By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Just before I left for my watch this morning it started snowing and tho it hadn’t accumulated too much yet the roads were still slick and they got worse until it turned into rain later on. I saw some accidents as a result.

I arrived on the Broad St. Bridge at 7:05am and didn’t see Beauty on the top ibeam at the south corner of OCSR until 7:20am.

It was tough to see her thru the snow so I drove down to Graves St. There are no good pics today due to the conditions but how else would you feel like you’re right there with me right? 5 minutes later she was gone and I wasn’t able to find her so I went over to the Brighton Site. The snow flakes had grown bigger and were coming down harder as I made my way over but I was able to see BST one window over from the scrape window on the west extension.

I took a ride around to see if Miss Pigott was present but she was not. I find it interesting that BST is suddenly hanging around  the scrape lately because he’s almost exclusively been on the east side in the mornings when I am out watching. Perhaps the hormones have started to get them into the mating and nesting season already. Seems early but that’s why we observe them-to learn about their behaviors. The snow started to change over to little ice pellets and then to plain old rain so I was able to get a better pic of BST.

He was sleepy so I left him to return downtown. I found Beauty on the OCSR building top ibeam on the northwest side. I haven’t seen her on that side since last summer/fall.

I left the Beautyful one to meet with June Summers- president of the Genesee Valley Audubon Society(GVAS) to show her the location of the dead bird on the Crossroads building. When she speaks to Jenny Landry our local Department of Environment and Conservation(DEC) biologist about the bird she is going to request that if they retrieve it we be notified of their findings.The remains are still hanging off the edge up there but we are due for some strong winds later this week so it may get blown off. Stay tuned!

After our meeting I went looking for Beauty before ending my watch. I found her napping with her head tucked into her wing, still on the northwest side of OCSR top ibeam.

Keep smiling falcon nation! 🙂

Click on the links below for 3 videos

http://youtu.be/_caTe66p8R0
http://youtu.be/dU6gLdVGES8
http://youtu.be/_q53nh0qNs0

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Well today went a lot different than I would have ever imagined but nature is like that don’t ya know! I arrived downtown about 7:10am hoping Beauty didn’t get up early again today. As I sat on the Broad St. Bridge(BSB) looking for her the Aqueduct pigeons came flying up from under the bridge in their usual fast manner about a half dozen at a time coming to settle on the Blue Cross Arena roof telling me that the Beautyful one was not in the immediate area. Ok so where was she off to already-that is the question every day that she goes to her secret place where none of us can find her. 20 minutes later as I was scanning the roof tops I spotted something on the northeast corner of the Crossroads building. It was 7:38am and still a bit dark out and the distance was too far for a positive ID but at first glance I thought it was cached prey. I took pics from the BSB,Andrews St. Bridge,Bragdon St. and finally Graves St. which is right by Aqueduct Park. Each pic looked more and more like a pefa to me and when I zoomed the last one and saw the big yellow foot my heart sank!

I broke out in a sweat and felt nauseous thinking it was Beauty. I made a few calls and waited – pacing back and forth, looking up at that corner,talking to myself with tears in my eyes. KathyO,Lisa,Dana and CarolP were about to leave for Buffalo to see Diamante at Central Terminal but they came down to check things out first. Luckily they found Beauty on Widows Walk eating and let me know. I went over there, immediately got out the car, took a pic and was satisfied it was our girl Beauty breathing a sigh of relief and yelling ” it’s Beauty”.

I then high fived Carol and Kathy and showed everyone the Crossroads pic. They all agreed that it looked like a pefa. So who was it if not Beauty-maybe the big female KathyO and I saw on Lake Ave. yesterday or perhaps one of ours. The girls left for their trip and I went to the Brighton Site(BS) to rule out that it was Pigott or BST up there. Arriving at BS about 10:15am I found BST immediately on the east extension on a south facing window.

