By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was 46 degrees (F) 8 (C) with hazy skies as I started my watch

As I arrived downtown I spotted Beauty on the top ibeam west corner of OCSR from the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) at 6:20am. I drove down to the hole where Basin St. meets Aqueduct St. to observe her.

She did a little preening but was mainly looking around her territory for a meal. At 6:55am the Beautyful one spread her wings and flew over to the nest box. I played around in Picassa with that last pic-I think it’s kinda cool!

Soon after Beauty went to the nest box Dot.Ca (DC) came zooming out and flew over to the Mercury money bag (MMB). He started preening immediately as I went up to the BSB to hang out with him.

DC spent the next half hour preening and looking for breakfast to pop out from along the river below him.

DC did his best angel pose, held up his talons as if to wave and started talking to himself at one point. DC was very cute this morning!

At 7:29am DC spread his gorgeous wings and flew off heading northwest-I would not see him again.

<Click it

I made a trip around downtown looking for DC with no luck. I drove to the Brighton site but he wasn’t there either so I returned to the city for one more look but was unsuccessful. I called it a watch at 8:15am but I wasn’t done yet for when I arrived at Seneca Towers and pulled over on Seth Green Drive to check the west side of my apartment building I spotted STJ (Seneca Towers Juvenile) on the southwest corner perched on the railing.

She didn’t budge from her spot while I watched for about half hour, but she did a lot of whining so I think the male was near. I checked the east side before heading up to my 16th floor nest-no falcon there. It was a very quiet watch but certainly smile worthy! 🙂

Click on the 2 links below to see my videos

http://youtu.be/dqyHzyyQkOw

http://youtu.be/RSy3ZOvf7tM

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Tonight I had a free hour or so to go downtown and see what Beauty and Dot.ca were up to. (7:00 – 8:15 pm) While driving downtown, I received a tweet from fellow falcon watcher Joyce that Beauty had arrived and was up on the base of Mercury. Beauty was still there when I arrived. I joined Joyce on Aqueduct St (aka the hole). Joyce was digiscoping pictures of Beauty when I arrived.

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Beauty was up on the base of Mercury, preening, stretching her wings and keeping guard over her territory.  Due to not being able to view what is going on at the nest box, we could only assume that Dot.ca was taking his turn incubating the eggs.

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Beauty was alert to everything around her.  Her head was in constant motion, tracking the birds that flew around her.  Joyce and I could see that her crop was full, so she had eaten recently.

After stretching a bit, Beauty spread her wings and took off, heading towards the Times Square Bldg (TSB).  She landed on the south east corner of the nest box platform and then entered the nest box.  A few seconds later, Dot.ca appeared on the north east corner of the platform.  There was no hesitation as he launched himself off of the platform and headed towards the OCSR.

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We watched as he flew out over the river and back, landing on the south side top IBeam of OCSR.  A few moments later, he walked down to the west end of the top Ibeam.

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Just before 8:00 pm, Dot.ca took off again.  Joyce and I said our goodbyes and I drove north looking for Dot.ca.  I found him on the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT).

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It was a a beautiful evening to spend an hour watching our downtown Rochester Falcons.  I am happy to report that all was peaceful and quiet there.  Goodnight everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

This morning was partly cloudy with a temperature of 46 (F) 8 (C)  and a slight breeze

As I started down St. Paul St. on my way downtown from my new home in Seneca Towers, I came up on the old Kodak Hawkeye plant half a mile down the road with a falcon on it at 6:20am. I determined that it was STT (Seneca Towers Tiercel) and he was on the railing near the nest box that has been there for many years. To my knowledge, no falcons have ever nested there-could the Seneca Towers (ST) pair be the ones to use it!? Time will tell!!

<Click on my pics to see full version

I pulled into a parking lot on the opposite side of Hawkeye on St. Paul St. and watched STT for about 5 minutes when he up and flew off toward ST to the northeast. He preened a little bit and looked like he was in hunt mode with an empty crop.

Next stop-downtown where I spotted Beauty on the south corner top ibeam of OCSR as I turned onto the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) from South Ave. I drove down to the hole but she was gone when I arrived so the search was on! I made my way around downtown 2 times checking the usual spots when I spotted the Beautyful one on the west corner top ibeam of OCSR as I was on the BSB looking around at 7:15am. Once again I went to the hole for a closer look parking on Aqueduct St. between Thomson Reuters and the Philipone building. She slipped off the north side 10 minutes later going into a stoop before leaving my field of vision.

