By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Date : 6/11/12 (Monday)
Time: 7:00 to 8:45 pm
Weather: Hot, Hazy & Humid! The 3 H’s hit hard today. Today’s high was 90 degrees (F) at 3:05 pm when conditions were mostly cloudy. We missed the record by 3 degrees!
Watchers: Kathy O, Larry O, Dan S and Carol P.
Places: Downtown Rochester (Times Square Nestsite) (TS), Brighton Site (BS) and Kodak Park (KP)
Peregrines Seen: Pigott (at BS) and Beauty was in the nest box at the TSB.

Beauty = B (Adult Female at TSB)
Dot.ca = DC (Adult Male at TSB and BS)
Pigott = P (the female falcon formerly known as SA or Sub Adult at BS Location)
KP Tiercel = KPT (Male Sub-adult at Kodak Park/KP – Not ID’d yet, but black/black band)
Times Square Bldg = TSB
Brighton Site = BS
Broad St Bridge = BSB
Old Changing Scenes Restaurant = OCSR
Kodak Park aka Eastman Business Park = KP

Today the heat was pretty much unbearable during the day, so I got a late start. Near record heat had hit the Rochester area for the day. I arrived at the BS location just before 7:00 pm and found Pigott on the back of the building, the south side. She was by herself as far as I could tell. Ei reported that Beauty was on the eggs and Larry tweeted that he and Dan could not find D.C.

Pigott usually vocalizes with a whining call when Dot.ca is around. Tonight she was quiet and she was intently watching her surroundings. She was on the hunt. It wasn’t long before she spread her wings and took off fast heading east over the fields on that side of the building. She stooped and pulled up with empty talons. Pigott landed on the vent at the top of the south side of the building and that’s where I left her. I remained for awhile longer before heading downtown to join Larry O and Dan S on the Broad St Bridge.

As I drove up to the center of the Broad St Bridge, I first spotted Larry O and then the familiar sight of Dan S sitting in his lawn chair, binoculars up to his eyes, checking out the sky above. I joined them and we talked for a bit. Neither Larry or Dan had been able to find D.C. We knew Beauty was on the eggs so he was out and about where we couldn’t see him. They are very good at hiding from us.

At 8:10 pm, I left them to join Kathy O at Kodak Park. Dan S joined us for awhile after Larry left. We had hoped to see KPT fly in, but we had no luck today seeing him. We were entertained by a Kestrel hover hunting over the fields in front of us and a doe walking along the fence line. In between bites of tall grass, she would lift her head and look at us with those big, beautiful eyes. At 8:45 pm, it was time to leave.

Although we did not see all the Rochester Falcons today, I was happy to see Pigott hunting and doing well at the BS location. Beauty and Dot.ca had been seen on the Rfalconcam cameras during the day trading off sitting on the eggs. We didn’t spend much time at Kodak Park, so there was a good chance we wouldn’t see him.

Remember, it’s always a good thing to keep your eyes to the sky. So many wonderful things to see and enjoy!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Date : 6/9 & 10/12 (Saturday & Sunday)
Time: Multiple Times
Weather: 70’s yesterday & and high 80’s today. A mixture of sunshine and clouds and rain.
Watchers: Brian H, Larry O, Dana, Lou, Joyce, MAK, Ei, Lisa McK, Kathy O, and Carol P.
Places: Downtown Rochester (Times Square Nestsite) (TS), Brighton Site (BS) and Kodak Park (KP)
Peregrines Seen: Beauty (at TSB), Dot.ca (at TSB & BS), Pigott (at BS) and KPT or KP Tiercel (at KP)
Beauty = B (Adult Female at TSB)
Dot.ca = DC (Adult Male at TSB and BS)
Pigott = P (the female falcon formerly known as SA or Sub Adult at BS Location)
KP Tiercel = KPT (Male Sub-adult at Kodak Park/KP – Not ID’d yet, but black/black band)
Times Square Bldg = TSB
Brighton Site = BS
Broad St Bridge = BSB
Old Changing Scenes Restaurant = OCSR
Kodak Park aka Eastman Business Park = KP

Many Rochester Falcon Watchers were out this weekend, including our guest Watcher Ei. It was great having her visit again.

Over the weekend all of the Rochester Falcons were seen, Beauty, Dot.ca, Pigott and KPT.

