By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was 14 degrees fahrenheit (-10 celcius) when I left for my watch this morning with light snow in the forecast for later today thru Tuesday.

I arrived downtown at 7:05am and found Beauty immediately on the south corner top ibeam of OCSR. It was still somewhat dark out so I left the Broad St. Bridge to get closer parking on Graves St. which is next to Aqueduct Park and across Main St. from the OCSR building.

After a few minutes Beauty moved over off the corner to the east and had to spread her wings to keep from slipping off the edge as she mis-stepped. I guess she wasn’t quite awake yet. lol

20 minutes later she flew across the river over the Radisson Hotel and quickly out of view.  10 minutes later she showed up on the Times Square building under the northeast wing.

I parked by the stairs on the Broad St. Bridge which we call Falcon Watcher Central. The Beautyful one and I spent the next 2 hours together as she preened and preened and then preened some more. I guess she was dirty! 🙂 Lately Beauty has been on the move a lot so this was a nice change of pace.

I left her to go check the Brighton Site(BS) as it was getting near the time for me to call it a watch. I didn’t find any falcons at BS initially so I went to Tim Hortons quick. As I was pulling into the driveway I noticed CarolP behind me. She stopped on the west side to have a look around and I went to the east side finding BST on his favorite south facing top window ledge on the east extension.

Click the pics for full version

BST was walking and moving around – a nice change from the sleepy state he’s usually in when I visit him.

Carol came around to the east side we chatted a little bit and then I was off. Another morning watch in the books and it actually included sweet glorious sunshine which painted a smile on this watchers face!  🙂

Click the links below for more pics and videos

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWrUoA

http://youtu.be/DKU2AVeTxs4
http://youtu.be/0UO4O2ha6os
http://youtu.be/sE8aiVvAxK4
http://youtu.be/-_K955nYZ7k

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

For two days, Beauty has been on the Kodak Tower.  She’s been there before, but it’s been awhile since I’ve seen her there.

Friday – 2/1/13 (4-6 pm)

I arrived downtown a little before 4 pm and found Beauty on the top Ibeam of the OCSR.

My next stop was the BS location where I found both P&BST on the east end of the building.

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I didn’t stay long at BS because I wanted to check on Beauty one last time before heading home.  I looked all over downtown for her and couldn’t find her.  I even checked the elevator shaft, which still had the elevator in it.  Nope, not there.  I parked on the Andrews St Bridge and checked the north side of OCSR.  She wasn’t there.  Hmmmm.  Oh, well, it was time for me to head home.

While I was stopped at a red light on State St, heading north, I checked out the Kodak Tower through my binoculars.  Was there something up on the launchpad?  It sure did look like a dark lump.  I parked on a street on the east side of the tower, next to the condos that were located on what used to be the Kodak visitors lot.  From there I was able to see easily that there was a falcon up on the SE corner of the launchpad.  I was losing light by then, so I couldn’t be 100% sure that it was Beauty.  There were 100’s of Crows flying past the tower while the falcon watched from above.

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Soon after the red light at the top of the tower went on, the falcon took off head south towards downtown.  It had to be Beauty since she was headed directly for the OCSR, where I’m sure she made it up into the elevator shaft for the night.

Saturday – 2/2/13 (10:30 am to 1:00 pm)

My first stop was KP.  I didn’t find any falcons hanging out, but Big Momma Red Tail was in a nearby tree.

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Fellow Falcon Watcher Dana joined me.  We received MAK’s text that Beauty had been at the Kodak Tower and that she had flown off heading north.  We were north of the Kodak Tower.  We decided it was time to go look for Beauty.

When I arrived downtown, I found Beauty up on the Kodak Tower.  She was on a south side arch ledge, just above where Mariah and Kaver’s nest box had been located for so many years.  For those that weren’t around for the M&K years, this is where Rhea Mae, Quest, Linn and Diamante were born.  From up there, Beauty had a great view of the downtown area.

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Beauty seemed to be settled, so I headed over to the BS location, hoping to find Pigott & BST.  Dana was already there when I arrived.  We had no luck finding any falcons there.

Back downtown I went.  There was lots of traffic due to the Globetrotters being in town.  Plus the Boat Show.   Beauty was no longer on the Kodak Tower.  I looked back at the Times Square Bldg and saw that she was there at the base of the NE wing.

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It was time to  go.  On my way home I saw this really awesome wood carving. Hmmmm.  Wonder if they make stooping falcons.  🙂

Happy Groundhog Day! Punxsutawney Phil predicts an early spring due to NOT seeing his shadow!

