By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

I met Joyce over at the Brighton site(BS) this evening for a falcon watch and boy did we have some action! We could see a falcon on the vent south(Back) side of BS from where we were running Joyces’ dogs. When we got over to the building there were 2 falcons. 1 adult on the vent and a juvie on a southwest corner. All was quiet between them for a while as Joyce and I had fits trying to ID them. The adult on the vent was too light to be Pigott but we couldn’t get the band legs or other clues to tell us it was Dot.Ca(DC). We thought it was a new bird at first but there was no problem deciding on the juvie. Such a little cutie!

DC J J

After an hour or so the peace and quiet ended abruptly when Pigott came streaking in to chase the juvie off the corner and DC joined right after her. They both were going after the juvie not really making contact but dive-bombing it to scare it outta there. DC left it to Pigott and retired to a southwest corner where he remained the rest of the night to watch the show along with Joyce and I. The juvie didn’t leave in fact she(pretty sure a female after seeing her fly with Pigott) flew over to the vent and landed. Pigott was beside herself with having this young sweet thing on her building with her mate! She made attempt after attempt to chase that little girl off that vent but the juvie held her ground and backed herself up to the building. All Pigott could do is fly in at the juvie ,land and squawk up a storm,rush the juvie and leave again. She did this many,many times without success. At one point she was bowing and echupping! Don’t really understand that behavior toward a juvie but hey we’re all learning as we go right!

Be sure to click pics for full version

There was whining coming from the juvie every time Pigott landed next to it on the vent.  Miss P did lots of kakking,echupping and fanning her tail feathers and poofing herself up to look big and bad. Thankfully she didn’t hurt the juvie at any point as far as we could see. This all went on for 2 hours until it got too dark to see. DC left and when I departed Pigott and the juvie were still at it. Boy what a watch and what a big smile it put on this watchers face! 🙂

Click the links below for more pics and videos from the watch

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWrKnA

http://youtu.be/D1_bjgfDgcM
http://youtu.be/eGfbjLtJJrU
http://youtu.be/X8p1nj58t0U

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Not much of a watch this morning but I did see a falcon. I parked on the Broad St. Bridge and with my binocs was able to spot a bump on the launchpad of KO. It’s a considerable distance but I have a blurry pic of it.

I pulled over on State St. and got a shot of it but the back was facing me.

From down near Mill St. on the east side of the Kodak Tower I could see the front of this falcon and it didn’t seem dark enough to be Beauty so I’m guessing it was Dot.Ca.

I started videotaping it just before it flew off from the northeast corner of the launchpad heading north and then I lost it.  I decided to go check BS before heading home. I couldn’t find a falcon there anywhere on the building so I ended my watch to go take care of something. I saw a Peregrine and so I’m smiling! 🙂

The link for a poor quality video is below click it it you dare! lol

http://youtu.be/OqDhL0V4IZs

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

I took my time getting around this morning and made my way down to the Broad St. bridge(BSB) about 8:30am. To my delight I found both Beauty and Dot.Ca(DC) on the Times Square building(TSB). She was on deck and he was under the southeast wing.

Larry stopped long enough to say hi and then he was on his way. About half hour later Donna texted that a couple gulls were reported injured and seen at Charlotte Beach. I decided to leave our lovely pair of Peregrines to search for and perhaps rescue these 2 gulls. I knew it was a long shot but I had to try. There were gulls everywhere as I made my way thru the parking lots  by the Port of Rochester and eventually over to the pier and beach area. The clouds over Lake Ontario were awesomely cool including one that was hooking up with the water to create lake effect rain.

When I got out on the pier far enough to see the beach I thought, boy there’s a lot of gulls out there. I checked,checked and re-checked with my binocs and didn’t see any obvious injured gulls.

I made my way out to the end of the pier asking people along the way if they’d seen a gull with a missing foot or leg and a gull with fishing line coming out its mouth. The first couple I asked said they had seen the footless one with a little fishing line hanging from its leg so I’m thinking the line severed the poor things foot off. They saw it a couple days ago but everyone else I spoke to hadn’t seen either one of them. I watched one fisherman catch a Rainbow trout and bring it up out of the lake onto the pier.

I chatted with him as he retrieved the hook from the fish and I asked him to please be responsible with his hooks and fishing line as they threaten wildlife. He said no problem as I resumed my search. I spent almost 2 hours looking without finding either one of these gulls. There were lots of pumpkins at a pavillion in the park and it looked like they were setting up for some kind of  Halloween event.  I left Charlotte to check at KP before returning to the downtown area. No pefa at KP but when I returned to the BSB I found Beauty on the top ibeam southeast side of the OCSR building.