Ok no Pigott- I thought no big deal she isn’t always here in the morning when I am so I sat back and watched BST do BST things. He did have one little nap when I first got there but for the rest of my watch he mainly just looked around at his surroundings and preened. At 11:30am BST walked to the end of the ledge where the east extension meets the main building and hopped over to a kiddie korner window ledge across from where he was.

In the hours that I spent at BS I periodically drove around the property and looked for Miss Pigott- getting increasingly nervous that she wasn’t showing up and praying it wasn’t her on Crossroads. At 1:50pm BST made a move off the building flying to the back of the property and coming to rest in the tree I had seen him in a couple weeks ago(not the pefa tree). 3 crows were dive bombing and jabbering at him but he seemed unbothered by them.

After the crows left BST flew out to BS circled it a few times landed on a southwest corner briefly and returned to the tree. A while later he flew off and grabbed something small and as I started taping BST with his catch a man came out of the building and asked if he could help me. I said nope, turned the video off and pointed out our little BST up in the tree-I never dreamed I’d be an educator of sorts but I can’t help myself when people ask. Anyway the guy said I could park up in the parking lot if I wanted to so I said thanks and he was on his way.  After looking at my pics I think it looks like it could be a bat that BST caught.

Now about this time I was getting antsy to go downtown and check on Beauty who had been on Mercury all this time for any possible injuries from a battle. I left BST to finish his little snack and was happy to find Beauty in fine condition and looking Beautyful up on her money bag at around 2:50pm.

15 minutes later she spread her wings and flew off to the north out of sight. She flew just fine and her wings looked flawless!

Click pics to see full version

Back to BS I went satisfied that Beauty was ok. BST was still in the tree when I returned at 3:20pm. 15 minutes later he flew to BS landing on  the northwest corner of the west extension. Minutes later a falcon came flying in from the northwest knocked him off and took his place on the corner. BST flew over to the scrape window ledge and as I took a good look I was ecstatic to see that it was Miss Pigott come to join us with an extraordinarily huge bulging crop. So while everyone was worried about her she was out gorging herself! Fine by me!!!

Click it to see BST

Joyce and Steve joined the watch and after I chatted briefly with them I ended my watch at 4:08pm- almost exactly 9 hours after starting my morning watch. Sadly there is a dead raptor up on the Crossroads building but our 3 current Rochester Peregrine Falcons are safe and sound tonight and I am so smiling about that! 🙂

Click on the links below to view my photo album and 7 videos from my day

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWrUTg

http://youtu.be/bpKnsM9kn-k
http://youtu.be/iufozz93Ka0
http://youtu.be/wRTXM-oNTfE
http://youtu.be/eoHbNLwqZLo
http://youtu.be/EpPuA-wk8tg
http://youtu.be/4H1t0kfETYE
http://youtu.be/sB07alfNPXk

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

When I received Kathy O’s tweet at 12:50 pm about a big white chested, dark helmeted female Peregrine she had found on an apartment complex on Lake Ave and that it had headed northwest, I knew I had to get out and check KP.  This is the direction she was headed.   I was really excited to think there would again be a falcon at Kodak Park for me to keep an eye on.  Kathy called to let me know she was at KP and that she saw no falcons there.  She did see Big Mama Red Tail and her mate though.  Kathy also sent me this picture she took of the Lake Ave falcon with her Iphone.  Nice picture Kathy!

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It was 2:00 pm by the time I got over to KP.  It was cold, but the sun was shining.  Any day the sun is shining is a good day.  I checked the stacks from all angles and found some new white wash on the east stack.  It was below the catwalk on the NE side of the stack.  Was this from a visiting Peregrine?  Or maybe one of the Red-tail Hawks, although I rarely see them up there.

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I settled in to watch the area and scanned the sky above with my binoculars.  That’s when I spotted a Peregrine soaring high above the KP Complex.  It circled and gained altitude.  Higher and higher.  I lost sight of the falcon when it passed behind a plume of smoke.  Looked like she was in hunt mode.  I will definitely be keeping an eye out for this big girl.

My next stop was downtown, which was very busy.  Looked like the Toronto Rock Lacrosse team was in town.