While on the Andrews St. bridge (ASB) I noticed Beauty on the Hyatt Hotel perched on the southwest corner of it. I drove straight away to the BSB to hang out with her.

She had not caught anything from that stoop off OCSR for she was still in hunt mode, mostly looking around for a tasty treat to come flying by for breakfast.

At 8:02am Beauty flew off crossing the river heading west and quickly flying out of view past the OCSR and Crossroads buildings.

I next saw her as I was returning from checking the east side-stopped at the traffic light at Clinton and Broad St. I raised my binoculars to see a falcon bump on the back of Times Square perched at the southwest corner of the lower roof. Unfortunately, from that distance the photo I took of her is blurry and by the time I got there she was gone.

No worries because I found her a couple minutes later back on the top ibeam south corner of OCSR with her back to me as I went back to the hole to share space with her.

I left to get a cup of coffee and when I got back I found Dot.Ca on the 2nd ibeam south corner-so they thought they would try the old switcheroo on the eggs while I was gone. Ha-these 2 are very funny PEFAs!!

DC was busy preening after a couple hours of incubating his precious darlings. I’ve noticed that almost every time he or Beauty gets relieved from their duties on the eggs they immediately start preening. I guess one gets pretty messed up just laying around-kinda like bed head for us humans, you know, when you roll out of bed and your hair is sticking out every which way! LOL

At just about 9am DC left the building without me seeing and I decided it was time to leave as well. Fellow watcher and good friend KathyO had told me to check out the pond at Seneca Park which is below the Seneca Park Zoo off St. Paul St. north of Seneca Towers for a swan that was nesting in the grasses so before going home I did just that! Here’s a couple pics and I made a video of some noisy activity on the opposite side of the pond. Also included are a pic of Seneca Towers from the zoo road and the Hawkeye smoke stack from the entrance to my road a half mile away. I hope these make you smile as they did me! 🙂

Click on the links below to see 5 videos from todays watch-the last one is from Seneca Park,make sure you check this one out!

http://youtu.be/V6Dy0jZ17fI

http://youtu.be/TK4rlv3ZIEo

http://youtu.be/QIIPZQPvBFg

http://youtu.be/y8j66WH_ZH4

http://youtu.be/lyDfZaOgpgI

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a sunny start with a temperature of 39 degrees (F) 4 (C)

Yesterday afternoon I spotted watchers Dan and Carol across the river from my apartment here at Seneca Towers (ST) as they were watching falcons on the Veterans bridge and my building. I will be referring to the the female juvie  as STJ (Seneca Towers Juvie) until we can ID her and as Joyce suggested, the unbanded male as STT (Seneca Towers Tiercel) until we come up with a name for him.

As I was getting ready for my watch I heard a falcon whining outside my window at Seneca Towers-as I got to my car in the parking lot I spotted STJ on the east side roof directly above me.

I left for downtown and found Dot.Ca (DC) on the 2nd ibeam of OCSR near the south corner from the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) at 6:40am. I went down to the hole for closer viewing as DC trotted down to the south corner.

DC flew off toward the Times Square building (TSB) at 6:46am. I wasn’t situated where I could see the nest box so I didn’t know if he went to relieve Beauty-he didn’t so I went in search of him.

While stopped on the Andrews St. Bridge (ASB) I spotted D flying south to north toward me over the river-he continued past the High Falls out of view around 7:15am. A minute or so later he came flying back through with prey in his talons disappearing around the south side of OCSR.

I went directly to the hole and found DC on the 2nd ibeam to the west side of the south corner and he was plucking feathers.

DC kept picking it up and moving further west then he would go back to plucking or eating-he’s a funny little guy!

At 7:40am DC finished eating and flew off with his leftovers to the base of Mercury and started chirping. Beauty flew out the nest box immediately and as she landed he quickly left and flew to the nest to get their precious ones covered up on a chilly morning.

<DC leaving OCSR

<Beauty coming out of NB<DC landing on deck to go in NB

The Beautyful one spent 20 minutes on her food gift then she flew to the OCSR top ibeam near the south corner. I drove to the Radisson Hotel near Main St. to watch but she had her back to me.

I opted to go down to the hole so I could see the front of her. She looked around,preened and stretched

She picked at her talons, scratched her head and pooped as I observed her until about 8:30am.

Beauty flew off rather nonchalantly to the west gliding on her stretched out wings until I could no longer see her. I chose to end my watch at this point but I wasn’t finished watching falcons-oh no, not yet,  for as I was pulling down Seth Green Drive to my apartment in the Seneca Towers I spotted STJ on the southeast corner railing and STT was on the west side railing.