My camera was acting up  when Dawn joined me by Falcon Watcher Central. 20 minutes later Bobbie Ireland joined the watch and we walked up on the BSB to check the river. Bobbie asked me where the Green Heron hangs out and I pointed to the rivers edge below the Thomson Reuters building when suddenly she said what just moved down there? It was the Green Heron and she and Dawn were just thrilled to see it.  Bobbie had to leave and then it started to sprinkle so Dawn and I left as well.

My first trip to Charlotte in my Angel Car made me smile as I drove off ending a very busy watch on this seventh day of October!

There are a couple surprise pics at the end of my photo album-click the links below to see it along with 2 videos

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWrKcg

http://youtu.be/Rf7qjtKHNaY
http://youtu.be/5e97D69gcQo

By Rochester Falcon Watch MAK

It was raining when I first awoke at 5:00am and it didn’t make me want to get out of bed, so I didn’t. lol I eventually got up and arrived downtown just before 8:00am. I checked the Broad St. bridge/Times Square area for falcons and found none. I then drove over on the east to check Xerox and HSBC and found no bumps of any kind. I went back to the bridge and stayed a little bit before heading over to BS to try my luck there. I first spotted Dot.Ca on a south side window ledge where he was looking to tag a Blue Jay that was being quite vocal. He flew off after it but missed when it flew into a tree. DC then flew up to the roof and landed on a southwest corner.

It was raining and not a good morning for picture taking so I only took a few. DC was definitely looking for breakfast up there  and shortly after he flew off to the south out of sight.

I left and made a pass through downtown to no avail so off I went to KP. No bird there either so I took a ride around town, got some gas, made a stop and returned to KP. This time there was a falcon on the red door railing of the east stack.

It was facing me at first and I could see it had a full crop so I knew it probably wasn’t going anywhere any time soon. As I sat there a pretty kitty came prancing in front of me with a small rodent hanging from its mouth.

Next time I looked the falcon had turned to show me its profile now. It kept looking down at something  down below it.

I stayed until I felt my blood sugar getting low thus ending my watch to go home to eat. I didn’t see Beauty this morning but I did see falcons which as you know makes me smile! 🙂

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

I arrived downtown a little after 7:00am and after checking the Broad St. bridge(BSB) area I went over to the east side. Having found no falcons I returned to the BSB. Within a few minutes Beauty showed up on the base of Mercury.

While I hung out with her  a couple Starlings started to have a conversation about who was going to eat the bugs that were stuck in a spiders web on the bridge railing. They were quite comical to watch so I made a short video to share with everyone. At about 8:00am Beauty walked to the far side of the base out of view except I did see part of a wing as it flapped. I didn’t see her fly off so when I finally looked up at the Times Square building I spotted a falcon under the northeast wing. I figured it was her until I noticed another falcon next to the main cam on the deck.

They both had full crops so I knew they weren’t going anywhere any time soon so I decided to check BS for Pigott. She wasn’t there  so I returned to downtown to find our pair in the same place as I left them. Now both my batteries were dead so I went home to do a quick charge and mow the lawn before heading over to KP to look for the bird that’s been seen there. No luck at KP but as Carol tweeted seeing this falcon heading east I took a romp down Ridge Rd. heading east. I parked behind the Source jewelry store where I used to go to look for Unity when she was first discovered to have a look see. Nothing on the Kodak building there which is where Carol works and reports from during the day. As I was waiting for traffic to pull out I saw a flock of pigeons flying in panic mode, so I grabbed my trusty binocs in time to spot a falcon in close pursuit before I lost them behind the Kodak building down at Ridge and Lake Ave.  I searched for quite some time but never found it again.

I then returned to downtown and found nothing so I went back to BS one last time.  I located a falcon on a window ledge in a southeast corner on the back of the building. I saw some color on the chest and thought Pigott but after checking my pics I concluded that it was Dot.Ca.