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I checked everywhere but the elevator shaft, which I couldn’t get close to, but could not find Beauty anywhere.  Next stop, the BS location.

BST was there on a top window on the south side of the east ext.  Pigott was not home.  I parked where I could watch BST and Dana soon joined me.

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BST had his back to us and was very actively trying to hack up a pellet.  He had a white fluff feather sticking to the left side of his head that I just wanted to reach out and remove.  lol  He kept trying to get rid of it.  BST started to do a lot of head bobbing, which told me he was getting ready to leave.  Sometimes they don’t leave for a very long time.  🙂  To be a falcon watcher, you must have patience.  BST finally did take off just before 4:00 pm.  He headed south, not hurrying at all.  Dana and I watched him land in the Pefa Tree in the woods south of the building.

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He was only there for about a  minute before he returned to the building.  Pigott had also returned and she was up on the SE corner of the building close to the tree ledge.  BST had landed on the left side of the vent on the south side of the building.  They were able to see each other from their positions.

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Larry O and his dog Harold joined us.  They took a nice walk in the snow while we all kept an eye on P&BST.

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At 4:50 pm, Dana and Larry left.  I remained a bit longer to see if Pigott & BST would move.  They did.  Pigott moved over to the west end of the south side and BST ended up on a window on the west end of the north side near the scrape.  It was time for me to go.  But first, one more trip through downtown where I hoped to find Beauty and find her I did.

Ms. Beauty was tucked up in her normal spot at this time.  She was up inside the OCSR elevator shaft on the south ledge.  I was very happy to end my watch after seeing all 3 current Rochester Falcons, plus one high flying falcon at KP.

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

I’ll leave you with one picture I took as the sky darkened and a gorgeous, golden full moon appeared.  Enjoy the weekend everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

We were forecast to break out of the teens today-back to more comfortable temperatures. Sunshine and blue skies and warmer temps made for a much better working camera on this morning.

I arrived on the Broad St. Bridge(BSB) around 7:20am and could see no Beautyful falcon around but a few minutes later the Aqueduct pigeons flew up out of their slumbers. In their usual fashion they fly very fast and as they reach the top of the BSB they barely clear the railing on the bridge, continuing across the bridge to the other side and then they drop down out of sight. Now after that they either resurface to land above the Blue Cross Arena sign or they keep going south upriver with because Beauty is on their tail end. Today they had a different route because a school bus was in their way as they reached the top of the bridge to make their way across and oh my talk about getting your blood pumping to start your day. I thought for sure they would fly into the side of that bus, but luckily they all scattered in different directions and thankfully Beauty wasn’t behind them or she might have crashed too.  A few minutes later Donna informed me that Beauty had been on Mercury at 7:02am-I was still home brushing the snow of my car at that time. I searched an hour for Beauty to no avail so I left for our Brighton location(BS). I found Pigott on the northwest corner and BST on a north facing window ledge on the west extension 2 windows west of Pigott and Dot.Ca’s scrape from last year.

<BST     Pigott>

BST was doing his usual thing-sleeping with his back to me while Pigott is more active. She flew off about 10 minutes later heading east while BST remained.I drove around the property to look for her but she wasn’t on the building or in the trees so I went back to the sleeping prince BST. 2 more trips around and 30 minutes later Pigott returned landing on the southeast corner of the east extension-on the other side of the building from BST. Since he’s such a napper I stuck with watching Pigott as I couldn’t see both of them at once no matter where I parked.

Miss Pigott stayed up there for 20 minutes scratching, preening and scoping out her territory then she flew out and down to an east facing window ledge on the east extension.

She flew off and back to the southeast corner less than a minute later. I drove around to check on BST who you guessed it was still napping near the scrape. I was nervous about not finding Beauty after a possible 3rd falcon was at this location recently so I went back downtown at this time. I was unsuccessful in finding her again which made me a bit more concerned. Back to BS where both pefas were in the same spot as when I left-BST on the west extension and Miss Pigott on the east extension. I chose to watch her again since she was awake and actively preening.