The weather was very summerlike. Today the temps got up into the high 80’s (F) and tomorrow will be even hotter with temps in the 90’s. In this warm weather, the falcons tend not to be too active during the hot afternoon. Sometimes the Peregrines are way smarter than their human Watchers. 🙂

Last night and tonight I decided to check out Kodak Park. Both evenings, KPT was seen hunting from the chute that attached to the left side of the east smokestack. He spends a lot of his time on the east stack.

Tonight it was Joyce’s turn to yell out, “is that a falcon!” Well, yes it was! KPT flew in from the east and landed on the chute. He took off and landed on the railing of the red door on the east stack. Later he came off of the stack and headed towards us and over the woods to the west of us. KPT returned empty taloned to the arm above the lower catwalk on the east stack. As the sun was setting and it cooled down just a bit and he was quite active.

The evening was beautiful and warm. Almost perfect except for the June Bugs buzzing about. Dana, Lou, Brian H, Joyce, Lisa McK and I had our lawn chairs lined up and the scope was focused on the KPT. Everyone took turns taking a look. We entertained ourselves by telling stories of what Kodak was like back when they were doing well. One of my best memories was of all the great food and baked goods that used to be made there. Lou said they had the best Carrot Cake anywhere! Brian used to bowl at the bowling alley’s at Kodak Park when he was in school. He and his friends would then go up to the cafeteria to enjoy the wonderful meals they would serve. I remember the delish cinnamon rolls. They would melt in your mouth! Ah, the good ole days. 🙂

It soon became too dark to see much and it was finally time to head home. I do enjoy my weekend Watches. Remember to keep your eyes to the sky, but make sure you have sunglasses on. That sun can be mighty bright up there!

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

My watch today started in Brighton (BS)  with Eileen(Dumpsterkitty) who stayed with me while she was in town the last couple days. She was hoping to meet Miss Pigott but she was nowhere to be found. We then searched downtown for Beauty as Dot.Ca (DC) was on the eggs but couldn’t locate her either. So we decided to check out the Irondequoit Bay for Bald Eagles and such. Bingo! I spotted an adult flying above the nest area and Eileen confirmed that it had nesting material in it’s talons. We lost it in the dense foliage where they have their nest.  We didn’t see anything else of big interest so we left to check KP.

Arriving around 1:00pm we could find no pefas at KP the sight of Unity and Archer last year. However we were treated to a show by a male American Kestrel who was hovering above the tall grass. He caught what looked like a mouse after disappearing into the grasses and flying back out with it. He proceeded to land on a wire and then took off to the south with his treasure.

We then made our way back to BS and this time Eileen got to meet Miss Pigott. Joyce was there when we arrived and Pigott was on a window ledge below the roof tree.

She then flew to another window ledge before DC came flying in. Pigott started whining as DC landed on the east corner below the roof tree.

Pigott flew off to the west side of the building and KathyO followed her over to the west corner near the scrape. Lisa joined us for a brief visit. DC was chirping  and he soon left to fly over to Pigott and mate with her.  Into the scrape he went chirping and chupping as she remained on her corner whining. We all missed that except for Kathy who had followed Pigott over to the west side. Pigott then  flew off whining and came back going into the scrape as DC left it and perched on the corner she just left. Pigott then started echupping. DC flew around a couple times before departing for downtown where he took over egg incubating duties from Beauty. Lisa left as Joyce,KathyO,Eileen and I took off for downtown. As we arrived on the Broad St. bridge the Beautyful one was on the top ibeam southeast side of the OCSR.

That’s about all she wrote for this watch. Eileen left to go home having had a busy couple days. She saw many falcons in Canada and 3 here in Rochester of which had her smiling a lot! 🙂

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Eileen(Dumpsterkitty) came to town to join Joyce and I for the banding of Linn and Reubens chicks at the Yellow Pages site in Canada. We first stopped at the Burlington Bridge site where the 3 boys there should be fledging any day. Sue and Bill were there and were fearful that Cirrus the resident female might have injured herself on Tuesday. They said her behavior had been odd and she seemed to have a sore leg. We will keep a positive thought for that situation.

We saw only one youngin’ who seemed ready to fledge. We didn’t stay long for we had to get to the banding event, so we said goodbye and headed out for the Yellow Pages site. Linn and Reuben were watching over their nest  together as there kids were taken for getting some bling on their legs.