He had a full crop still and seemed pretty settled. I stayed for a while longer thinking perhaps Miss Pigott would show herself since she had been seen at BS last night with DC. I ended my watch without having seen Pigott so I guess she is just a wanderer at this point of her life and it’s going to be hit and miss for seeing her. It was nice to be able to drive around and look for falcons rather than staying downtown for my entire watch. Of course as long as I see a falcon or two or more I’m smiling! 🙂

There are 4 videos today and the links are below for you to click and enjoy

http://youtu.be/eJqcEM1XlUI
http://youtu.be/xhZ0FG9cAqY
http://youtu.be/0vySvs4E4DI
http://youtu.be/JzLCkynLKuc

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Finally an up close and personal visit with KPF, the Peregrine Falcon hanging out in the Kodak Park area!  Guess what folks, she’s definitely banded.  I am looking through my pics now to see if the band is readable.  So bare with me.

When I got out of work today, I was greeted by KPF flying directly over me, circling higher and higher up into the Ozone.

REMEMBER TO CLICK ON PICTURES FOR LARGER VERSIONS.

I had an appointment to go to in Greece, so it was later that I was able to get out.  Joyce and Brian were downtown with Beauty, so I decided to check out the KP area once again.  I was near a cell tower on Ridge Rd directly on the other side of Ridge Rd from Kodak Park and saw a falcon fly in and land on a communication tower.  Talk about being in the right place at the right time.  This was the closest any of the Watchers had gotten to KPF and I was really excited.  I was joined by fellow Watcher Ruth.

At one point, KPF stooped off of the cell tower and swooped really low over a berm to our right, then returned to the tower.  She didn’t stay too long, but I was able to get some pictures before she left.  I can tell you with certainty that KPF does have bands.  Ruth had to leave, but I remained near the cell tower hoping that she would return.  Joyce and Brian joined me and we chatted until it got dark.

Oh, and while we were there, Lisa McK texted that she had two Pefas at the BS location ee-chupping and kakking.  She is fairly certain that based on behavior,  it was Dot.ca and Pigott.  Looks like Pigott may be making trips out of the area and then returning.  Of course we’ll keep watching over there to keep track of what is happening.

To end my evening report, I’ll leave you with some pictures I took of KPF tonight.  I truly hope that we are able to ID this falcon soon.  I would love to know who she is.  Or maybe I’m wrong and it’s a he!  You never know!  Goodnight everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was a short watch for me this morning as I had to get AC(Angel Car) registered and spend the day with my 2 aunts. Thankfully Beauty cooperated by showing up long enough for me to get my falcon fix. I first found her on the southeast corner of HSBC as I parked on Chestnut St. by Manhattan Square Park.

The Beautyful one took off after about 10 minutes and headed west toward the river so I went to the Broad St. bridge to look for her. While I waited for her to show up I checked the river and found a gull beating a pretty big fish on the rocks and softening it up with its beak before swallowing the whole thing!

GULP!

When I turned around Beauty was on the base of Mercury looking around in every direction. Not sure if she was looking for breakfast or Dot.Ca.

5 minutes later she took off and flew to the east and left my field of vision behind Midtown. After I put my binocs down from following Beauty I saw another gull by the Rundell Library eating a crawfish.

He dismantled it first ripping the front claws off and the head before he flew off with the rest of it swallowing on the fly. 30 minutes later I took a ride around Cornhill and spotted a falcon on the northeast corner of Xerox.

I’m pretty sure it was Beauty. Time was getting short so I drove over to BS for a look see before I ended my watch to take care of business. No sightings over there but I was content with seeing Beauty and drove away smiling! 🙂

I have 4 videos from this mornings watch-simply click the links below to view them

http://youtu.be/G9XBkgowOeA
http://youtu.be/jDHslE7YKjM
http://youtu.be/BkqBphQ5dfs
http://youtu.be/vkWgYyftIRI

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I was out and checking for the KP falcon at 3:45 pm.  I looked over the north and east side of they buildings.  I drove around to the south side.  No Peregrine seen today.  It is really hit or miss at Kodak Park.  Today was a miss.  Ah, well.  Onward.  Downtown Rochester was next.

At approximately 4:10 pm, I arrived downtown.  I immediately found a falcon on the top arm of the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT).  After checking to make sure there wasn’t a 2nd falcon there, I headed over to the Andrews St Bridge (ASB) for a wider view. There were no other falcons on FCT, but there were men working on the roof of the OCSR building that our falcons favored.