<Click it to see full version STTSTJ

I had to change the battery in my camera which had died and when I looked back up STT was dropping down on STJ who had her tail up and ready to accept him as they mated. I wasn’t ready but got a couple out of focus pics as my camera focused in on the tree branch instead of the falcons. OY!  STT flew back to his west side railing while STJ remained on her southeast corner.

He flew off a moment later when I wasn’t looking and just as I called it a watch and started to pull away she flew off to the south going into a stoop down into the river gorge. What a falcon filled watch I had today leaving a big old smiley on this watchers face! 🙂

Click on the links below to view a photo album and 3 videos

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqjfQ

http://youtu.be/QO9MWW8GmsM

http://youtu.be/GoxlU7iiiCU

http://youtu.be/3XLJ7HY-zqY

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I really needed to get out to look for some falcons.  Life has stopped me from doing this as often as I love to do.  🙂

I started my watch at noon and ended it at 6:15 pm.  A long day spent with falcons, friends and lots of fresh air!

BS was my first stop.  After searching the building thoroughly, I did not see or hear any falcons.  My next stop was downtown where I found DC on the south side of the OCSR, top Ibeam.  Thank you Pat for verifying that Beauty was in the nest box on the eggs.  Dot.ca was in hunt mode.  Just after I arrived, he stooped down the face of the building and then chased two pigeons across the river.  He returned to the top Ibeam and  then raced to the east, past the Xerox Tower.  Then back high overhead, heading west.  I lost him in the bright sunlight, but he soon returned to the top IBeam.  Again, he was off!  Again heading east.  It wasn’t long before he returned landing on the OCSR top Ibeam.  This time with prey.  A successful hunt!  Whatever he caught, it wasn’t big.  It didn’t take him long to complete his meal.  He rested for awhile and then flew to the nest box.

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Dot.ca went into the nest box to take his turn on the eggs and Beauty came out.  She flew around a bit, stretching her wings, and then settled on the top IBeam of OCSR for a good preen.

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It was a very windy day!

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Beauty looked like she was settled in, so I headed north to check on the ST falcons.  I parked in the Maplewood Park parking lot to check things out from the west side of the river.  There I met fellow watchers Dana and Lou. They had seen one flying over the river, so we decided to watch from the south side of the Veteran’s Bridge.  The tiercel (male) put on quite the flight show for us.  He is an incredible flyer.

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The juvie female joined him and landed on the IBeam on the south side of the Veterans Bridge.

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That’s when Lou yelled out that there were three falcons.  The juvie on the bridge and two in the air.  We could hear kakking fill the air.  The juvie took off and she and the tiercel escorted the 3rd one to the east.  It happened too fast to tell if the 3rd was a female or male, or a juvie or adult.  About a 1/2 hour later first the juvie female returned and landed on the NE corner of the ST apartment building.  Soon after, the male returned.

Then both took to  the sky and went into hunt mode.  The tiercel returned with prey and landed on ST.  The juvie female wanted to share, but the tiercel had other ideas.  He took the food to the Veterans bridge where he prepped his meal and cached the remainder.  We were happy to see Dan walking towards us.  This was his first time seeing these falcons.  Dana and Lou had to leave, but I decided to stay with Dan until 6:15 pm.  The falcons again took to the sky, floating on the high winds, kiting above the building and river gorge.  Just beautiful!  I couldn’t help but notice that the tiercel had a split wing tip on his right wing.  That reminded me of another falcon I used to watch.

Dan and I ended our watch, happy to have seen these gorgeous falcons.  It reminded us so much of our days on the pedestrian bridge, watching the falcons from the Kodak Tower flying in the river gorge near High Falls.

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Goodnight everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

I stepped out to find it very breezy and overcast with a temperature of 47 degrees (F) 8 (C)

As I was getting dressed for the day I heard a falcon outside my window-I bolted over to look but I didn’t see anything. I watched Dot.Ca (DC) relieve Beauty of incubation duties right around 6am on Rfalconcams’  livestream video. As I was walking to my car to leave for my downtown watch I heard a falcon and when I looked up I saw the juvie falcon fly off the northeast corner of my building-Seneca Towers (ST). How cool is that!? Falcons before I even left home!!

It took me about 30 minutes before my first sighting of Beauty. As I was approaching Kodak Office I spotted her on the southeast corner of the launchpad. I pulled over near Platt Street and when I looked up again she was gone! I made my way back to the Times Square (TS) area where I found the Beautyful one on the top ibeam of OCSR near the south corner just before 7am.