May I introduce the all male family of Linn and Reuben. Panagiotis-R/41 with blue tape, Albus-R/43 with green tape and Eagan-R/44 with red tape.

We left to get a bite to eat with Mark and Marion Nash after the event before heading out to see Quest and the gang. When we arrived at Harlequin the whole family was present.

Click on the pic for full version-Quest is on the corner of the building and Kendal on column near nest

These babes were just banded on Monday as little white puffballs and look at them now only 4 days later!

Again click on the pic for full version

Kendal is the ever elusive one as he left almost immediately after we arrived therefore I only have the one pic of him. I have plenty of our girl Quest though and she was looking especially lovely on this visit!

We enjoyed our time with Quest and her little ones and hated to go but it was getting late and we wanted to check the Sheraton in downtown Toronto where Rhea Mae and Tiago are raising 4 babies. At first there was 1 lone chick on the far end of the runway but business picked up when both adults flew in and gave us a little show before departing. At least 2 more and possibly 3 showed themselves on the ledge giving us a wonderful ending to our falcon watch.

We left Toronto stopping by the Canadian side of Niagara Falls to check them out all lit up in the night and were treated to a fireworks display as well! Eileen was very happy to have seen the 3 female offspring of Mariah and Kaver for the first time at their nesting sites and all 3 of us came home tired but smiling! 🙂

Check out the links below for a photo album and a few short videos of the day

http://pix.kg/p/857167006213%3A54049253/scl

http://youtu.be/X3gxBE7aG1o

http://youtu.be/LvfBTQH5RrU

http://youtu.be/-ucKv1nJH40

http://youtu.be/spd-DiPlm6I

http://youtu.be/puiExBo4yBQ

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Date : 6/8/12 (Friday)
Time: 4:00 to 8:00 pm
Weather: Another beautiful day in Rochester, NY. Temps in the 70’s and sunshiny skies.
Watchers: Brian H, Larry O, Dana and Carol P.
Places: Downtown Rochester (Times Square Nestsite) (TS), Brighton Site (BS) and Kodak Park (KP)
Peregrines Seen: Beauty (at TSB), Dot.ca (at TSB), Pigott (at BS) and KPT or KP Tiercel (at KP)
Beauty = B (Adult Female at TSB)
Dot.ca = DC (Adult Male at TSB and BS)
Pigott = P (the female falcon formerly known as SA or Sub Adult at BS Location)
KP Tiercel = KPT (Male Sub-adult at Kodak Park/KP – Not ID’d yet, but black/black band)
Times Square Bldg = TSB
Brighton Site = BS
Broad St Bridge = BSB
Old Changing Scenes Restaurant = OCSR
Kodak Park aka Eastman Business Park = KP

First stop after work? The Brighton Site of course. Always love to find Pigott to make sure all is well with her. I found her on the north side center section of the building. She was sitting in the shade on a windowsill, preening. It was very quiet and all was well. Next stop, the Times Square Bldg (TSB) in downtown Rochester.

I met Brian H on the Broad St Bridge (BSB) and yes, he was barefoot. 😉 We enjoyed the sunshine and warmth and all the activity on the river below us. There weren’t any falcons to be seen, since Susan C & Ruth both verified that Beauty was in the nest box laying on the eggs. We checked the area for Dot.ca (DC), but we couldn’t find him. After close to two hours, I drove Brian back to his place and then drove back to the TSB to check one more time for D.C. No luck. I was just getting ready to head over to KP when Larry O pulled up behind me. We both headed over to KP to look for KPT. At 6:38 pm, Donna reported that there was a shift change on the eggs at the TSB. B out and D.C. in.

We arrived at KP around 6:30 pm. Larry only remained a short while, but I stayed, determined to see the KP Tiercel (KPT). Finally at 7:00 pm, I spotted KPT up on the chute that goes into the east stack. He may have been there the whole time! He took off and returned, landing on the center of the top chute. It looked like he was eating and I verified that he was with the scope. At 7:20 pm, he was finished eating and had a very full crop. I continued to watch him through the scope. This definitely was the young sub-adult Tiercel (male) with the black over black band. Way too far for me to get any details from the bands. At 7:30 pm, he took off and I lost him. I believe he went around to the north side of the building.