30 minutes later Pigott pooped and flew off fast to the west.

<Click pics for full version

The star falcon of todays watch was definitely Pigott. In my opinion she’s the most active of our current Peregrines. I then drove around to the front of the building just in time to see BST jump off and fly to the north very fast. 20 minutes later KathyO joined the watch after checking downtown for Beauty and also coming up empty. We chatted for a while then after no falcons returned to BS we headed to the Andrews St. Bridge downtown to look for Beauty. Still we didn’t find her and we were both getting concerned. Kathy had to get going-she planned to check KP on her way home and I said I was going to check the east side of the city. 12:07pm almost 5 hours into my watch I breathed a sigh of relief when I found Beauty on the northeast corner of HSBC perched on the railing.

Kathy got my tweet and joined me so she could get her falcon fix having missed the pair over at BS. We could now carry on with the rest of our day. Not so fast-I had just backed my car into the driveway when Kathy reported having a falcon on an apartment building on the west side of Lake Ave. so I put her back in gear and headed over. It was located on the northeast corner of an apartment building across the street from the Brown Square Health Center. This location is about half way between downtown and KP. And this would be the surprise falcon of the day making it a 4 falcon watch for me.

I arrived just in time to click off a couple pics and a video which somehow got deleted when I switched to get a take off shot. I was hoping to see a leg so we’d know if it was banded but this  big female with a dark helmet flew away from me and all I got was her behind. Is this the pefa seen at BS or could it be one of the falcons seen at KP or one of the Irondequoit birds-maybe a new one passing thru. Here we go,I hope it’s not a bumpy ride like last year. Anyway now Kathy and I could end the watch and go home smiling for the time being! 🙂

Click on the links below for more pics and 3 videos from this mornings watch

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWrUKA

http://youtu.be/2EibtC1d9cI
http://youtu.be/iqfl5JQR3OQ
http://youtu.be/nT3-lampGOA

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

After what happened at the BS location yesterday, I was happy to have a peaceful watch today.

As usual, it was cold and it was snowing when I left work today.  I arrived downtown a little before 4:00 pm.  After checking things out from the Andrews St Bridge, I made my way over to the OCSR and found Beauty up inside the elevator shaft on the south ledge.

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The snow made it hard to see her, but she was definitely there.  Since she seemed settled, I headed over to the BS location.  After yesterday, I wanted to make sure all was well there.

At 4:30 pm I found Pigott on the west side of the building near the area we call the nook.  Close by, was another smaller falcon on the south side of the west extension.  After checking my pictures, I am pretty sure this was BST.

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At 5:00 pm, Pigott did a whole bunch of stretching and a poop and she was off.  She flew a short distance to land on the window below BST.

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She didn’t stay long.   At 5:10 pm, I found her on the north side of the east extension, on the third window down.  This was their nighttime roost.

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Just before I left at 5:15 pm, Brian texted the following:  “Wandering BD. Falcon still in E shaft. Roads R getting slippery. B safe.”

All three current Rochester Falcons were seen on my watch, making it a very good day.

YOU JUST NEED TO CLICK ON ANY PICTURE YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE IN A LARGER VERSION.  THANKS!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Another cold morning as it was 6 degrees fahrenheit(-14 celsius) when I left the house for my watch. Our daily highs are forecast to get out of the teens into the 20’s after today.

Arriving on the Broad St. Bridge at about 7:20am  I waited and watched as the Aqueduct pigeons came up out of their night time roost under the bridge about 10 minutes later. They flew up to perch on the Blue Cross Arena so I knew Beauty wasn’t in the area. I then took a drive to try to find our Beautyful girl but I should have just stayed put for when I returned to the bridge she was on the top ibeam at the south corner of OCSR.