Remember to click on my pics to see the full version

I parked myself by the Radisson Hotel at Main St. to watch as she did some serious preening and looking around for the next 15 minutes. At 7:14am Beauty flew off the building heading straight for TSB but went right past it to the south and went into stoop formation before I lost her.

< her shadow

I spent the next 20 minutes looking for Beauty and finally she showed up under the southeast wing of TSB. I went in front of the Blue Cross Arena on Exchange Blvd. to get the best look at her.

Beauty was hanging on as the wind was trying to blow her off . She kept looking down at the nest box and I thought when she flew off at 7:42am that she would go to it but she fooled me and went back to OCSR again-top ieam southeast side.

I parked back by the Radisson Hotel as Beauty looked around, took a short nap and just did Beauty things.

Some stretching exercises were performed before she took off  for the nest box at 8:11am-I missed the take off but I managed to turn fast enough to get the flight up to the nest box.

Beauty went right for the front of the box and DC came out almost immediately after incubating for over 2 hours-he flew over to OCSR and came to rest in almost the same spot that Beauty had vacated, on the top ibeam southeast side.

DC did a lot of preening  before I left to check the Brighton site at 8:20am or so. Nothing to be found there-I will keep checking sporadically. When I returned to downtown DC was still on OCSR and still preening.

I stayed with him until 9am then called it a watch. Smiling-you bet! 🙂

Click on the links below to check Beauty,DC and the mighty Genesee!

http://youtu.be/GQRwtju8XqI

http://youtu.be/AS-xi2slxr4

http://youtu.be/wktbmRThm24

http://youtu.be/cX8Bg1EJ7Es

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Overcast and dark conditions prevailed this morning with a starting temperature of 50 degrees (F) 10 (C)

I knew Dot.Ca (DC) was in the nest box incubating the eggs as I arrived downtown for my watch because Annette tweeted a switch was made (TY) so I set out looking for Beauty. It took me a while but I finally found her on one of her favorite perching spots-the northeast cube of the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT)at 6:37am. I pulled over on Fitzhugh St. in front of City Hall to share space with the Beautyful one.

As always please click on my pics to see a larger version

She promptly pooped for me then started to do some preening and stretching.

At 7:03am Beauty turned to her right (north) and promptly flew off toward the Kodak Office (KO) tower. I believe she may have been trying to stir up some pigeons as she circled it and came right back to FCT on her NE cube.

I parked right below her from next to the Frontier building on the north side. She’s just as Beautyful from underneath-don’t you think!?

I left and went further down Fitzhugh St. in front of the Sister Cities parking garage for yet  another angle and as I was taping her she flew off heading south straight toward the Times Square building (TSB).

I took off right after Beauty and found her on cam 1-this is usually a precursor for an egg takeover, so I parked it in the hole parking lot to watch what would come next. She looked down at the nest box area, gave a look over her shoulder then descended onto the deck below.

Now usually DC doesn’t get up and out right away as they have stand offs, but today he shot out immediately catching me off guard-I did manage to get a shot of him in the frame.

DC flew right over to the Mercury money bag (MMB). This used to be Beautys’ favorite spot but I believe DC has claimed it as his favorite as well. And let me tell ya-he’s Mr. Photogenic!

DC also pooped for me and continued to scratch and pose too!

<click it

I went up on the Broad St. Bridge to get away from the back light I had in the hole and shortly after I got there DC spread his gorgeous wings and took off heading southeast at 7:43am.

<click it

That would be the last I saw of him as I took a spin over to the Brighton site thinking he might have gone there but he didn’t. I returned to downtown and looked in all the usual spots but never found DC. It was almost time for a falcon meeting down at Central Library so I called it a watch at 8:45am.  I’m including 2 pics of one of the Seneca Towers falcons on the Veterans bridge that I took this afternoon from the west side balcony on my floor. I hope they make you smile as much as they did me! 🙂

Click on the links below to view a photo album and 2 videos

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqje2

http://youtu.be/ehL4pv2lHRE

http://youtu.be/8s18eoIh1XQ

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Another gloomy overcast morning with light rain on and off-starting temperature of 47 (F) 8 (C)

While I was on my way downtown Annette reported a switch at the nest box-Dot.Ca (DC) in and Beauty out. (TY) I wasn’t able to be find the Beautyful one at first. As I was searching I came across a big project at City Hall-half the parking lot was dug up.