After checking out all the buildings in this area, next stop the Broad St Bridge (BSB).  I found a spot on the bridge where I could keep an eye on the falcon on the FCT.  From here I was able to see a Peregrine assumed to be Dot.ca about half way down on the jail communication tower.  I could see two falcons now from the BSB.  At 5:40 pm, fellow Watcher Debbie H joined me for a little while.  I loaned her my binocs so she could get a good view of both Beauty and Dot.ca.  After Debbie left, so did B and DC.  lol  Now I had no falcons in view.  Gotta love these sneak Peregrine Falcons.  🙂

Sights from the Broad St Bridge.

There were lots of birds on Mercury, but they weren’t falcons.  The Starlings had taken over.

Flocks of Pigeons flying back and forth in front of the Freddie/Sue Bridge.

Beautiful colors above the jail communication tower.

This Pigeon? was on the building just to the south of the FCT.  This is the exact spot that Beauty uses to bathe.  I saw this bird from the ASB and thought, due to the coloring, that it was a falcon.  I drove over to check it out and I guess it’s a Pigeon, but it didn’t really look like the Rock Doves I was used to seeing.  Something was different.  Carazzy!  Any thoughts?  I know, it’s a Pigeon.  Hahaha!

While I was studying the Carazzy Pigeon, a falcon flew in and landed on the FCT.  It was Dot.ca.  Checking out the rest of the tower I spotted Beauty a little lower and she had prey that she was plucking.  Dot.ca seemed to be just sitting above her, watching her patiently.  Waiting for maybe just a nibble.  After awhile Beauty took off with the food and landed close to Dot.ca.  To me it looked like there was a bit of a tug-o-war that Beauty won.  She took off with the prey and flew SE towards the TSB.

Dot.cat stayed for a few minutes and then took off heading in the same direction as Beauty.  OK, time to follow the leader.

I found Dot.ca on the Widows Walk, near the TSB.  He was very alert, looking everywhere.  He took off and flew towards the Mercury statue landing on the heel of the kicked back foot.  Beauty was there on the base of the statue.  I quickly drove over to Aqueduct St for a closer look.

Beauty was on the base of the statue, without the prey she carried over.  I’m sure she cached it somewhere for later consumption.  Dot.ca was on the heel of the foot of the statue above her.

Dot.ca didn’t stay long.  He took off heading NW, back towards the FCT.  Beauty remained where she was until it got dark, which was just before 7:oo pm.

Larry O joined me for awhile on the Broad St Bridge.  We both missed Beauty leaving.

As the sun set, the sky turned beautiful shades of pastel colors.  Like Larry said, it’s worth coming out late to watch the falcons and the beautiful sunsets.  I have to agree.

At the end of my watch, I drove around the downtown area, but had no luck finding either Beauty or Dot.ca.  There were no falcons on the south side of the Xerox building or anywhere else.

It was time for me to head home.  Goodnight everyone!  Tomorrow promises to be a warm, sunny day!

Be sure to click on any of the pictures if you like to see a larger version.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

The air was very humid and heavy thus making for some light fog this morning as I arrived on the Broad St. bridge(BSB). My first run thru bagged no falcons in the area so I drove over to the east side.  As I approached HSBC from Court St. I spotted a falcon on the southwest corner. It left while I was in traffic so I returned to the BSB. I could see a falcon now on the Frontier Communications Tower top arm north side but again it left while I was enroute. So then I went to the Andrews St. bridge and could see a pefa on the base of Mercury. Once again I was off to get a closer look and thankful I wasn’t having to chase this falcon(I think it was B the whole time) on foot! Parked on the BSB now I was sure that it was the Beautyful one and she was in hunt mode looking everywhere.

2 pigeons came out from under the bridge and Beauty stooped on them missed and then chased them over the river and Aqueduct Park before they all vanished behind the Thomson Reuters building. She returned to the base of Mercury to look around some more for a meal. Beauty took off fast to the south chasing pigeons over Court St. and returned about 2 minutes later landing back on the base.  She wasn’t alone tho for Dot.Ca(DC) came in right on her heels and landed up top on the money bag hand of Mercury.

Click pics for full version

DC didn’t stay there for long as he flew down to the heel with Beauty on the base. It’s really nice to see them hanging out so close to each other lately. They both were in hunt mode looking to and fro just waiting for prey to show itself. Suddenly DC took off to the south and Beauty followed right behind him, I lost them over Cornhill when they scared up the pigeons that roost over there.

Click the pic to see DC taking off

Almost immediately after our Peregrine pair left a flock of pigeons came flying out from under the BSB obviously they were in hiding just waiting for their chance to fly. Beauty came back a minute later and now she was on the heel of Mercury.

