From Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P:

Lots of Watchers out on a beautiful, warm day: Jim P, Brian H, Lisa McK, Dan S, Susan C, Lynda & Carol P. (hope I’m not missing someone).

Early this morning, I spotted a Falcon on top of the High Falls stack (around 6:55 am). Due to size, I’m pretty sure it was Mariah and she was vocalizing.

Didn’t see any other Falcons nearby, but Archer and Beauty had been seen in the Times Square nest box early morning.

At noon, Archer and Beauty were both on the old Changing Scenes Restaurant, north side, 2nd I-Beam down.

Mariah was on the east side gorge wall, just south of the observation deck.

She remained there until 2:55 pm, when she took off. She flew over the river, heading west. Then north, under the pedestrian bridge, over the Bee Bee Station. Did a U-Turn, heading back towards us, very low and under the bridge, out the other side, down the east side gorge wall. She then made a few low passes over the observation deck, turned back towards us skimming the treeline on the east side of the gorge. Mariah flew very low over us, again heading north. You could see that she was looking down at us as she passed overhead.  We lost sight of her over the Smith St. Bridge area.

It was wonderful seeing her flying so beautifully over her gorge. 🙂

Around 3:30 pm, she returned to the Kodak Tower, landing on the launch pad.  That’s where she remained when we left at 4 pm. Earlier, when no one was looking, Archer & Beauty had left the old Changing Scenes Restaurant.

Carol P.

From Rochester Falcon Watcher ~ Joyce

Late Sunday afternoon, Casey (my canine falcon watcher) and I joined Brian H, Shaky and Carrie on the pedestrian bridge.  I was told Falcon sightings of Beauty and Archer were sparse, and Mariah was sitting on Kodak with her back to us and motionless.  She likes those long afternoon naps.  For the next couple of hours we saw very little and talked a lot.   Before heading home, I stopped for an ice cream, and decided to drive by Kodak Tower one more time. 

Mariah was still perched on the east side, 16th floor ledge.   Hooray, she was facing forward for a change.   Since we aren’t able to see Mariah on the webcam, I thought I would get creative…here is my FIRST videoshow with music.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKMCPk2xPb4  (Make sure the HQ is engaged to watch in high quality.)

For still photos, link to my Picasa album: http://tinyurl.com/nd87yt 

Enjoy!

From Rochester Falcon Watcher ~ Joyce

Here is a KGallery album with pictures of Mariah, Archer, and other urban wildlife taken on Saturday 6/27/09 (10:30 am – 8:30 pm)

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=tq6stye.a927h8ye&x=0&y=-13t00v&localeid=en_US

Enjoy!

From Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Wow!  It’s July already.  Happy 4th to everyone this weekend.

Some catch-up observations.

Sunday – 6/28/09 – Mariah landed on the gorge wall in front of the observaton deck.  I was able to get a really good look at the wound on her chest.  It looks like it’s healing very nicely and it doesn’t seem to bother herl.

Monday – 6/29/09 – There were a few of us on the bridge during the noon hour Watch (Lisa McK, Lynda, Carrie, Shaky and Carol P).  We saw some flying earlier in the Watch.  Mariah flew by the Kodak Tower and then headed north.  There was a bit of a lull.

Lynda stood up and said she was pretty sure there were two birds flying way out to the west.  As we all checked it out, Lisa and Carrie yelled, “there’s two Falcons above us!”  Yes, there was.

We watched the two Falcons flying together and then splitting up.  One, Mariah, flew to the Kodak Tower and landed on the 15th floor, east side and the other one, flew towards downtown and met a 3rd Falcon over the river near the Times Square Bldg.  One of them landed on the Times Square nest box and one continued on to the communication tower, 1/2 way between the KTower and Times Square.

OK, you’re probably thinking it must have been Archer flying with Mariah, right?  After checking my pictures, I’m pretty sure it was Beauty!  There was no aggression between the two and no vocalization.  Your guess is as good as ours about what is going on.

Monday – 6/29/09 – Evening – and for those worried that Mariah isn’t hunting, Dan S. reports that he saw Mariah carrying a pigeon over the Genesee Brewery.  She carried it across the river and to the Kodak Tower where she enjoyed dinner.  He missed the hunt.

Wednesday – 7/1/09 – A peaceful Watch.  Both Archer and Beauty were sitting side-by-side on the old Changing Scenes Restaurant, north side, 3rd I-Beam down from the top.  At 11:30 am, Mariah flew into the gorge and landed on the wall in front of the observation deck.  I decided to get my scope for a closer look, but by the time I returned to the bridge, she was gone.

I’m hoping that there will be Watchers out this holiday weekend.

From Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

It was a beautiful day in Rochester.  Sunny, warm with a nice breeze.  I arrived downtown just before 11 am.  A quick check of the Times Square nest box showed Archer inside the box, moving about.  I didn’t see Beauty.

Off to the east end of the High Falls pedestrian bridge.  I joined Joyce and Dawn .   They had spotted Mariah on the gorge wall, east side, near the falls.  She was enjoying the cooling spray.

We were soon joined by Dan S, Larry O, Jeanne, Suzanne, Don, Kristen, Scott and Jeannette.