I arrived on the Broad St. Bridge at 7:05am. It was still pretty dark out so I drove over to Main St. by the Radisson Hotel to get a closer look at the OCSR building. I spotted something white up in the elevator shaft on the north sideand as I grabbed my camera it flew out of there and landed on the top ibeam southeast side of the OCSR building. It was the Beautyful one just waking up!

I drove to Graves St. to get that much closer. She stayed there to wake up for 25 minutes looking for breakfast and then she flew off to the south.

I don’t know if she caught something or grabbed cached food but I found Beauty on Widows Walk with what looked like a starling. I parked in the parking lot next to the Times Square building to watch.

I thought it strange that she wasn’t plucking feathers from it and then she pulled the head off of it,swung it around a bit before tossing it down. Seconds later she flew off with the rest of it in her talons above me and straight over to the base of Mercury.

After she landed with it she just perched there looking around and then at 7:50am off she went again -without her prey this time heading north.

10 minutes later I found Beauty on the top ibeam of OCSR northeast side this time. She looked to be in hunt mode as she watched pigeons flying near the east side of the river and below her for the next 45 minutes.

I left Beauty at 8:45am to go check on the Brighton Site. I found BST on the east extension perched sleepily on a south facing window ledge.

Did I mention he had a full crop!? That’s why he was sleepy-I get that way after a good meal myself! He came alive after 15 minutes or so as he seemed to have something on his beak that was bothering him. BST kept opening and closing his mouth and scratching at his beak followed by stepping to his right and picking on a poor defenseless feather that was on the ledge.

After that BST pooped and settled back in for a nap. Barbara came by around this time and stayed just long enough to say hi and take a look at the sleepy head.

Pigott was not present today and with the little guy sleeping I left  around 10:15am for my last call downtown to find Beauty. I went to the Main St. Bridge by the Radisson Hotel to see if she was still on the northeast side of OCSR. She was gone and as I was ready to call it a watch and pull away I noticed something over on the launch pad of the Kodak Office Tower. I grabbed my binocs to look and sure enough there was a pefa looking bump perched there, so I drove over to check it out.  It was Beauty and she was looking over the area.

Beauty seemed to be zoomed in on something below her as she flew off checking the east side of the tower before flying around to the north side.

She didn’t come back into view so I took a trip around the building to find her. She was nowhere in sight so I called it a watch and headed home. After getting just a glimpse of the Beautyful one flying yesterday I was so smiling today for having seen her flying and perched on a few different spots! 🙂

For a few more pics and videos click on the links below

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWrUbA

http://youtu.be/OzwYC5iTvyY
http://youtu.be/em49qQBGJkc
http://youtu.be/zGY3U_Ktbww
http://youtu.be/97e9MuWbT3o
http://youtu.be/7ERiK-91d20

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

When I first looked out the window this morning there was a dusting of snow overnight and it was clear. Just before I left for my watch it started to snow and half way downtown it really started coming down. In the 2 and a half hours I was out watching I’d say about 4 inches of snow fell, so that means it was coming down at a rate of about 2 in. per hour. Hence I had trouble seeing little bumps on buildings! lol

Click pics for full version

At 7:35am from the Broad St. Bridge(BSB) I observed the Aqueduct pigeons surface from their sleeping quarters below the bridge and settle on the Blue Cross Arena (BCA) telling me that they didn’t see Beauty around.

I must have driven down to the hole(Aqueduct St.)half a dozen times trying to get close enough to see if the Beautyful one was on the OCSR. Here’s what I could see…

OCSR

Frustrated with not being able to see I opted for making the trip over to Brighton. I knew it would be a slow go and it was – taking me 25 minutes to go the 2.5 miles distance from the BSB to the Brighton Site(BS). It normally takes about 8 minutes which is incidentally the same distance and time frame from my house to the BSB. So at 8:27am I pulled into the property and found a falcon on the east extension on a south facing top window ledge but I could not make an ID on it due to poor visibility.

BST

I video taped this falcon and thought it looked like BST upon playing it back but what really convinced me was when I found a larger falcon on an east facing window on the northeast side of the building.

