Rochester Falcon Watcher:  Larry O’Heron

Well, generally a pretty quiet morning falcon watching. J & C stayed by the box or at least the walkway to the north of the bldg. A & B would take laps around TS or disappear for short periods.
There was one feeding.
B went over to Crossroads when a worker appeared on the roof, but she did not stoop on him. She just circled and then returned to TS.
The actual highlight of the watch was a domestic disturbance arrest on a woman who was slapping and chasing some guy down the street and into the street.
Ce la vie!

Rochester Falcon Watcher:  Carol P.

I was downtown, along with many other Watchers, for a good part of today. During that time, there was a lot of flying by Archer and Beauty and a lot of flapping by Callidora & Jemison.

After a dinner break, I returned to find a whole lot of Watchers in attendance, Kathy O, Lisa McK, Joyce, Willie, Dan S, Dana, Lou, MAK & Marcia, Ralph & his wife (sorry I forgot your name).  I’m sure I’m missing someone.  I wasn’t on official Watch, so I wasn’t keeping track of names.

By 7 pm, there were only a handful of Watchers left, Marcia, Joyce, MAK, Lisa and I.  I felt really sorry for those that had just left, because that’s when the fun began.

We watched as Jemison flap, flap, flapped on top of the main camera.  and then……………………..off he went (he was banded as a small female, but I’ve started to think of him as a him, just my opinion)!

Jemison took flight!  Real, long, sustained flight.  Not just the short flight over to the other side of the Times Square bldg.  Jemison first flew out to the east towards the river.  Beauty zipped in from the Mercury statue where she had been for a long time.  It looked like she was physically pushing him back towards the Times Square bldg.  Stopping him from heading for the river.

Jemison flew back to the long section of the Times Square bldg on the south side, landing quite well.  Beauty landed above and kept watch.

Jemison flapped, hopped and skipped his way to the taller, front part of the building, coming up against a wall, which he attempted to climb, jumping up on small ledges until there were no more.  This didn’t stop him.  Off he went yet again, this time heading south, then east.  Again, Beauty was there to guide him back to the Times Square bldg, where he landed on the same section he had first landed on, except this time on the north side.  The remaining Watchers hurried to the other side.

Jemison was not happy where he was and was in constant motion, again heading towards the taller part of the building where the nest box was located.  He tried to climb again with no success.  Finally attempted a short flight up, but missing his target.  This time he fell down the face of the building, threw his wings out and started flapping again, heading east.  Jeanne had joined me at this point and I quickly told her what was happening.

He headed towards the east, again towards the river and Beauty put up a block.  She followed him very closely towards the Wilder building, where he landed at the top, south side.  Whew!  Safe yet again

For the next 15-20 mins, Jemison paced, flapped and hopped back and forth, making his way to the top of the fire escape that his parents were seen many times.

Again, off!  This time towards the Times Square bldg.  He first landed on the level above the nest box, rested a bit and then headed down to the level he had been flying to for two days.  One more short flight and he was safely back at the nest box.  Archer had returned during this last bit of flying.

We were all so excited to see Jemison flying so well.  He was getting altitude easily and flap, gliding and landing well.  I have to admit that he is probably one of the strongest first time fliers I’ve had the honor to watch.  Truly outstanding!

It was starting to rain, so we headed back to our cars.  Carla P joined us and we told her what had happened.  Beauty picked up a cache of food somewhere and flew up to land on a lower level with it.  She seemed to want to stay out of sight.  For some reason, she wasn’t ready to feed them.

We checked our watches and saw that it was 8 pm.  Jemison had been flying around for an hour.  We were ecstatic that he had done so well and had returned to the nest box safely.  Callidora was very happy too!  🙂

I left as it started to rain harder, so I’m not sure when or if Beauty fed them.  Maybe Joyce or MAK will be able to report on this.