Click on my pics to see a larger version

At 7:22am I spotted Beauty on the top ibeam south corner of OCSR, A couple minutes later I started taping her when she flew off  down toward the river real fast. I wasn’t able to locate her after that so I took a ride to Brighton where I saw no falcons.

As I made my way back downtown Donna and Annette reported Beauty on cam 1 so I went straight to the hole by Basin and Aqueduct streets at 8:15am.  Beauty had a full crop so she obviously had caught something when she flew off OCSR earlier. Thanks ladies-I greatly appreciate your help!

Once again I started taping her and once again she flew off while I was doing so. Instead of just flying down to the deck from cam 1 she flew out over the Philipone building made a u turn and went to the nest box. At 8:29am DC came flying out from the nest box heading southeast!

I looked for him on the east side with no luck in finding him so I headed to the Andrews St. bridge where I spotted Mr. Whitey on the top ibeam near the north corner of OCSR.

As I was tweeting it out DC left OCSR and I had to get going myself so I ended my watch at about 8:45am. Our most beloved downtown Rochester Peregrine Falcons sure know how to make a girl smile! 🙂

Click on the links below to see Beauty flying off in both of them-the first one gives you some idea of how fast they can kick in the speed and disappear fast

http://youtu.be/rkyJyGq8nPA

http://youtu.be/d5cVClwYG8o

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

My watch started with overcast dark skies and a temperature of 53 (F)  12 (C)

I started my watch at 7:40am-late for me, as I couldn’t locate my phone. When I reached downtown I found Beauty on the heel of Mercury. Remember to click on my pics to see larger versions of them

After 10 minutes of looking around, preening and foofing her feathers she flew over to cam 1

The Beautyful one stayed there for about 15 minutes and then flew down to the deck and waited for Dot.Ca (DC) to get off those eggs of theirs. He flew out and over to the Mercury money bag (MMB)

I was parked in the hole between Thomson Reuters and the Philipone building so my view window was limited and I couldn’t see the nest box area from there. DC flew off a few minutes later and then I got a tweet from Annette (thanks) that Beauty had left the nest box kakking and DC had gone to cover the eggs.

I went for a ride around the city looking for Beauty and as I was doing that Annette tweeted that Beauty was now on cam 1 and sure enough when I got back to the hole I saw her up there. Again I say thank you Annette for the assist.

At 8:47am Beauty flew down to the deck  and waited for DC to get off their eggs (pics in sequence)

DC came shooting out at 8:50am circled Mercury a few times then headed south quickly leaving my field of vision.

<Click it>

I went looking for him but was unsuccessful in finding him thus ending my watch around 9:15am. Keep smiling everyone! 🙂

Click on the links below to view a photo album and 2 videos from today

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqjeU

http://youtu.be/CbakN02nwAw
http://youtu.be/r1mBAYaUUC4

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

I sure am liking the sunrises I’m seeing when I leave for my watch from my new place. This morning the starting temperature was 46 degrees (F) 8 (C) with overcast skies and spitting light rain on and off

Make sure to click on my pics to see larger version

At the end of my road (Seth Green Drive) I came across a wild turkey on the way to my watch!

I arrived on the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) around 6:15am-Annette had reported Beauty was on the eggs so I went searching for Dot.Ca (DC)I couldn’t locate him so I parked in the hole and waited for him to show up.  At about 6:50am DC came streaking thru from behind the Times Square building (TSB) heading northeast over the Wilder building and out of view. I went up on the BSB but didn’t see him anywhere so I returned to the hole-20 minutes later DC arrived on the well wall with food.

Somehow Beauty managed to leave the nest box without me seeing for she suddenly flew in landed and took the food over to the base of Mercury.

<Click it

I tweeted out what happened and she left while I was doing so. I went up on the BSB and could make out tail feathers hanging off the north side roof of Bausch &  Lomb (B&L) at 7:12am. Drove around to find the best place to view her-ended up next to Clinton Square right below the Beautyful one.

This is all I saw until she was done eating-Beauty then turned around to do some feaking. I then drove to Stone St. which runs between Clinton Square and the South Ave. parking garage to see her better. She pooped,did some more feaking and flew off heading north at 7:30am

I found Beauty 10 minutes later on the top ibeam northwest side of OCSR from the Andrews St. bridge.

I then drove to State St. and parked across from the Rochester Plaza Hotel to get a closer view but all I could see was her Beautyful back-however she did turn her head for a pic.

P.S. Thanks for your help Annette!

One video below-just click on it to view

http://youtu.be/G9Rx3Zf1744