Pigott

They were both tucked in with their backs facing out so I didn’t think they were going to do much else in the bad weather. I then made the journey back to downtown where I suffered the same frustrations as earlier with the heavy snow. I eventually just stayed on the BSB and as I noticed the pigeons all fly off in panic mode the next thing I saw was a streaking Beauty come popping into the picture from behind the BCA chasing a pigeon. They took a slight left turn heading out over the river after they passed above the Thomson Reuters building and around Mercury, flying  northbound until they veered off behind the OCSR building out of sight.

The snow had all but stopped by this time and the sun was trying to break out. The lake effect snow band was moving back to the north toward Lake Ontario. At 9:45am I ended my watch to make a 10:00am appointment. I would have liked to get a pic or two of Beauty but I did see her,Pigott and BST so I left smiling! 🙂

Just 1 video today due to the weather-click the link below to view BST in the snow

http://youtu.be/_Q-k9xo1RXA

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

After having a taste of spring yesterday, winter has returned in full force to Rochester, NY.  Talk about the winds of change!  When I walked into work this morning, I had a little help with 50+ mph wind gusts pushing me towards the building.  We humans may not like high winds, but Peregrines love them.  I hoped to see some high flying pefas and my wish came true.

I arrived downtown a little before 4 pm and found Beauty on the top I-Beam of the OCSR on the SE side.  She was facing into the building and her feathers were being whipped every which way.

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From where I was parked, I could see that the OCSR elevator was up at the top.

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After a few moments, I headed over to the BS location.  The sky was darkening to the west and I wanted to try to see all three Rochester Falcons before I headed home.  I was in luck.  Pigott was on the tree ledge on the east side of the building and she was enjoying her dinner.  BST was on the north side of the east extension aka their nighttime roost.

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I circled the building one more time and found BST on the tree ledge with Pigott.  He was just to her left and I’m sure he was hoping for just a little nibble of what she was eating.  By this time it was going onto 5:00 pm, so I left P&BST to their meal and returned downtown to see what Beauty was up to.

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As I was driving north down Exchange I saw a falcon fly up to the top of the Time Square Bldg landing at the base of the SE wing.

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I parked on the Broad St Bridge where I had a good view of Beauty.  Lots of folks were getting out of work and being blown across the bridge by the very cold winds.  I saw fellow falcon watcher Pat rush by on her way to her car.  Hi Pat!  🙂

Beauty took off and headed towards the OCSR.  She did her regular maneuver, as she swooped up towards the elevator shaft.  Wings back, talons out and reaching up towards the ledge and out she flew.  For close to a 1/2 hour, Beauty flew all over the place, racing with the wind, up into the elevator shaft and out.  Over the river, towards the apartments on St Paul, hover, kite, swoop.  Back over the river to the elevator shaft and out.  Buzz the south side of OCSR, fast towards the TSB, bank to the left and stoop on an unsuspecting Starling, missing it and continuing over the Blue Cross Arena.  The pigeons that had been there were now gone.  Beauty zoomed over me low and down towards the river on the north side of the Broad St. Bridge and yet another attempt to go up into the elevator shaft and out.

If you hadn’t guessed by now, Beauty seemed to be uneasy about landing on her normal spot in the OCSR elevator shaft, which was now occupied by the OCSR elevator.

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I sat back and watched this high flying pefa just totally enjoying the high winds before finally swooping up into the OCSR elevator shaft and remaining there.  From near the Radisson, I could see that Beauty made it to her favorite nighttime roost, the south ledge of the OCSR elevator shaft.

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I was happy to see her finally settle for the evening out of the weather.  Tonight we are supposed to get a few inches of snow, so back to winter we go.  Oh, well, spring is just around the corner.  Keep warm everyone and keep yours eyes to the sky!

Oh, and remember to click on any pictures you would like to see in a larger version.  Thanks!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Today the wind was the story as it rocked my car and everything else pretty darn good. It knocked out power for nearly 7000 and this is after yesterdays warm 64 degree day.

10 minutes into my watch I spotted Beauty on the top ibeam southeast side of OCSR (I mistakenly tweeted southwest side).

As I was making my way down to Graves St. where Aqueduct Park is located from the Broad St. Bridge(BST) she took off, so back to BSB I went. I observed the Aqueduct pigeons in fright mode near the Court St. Bridge then they settled down on the Blue Cross Arena. This meant Beauty was somewhere else scaring up pigeons, so I took a ride.

Turns out I should have stayed put for when I arrived back on BSB the Beautyful one was back on OCSR in the same spot.