She and I shared some quality time together for about 45 minutes before she stooped into the river gorge toward Court St. only to return with no prey again.

She did however land on the very top of Mercury on her rightful spot the money bag hand which was a victory in my eyes!  I cheered to myself as I started clicking away with my camera!!!

10 minutes later Beauty was off stooping again over Cornhill and eventually landing on the jail tower. Right after she left a few Starlings took over the Mercury statue. lol

I drove over to Troup St. which is right across from interstate 490 and the jail tower but when I got there she was already gone. I then decided to go over to BS before ending my watch with no luck finding a pefa, but there were lots of Starlings,Grackles and a Blue Jay making a lot of noise. Just seeing our Rochester Peregrine Falcons is enough to make me smile but when Beauty landed on that money bag…well let’s just say the drought is over and MAK was SMILING! 🙂

Check out the links below for more pics and videos of our resident Peregrine pair

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWrKUA

http://youtu.be/jwEPIu04eD8
http://youtu.be/K-75PmKGYhs
http://youtu.be/VFIoMhipD2M
http://youtu.be/qum4ySTwrGY
http://youtu.be/AMGt7ptJA0g
http://youtu.be/N3cqJTLGkdY

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

After a long, hard day at work, I couldn’t wait to get out and see some Peregrines.  Even though it was lightly raining and cloudy, I was determined to see some falcons.

From my parking lot, I have a view of the north side and a little bit of the east of the buildings that KPF has been seen on.  When I got to my car, I took a look at her normal spots and saw she was there.

BE SURE TO CLICK ON THE PICTURES IF YOU’D LIKE TO SEE THEM LARGER

I watched from my car for awhile, then decided to drive over to the south side of the buildings for a different view.  By the time I arrived at the parking lot we are allowed to watch from, she was gone!  That was about 4:00 pm.

My next stop was downtown Rochester to see if I could find Beauty and Dot.ca.  Just as I was approaching the west side of the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT) I spotted a falcon on the west side of the platform.  This falcon took off and quickly flew to the SE.  I got over to the Andrews St Bridge as quickly as traffic would allow and faced west, where I had a good view of the FCT in front of me and the OCSR on my left.  From there I could see that Beauty was on the east side of the platform on the FCT and Dot.ca was on the north side of the OCSR on the 3rd Ibeam down.

OK, that was 3 of the Rochester Falcons.  These two seemed to be quite content, so I decided to head to the BS location.  Would Pigott be there?  Although we have not seen her in over a week, the Rochester Watchers will continue to check out this location in case she returns.  Or maybe another Peregrine or two.  This location is a favorite with a Wintering pair of falcons that have stayed there in the past.  Joyce arrived while I was there and neither of us found any Pefas.

Back downtown, we found that Beauty was still on the FCT platform, but Dot.ca was gone from the OCSR.  I looked all over downtown and could not find him.  I did notice that there was a change on the Times Square Bldg.  The large corner marker that usually had TIMES SQUARE on it was replaced by WellCare Health Plans.  Interesting.

Well after 2 1/2 hours, it was time for me to head home.  I was really happy to see Beauty, Dot.ca and KPF, who I really hope we will be able to positively ID some day.  Would love to know who she is.

Here are a few more pictures from last Friday (9/27) that I did not have a chance to post.

Last Friday evening, I was joined by fellow watcher Barbara.  Dot.ca had spent a lot of time on top of Camera #4.  We spotted Beauty on what we call “Archer’s Nook”.  This was one of his favorite spots and Beauty seems to have taken it over.  I’ve seen her there quite a few times recently.

Dot.ca eventually came off of Camera #4 and flew around the building, finally settling on a small ledge behind her on the south side of the building.

It was cute how he would peak around the corner of the building to get a look at her.  🙂

Found this gorgeous little one on the ground next to the Blue Cross Arena.  Some kind of Yellow Warbler?  Looks like the reflective glass front of the building doomed yet another migrating songbird.  So sad.  I moved him to a grassy area in a nearby park.  Just didn’t want to see him lying on the ground like that.  Fly Free Little One.  🙁

One last image to leave you all with.  On my way home on Friday, I stopped at Kodak Park for a last look for KPF.  I had no luck finding her, but the sunset was amazing and I had to share.

There is so much beauty in this world of ours.  Enjoy it while you can and share it with everyone.

Thanks for reading my reports everyone.  Take care and goodnight.

Carol P.