, but was glad to have seen all five of our falcon family.

Happy Independence Day!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Morning Watchers: Dana, Larry O & Carol P.

Weather: Beautiful morning! Warm with low humidity. Love it!

My watch started when I found Geraki on a building behind the Civic Ctr. She was sitting on the corner. I saw another juvie fly over heading east.

A little later I saw both Hope and Roc on the Widows Walk railing. Beauty and Dot.ca were also seen this morning, so that makes all 5 Rochester Falcon Flying on this July 4th!

We’ve noticed that Hope is very possessive of her food. If she has it, it’s hers. lol She will protect it and carry it around. She will sometimes share it too. She’s a healthy eater. Beauty and Dot.ca make sure that all their young ones are fed well.

During the morning watch, all five falcons were seen. All are doing well.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Here are some pictures from my morning watch. Enjoy!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Morning Watchers: Dana, Larry O & Carol P.

Weather: A beautiful start to what promises to be a very warm, hot and humid day, with temps in the 80’s forecast for later today.

It was a beautiful morning for a falcon watch. Hardly any traffic at all downtown due to the Fourth of July holiday.

I started my watch in the hole, but all the action was happening on the other side of Widows Walk on Fitzhugh. Three juvies were flying and having fun over there, so that’s where I headed.

Hope was eating up on the Civic Ctr and Roc joined her there. Geraki was on top of the old Church. Dot.ca and Beauty were nearby, Beauty on the Jail Communication Tower & Dot.ca on top of the Times Square Bldg’s wing ring.

Dana joined me when Hope finished her breakfast, all three took to the sky again. We had a blast watching these young falcons fly together. I really wish others could see this in person. We would have had our Falcon Watch Weekend soon, but due to the Corona Virus, it was cancelled this year. This is the weekend that falcon fans would visit Rochester and watch the young falcons fly.

All three juvies landed, side-by-side on the Widows Walk railing. Another family portrait, minus mom & dad.

Beauty flew through with more food, and all three joined her near the Thomson Reuters Bldg. Hope was on the base of Mercury, Beauty on the railing, Dot.ca at the top of the TSB and Geraki & Roc on top of TR. Geraki was the lucky recipient of this meal.

Roc took off and Larry O, who was out on the Court St Bridge with Zeke, witnessed some incredible flying by Roc, low over the Genesee River. By the time Dana and I walked up to the Broad St Bridge, Roc was out of sight.

Dana and I returned to the hole where Geraki had finished her meal. Hope took off from the base of Mercury and ended up on the east end of the Wilder Bldg. She had food up there. We spotted Geraki on top of the fire escape on the Wilder Bldg. She was so intently watching all the little birds flitting around her. They were not happy at all.

For the next hour we watched her up there. Hope took off heading northwest. Beauty came off the railing on Mercury and headed northwest. Geraki followed. We thought maybe they had headed over to the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT).

When we arrived at FCT, we could see both Hope and Dot.ca in the red section under the platform. Hope had a very small bird that she shared with Dot.ca.

It was starting to get really warm, so Dana and I ended our watch at 10:00 am.

Here are some pictures from my morning watch. Enjoy!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Morning Watchers: Dana, Kathy O, Larry O, Alyssa (thanks for the help finding Beauty today!) & Carol P.

Weather: Hot, hot hot & humid. Hardly a breeze or a cloud in the sky. Temps going up to 90 degrees today.

When I first arrived, there was one juvie on Widows Walk. S/he took off and all of a sudden there were three flying around the Times Square Bldg (TSB). Two landed under the northeast wing. I believe two juvies, and there was food up there.

Other watchers joined me in the hole during the morning watch; Alyssa, Dana, Larry O & Kathy O.

Twice, Geraki hunted over the parking lot in front of us. It was wonderful to see her chasing the pigeons around the Times Square Bldg. She doesn’t quite have the speed to catch one yet, but she’s getting very close.

Alyssa returned from riding around on her bike and said she thought she found Beauty over on the old School on Fitzhugh St. I followed her over there (on foot) and yep! There was Beauty. Where we were standing, we had Geraki and Hope behind us on Widows Walk. We started to hear a juvie crying and it wasn’t from the girls. Roc popped up his head on the Monroe Bldg (corner of Main & Fitzhugh).

Roc had just finished eating breakfast and Beauty flew down to have a bit for herself. Roc took off and landed on top of the old Church (corner of Fitzhugh & Broad). He took off and there was some flying by the juvies overhead. Beauty finished her meal and headed north with the leftovers.

During all of this, Dot.ca was on the SE corner of the Powers Bldg. We had all five Rochester Falcons in view this morning.

So far, their training is going well. We’ll keep watching. 🙂

Here are some pictures from my morning watch. Happily I was able to get a picture of Roc’s Wings, so now I have all three! Enjoy!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Morning Watchers: Dana, Larry O & Carol P.

Weather: Cool and beautiful! Clouds and Sun with temps going up to mid 80’s later today. 70’s during the watch.

Happy July 1st! June has ended. It was a very dry month here in Rochester, NY.

My watch started on the Court St Bridge and ended near City Hall. All 3 juvies were in attendance, along with both Beauty and Dot.ca. I didn’t see much of Hope yesterday, but she was up front and center today.

Lots of flying and talon tagging by our three young ones. Hope is very close to hunting on her own. She stooped on a Robin twice today. The Robin was very lucky that she is a hunter in training.

At one point Beauty brought in breakfast and all three had a good meal from it. Dot.ca sat above them keeping watch on the Frontier Communication Tower.

Their flights took them far to the north and east. When all three juvies headed towards High Falls, Larry O and Dana headed over there just in case they were flying through the gorge. Our favorite place to watch!