Again I drove down to Graves St. and again Miss let’s play games with MAK had left the building as I was enroute! lol  Another couple trips around the windy streets of Rochester and some 25 minutes later as I sat in my car on BSB Beauty returned one more time to OCSR top ibeam southeast side. And this time she stayed for almost an hour before flying off to the south. She was fighting the very strong wind as she flew over me and out of sight. It would be a challenge for her to grab a meal on this day.

Along with the strong winds, snow squalls kept popping up on and off. After unsuccessfully finding Beauty I headed over to the Brighton Site. As I sat at the traffic light at the intersection of Mt.Hope and Elmwood Ave. I noticed how the wind was blowing the very heavy traffic lights.

Please click on the pics to view the full version

Arriving in Brighton a little after 9:00am there were no falcons around so I parked and waited. I was rewarded at 9:35am when I found Pigott had flown in and was perched 4 windows down on the northeast side of the building.

Miss Pigott was protected nicely from the weather there as she kept looking out on her territory. For 25 minutes she watched and judging by her crop she wasn’t looking for a snack. Suddenly BST appeared and she flew off landing on the southeast corner of the east extension.

Miss Pigott stayed there less than 10 seconds and as she flew off BST landed up on the ledge below the roof top tree.

A couple minutes later Pigott returned and came to rest next to him maybe 2 feet away to his right and she was shaking her tail feathers.

Make sure to click it

Miss Pigott stayed only a few minutes and then she was off to the northeast. BST remained but it was now time for me to leave. I checked downtown real quick on my way home for Beauty but couldn’t locate her.  The smile on my face as I left for home today was due to the fact that I saw all 3 current Rochester Peregrine Falcons for the first time since Sunday. 🙂

I have provided links below for 5 videos from todays watch

http://youtu.be/5OsMGs7reO0
http://youtu.be/KFVyamEtmVY
http://youtu.be/l4y8yptaZ9U
http://youtu.be/nGpK8DzavJ0
http://youtu.be/aTSVPJVnJoQ

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

1/29/13 – Tuesday 4-5:30 pm.

It was pouring rain, but that didn’t stop me from finding all three current Rochester Falcons on my late afternoon watch.

Smart Ms Beauty was up inside the OCSR elevator shaft on the south ledge keeping out of the rain.

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At the BS location, I found a drenched Pefa in the Pefa tree.  Pretty sure it was Pigott.

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Pigott returned to the building and I was joined by Larry O for a short while.  I had to wait around until 5:30 pm to see BST return.  After chatting with Larry O, I took one more trip around the building and found both Pigott and BST at the nighttime roost on the north side of the east extension.

1/30/13 – Wednesday 4-5:00 pm.

What a difference a day makes.  When I walked out of work I couldn’t believe how warm it was.  OK, you know you’re in Rochester when it’s 60 degrees in January, the wind is blowing and you’re like, wow, this is wonderful.  🙂

My first stop was downtown where I found Beauty on the OCSR on the top IBeam on the NE side.  I stayed with her for a little while before heading over to the BS location.

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Next stop, the BS location.  I found BST on the Tree Ledge on the east side of the building.

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Moving on, I found Pigott on the front (north side) of the building.  She was moving around quite a bit, seemingly unsettled.  I soon found out why.  She spotted a Red-tailed Hawk cruising through, heading east.  Well, she wasn’t going to just give the hawk a free pass, no way.  She had to show him this was her territory.  Pigott took off and flew fast, quickly catching up with the clueless hawk.  It didn’t take long for her to let the hawk know who was boss.  With no vocalization at all, she flew above the hawk and dove on him a couple times before he got the idea and high-tailed it out of the area, continuing east.

Satisfied, Pigott returned to the building and landed on a window at the nighttime roost on the north side of the east extension.  At 5:00 pm, BST joined her there.

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Well, it was time to head home after seeing all three current Rochester Falcons.

BE SURE TO CLICK ON ANY PICTURES YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE IN A LARGER VERSION.  THANKS!

Sorry to say, the weather will be anything but pleasant tomorrow.  The winds of change will be sweeping through Rochester, starting at midnight, with wind gusts of 50+ mph and temps dropping into the 20’s.  So much for springtime in Rochester.  Brrrrr!  It’s a return to the reality of a Rochester winter.  Keep safe and warm everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Not much to report on this balmy January morning. It was 59 degrees fahrenheit(15 celcius)when I left for downtown today. It will be short-lived for tomorrow it’s forecast to be 30 degrees colder with wind and snow.