I parked over by the Radisson Hotel on Main St. for closer viewing and to make it easier for my camera to focus. It didn’t help much for the cold and dark overcast conditions made it tough to get good photos. I stayed there for an hour when Beauty flew out over the river and around the north side of OCSR out of my field of vision. I left to find where she went after she didn’t return. I found Beauty at 8:55am on the Crossroads building roof railing northwest corner.I pulled over on State St. just south of Church St. to observe her.

I decided since it was after 9:00am now and the banks were open that I would go hand out rfalconcam business cards(created and provided by Joyce-TY) and introduce myself as one of the Rochester Falcon Watchers. First I went into the Canandaigua National Bank & Trust who had called the police on Wednesday when they saw me parked on Graves St. with my camera. Explaining about the falcons and how we look out for them-I asked that they spread the word to their co-workers and customers as well. I then walked across Main St. to the OCSR building where the M&T Bank is located followed by the KeyBank on Main St. Everyone got the same short spiel and a business card as I told them we were sponsored by the Genesee Valley Audubon Society as well. They were all very appreciative to know about us as I also said that we were actually a good deterrent of criminals with our cameras! They especially liked that statement!

When I was done I went to see if Beauty was still on Crossroads. She was not but moving on to the Andrews St. Bridge I could see her on the top ibeam northeast side of OCSR with her back to the world. I drove over to Bragdon St. took a quick pic of her and then left to check the Brighton site.

I waited about 30 minutes to see if either Pigott or BST would show up, when they didn’t I left for downtown again.  Beauty was still on OCSR seemingly settled in so I ended my watch. Keep smiling everyone! 🙂

I have provided links below for 2 videos that were not always in focus-darn cold

http://youtu.be/yU7kje5MP9
http://youtu.be/xicYNsv-G8I

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I got out of work a little later than usual, so I didn’t get downtown until about 4:20 pm.  After driving around downtown, I found Beauty  up inside the OCSR elevator shaft on the south ledge.  It was very cold and blustery.  Nice to know that she has a spot to get out of the worse of the weather.  I stayed just a little while with her before heading to the BS location.

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At the BS location, I found a falcon on the south side of the east extension.  I thought it was Pigott, but couldn’t be 100% sure, since she had her back to me and I couldn’t see if this falcon was banded or not.

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I circled the building.  Finding no other falcons, I returned to where I could watch Pigott.  Before I could park my car, she took off and flew to the front (north side) of the building.  Of course I followed.

There were now two falcons on the building.  I assumed it was Pigott and BST.  Pigott was on the north side of the east extension, three windows down.  This is where they usually roost at night.  A 2nd falcon (BST?) was on a top window on the east side of the building.  They were definitely able to see each other.  All was peaceful.  I found a spot where I could see them both.

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This is where it all gets confusing.  I texted that both Pigott and BST were at the BS location.  Just before 5:10 pm, the falcon on the east extension that I thought was Pigott, disappeared from view.  I didn’t see her take off and the falcon I thought was BST on the east side didn’t seem concerned.  He was just looking around calmly.  I thought maybe she had scooted over to the left side of the windowsill.  Both she and BST seemed to favor that side.  From my position, I couldn’t see that corner.

Then everything changed.  The falcon on the east side took off screaming over me heading east.  A 2nd falcon had flow in.  Both falcons came together above the parking lot and they battled.  Talon to talon and loud screaming.  I truly hate that sound and hoped to never hear it again.  Once you hear those loud cries, you’ll never forget them.  This was a true aggressive battle of two falcons very close in size.  So either female and female or male and male.  By this time the sun was setting and there was a large, almost full moon above.

I really tried to take some pictures of the battle, but my camera was not focusing.  So, I just put it down and watched, hoping neither bird would be injured.  They slowly moved southeast and I lost sight of them as they passed over the wooded area.

One returned quickly and landed on the NE corner of the east extension.  I looked over to see if I could see a 2nd falcon on the building, but couldn’t.  It was only a moment or so before this falcon launched itself into the air and sped off to the east.  Fast!  I couldn’t see if there was a 2nd falcon out there or not.

