By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Beauty was in the nestbox when I checked the cams before leaving home this morning. She was still there when I arrived on the Broad St. bridge at 5:30am.

1 falcon visible

About 20 minutes later a large bird flew near the Times Square building and got chased away by who I thought was Beauty at the time. Apparently Archer was in the nestbox as well but I could only see the Beautyful one. So I tweeted that Beauty went after this bird when in fact it was Archer. Donna set me straight on things. Thank you my friend! Anyway, I lost sight of any falcons at this point and it would be 15 minutes before I spotted Beauty on the Jail tower 3rd arm southeast side..

She flew off heading west and didn’t resurface until 15 minutes later when I spotted her toward the middle of the jail tower. She stooped shortly after that without success and flew back to the jail tower 2nd arm down on the southwest side this time.

She surely was keeping me hopping today! Soon after she stooped once again and once again she missed returning to the east side of the jail tower on the top arm.

Beauty let me catch my breath for about 30 minutes before she left the jail tower and headed toward Times Square.

I found her back at the nestbox perching for just a couple minutes and then she flew to Mercury and perched on the heel.

Now here’s where it gets confusing. Next I see her on the base of Mercury on the east side as I’m looking from the Broad St. bridge. Meanwhile,Donna calls and tells me Archer was up in the nestbox with Beauty again around 7:00 and I could only see Beauty up there at the time. I then watch Beauty disappear to the other side of the base that I can’t see and comes back into view but it looks more like Archer to me at this point! Here’s Beauty in the first pic and then the next 2 look like Archer.

Was Archer on the blind side of the base and came into view after she went over to that side? Were these 2 playing tricks on old MAK or what?! lol Then Archer is gone and I see Beauty hop over near the foot on the base of Mercury.

Sometimes one set of eyes is just not enough! Beauty suddenly stooped down the face of the Thomson Reuters building after a pigeon to the surface of the river missed flew back up above me and stooped again on the other side of the river. I had no time to get pics of any of this because it all happened so fast. She missed again and flew north up river and veered off to the east behind the Radisson Hotel. I had 5 minutes to collect myself and get my blood pressure back to normal when I spotted a falcon on the 2nd ibeam west corner of the OCSR building. I assumed it was Beauty and then drove down to Aqueduct St.to get a closer look and take pics. Is it Beauty or is it Archer?

You be the judge but I believe it is Beauty. This is where I ended my watch. Oh, the games falcons play! 🙂

For more pics of my watch go to this link and as always no sign in is needed:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=224313552213%3A1213621889&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharer

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Good day everyone! Beauty was perched at the nestbox when I left for downtown this morning but she left while I was in commute (the little stinker) so I had to look for her when I arrived. Parked on the Andrews St. bridge I spotted her on the roof of the Radisson Hotel as she took off VERY fast! This is NOT a usual building for her to go but then, she is not exactly acting like herself these days(in my opinion). I  followed her with my binocs until she disappeared behind the Thomson Reuters building upriver heading in the direction of the Cornhill area. I thought for sure she had gone to the jail tower which is located over that way but to my dismay she wasn’t there when I got over there.  She sure does like to play hide and seek with me lately!  I took some pics of the Genesee River between the Broad and Court St. bridges. It has receded quite a bit in the last few days and the rocks are now visible for the shorebirds to hang out on again.

After searching around the city for an hour and a half going places I have never been before, I finally located the Beautyful one on the jail tower. She was on the 3rd arm down southeast side.

I drove over to Troup St. to be closer to Beauty. We spent 20 minutes together before she took off headed toward downtown.

I drove back to the Times Square area with no sign of her and subsequently I was not able to find her again before I ended my watch. As always I am happy to have seen her at all on this bright, sunny morning in Rochester,NY! See ya! 🙂

For pics from last nights watch at Kodak Park and more of this mornings watch click on the link below:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=238305452213%3A1025344187&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharer

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Happy Flag Day to all of us in the USA!  I’m afraid I don’t have much to report today as Beauty has been eluding me very much of late. 10 minutes into my watch I found the Beautyful one on the west side of the Frontier Communications Tower below the platform.