I arrived on the Broad St. bridge at exactly 7:00am hoping to catch Beauty before she went to her secret place where we can’t find her. No such luck! At about 7:25am I spotted Beautyflying thru from the southwest. She was eastbound going over the Thomson Reuters building then the river and I eventually lost her when she passed over the Radisson Hotel. I immediately drove over to the east side but couldn’t find her on any buildings. While stopped for a red light at Broad and Chestnut St. I spotted her hovering in the wind above Xerox. I pulled over to try and get a video of  her but she kept going back and forth in and out of view. I then decided to go to the bridge to get out farther away so I could see more. I did see her for a brief second or two then she was gone. After driving around and not finding Beauty I opted for a run over to the Brighton site.

I arrived in Brighton around 8:15am and made 3 trips around the building and found nobody home. I checked the trees for a falcon but was unsuccessful so I figured on such a nice morning Miss Pigott and BST were out enjoying the warm winds. Back downtown to check quick (I had to be somewhere at 9:00am)for Beauty but I was unable to find her. And that’s all she wrote-I ended my watch with the memory of seeing our Beautyful girl in the sky above Xerox which most definitely brought a smile to my face! 🙂

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

This mornings watch was all about the heavy fog that inundated our fair city.

I checked the northeast corner of the Crossroads building to confirm that the remains of the dead bird hanging on the edge of the roof were no longer visible. I had a hard time finding Beauty this morning so after looking for an hour and a half I went to the Brighton Site. I found a falcon one window down from the scrape on the west extension but I couldn’t say who it was because of the foggy conditions.

That is the best I could fix the pic so you can even see a falcon. 5 minutes later just before 9:00am it flew up to the scrape window ledge and was now facing out.

Still I couldn’t ID who this was and in less than a minute it flew off heading north. I lost it in the fog quickly. I checked around the building and surrounding trees a few times but came up empty so I returned to downtown to find the elusive one Beauty. After searching around the city a couple times I spotted her as I approached the Broad St. Bridge from the east side. She was on the money bag hand of Mercury. I drove down in the hole as there was no parking on the bridge.

After I took a couple pics of her I checked my phone which had gone off to see that Donna had also discovered Beauty on the rfalconcam. It’s good to have people trying to help us watchers as they keep an eye on the cameras. Thank you! Beauty was in hunt mode and she soon spotted something below her. After sizing it up she flew off stooping down to the river and back up where I could see that she was unsuccessful in her attempt to grab whatever it was that she keyed in on.

Remember to click pics for full version

Beauty flew north behind the OCSR building where I lost sight of her. I had to get going but I left smiling for having found the Beautyful one! 🙂

Click on the 2 links below to view our foggy falcons

http://youtu.be/qQk_FXo7ZjE
http://youtu.be/GNFSzx1yiGA

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

A quick check for our falcons after work between 4 & 5 pm.  Happy to say all three were at home.  It was raining pretty heavily but I still wanted to make sure they were all accounted for.

Beauty was up inside the elevator shaft of OCSR on the south ledge.  Seems to be her spot at this time of day.

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Next stop the BS location.  I found BST on the front (north side) of the building.  He was on a ledge, right of center.  A different place for him.  I circled the building and found Pigott on the north side of the east extension, one window down.  She was at the nighttime roost.  Lately it seems she’s been spending time somewhere away from the building and coming in around 4 pm.  BST is spending more time on the building while she’s away.  Interesting.

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It was good to see all three current Rochester Falcons at home.  The temps will be warming up here in Rochester, up into the 50’s, but rain expected each day.

Yesterday Kathy O, Lisa McK, Dana and I spent  a few hours in Buffalo.  We wanted to see Diamante and his mate Gleig at Central Terminal.  Did you know that Diamante is a son of Mariah & Kaver and that he hatched the same year as Quest?  Did you know that Gleig is Pigott’s sister?  It’s a small Peregrine World.  🙂

I’ll leave you with a couple of pics I took of Diamante.  The first one is one of Diamante coming off of the antenna at the top of the building.  He stooped directly over me, going supersonic!  Wow is he fast.  He returned to the building with empty talons.  In the 2nd picture, he had a successful hunt.  We all watched, amazed, as he stooped off of the nest box and headed towards some trees not too far away.  Diamante made an incredible maneuver as he entered the tree line and snatched a Starling from a branch.  The picture shows him returning to the building clutching his prey.

MAKE SURE YOU CLICK ON ANY PICS YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE IN A LARGER SIZE.  THANKS VERY MUCH!