After a few moments of waiting to see if any falcons would return to the building, I slowly drove out of the parking lot and in front of the area on the northside of the east extension where I had last seen Pigott.  There was a falcon up there, moved over to the left side.  Was this Pigott and had she been there the whole time?  Was BST battling another male?  I continued to circle the building slowly, checking every nook and cranny as carefully as I could.  Back out front, I checked the nighttime roost area one more time before I was going to head home.  Now there were two falcons up there, the larger one, Pigott, on the 3rd window down and a smaller falcon above her on the 2nd window down.

I assumed this was BST above Pigott, but by this time it was too dark to tell for sure.  She was very comfortable with this male, and this was definitely a spot that Pigott and BST shared at night.

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REMEMBER TO CLICK ON ANY PICS YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE IN A LARGER VERSION.  THANKS!

It was 5:40 pm, and it was getting dark and since it was quiet, I decided to head home.  I was really happy to see two falcons there.

I really don’t know exactly what happened at the BS location tonight.  Did a 3rd falcon come in?  After watching the behavior of Pigott and BST over the last month or so, I do not believe it was them doing battle.

The Rochester Falcon Watchers will be out to keep an eye on the situation and we’ll report what we see.  Stay tuned!  Keep warm everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Rochester was a cold  snowy place this morning. Lightly coming down when I left for downtown, within 3 or 4 minutes a lake effect snow squall moved in and turned the air white so you couldn’t see the Kodak Tower.

Click the pic for a full version

From the Broad St. I could just make out the shape of a falcon on the south corner top ibeam of OCSR. I drove down to Graves St. by Aqueduct Park (where the crime of the century was thwarted yesterday :)) for a better view. I was really surprised the pics of Beauty up there in the snow came out as well as they did.

<Beauty before lake snow moved in and after>

I decided to move over to Main St. by the Radisson Hotel for that angle showing the Beautyful one in a whole new light.

I spent a total of 13 minutes with Beauty when she stooped off the building to the south down into the river between the Main and Broad St. bridges. Immediately the Aqueduct pigeons came up into view with our girl right on their tail feathers. They flew over the Broad St. Bridge and poof they vanished into the darkness and snow. That was the last I saw Beauty as I drove around to find her – I wish I could find her secret place that she goes to when we can’t find her. While on the east side I took a couple pics to give you a feel for the snowy scenario.

I was Brighton bound to see what I could see over there. As I approached I could totally see Pigott on the northwest corner of the building. I parked right in front of the building where I was out of the way of all the park and ride people coming in to catch their bus and clicked on my hazard lights.

Miss Pigott didn’t seem the least bit bothered by the big fat snow flakes that were trying to cover her. She was looking in every direction and preening on and off.

Pigott flew off the building at one point and circled around it only to return to the same spot. I missed the take off but I caught the landing.

I have to wonder if she was looking for her winter friend BST who was a no show in the hour that I spent at this site.I needed to get going but on the way I stopped on Exchange Blvd. by the river and Cornhill like yesterday to take a comparison picture.

<Yesterday— Today> Click on them for a full view

One last snowy photo as I was stopped at the traffic light at Exchange and Court St. before I made one last trip around downtown to find Beauty.

I didn’t find her  thus ending my watch about 10:10am. Call me crazy but a good snow squall always makes me smile! 🙂

Links for 3 videos have been provided below for your viewing pleasure

http://youtu.be/POXX1LFQKa0
http://youtu.be/LFiIAxOGs5Y
http://youtu.be/FiRXZ__uvrI

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

After a long day at work, I headed downtown, arriving a little before 4:00 pm.  It was really hard to see much with the heavy snow falling, but I tried my best to find Beauty and couldn’t.  Next stop, the BS location.

I found Pigott and BST on the north side of the east extension at their nighttime roost.  BST was one window above Pigott.

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I thought for sure they would settle in for the evening, but BST had other thoughts.  He chupped a bit, flew up to the top window, spread his wings and took off.  BST flew around the back of the building.  After waiting a few moments to see if he would return, I drove around, finally finding him on the north side of the west extension 3rd window down.  Now they were bookends, since she was on the 3rd window down on the north side of the east extension.  Too funny.  It was time for me to go.

