By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

(6:30 – 7:45 pm) (69 degrees (F)

Very short Falcon Watch for me tonight.  I wasn’t able to start my watch until 6:30 pm.  First Hawkeye; no falcons found.  Next downtown; at first no falcons found.  I cruised the downtown area checking every building, ending up on the Broad St Bridge (BSB).  Finally, at 7:11 pm, I spotted a falcon on the jail communication tower about half way down on the south side.  Based on size, I believe it was Beauty, but I can’t be sure.

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From the Broad St Bridge, I found the adult Black-crowned Night Heron (BCNH) fishing on the river on the north side of the bridge.  After spotting the adult, I saw the juvie BCNH fly south down the river towards Court St.  It was their time to hunt.

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Fellow Watcher Joyce tweeted that she was at the BS location and that she had been unable to find Pigott.

When I left downtown, the temperature read 69 degrees (F).  It is going to get very hot and humid tomorrow, with temps over 90 degrees!  Crazy weather.  Keep cool everyone!

On my way home, I did check Hawkeye a 2nd time.  It was getting dark at 7:45 pm and I could see no falcons there again.

I ended my watch with just one falcon sighting.  Have a nice evening everyone!

Here’s a picture of the sky behind the Times Square Bldg, taken from the Broad St Bridge.  I reminded me a Maxfield Parrish painting.  Just beautiful!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

This morning was overcast to start but the sun came out eventually and warmed things up after a chilly start with a temperature of 50 (F) 10 (C)

I couldn’t find any falcons downtown so  headed to Hawkeye (HE) to see if I could find a juvie. As I parked at the YMCA and looked toward the site I spotted a bump on the stack to the northwest of the building. I grabbed my binocs and could see that it was a falcon bump. I then grabbed my camera and took a pic-definitely a falcon tho the distance and lighting made for bad pics. Sooo I grabbed my scope and voila I could definitely say that the vertical feathers and brown coloring on the chest made this a juvenile falcon.

A couple minutes later it stooped down into the river gorge on the north side of the Driving Park Bridge (DPB). A minute later it was flying above the Hawkeye plant circling it and then landing on the west side roof-it didn’t have a catch from the stoop.

Seconds after landing it flew off to the north and didn’t return. Darn, still no ID but yay it hasn’t left the area yet! I stayed about 20 minutes and then returned to downtown finding Dot.Ca (DC) on the top ibeam north corner of OCSR.

Mr.Handsome started stretching in between looking around his territory for a breakfast bird.

I was parked on Bragdon St. next to the Radisson Hotel on the east side of the river but I wasn’t alone-also parked were pigeons and gulls on the hotels lower roof.

Click on my pics to see full version

I left DC around 8am to look for Pigott at the Brighton site but she was nowhere to be found so I returned to downtown hoping to find Beauty. No luck in finding the Beautyful one but I did come across DC on the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT). He was on the northeast corner of the platform railing looking around for a prey item. I parked in front of City Hall on Fitzhugh St.

DC stayed there for 45 minutes and then he snuck off the back of the railing to the north going into a stoop and returning less than a minute later with a small package. He did wave hi and bye before leaving! lol

Upon his return he landed on an east side beam just below the large satellite dish. I didn’t have a great angle on him so i drove around to the north end of the alley Montgomery Place next to the Open Door Mission. Back there I could only get silhouette pics because of the position of the sun.

I left DC to enjoy his meal and took a spin around the city to look for Beauty and once again I had no luck in finding her. I checked the Hawkeye plant one more time but no juvies were around. I ended my watch which featured DC with a splash of juvie thrown in at 9:30am. Keep smiling everyone! 🙂

Click on the links below to view some videos of DC

http://youtu.be/c2wogD70Txc
http://youtu.be/uEkgUFOkM8w
http://youtu.be/NoIOTBflJho

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

(12:30 – 2:30 pm)

It was a much cooler day today, temps around 60 degrees (F), but the sun was shining the the sky was blue with fluffy clouds.  Just perfect weather to get out and see some wildlife.  I actually started my day by checking out Braddock Bay and one of my favorite spots, Hogans Point.  I just love that area.  It never fails that I meet someone new when I visit there and today was no exception.  I also met fellow Falcon Watchers Dana and Lou there. I’ll post some pics at the end of this report.