Dana joined me just after KPT left and we chatted for awhile before calling it a day. What a day it was, with all four Rochester Falcons seen and spending time with good friends too!

This weekend is going to be a warm one. Just perfect for going outside and keeping your eyes to the sky!

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

I was treated to having wheels today thus affording me the chance to get out of downtown on my morning watch to check both KP and BS. As luck would have it after 2 separate trips to both KP and BS there were no falcons to be found.

I checked the west side as I approached the Times Square area and saw nothing on the FCT,jail tower,KO,OCSR,Widows Walk or the back of Times Square. A quick stop on the Broad St. bridge facing east turned up nothing on Xerox,Bausch&Lomb or Midtown and looking down river to the north  I saw no pefas either. I left for BS and after 2 trips around the building I left unfulfilled.

Returning to downtown from the east side I saw nothing on HSBC,Midtown, Xerox or any of the other buildings over there. I tweeted my findings or lack there of and Donna texted me saying Beauty was next to the main cam. While stopped at the intersection of South Ave. and Broad St. I brought my binocs up to my eyes and spotted the Beautyful one. I then parked on the bridge and stepped out to get a pic.

Beauty then took off flying over to the OCSR landing on the 2nd from the top ibeam at the west corner. I drove down to the hole(Aqueduct St.) to take pics.

At this point I decided to check KP for the falcon that’s been hanging out there lately. No luck finding it and while I was there I was told there was a shift change between Dot.Ca and Beauty. So I thought I’d go back to BS and see if Dot.Ca went over there to pay Pigott a visit. I was disappointed to find nobody there once more. I had a look around downtown on my way through to go back to KP and again could see no pefa but I did watch 2 Turkey Vultures fly through in front of me. The only thing more aggravating than not finding a falcon when you have wheels to search for them is not having wheels to go look for them in the first place! lol As I was leaving the parking lot at KP to return to downtown one last time Donna texted that DC  was back on the eggs. I had time for a quick check and then I would have to leave. I didn’t find Beauty and so ended my watch. I was happy to have seen her earlier, for any time I see the Beautyful one it makes me smile! 🙂

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I just quickly wanted to let everyone know that Kathy O and I made the rounds tonite and saw all four Rochester Falcons. Beauty and Dot.ca at the Times Square Bldg, downtown. Pigott was hunting over at the BS location. We left her on the north side of the building, on the vent. and last, but certainly not least, we found KPT on the east smoke stack. Seems his nightly roosting spot is a metal arm that juts out from the east side of the stack above the catwalk. This is the 2nd time we’ve seen him here after dark.

Always love seeing all four of them!

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Watchers KathyO,Joyce,CarolP,Tim,Lynda and myself made a trek to Canada to watch Quest and Kendals babies get banded. We left Rochester about 5:30 am so we could make a couple other stops along the way. We first checked out a slew of cormorants,gulls and Black-crowned Night Herons nesting near the Burlington Bridge area. We made our way to the bridge itself to visit Cirrus,MacKenzie and their 3 boys-Jimmy,Port Hope and Carrey. We were treated to a team effort when MacKenzie flushed some pigeons out from the bridge to over the open water where Cirrus stooped quickly on one and caught it. I enjoy this site very much each time I come!

Next stop was the Mississauga site where we found one adult and the juvie Janet. We didn’t stay for long as we didn’t know how traffic would be and didn’t want to miss a minute of the banding  at Harlequin so off we went to the site at Don Mills where we found Kendal on the Harlequin building and Quest on a column near the nest box where their 3 babies were sleeping in a pile together at the back of the nest box.

Just before it was time to extract the kids so they could get their special bling Quest decided to feed them. As the trio of  kidnappers made their way up to the nest box she was still feeding them and quickly vacated the nest box when they arrived in front of her.

There were 2 girls named Amora and Mira and a boy named Blaze. All 3 were very feisty, so much so that Cathy from the CPF staff who took them from the nest box sustained some abrasions from them on her hand and wrist area. In the pic below she is explaining her ordeal!

