Sorry it took so long to post this but I’ve had a busy few days.  I got a couple of chances to get out and watch the falcons over the holiday weekend.  Here’s the first of two falcon watches, this one from Good Friday.

http://birdblog.marchlords.com/2010/04/good-friday-for-falcon-watching.html

Jim

By Lou

Dana, Carol P and myself spent the morning out on the Broad Street Bridge watching Beauty and Archer. We had a few interesting observations, including seeing A & B copulate on Mercury’s moneybag and seeing Archer catch a Woodpecker. We saw a couple of other falcons too, including a Kestrel and a juvenile Peregrine. Non-falcon sightings include a drake Merganser, the discovery of a secret Pigeon hide-out, and an evil Green-Garbed Gnome peering out of the Reuters building, giving Carol the heebie jeebies.

To me, the highlight was seeing Archer catch the Woodpecker. It was the first time I’ve seen a falcon actually catch a bird like that and Archer made it look effortless. He easily snatched the bird out of the air near the Convention Center after chasing it horizontally across the river. I have some pictures in the attached album (click on the pic)… it looks to be a Yellow Bellied Sapsucker that he caught.

– Lou

From Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

It was another very warm, beautiful day in Rochester, NY, temps in the 80’s (F).  I headed downtown for a morning Watch.  Beauty was on the Mercury statue’s outstretched hand (which holds what appears to be a bag of coin/gold).  Archer was on top of Xerox near the NW corner.  Soon after I parked my car on the Broad St. Bridge, Dana and Lou joined me.

Archer and Beauty flew around the area landing on different buildings, including the nest box on the Times Square Bldg.

At one point, Archer chased a small bird over the river (Genesee River), successfully catching it over the RG&E building on the east side of the river.  He carried it to the communication tower just south of the Times Square Bldg.  Beauty was  inside the nest box at this time.

After awhile, Beauty flew out of the nest box and landed, once again, on Mercury’s hand.  Her tail lifted and I quickly switched my camera to video, focused it on Beauty and waited.  I wasn’t disappointed.  Dana, Lou and I witnessed Archer and Beauty copulating on top of the Mercury statue.  Here’s the link to my video posted in YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_Mqo6LTOjM

We walked back to our cars and were joined by MAK.  We talked for awhile and saw Beauty and Archer fly up to the Times Square building.  Beauty landed under the NE Wing and Archer under the SE Wing.  Beauty had food and feathers were flying.

The temps were rising and by 11:30 am, it was time to leave.

I came back for an hour between 5:00 – 6:00 pm, joining fellow Watchers, Joyce, Brian H, Dana, Lou and Marcia.  Beauty was preening and dozing on top of the Times Square building and Archer flew in to land on the top I-Beam of the old Changing Scenes Restaurant (OCSR) aka First Federal building.

Beauty flew off of the Times Square building and landed on the south end of the Cross Rds building.  Archer took off and copulated with Beauty.  He returned to his spot on the OCSR and Beauty remained where she was.

It was time for me to head home with plans to return early Easter Sunday morning.

by Larry O’Heron
7:00 Cleo (my new Catahoula Leopard dog) and I arrived at the Broad St bridge with coffee, doughnut and binoculars in hand. Following the rules of being a good alpha, Cleo did not get access to the coffee or doughnut, but I gave her unlimited viewing thru the binoculars. We quickly spied Beauty on Mercury but no sign of Archer.

7:10 While walking up Court St towards the Civic Center, and having just stepped off the bridge, I saw Archer flying in from the west over the Civic Center Plaza. As he crossed over Exchange St, he went over the War Memorial and I lost sight of him. Cleo and I scooted back to the Court St bridge but did not see him. Beauty however was still on Mercury. So we headed up the War Memorial parkway to Broad St to return to our starting observation point.

7:20 On the Broad St bridge and looking for Archer, I caught him again coming up Broad St towards Xerox. He passed over head e-chupping. Meanwhile, Beauty flew from Mercury to the scrape. Once again Archer went behind buildings and I lost sight of him.

7:30 Continuing to look, I saw Archer kiting on the wind over Lincoln First. He stayed there several minutes and then began a drift over to Xerox. Somewhere between Xerox and B&L, he kited again. Keeping an eye on him, as I was sure that he was hunting, he started his run. He began with about a 20 degree descent towards Main St with his wings still out. He continued the pace until he pulled his wings in which is when he stooped in earnest. He rocket-speed drop took him behind the Hyatt. He must have increased his angle of attack because I did not see him come out the other side, and I should have.

7:40 Archer showed up at the scrape where he landed just under the southeast wing. He stayed a minute and then took off. Now I clearly saw him with a package. He headed over to the elevator shaft where he flew in, cached the package and came back out, flying around to the other side.

7:50 Cleo and I drove over to Andrews St and quickly located Archer on the top i-beam. We left him there to return home for some breakfast.

I spent the lunch hour downtown watching Archer and Beauty today.  It wasn’t wall-to-wall action, but there was a bit of excitement.  Read about it in my latest blog post:
http://birdblog.marchlords.com/2010/03/aborted-ardor-marks-midday-peregrine.html

By Larry O’Heron
Pulled up on the Broad St bridge with another 6″ meatball sub, but today in tie and nice clothes. I need to eat something that is less messy.
Anyway, Beauty was at the box with Archer nowhere to be seen. Eventually Beauty flew low over Exchange towards the Wilder Bldg. I lost sight of her, and did not see her reappear.
However Archer (several minutes) later came out from that direction and went to OCSR.
It was after that when Beauty soared high overhead, slowly drifting and meandering off to the northwest. Watching her, I did not see Archer take off.
Jim P showed up and we chatted for awhile on a very nice day, standing over the turbulent spring waters of the Genesee River. Soon enough it was time to return to work.