I didn’t get downtown until 12:30 pm, checking out the Hawkeye plant first.  Again, no falcons seen there.  I’ll definitely keep including this location on my falcon watch travels in hope of seeing a juvie there again soon.

Next stop, downtown Rochester, where I found Beauty under the platform on the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT).  It took me awhile to find her, she was well hidden on the south side.  If she hadn’t moved around, I might have missed her.

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Beauty had been moving around a bit and flew off and back on before settling in for a nap.  It was a good time to continue my search.  On my way down Fitzhugh St., I stopped to take a picture of an old building that I have always admired.

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I moved on to check out the rest of the downtown area, ending up on the Broad St Bridge, where I found the adult Black-crowned Night Heron dozing.  I checked out the river to see if the juvie was fishing, but could not find it.

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I had no luck finding Dot.ca, so I headed over to the BS location where I found Pigott sleeping on a window on the west end of the building near her cubby.

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Seemed to be a sleepy afternoon.  lol  I left Pigott to her nap and went back downtown to continue my search for Dot.ca.  Finally, I found him on the north side of the OCSR, top Ibeam, near the north corner.  Just a few feet from where he was yesterday.  He was not there when I checked earlier.

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It was time for me to end my Watch, but of course I had to check out the Hawkeye location on my way home.  Again, no falcons found.

REMEMBER TO CLICK ON ANY PICS YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE LARGER

I was happy to have found all 3 adult Rochester Falcons doing well.

I’ll leave you with some pictures of my morning trip to Braddock Bay and Hogan’s Point.  Hope you enjoy!  Have a nice day everyone!

Braddock Bay

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Hogan’s Point

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and here’s my special new friend Happy, a 16 year old puppy.  🙂

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By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Today started out with overcast conditions and a temperature of 60 degrees (F) 16 (C) and just before I ended my watch the sun came out

I didn’t find Beauty until my 2nd trip to the east side as she was on the south side of HSBC. She stayed less than 10 minutes and then she spread her wings and flew west.

As I crossed the Broad St. Bridge I spotted a falcon on the 2nd ibeam near the south corner so I drove down to the hole in order to get an ID. It was Dot.Ca and he took off 15-20 seconds later flying south.

I drove down State St. and found Beauty on the top ibeam at the west corner of OCSR.  She left after 5 minutes and flew straight over to the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) where I found her on the platform east side. She had some cached food and was working on a leg.

After about 10 minutes the Beautyful one finished eating and flew up to the northeast corner of the FCT platform railing and 10 minutes later she saw something and flew off to the southeast.

<click it

I left for the Hawkeye (HE) site to see if there were any falcons around but no luck there. I made my way over to Brighton around 8am and found Pigott on the west end of the south side vent. She was all foofed up and looking lovely. The breeze almost knocked her off but she caught herself by spreading her wings out.

Miss Pigott scrunched down Buddha style and then started stretching and spreading her wings, showing what good shape they are in after her incident earlier in the summer.

When I first arrived it was overcast and it even sprinkled for a bit, but blue skies started to move in and the sun came out. Pigott saw something in the southern sky about 8:45am and then she took flight going in that direction.

I left and checked downtown on my way thru stopping on the Court St. bridge to check out the river. I spotted the immature Black-crowned Night Heron fishing in the shallows amongst the gulls and ducks.

I left downtown after not finding our beloved falcons to check Hawkeye one more time but no sightings there either so I ended my watch around 9:30am. I saw our 3 resident falcons on my watch so that made me smile! 🙂

Click on the links below to view my photo album and videos

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqinO

http://youtu.be/HWltIcALgWc
http://youtu.be/4ty7ErGOW6I
http://youtu.be/7ENSZOT5bAo
http://youtu.be/XH7r7K1pcDg
http://youtu.be/lxUdtii7sGc
http://youtu.be/bVpTNN6pluo

Click on

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

(1:00 to 4:00 pm)

My first stop was the Hawkeye plant.  After hearing that Larry O had seen a falcon there this morning I hoped to find one too.  I circled the building, looking at all sides.  No falcons found there.