CarolP was chosen to hold one of the babies as it got banded and was told that Mira, the female she was to handle was named after Mariah. How cool is that? And so with another Canadian banding day in the books we all came home with smiles on our faces. 🙂

Click on the links below for lots more pics and a few short videos from the days events

http://pix.kg/p/918098695213%3A1912395511/scl

http://youtu.be/MfqYBTWEizE

http://youtu.be/c5ADDOeqGsE

http://youtu.be/aVQMeTZhkK0

http://youtu.be/GUW_Fp0WdAA

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Joyce picked me up for a watch this afternoon and as we made our way downtown we stopped by the Frontier Communications Tower after getting a tweet that Beauty was on it. Dana and Carol P were there. I was very excited to see the Beautiful one on her favorite spot of the FCT for I hadn’t seen her there since before her battle with Unity back in February.

She was rain soaked and preening herself and I was so loving this time spent sharing space with her. She soon flew off to the south seemingly to Times Square but when we got to the Broad St. bridge after picking Brian up Beauty was on the top ibeam southeast side of OCSR.

We didn’t stay long as we wanted to check KP for the new pefa that has been seen hanging out there. I spotted it immediately as it perched on a railing by the red door of the east stack.

It started to pour of rain and we missed this pefa leave. CarolP and Dana came by to join us. We stayed just a little longer hoping it would come back. Joyce then decided we’d go to the Irondequoit Bay in search of the Bald Eagles nesting there. We didn’t find them but Brian spotted a migrating juvie above the eastern tree line. So we did see an eagle and then on the way back while going west bound down the 104 expressway Brian saw a Peregrine chasing a pigeon over the Medley Center. We doubled back to check the Irondequoit Mall and surrounding area but were not able to locate it. One more check at KP proved fruitless and then Joyce dropped me off home. It was a splash and go watch with all the pop up showers and thunder showers but still we always manage to smile on our falcon watches! 🙂

Click on the links below for a few more pics and a video of Beauty preening on OCSR

http://pix.kg/p/972555595213%3A1567990895/scl

http://youtu.be/smdlnp1uMlk

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Date : 6/2/12 (Saturday)
Time: On and off during the day until 9:00 pm
Weather: It started out sunny. The clouds and rain. Then sunny again. Temps in the 60’s. It actually turned out to be a very nice day.
Watchers: Kathy O, Dana, Joyce, Brian H and Carol P.
Places: Downtown Rochester (Times Square Nestsite) (TS), Brighton Site (BS) and Kodak Park (KP)
Peregrines Seen: Beauty (at TSB), Dot.ca (at TSB and probably BS), Pigott (at BS) and KPT or KP Tiercel (at KP)
Beauty = B
Dot.ca = DC
Pigott = P (the female falcon formerly known as SA or Sub Adult at BS Location)
KP Tiercel = KPT (Male Sub-adult – Not ID’d yet but hopefully we’ll ID this little guy soon)
Times Square Bldg = TSB
Brighton Site = BS
Broad St Bridge = BSB
Baush & Lomb Bldg = B&L Bldg
Old Changing Scenes Restaurant = OCSR
Kodak Park aka Eastman Business Park = KP

Again, today, all four Rochester Falcons were seen. The day started out sunny, but turned overcast and rainy mid-morning. Then back to sunshine and clouds. It actually turned out to be a very nice day with temps in the high 60’s. Very refreshing.

I had a lot of stuff to do today, so I was in and out of Falcon Watching all day.

During the day I met up with Dana and Kathy O. Missed seeing Joyce and Brian when they were out later in the day. We spotted all four Rochester Falcons. First, Pigott at the BS location, then Beauty and Dot.ca at the TSB nest site. Last we saw KPT out at Kodak Park. He was sitting on the railing in front of the red door on the east smoke stack. Later in the day, Kathy O was out at the BS location and she saw two Peregrines there. Dana joined her there and I headed downtown to see if I could find D.C. I could not. So we assume that he was out visiting with Pigott. Although he was not positively ID’d.

Kathy O & Dana reported that the 2nd Falcon was no longer at the BS location and it wasn’t long before D.C. returned to the TSB and took over covering the eggs from Beauty. I saw him land on the nest box and I could hear ee-chupping fill the air. The on-line Watchers reported that Beauty didn’t look or sound happy, but eventually got up and let D.C. take over. From the ground, I saw Beauty fly out of the nest box and head east. By the time I got myself up to the Broad St Bridge, she was gone.

I wasn’t out as much as I wanted to be today, but was very happy to see all 4 Rochester Falcons. It was a very good day indeed!

I follow my own advice and always keep my eyes to the sky! There be Falcons up there! 🙂