It was a long but very enjoyable day of Falcon Watching.  🙂

From Lou

Dana and I were on official watch this morning. We saw a lot flying by the adults and there was at least one feeding. Jemison did her hop-flights across the ledges of the building a few times today, but never really fledged off the building during the day. Callidora did a lot of flapping and practicing too! I got a few interesting shots and have included them in the attached album (click on the falcon pic to see this album). I also included another album of some ‘fun’ shots of watchers and other various things in the city from this weekend. (click on the below pic.)

Lou

Watcher Suzanne
Arrived about 8:25 am all four were on Times Square Building
9:15 Beauty flew off to Mercury, then to Wilder
9:36 Jemison “flew” from the nest box area to the south corner of TSB.
9:45 Beauty brought food in to Callidora at the nest box. Jemison remained on the south corner and did not return to the box for food. Jemison walked/hopped around the building ledge as far as it goes (the ledge does not go completely around the building and back to the nest box area).
When we left at 2:15 pm Beauty was on TSB, Archer on Mercury, Callidora in the nest box, and Jemison was still on the southside of TSB.
We returned on Sunday, June 27 and arrived about 8:30 am.
Beauty was on the communications tower and Archer was on the fire escape on Wilder, Jemison and Callidora were in the nest box area.
10:30 Jemison “flew” from the nest box area to the south corner.
10:46 Jemison “flew” back to the nest box area from the south corner.
11:45 Beauty brought food to Jemison and Callidora.
12:10 Several Turkey Vultures flew around downtown, both Beauty and Archer returned to TSB, then one went after the Turkey Vultures and returned to TSB. A few minutes later Archer chased more Turkey Vultures, and flew toward the Communications Tower. Then Beauty came off TSB and vigorously chased the Turkey Vultures, pounding on one of them over the river.
We left at 12:30 pm.

I’ve posted some pictures from my morning of fledge watching on Friday over at my Peregrinations blog:
http://birdblog.marchlords.com/2010/06/flight-lessons-no-inducement-to-fledge.html

Jim P.

Rochester Falcon Watcher: Carol P.

This was my fifth evening of fledgeless watching.  But that’s ok.  The longer they take the stronger they get.  This is a good thing.

I arrived tonite a little before 4 pm.  I joined fellow Watchers, Joyce, Willie and Jim D.  They had set up at the top of the stairs near the corner of Exchange and Broad.  I stayed with them for a little while, but it was too sunny for me, so I walked over to the other side of the Times Square bldg.  From there, I was able to cover the north side of the building.  The side that the eyases were favoring lately.

During my 3 1/2 hour Watch, not much happened.  I think I had the siesta time.  Snoozing eyases and dozing parents.  That’s ok, I enjoyed the quiet time.

Archer and Beauty did a little bit of flying and the eyases did a little bit of flapping.  Beauty landed on the base of Mercury for awhile and attempted to land on the nest box platform once.  That didn’t last long since she was charged by her two youngsters.  She flew over to the old Changing Scenes Restaurant and landed on the top I-Beam.

By the time I left at 7:30 pm, Joyce & I were joined by MAK, Dana, Lou and Kathy O. 

Just as I was pulling out of the parking lot, Beauty flew in with food and stayed only a short while to feed them, then left what remained for the eyases to take care of.

It was a beautiful evening to be on Watch.  I and many other Watchers plan on being downtown early tomorrow.

Will there be a Fledge tomorrow?  Only time will tell.

Rochester Falcon Watcher: Jeanne

When I arrived, Callidora and Jemison were perched on favorite spots – the colum and the ledge. One parent (I believe it was Beauty) was beneath the wings. I was joined later by James, MAK and later Jim P.

Everything was fairly calm. At one point, I heard kakking and in flew Archer. Beauty went to meet him and they both flew a bit and then each returned to the building.  No food exchange. The girls did not react. For most of my watch, the column percher was in sight but the juvie near the ledge would only occasionally put her head up. Beauty would take off a few times but did not bring in food. There was intermittent kakking but I wasn’t sure who was doing it (though it seemed to be the girls—they hadn’t been fed). Lots of preening.