It was time to head downtown to look for Beauty and Dot.ca.  I found Beauty on the Frontier Communication Tower.  She was on the NE box below the platform.  Just as I found her, it started to rain, and continued to rain through most of my 3 hour Watch.  It was in the mid-60’s (F).  The weather people had forecast that it would go up to 77 degrees (F), but I don’t think it ever did.

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My view from City Hall Parking Lot.

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Beauty took off when I wasn’t looking, so I drove over to the Andrews St Bridge for a better look of the area.  I found Dot.ca on OCSR on the north side top IBeam.

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After finding both Beauty and Dot.ca, it was time to see if Pigott was home at BS.  She was on the south side of the building on the west end of the vent.  Even in the rain, she was constantly scanning the surrounding area. Watching everything that moved.

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After spending some time with Pigott, I headed back downtown to find that Beauty and Dot.ca had not moved.  Dot.ca was still on OCSR and Beauty was still on the Frontier Communication Tower.

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All three adult Rochester falcons were accounted for and doing well.  But before I headed home, I stopped one last time at the Hawkeye plant.  While checking the west side of the building, I found a juvie Red-tailed Hawk on one of the light poles on the Driving Park Bridge.  While I was checking out Hawkeye, Larry O was downtown.  He reported that Beauty and Dot.ca had not moved.

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I saw no falcons at Hawkeye, or did I?  While I was checking things out from the east side, I noticed what appeared to be a dark shape in the nest box.  From where I was I could not get a good look, so I took a picture.  In the picture, I see something, but it just might be a shadow, due to the poor lighting.  I’d like to think there was a falcon in there, but I highly doubt it.  lol  Here’s the picture I took before I ended my Watch.

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I’ll end my report with a picture of Pigott I took yesterday and some pictures of the juvie and adult Black-crowned Herons that were in the tree next to the library.  Enjoy and Goodnight!

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By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Back to overcast skies and a starting temperature of 56 (F)  13 (C)

I had a little trouble finding a falcon this morning at the start as I checked all of downtown then headed to Hawkeye (HE) where I saw no juvies. Upon returning to the east side of the city at 7am I found the Beautyful one on the northeast corner of HSBC.

I shared space with her for 10 minutes and then she flew NW looped back around to circle HSBC before flying west out of my view. The pics below are her takeoff in sequence.

<Click it

I received a tweet from Larry (who had been near HSBC when I was, but on the south side) that he saw a falcon flying at the Hawkeye location. I don’t think I need to tell you that I whipped over there to join him. Unfortunately, the PEFA never showed itself again as we watched from the YMCA parking lot. We stayed about 30 minutes and then Larry drove to the north end on St. Paul St. to check because you can’t see the nest box from Driving Park where the YMCA is located. I left for Brighton (BS) but first a check downtown on my way found Beauty on the northeast cube of the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT).

Taken from north side

Taken from south side

I stayed just a few minutes then continued on to BS where I located Pigott on the west extension north side on the window below the old blocked off scrape. She had her back to  the world and promptly started to stretch so I could get a better look at her and you could clearly see her black band with 43/x on it.

Miss Pigott was very alert as she usually is looking in every direction of her territory, or at least the part she could see from where she was perched. Oh and more stretching.

I hung out with Pigott for close to an hour hoping Dot.Ca would come by for a visit but no such luck. I did enjoy watching her antics and poses for the camera. Oh and some more stretching!

Her tail feathers have filled back in quite nicely don’t you think!? She expelled a ribbon of poop and yes one more stretch to show off her gorgeous feathers.