Please forgive the dark pictures as it was a very dark,gloomy morning in western New York. She gave me the same routine today as yesterday spending maybe 20 minutes with me. She worked on bringing up a pellet and then she scampered over to the other end of her perching spot spreading her wings to catch her balance before flying off to the west and out of sight.

For the next 2 hours I drove around searching for our elusive Peregrine Falcon with no further sightings. One of these days I’m going to find her hiding place! lol  While I was parked on the Broad St. bridge DebbieH came by for a chat saying how she misses seeing Beauty and Archer flying around the area. Me too! That’s all folks! 🙂

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Hello to all of our Rochester falcon fans! After 3 days away I thought I should write a little something even though my watch was very uneventful this morning. As usual before leaving the house I checked the cams to find Beauty perching in the nestbox. I went straight to the Broad St. bridge and parked. Looking up at the Times Square building I could see that Beauty was still perched up there in the nestbox.

15 minutes later she took off and so did I. Going in the direction she headed I found her over on the second arm of the Frontier Communnications Tower.

I hung out with the Beautyful one there for almost an hour. In that time she tried  bringing up a pellet several times and she pooped so it’s safe to say everything was working properly. lol  Sometime just before 7:ooam she quickly flew off to the west and left my field of view. First pic below shows her hunched over trying to cough up that pellet I mentioned. In the 2nd pic she is semi-hidden in flight after she took off.

I waited a few minutes to see if she would return with no such luck. I made my way around the city looking in all the usual spots without success so I decided to go over to Kodak Park. After searching there and finding no falcons I returned to downtown Rochester. Sadly the only thing I saw on Times Square was a man near the south ledge opposite the nestbox. This is where Jemison had first fledged last summer. The man was only there briefly and I didn’t get a pic and I have no idea what he was doing. I thought that it wasn’t too smart to  not be wearing a hard hat. I made 2 more trips around the city and called it quits to go home for breakfast and meds. I’m sure all 3 of our resident falcons were fine, probably eating somewhere or just hunkered down somewhere digesting their morning meals. It was really good to see Beauty after my trip to Canada over the weekend. I hope everyone has a great day! 🙂

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

What can I say? It was an adventure I’ll never forget from start to finish. Joyce picked me up at around 7:ooam Friday morning. We stopped in Buffalo on the way to Canada and saw BB and her 3 eyases at UB. Next we went to Central Terminal and saw one adult and could barely see the white of an eyas in the nestbox. From there it was to the grain elevators with no sightings. We had better luck at the Statler building in downtown Buffalo. Joyce got the idea to go up in a building across from the nest site. We told the guy at the front desk we wanted to go up to the 26th floor to take pics of the falcons and he gave the ok! What a great idea that was tho it was through windows and not too clear we did get some pics of the eyases. No adults were visible to us.

Next up was across the border to Canada with the first stop at the Burlington bridge. We saw the female adult(not sure of name) and the 3 eyases. We also met up with Sue McCready and her husband who were there for a fledge watch. We stayed briefly for we didn’t want to be late for the banding. After a nerve wrecking ride down the QEW with backed up traffic in more than one spot we finally arrived with about 15 minutes to spare! PHEW!!! Carol,Dana,Kathy and Lisa were there and the CPF were already at the nest site getting the eyases with Linn and Reuben flying back and forth overhead. After observing and taking pics we went in for the banding ceremony. My very first and hopefully not my last! It was wonderful to be so close to the little cuties. Afterward the 6 of us from Rochester went to have a bite to eat with CPFers Mark and Marion Nash,Big Frank and Tracy. When we were done we got our hotel rooms and then went to see Quest,Kendal and Harlequin. What a falcon and fun filled day as we saw a total of 19 adults and eyases!