Many passersby were interested in the falcons. One man said he saw a falcon catch a pigeon near the Democrat and Chronicle (the building to the left of the Times Square Building). He said feathers were flying everywhere and two other passersby were looking up trying to figure out why there were so many feathers!

When I left, all was calm!

Rochester Falcon Watcher: MAK

My first official fledge watch was very exciting.  When I arrived Jeanne and Jim were there.  Beauty was on ledge to the right of nestbox and above one level.  Jemison and Callidora were both on the raised column on the wall to the right of nestbox.  Jim Pisello appeared and went down to Exchange St. directly below the nestbox to spread us out in case one of the eyases came down.  Archer showed up and got on NE ledge under wing and Beauty shortly after went to SE ledge under wing.  Jeanne left and soon after Joyce came with Casey and Abbey. (her dogs) Not much happened for awhile until Beauty and Archer started flying. Since there was no breakfast at this point we knew they were trying to entice them to come fly with them.  Lisa McK., Linda and her husband Tim came and joined us.  That’s when business picked up.  There was all kinds of flying by both adults.  Finally, I believe about 12:15 Beauty brought food. She fed them beak to beak and left with the remains circling and flying by them trying to coax them with food but they wouldn’t budge.  When I left B&A were under the wings and J&C were in the nestbox probably napping.

Beautiful sunshine after the rain brought me to my first fledge watch yesterday.  I met Carol P, Dawn and Carrie at 4pm who pointed out where Beauty and Archer were.  Beauty was under the SE wing on what I call “the pedestal”, and Archer was over on  the OCSR I beam.      C and J were resting as they had just been fed a short time before and all was quiet.  Quiet until a turkey vulture flew by.  Archer streaked off the OCSR in an impressive show of defending his family, with Beauty right behind him.  Archer was fast!  Both returned to where they had been stationed.   Beauty appeared to be stationed like a sentry in front of the nest box while  C and J rested.   Lots going on in the city; people streaming past us for a high school graduation, free concert in the park; many asking us what we were looking at.  By that time we were joined by Jeanne, Carla, Joyce and later Carrie and Shaky.  A new “watcher” came by – hooked by the camera as I was.  More excitement as Jemison and Callidora went out exploring along the well wall and went out of sight for a short time around the north side of the building.   Beauty took off from her post — maybe to “wrangle”  her daredevil offspring.  It worked.  Both returned to the porch area. 
Ralph went to check Mercury and found a feather from dinner “prep”.  Sure enough, Beauty returned with dinner for the  girls  (or maybe girl and boy). Archer and Beauty did some good flying and stoops and are clearly trying to teach their young’uns.   I left around 9 pm with Joyce, Shaky and Carrie still on watch.  Callidora and Jemison were in the next box.  It’s just a matter of days and they will be joining their parents in the sky.  My first impression of watchin?  Nice people, awesome birds…a great reality show!

Rochester Falcon Watcher: Carrie

As I arrived Downtown at 12:45, Larry O. and Jim P. let me know where to find “everyone.”  Both juveniles were on the north side of the well-wall.  Archer was on the southeast side of Times Square, above the nest box.  Beauty was nowhere to be seen.  Once Beauty returned to Times Square, around 1:00, she flew and landed near the juveniles repeatedly.  The juveniles, in the meantime, were sitting, walking and flapping along the well-wall and the main camera.

At 3:15, Beauty flew in very slowly with prey.  She dropped this off and the juveniles ate on their own.  From below, it looked like Beauty eventually joined in.  She then took the remainder to the green (copper) line of the Wilder Building at 3:45, where she stashed it.  Shortly after the prey was stashed, Beauty began flying in front of the juveniles, and landing on and off the ledge – teaching and/or enticing.

Other watchers during this fledge watch were Dan, Carla P., Kris G. and her husband, with Carol P., Dawn, and Margaret showing up for Margaret’s watch.

– Carrie