I passed through the downtown area one more time and after not finding Beauty out and about, I went over to the OCSR elevator shaft.  The snow had lightened just a bit, and I’m pretty sure that Beauty was up inside the OCSR elevator shaft on the south ledge.  Here’s what I saw.

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This was my view looking north.  You can barely make out the Kodak Tower.

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and here’s a snowy wooded area I drove by on the way home.

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I’ll leave you with a few pictures of the Rochester Falcons from last night.

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

—Beauty—

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—Pigott and BST—

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Another cold morning in Rochester with a temperature of 7 degrees fahrenheit (-14 celcius) and a wind chill of -5 when I left the house at 7:00am. The wind was much calmer than yesterday so it didn’t feel as harsh and my fingers didn’t get as cold as yesterday! lol That being said, my camera still thought it was too cold for picture taking and gave me trouble focusing, so todays photos and videos are not too good.

So my watch started on the Broad St. bridge spotting Beauty on the south corner of OCSR top ibeam. I drove to Main St. next to the Radisson Hotel to view her. I just got started taping her when she dropped off into a stoop down in the river out of my field of vision only to fly back up empty taloned and headed southeast upriver. I drove around looking for the Beautyful one and found her back on OCSR about 30 feet further down on the top ibeam from where she had previously been. This time I parked down on Graves St. between Aqueduct Park and the Canandaigua National Bank and Trust-a favorite spot of mine.

Beauty and I shared space for an hour as I watched people go by with one guy stopping to ask if I was watching the falcons. I said I sure am and pointed out where Beauty was on the OCSR building. He thanked me and continued on.

The sun was shining very brightly upon our beloved downtown Peregrine Falcon adding to my difficulty to get a good shot of her when all of a sudden 3 police cars pulled up behind me. They got out of their cars with hands on guns in the ready position and they were looking right at me! I stuck both hands out of my window and asked if they were there for me. The female officer said yes and asked what I was doing with the camera. I explained and pointed out Beauty up on OCSR plus showed them a pic of her on my cameras LCD screen. As the 2 male officers checked the contents of my car she explained that the employees of the bank were nervous after seeing me with my camera-they thought I was planning a bank robbery! lol  I was then asked how long I would be there and told that they (cops) didn’t have a problem with me being there but that maybe I should find another place to watch from. I said no problem and left. Sheesh, what a girl has to go thru to watch falcons sometimes! 🙂 I then decided that Beauty was settled for a while so I left for the Brighton Site. Upon arriving there at 9:15am I found Mr. BST on the east extension 2 window ledges down from the top. He was wide awake checking out the airspace and preening his gorgeous feathers.

Today when a plane flew overhead BST had something to say while staring at it. I so wish I knew what he said!

About half hour later fellow watcher Barbara stopped by for a couple minutes and as I was talking to her she saw BST fly across the way to another window ledge. I couldn’t see him from where I was parked so I moved up and Barbara left. 

I departed soon after myself, checking downtown for Beauty before ending my watch. There’s a place to pull over on Exchange Blvd. by the river opposite Cornhill where I sometimes stop to take a look at the city for falcons. I took a pic from there to show you the view.

Make sure to click this and all of my pics for a full version

As I got to the Broad St. Bridge I could see that Beauty was still in the same spot  I left her earlier. She was enjoying the little bit of warmth the sun could provide on this cold late January day.

No Pigott again today for me but it’s all good because she has been seen in the afternoons. I left downtown thinking about my encounter with the Rochester Police officers and the thought of me robbing a bank. I’m sure you know that made me smile!! 🙂

I have provided links for 4 videos below-click on them to view

http://youtu.be/8GEodYugzYo
http://youtu.be/Tcw2n0prmqA
http://youtu.be/dhQzPL-jZzo
http://youtu.be/w-aaMIWmJDY