Saturday morning the 6 of us enjoyed a continental breakfast together at the hotel before going to find Stormin. We parked at the top of a parking garage to view this nestsite and the female(not sure of name) was there watching over her babies. A short time after Stormin came flying in and we all marveled at how much he looked like Kaver with his dark head. When we left this site Carol,Dana,Kathy and Lisa were headed to the Sheraton and Rhea Mae and Tiagos’ site for a fledge watch. Joyce and I had planned on going there eventually after we checked a couple other sites. We found our way to the nest site of the infamous Jack (who has families with 2 females) and Angel where we met Carly. It was great to meet her and share a few minutes of falcon watching. Joyce had decided to go get her car and bring down to where we all were and in the process got into an accident. This pretty much ended our falcon watching as we spent the next 7 hours going through the Canadian accident process. Carly called Bruce from the CPF to come give us assistance and he couldn’t have done more. He stayed with us through the whole deal and even got a tow truck to take the car to the Collision Reporting Center. In Canada unless there’s an injury or damage to city property the police don’t come and you have 24 hrs. to go to this center to report your accident where they deem whether your car is drivable. Joyce was very adament about driving her car home and so she followed the tow truck driver in her car with Bruce and I behind her. She quickly found out that she wouldn’t be driving it home. She said the steering was horrendous but she did get to the center with it arriving a nervous wreck to say the least. After you report to the center people you get a police report from one of the officers on duty at the center. Joyce had a hard time finding a rental car that we could cross the border in but Bruce was a tremendous help as he drove her to the airport to get one there.  I stayed at the center because he had room for only one in his vehicle. An hour and a half later they returned with a vehicle with Michigan plates. Joyce and I got everything out of her car including her license plates as she didn’t want to worry about anything being stolen. She couldn’t wait to get out of there and after having a late dinner we made our way home arriving between 2;30-3:00am.

I want to thank all the CPF peeps for their efforts and friendship and a special thank you to Bruce for all of his help and compassion and to Carly who missed out on alot of her fledge watch to show us support.

Here is the link to my photo album (as always no sign in needed):

From Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

This will be my last report for a few days since I and a few other Watchers will be heading up to Toronto to visit with the Rochester Gals, our CPF friends and Stormin.

On Saturday and Sunday morning, 4 Rochester Fledge/Falcon Watchers will join the CPF & keep an eye on Rhea Mae and Tiago’s little ones. We are really looking forward to it!

OK, back to my evening Falcon Watch. I arrived at KP around 7:15 pm and found both Unity and Archer on the stills. Since I just missed Kathy O and all was quiet, I drove downtown to see how Beauty was doing. At 7:30 pm., I found Beauty sitting in the nest box looking out on her domain. Again, all was quiet. So back to KP.

At 7:50 pm, I spotted both Unity and Archer on what we call the “pigeon box”. Archer was plucking feathers for newly caught prey under the camera at the SE corner of the box. Unity was a few feet to his left watching.

After a few minutes, she got tired of waiting and ran towards him, grabbing the food. He took off and landed on the still and she enjoyed her meal. After about 15 mins of eating, she took off and flew with the prey to the top, west end, of the blue bldg that held their scrape and cached the food. She took off, flew around and landed on the east smoke stack, lower catwalk.

That is where I left them around 8:15 pm. It was a good day. Any day I see all three Rochester Falcons and all is quite and peaceful, it’s a good day. Nite all! Enjoy your Friday and weekend!

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

It was quite overcast and humid this morning in downtown Rochester. There isn’t much to report for I only spent about 20 minutes of my 2hr. 30min. watch with Beauty. When I arrived on the Broad St. bridge she was under the northeast wing of the Times Square building.

I drove down to Aqueduct St. to be closer to her. The Beautyful one had a white feather sticking out of her back. After she rousted (term for shaking her body as told to me by a couple of our watchers) the feather fell off her and floated off into the warm breeze. She went back to preening herself and scratching her head with one of those incredible big yellow feet.

Soon after, Beauty stood up and pooped.  I got ready for her takeoff as they usually fly off afterward.