At 9:10am as I was getting ready to call it a watch a light rain started to fall from the sky and a tweet from Lisa McK came in saying that while at the Montezuma Wildlife Refuge she was told that our male juvie Baron has been seen there. What wonderful news to send me off smiling! 🙂

Click on the links below for a couple videos

http://youtu.be/n02KRTdLZLk
http://youtu.be/2bmyxdFNb9E

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

After 4 hours of falcon watching last night, I can report that I saw only one falcon, and that was Pigott at the BS location.  She was on the north side of the west extension on a window below the old scrape.  I searched high and low.  No falcons seen downtown and no falcons seen at Hawkeye.  That’s just how it happens sometime.  lol

But, it wasn’t a total waste. Brian H had texted that he had both the juvie and adult Black-crowned Night Herons in the tree next to the library.  Of course I had to check that out.  They were both there and they were just beautiful.  Joyce joined us on the east end of the Broad St Bridge.

Later in my Watch, I was joined by Kathy O and we enjoyed dinner at the Genesee Brewery on the 2nd floor deck, where we had a gorgeous view of the High Falls and downtown Rochester.  Our binoculars were up much of the time, hoping for a glimpse of our falcons.  No luck.  But we did see a fox walk by the east end of the pedestrian bridge.  That was very cool.

I’ll download my pics and post a few in my next report.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!  I know I will!  Have a good day!

~ Carol P.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a chilly start to the day at 43 degrees (F) 6 (C) but it warmed up quick with bright sunshine prevailing

Unfortunately I lost all my pics and videos from this mornings watch. I started out with Beauty and then Dot.Ca (DC)on the HSBC building. She was eating on the northeast corner and he came flying in swooping on her twice. She finished eating and then they switched places with DC taking the northeast corner and the Beautyful one going down near the southeast corner. DC stooped twice coming back to the corner empty taloned and then he flew off to the southeast.

I left and checked the Hawkeye, Brighton and Blossom/Browncroft locations with no PEFA sightings.

Upon returning downtown I came across Beauty on the northeast cube of the Frontier Communications Tower. She zipped up to the northeast corner of the platform railing after a few minutes and flew north from there a few minutes later. I made another check of the Hawkeye site but did not see any juvies thus ending my watch at 9:30am. I’m not happy about losing my pics and videos but I’m still smiling for having seen our downtown couple today! 🙂

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I got out a little earlier tonight, arriving at the Hawkeye plant around 6:00 pm.  For about 45 minutes I searched all sides of the building, but had no luck seeing any falcons.

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At 6:45 pm, I decided to check out the High Falls area.  It was pretty quiet on the pedestrian bridge, but I could see an adult Peregrine on the SE corner of the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT) platform.  A local guy, who always stops to chat, joined me for awhile.  He was there to get a picture of the sunset.  There were two girls sitting on the lawn in front of the Observation deck, outside the fence.  They were way too close to the edge. It always makes me very nervous to see anyone that close to the edge.  That area is so unstable.  I was very happy to see them both leave with no mishaps.

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I wished my friend good luck, hoping he would get the sunset picture he was after and headed over to the City Hall Parking lot.  From there, I could see that it was Dot.ca on the platform.

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I could hear the cheering coming from Frontier Field.  The Red Wings won their game last night.  I hope they did as well tonight.

Dot.ca took off and headed southeast towards downtown.  I followed.

I arrived on the Broad St Bridge (BSB), and checked out the surrounding buildings.  Nothing.  I heard ee-chupping above and looked up.  Three falcons were flying high above.  There was absolutely no aggression.  One adult flew down and landed on the SE corner of the Chase Tower.  This was the ee-chupper and I do believe it was Beauty.

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The other two falcons continued to fly together and apart, together and apart.

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After checking my pictures,  I am now sure that this was an adult, which I believe was Dot.ca, and a juvie flying together, while Beauty watched from the Chase Tower.  Here is the best pic I have of the juvie.  Too far a distance to ID.

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I continued to watch them until they flew high behind the Xerox Tower.  Beauty was still on the Chase Tower, so I decided to head over to St Mary’s Church where I could get a better view of the south and east side of Xerox.  When I arrived there, Beauty had moved from the Chase Tower to the south side of the Xerox Tower, 4th column in from the SE corner.  She was looking to the east, probably still watching the other two. (7:38 pm)

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At 7:40 pm, it was already getting dark, time to head home.  But, of course I had to check out a few things before I ended my Watch.  First I wanted to check the Kodak Tower to make sure the juvies weren’t still going there to roost at night.  The lights were on and I could not see any falcons there.