Stopped by the Broad St bridge with a Subway’s meatball sandwich and caught sight of Dan S, sitting in a chair on the bridge, and apparently not up to a whole lot. He directed me to a parking spot (charging $5.00 in the process) and briefed me on the location of falcons. One on Ocsr and the other unlocated, whereupon I spied it on Mercury. Dan S cursed and grumbled about how sneaky peregrines are and we settled into a very, bery blustery watch.
The highlight came when a crow flew between them and the scrape. First Archer (from OCSR) and then Beauty (from Mercury) took off to bedevil the poor corvid, but it was short-lived as the crow kept moving out of the area of the scrape.  … by Larry O’Heron

From Rochester Falcon Watcher ~Joyce

There was lots of flying and courtship activity this weekend. Saturday was nice and sunny, but Sunday afternoon became windy, cloudy and rainy.  Despite the change in weather, my watch was rewarding.  Here are some pictures from Saturday and Sunday’s afternoon watches.

http://picasaweb.google.com/wnyfalconwatcher/ArcherBeautyMarch27March282010

Or, enjoy them in a slideshow http://tinyurl.com/yj5ds9s

~Joyce (aka wnyfalconwatcher on Picasa)

By Lou

Yesterday, Dana, Carol P, Dan and myself watched a hard-headed Red tail hawk get pounded by the Peregrine falcons. I refer to it as “hard-headed” because on the previous day, Dana had witnessed a Red tail hawk get brutally pounded by the falcons in the river near the nest box and it seems the hawk came back for more punishment…

Around 1:00 PM yesterday, a Red tail hawk was spotted flying over the river near the Broad Street bridge. One of the Falcons (we think Archer) reacted to this territory-intruder and swiftly went after it, pushing it out of the area, south, into the Corn Hill district. Watching through our binoculars, we saw the falcon repeatedly dive bomb the Red tail. At one point, the poor hawk landed on a roof and seemingly didn’t know what else to do except just sit there and take a beating from the falcon who just kept swooping down on it. Eventually though, the falcon came back and took up a guard position on the Mercury statue.

But wouldn’t you know, about 10 minutes later, the hard-head came back again. But this time, he came back with a second red tail – it was kind of like he was bringing his big brother to settle the score. However, the hawks must have been surprised when both falcons took to the air. And it seemed that big brother disappeared quickly, leaving the same poor red tail again in the same predicament. Sure enough, the falcons again started going after him. The hawk landed in the safe haven of a tree next to the library, Beauty went back to the nest box, and Archer again took up position on Mercury. I managed to get a few shots of the hawk while it was in the tree- it had such a sweet face and it looked like he was just plain tired from getting beat up.

Eventually, the hawk flew under the bridge below us. We didn’t see him come out on the other side so Dana and Carol took a walk to a driveway near the Convention Center to take a look under the bridge. They couldn’t see anything. The hawk appeared again later, flying over the river where it flew up under a structure that’s on the east bank of the river, next to the convention center. After a short while, he came back out again and Archer immediately went after it, swooping on the hawk as it flew across the river and back, where it landed in another tree. We couldn’t help but feel sorry for the hawk – he just didn’t have any place to go and Archer was on him as soon as he took flight.

While the hawk was sitting there in the tree with Archer peering down on him from Mercury’s heel just waiting to attack it again, we noticed a group of pigeons perched on the wall looking into the river, seemingly watching the interaction like spectators at a Ultimate Fighter’s Championship event. We had to laugh. But we really hoped that the hard-headed hawk would just leave the area and live to see another day. Our prayers were answered when he eventually took off and flew south, hugging the wall by the library and escaping under the Court Street bridge.

We wondered what would drive such behavior. Perhaps there is a food source, such as vermin in the subway area, that the hawk is familiar with and was determined to go after, but now, with Archer’s return, that area is within nest box territory and is now off-limits. Whatever it was, I think the Broad Street bridge might be prime viewing territory for us watchers and I think yesterday provided a glimpse of how things might be with the new pair and the new nesting location. Hard-heads beware!

Here’s a link to an album with some pictures: (Log-in required. Thx)

http://tinyurl.com/yhgm573

Lou

By Larry O’Heron

Headed downtown with Cleo, the Catahoula Leopard dog for watching before the weather turns rainy and freezing.
Beauty was at the scrape and Archer nowhere to be found.
After a couple of minutes, Carol P pulled up and we began to chat. She noticed Archer had arrived and landed on Mercury’s base.
Suddenly Archer ripped across Broad St, over our heads and stooped on an intruding redtail. I thought Archer was going to fly into the bridge; he came so close to the railing in order to get to the redtail. There was a man walking down the bridge and Archer went right past him. I don’t know if the man was aware of what had just happened.
Archer stooped and stooped on the red tail who landed in a tree near the bridge and library. In between stoops Archer kited on the winds over the Broad St bridge, presenting a spectacular view of his flying abilities.
Eventually Archer returned to Mercury but kept a sharp-eyed lookout on the hawk.
Carol and I headed to the east end where we were about 30 ft from the hawk. The view of the bird was magnificent.
We stayed there about 15 minutes when the red tail took off to the south. Archer immediately came off Mercury but with the red tail heading away, Archer kited briefly and returned to Mercury where he spent the rest of the watch hunting.