Beauty stepped out onto the ledge with her right leg, spread her wings and took off over my head and over the Thomson Reuters building out of sight. For the next 2 hours I searched and never found her again. I thought perhaps she had caught breakfast and had eaten somewhere I couldn’t see. Once she eats she usually just hangs out somewhere. So I left downtown happy to have seen our Beautyful one but as always wanting more! 🙂

From Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.
It was an HHH day, hot, hazy and humid. I arrive at Kodak Park around 6:30 pm. Dana was already there and pointed out Unity on the east side of the tall still, sitting on the shady side. We had been receiving tweeted reports from our on-line Watchers. Beauty is in the nest box. Archer just brought food to Beauty. So we knew that Unity was here by herself.
Kathy O joined us and we continued our Watch. At 8:00 pm, the sun was starting to go down and a breeze started. It was very welcome and it kept the mosquitoes away. There have been so many of them lately. Very annoying. As the heat of the day went away, Unity started to stretch and preen. She spread her wings and took off heading south towards the bowling alley across the street, a favorite hunting ground. She stooped and veered up, missing the pigeons that roosted there. Unity landed on the communication tower directly south of our position. She was in hunt mode and this was a good place to hunt from.
At 8:30 pm, Unity flew off of the communication tower and headed back towards the blue colored building that held her scrape. She flew directly into the scrape. Little did we know at the time that Archer had beat her there.
Dana and watched first Archer and then Unity come out of the scrape and land on the west still. he was above her. He then flew off and down to her, landing gently on her back. At 8:35 pm, they copulated. He then flew around a bit and again landed above her on the still. During all of this, there was little vocalization.
It was time for us to leave and as we were driving away, Archer flew back down to the scrape area. It was a good day. All Rochester Falcons, Beauty, Archer and Unity were accounted for and was peaceful.
We will continue to keep an eye on both nest sites and report what we see. Nite all!

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

As I approached the Broad St. bridge today I spotted Dan in his chair on the sidewalk and I started smiling. He hasn’t met me there in the morning in  3 weeks or more. He hadn’t seen any falcons yet when I arrived. We sat there for awhile and getting bored he asked if I wanted to go to the pedestrian bridge at high falls so we went. It’s a nice,relaxing  place to spend time with all it’s natural surroundings. We saw that Mrs. Canadian goose didn’t have any hatchlings yet and Mr. and Mrs. turkey were bonding over in the grassy area.

Anyway, after 20 minutes I finally spotted the Beautyful one on the Frontier Communications Tower.

Can you find her in the pic?  Dan spotted Beauty flying up to and into the nestbox about 25 minutes later and Donna reported a couple minutes later that Archer had brought Beauty some breakfast. I was very happy to hear that to say the least! Dan left at 7:00am his usual time and I drove back downtown to find Beauty on the jail tower.

I sat on Troup St. watching her for only 5 minutes when she flew off in the direction of FCT. I found her over there in her favorite spot below the platform on the east side.

I spent half an hour with her until she suddenly looked up over her shoulder,then flew off toward me.

As she flew practically right over me it was then that I spotted Archer coming up the rear right on her tail. They both flew in the direction of Times Square so I tweeted it out and high tailed it over to Broad St. Nobody on Times Square,Mercury ,Wilder,Widows Walk or the jail tower so I decided to check Kodak Office. On my way back from there driving south on N. Plymouth St. I spotted Beauty back on the same perch as before on the FCT. I pulled over in front of Frontier Field(our Rochester Red Wings baseball teams field) to look through my binocs and lo and behold Archer was up there with her!

I stayed and watched them preen until 8:30am and then it was time for this falcon watcher to get home. It was so nice to see Archer spend some time with Beauty. Keep your eyes to the sky everyone! 🙂

From Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=8578947360105%3A1187273505&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharee

Some catch up of pictures and reporting from the last few days. These are from both nest sites, Downtown Rochester and Kodak Park. I and other Watchers have been driving back and forth quite a bit, trying to keep an eye on all 3 Rochester Falcons, making sure all is well.

No sign on needed.

Enjoy!
Carol P