All three ended up back at the Frontier Communication Tower. Dana and Larry did not see them in the gorge.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from today’s watch. Enjoy!

I just love when the juvies spread their wings…so beautiful!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Watchers: Kathy O, Dana, Larry O, Sue, Shaky & Carol P.

Weather: Cooler (temps in the 70’s), a bit of a breeze and very cloudy.

Here we are. The last day of June. Today’s watch had a lot of talon tagging by our young juvies. Both Beauty and Dot.ca were close, keeping an eye on Roc, Geraki and Hope.

They were fed on the Philippone building and then it was time to play again. I really do enjoy this time, when they are getting more confident with their flying skills. So much fun to watch!

Here are some pictures from today’s watch. Enjoy!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Morning Watchers – Kathy O, Dana, Larry O & Carol P.

Weather – Very warm and humid, Sunny & Blue Sky. Temps in the 80’s today.

When I first arrived in the hole (Aqueduct St), I found Geraki on Mercury’s head. She was quite comfy up there, watching everything that moved around her.

I walked out to Main St and to the west side of the river. From there I had a wonderful view of the area, with the sun behind me. Better for pictures. From there I was able to see Hope on the east side of Wilder, behind the Chimney. She had a scrap of food up there. Hope took off heading NW.

Geraki started wailing just before Beauty flew in and landed on the base of Mercury below her. Roc was close behind, landing on the SW corner of the old Riverside Hotel. They both took off also heading NW. Kathy O and Dana were at the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT). They reported that first Hope and then Beauty & Roc arrived at FCT. I stayed with Geraki.

She took off and landed on the east side of Wilder where the leftovers were. From there she took off and landed on the top of the fire escape on the south side of Wilder. There were a lot of small birds there that were not very happy with her. Geraki took off again and landed on the SW corner of Wilder below the green strip. Then off again to the railing on Widows Walk.

After that, all 3 juvies were flying and so was Beauty. At one point food came in and 2 juvies ate on a building near the Civil Parking Garage. Beauty sat on the corner of the building watching over them.

There was a lot of flying and talon tagging. So much fun to watch. All 3 landed on their favorite antenna near the Jail Communication Tower where Beauty was watching from.

Larry O had gone out to the pedestrian bridge to see if any of the falcons had headed out there. We would all LOVE to see that. 🙂

Here are some pictures from my morning watch. Enjoy!

Just one more thing. Now that everyone is wearing masks, I’ve notice many discarded on the ground, everywhere. Please think about holding onto your old masks and throwing them out when you get home. There was even a momma duck sitting on her nest with a mask entwined in the nesting material. Thankfully, the ducklings hatched and left without getting tangled in the elastic. These cannot be good for wildlife. I’m going to bring a garbage bag downtown tomorrow with gloves to pick them up and throw them in the garbage properly. Thanks!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Morning Watchers – Dana, Linda, Larry O & Carol P. (and we had a visitor; Cam Watcher Jackie 🙂

Weather – Very Cloudy, with some moments of sun. Cool and humid until the sun came out, when it got quite toasty. Tough lighting for taking pictures.

When I first arrived in the hole, Dana was there. She had two juvies on the base of Mercury and Beauty on top of the statue. I saw one juvie take off heading west. The second followed and so did we.

From the corner of Fitzhugh and Broad St, we were thrilled to see all three juvies flying together and talon tagging. What a wonderful way to start our watch. Linda and then Larry O joined us.

Beauty eventually came in with food and all three juvies landed with her on Widows Walk (WW). Dot.ca was watching from the jail communication tower.

We ended up watching from the Times Square Bldg parking lot where we had a very nice view of all three juvies taking turns eating. Beauty was watching from the west side of WW. She took off and ended up successfully hunting on the old City Hall (Irving Place). She ate her share before sharing the leftovers with her young ones on Widows Walk.

We believe that Dot.ca may be molting. He has been around, but not as active as Beauty has been with the juvies.

It was an excellent Sunday Morning Watch!

I just wanted to mention that there are other watchers that have been coming downtown late afternoon/evening. At this time, they are not leaving watch reports, but I wanted to mention their hard work and time spent watching over the juvies. Thanks Carrie, Pat, Jeanne, Carla P, Brian H and any others that have been keeping watch!

Here are some pictures from my watch. Enjoy!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

There was a lot of rain this morning in Rochester, NY. Things started clearing up around 10:00 am, so I headed downtown to join Dana for a fledge watch.

Watchers: Dana and Carol P.

Weather: Warm and more humid that it has been. Temps in the 80’s today.

When I arrived, Dana was watching Beauty up on the railing below the Mercury statue. Both Hope and Geraki were on top of the old Thomson Reuters roof.

First Hope and then Geraki took their turn at the food that was up there. While Geraki was eating, Hope was taking a nice bath in a large puddle on the roof. Geraki bathed after she finished eating. We could not see them bathing from below, but the rfalconcam cameras were able to see them from above.

After both had bathed and were preening, Beauty flew down to the roof, followed by Roc. Roc ate his fill, and then Beauty. Nothing goes to waste.

Hope flew over to the Widows Walk railing, then Geraki followed. Roc landed on the Philippone Bldg and watched all the pigeons around him, before heading over to Widows Walk.

The three juvies flew south and back to Widows Walk, where two settled before we ended our watch.

Larry O arrived just as we were leaving.

On my way out of downtown, I searched for Dot.ca and found him on the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT) below the platform, from the Andrews St Bridge. I drove over to City Hall and with some difficulty I was able to find him through the grating.

All five Rochester Falcons were accounted for today.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from today’s watch. Enjoy!