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The sunset was quite beautiful tonight.

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My last stop before heading home was at the YMCA across the river from Hawkeye.  As daylight faded and night took over, I was able to see a dark shape on the railing across from the nest box.  It was a falcon and I assumed a juvie.  I was able to get a couple pictures and then POOF! she was gone.  I never did see the falcon leave, if she did.

Here is the last picture I took at the end of my Watch.  I had to lighten it quite a bit so that you all could see her.

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Now, it was time for me to end my Watch.  Goodnight everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

We started the day with a cool breeze out of the north,mostly cloudy and a temperature of 55 (F) 13 (C) the sun did win out later on.

I found Beauty on HSBC near the southeast corner at 6:30am. She was just hanging out when she stretched her wings and flew off after 5 minutes heading west with a beautiful sunrise coming up in the eastern sky.

I tracked her down at the Times Square building under the northeast wing showing her back. I parked behind He’s Chinese in the hole, staying with her about half an hour.

I drove the 2.5 miles to the Hawkeye plant and was pleasantly surprised to find a juvie on the north side railing near the nest box. I was parked on St. Paul St. to watch and it flew off to the south after 2 minutes.

I parked down on Carthage St. where I was the other day when I saw a falcon fly above the plant to the west (river) side with breakfast in its talons. I then drove around to the west side of the Driving Park Bridge and parked at the YMCA where I could barely see this juvie pop its head up now and then from the west side roof. It was back in on the roof making it hard to see but luckily kept coming forward for a bit then back in-this went on for most of the time it ate.

It was too far from the YMCA so I walked down the bridge which jumped and shook quite a bit especially when buses went by, making it that much more uncomfortable for this watcher who is afraid of height. I made it to the east end where I was as close as I could get and waited for leg shots so I could ID this young Peregrine. It gave me many leg shots only not the bottom half where the leg bands are located.

Lower Falls on south side of Driving Park Bridge

I was on the north side of the bridge observing this juvie whom I think could be Voyager because of the eyes and light color on the face. Not confirmed without seeing leg bands.

Some guys were fishing down in the river gorge.  The High Falls has its charm but I think this area is even prettier with lots of trees looking forever wild.

This juvie spent well over an hour eating, giving me lots of poses but not that leg band shot that would ID her.

At around 8:45am I spotted another juvie on the stack near Hawkeye to the northwest.

While I was checking this one out the Hawkeye juvie flew over with the prey and then they flew together including an attempted steal which at the time I thought was talon tagging. One of them landed on the northwest end the Hawkeye plant with food and the other started swooping on it much like Dot.Ca (DC) did to Beauty last spring. So I was thinking they must be DC offspring! lol The swooper landed on the stack and watched the other eat across the way.

The stack bird left when I wasn’t looking and the Hawkeye bird kept going in on the roof where I couldn’t see it and then coming out to the front edge but never up on it so I could see those lower legs. It eventually flew off with the leftovers around 9:15am toward me then doubled back and vanished behind the building. Even getting the take off shot the band is still not clear. I checked the entire plant but didn’t find anyone so I left for downtown.

<click it

I found Beauty under the Frontier Communications Tower platform with her back to me from the City Hall parking lot so I drove around to Church St. and could barely see her amongst the beams.

I was running late  from spending so much time with the juvies but who could blame me right!? So I left her after just a few minutes and went over to the the Brighton site finding a fully cropped DC on the west end of the south side vent but no Pigott.

So I called it a watch at 10:10am smiling for having seen not one but two juvies on this day! 🙂

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

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqimK

http://youtu.be/ocWFHvoUolA
http://youtu.be/_N9Y3_aDQo4
http://youtu.be/JMq5rTRA5d8
http://youtu.be/0X0tGUWe1c0
http://youtu.be/aaRO-3jWds0
http://youtu.be/JQEsF7p7kho