From 10:30 am until 2:20 pm, all was peaceful.  That’s when we spotted a Peregrine flying along the east side gorge.  At first I thought it was Mariah.  The Peregrine flew up into the Shady Tree.  A quick check through the scope showed that Mariah remained in her spot near the falls.  Hmmm, who was this 2nd Falcon?

A few of us walked down the path leading to the observation deck.  From there, we got a very clear view of the Falcon in the tree.  We’re pretty sure it was Archer.  This is the 3rd time in the last few weeks since Mariah’s return that I’ve witnessed Archer visiting Mariah in the gorge. 

Mariah turned towards him and they both just watched each other.  Absolutely no aggression by either of them. 

At 3:25 pm, over an hour later, Archer took off from the tree, he flew past Mariah, then headed west over the river.  He then flew towards the west end of the pedestrian bridge, turned back towards the falls, up and over the observation deck and then high over the Brewery.  The last time we saw him, he was soaring very high off to the south east. 

Mariah remained in her spot, preening, stretching, dozing and looking every which way.

Joyce and I left her on the wall around 4 pm.

Carol P.

Peace still reigns over the city of Rochester.  There seems to be a line in the sand between Mariah and Archer & Beauty. 

Archer and Beauty remain downtown, with their main focus on the nest box located at the Times Square Bldg.  They hunt over the river and points south.

Mariah claims the Kodak Tower and the gorge where her young learned to fly.  We usually find her on the top of the Kodak Tower, or on the east side gorge wall, near the High Falls cooling mist, sitting in the shade.  She will fly off to the north to hunt.

So, what will happen in the future?  No one knows, but we’ll keep reporting what we see.

Carol P.

From Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P:

No activity today.  It was very warm, sunny and quiet in the gorge.  Many Watchers came out for the noon hour Watch:  Shaky, Kelly W, Larry O, Dan S, Susan C & Carol P.

At 2:00 pm, I drove over to the Times Square Bldg, parking as far back on the Broad St Bridge as I could.  When I looked up into the nest box, I could see a black hooded face looking back at me.  Yep, there was definitely a Peregrine up there, but I couldn’t tell which Falcon it was.

I drove back towards the Kodak Tower and thought I may have seen a bird shaped shadow up on the south side launch pad, but I couldn’t be sure.

It was a very quiet Watch today.  🙂

Carol P.

From Rochester Falcon Watcher Susan C:

after Carol left…

Jeanne left shortly after Carol did, so I walked down to the west end of the bridge to find out if I could see the building that Carol was talking about (I could) and find out if Mariah was still on the building (she wasn’t).  So I walked back to the east end of the bridge in preparation for going home, and noticed another person with gear around their neck, sure enough it was Jim P.  He searched the gorge wall, and found Mariah almost directly under the right-hand corner of the observation deck, tucked back into the wall. 

Jim took some pictures of Mariah and then some of the poor deer who was stuck up on our level who ran right in front of my parked car and toward the observation deck.  We walked around to see where it went, and observed one very frightened deer looking around in a panic.  There wasn’t anything that we could do for it, so we ducked back onto the bridge and out of it’s site, hoping for the best.  I’m not sure where the poor thing ended up, but I hope that it’s safe.  A short while later, Jim left and I continued to watch Mariah.

At 3:50 I had my binoculars directly on Mariah when a bird flew up toward her and landed very close to her!  I thought to myself “stupid bird!” before I realized – almost immediately – that it was Archer, and he was about a meter away from her.  Mariah seemed to hardly notice him, she shifted around a bit but basically stayed where she was.  Archer tried to get her attention by fluttering (I’m sorry, do falcons flutter?) (I guess I should say ‘flapped’) his wings a bit and hopping over even closer to her, but she never made a major move of any kind.  After 3 or 4 minutes Archer flew off, staying next to the gorge wall and flying under the bridge.  He flew out on the other side, went out over the river and turned back, I believe that he landed under the west end of the bridge as he was pulling up for a landing as he approached.

Mariah was still in position on the wall, and after a short while Archer again approached her, did sort of a ‘touch and go’ against the wall, and flew up under the shady tree but still on the wall.  He was completely invisible, even though I knew where he landed I couldn’t find him.  He didn’t stay there long, but flew away again – this time Mariah was in the air.  As he flew away, she approached the bridge and landed right under me!!  I could look over the railing and see her, it was amazing.  It almost made me wish that I took pictures, this one would have been great.  She only stayed for a minute, then flew up into the shady tree, where she sat facing me for quite a while before turning around and moving to a more camouflaged position behind some leaves with her back to me.  That’s where she was when I left her at 4:20.

susan c

From Rochester Watcher Carol P.

I arrived downtown a little after noon. I decided to check the downtown area first.   I couldn’t park on the Broad St Bridge due to traffic, so I headed over to Midtown Plaza. No Falcons in sight. I headed back towards Times Square and while stopped at a red light, checked ou the building. I’m pretty sure there was a Falcon inside the nest box. No Falcons on the east side of the building.

Then I drove around the Kodak Tower. No Falcons. Time to head out to the east end of the pedestrian bridge, where I joined Debbie, Shaky, Larry O, Jeanne and Susan C.

A quick check of the east side gorge wall showed Mariah with her back to us.   Shaky got his scope out and we got a really nice look at her.

During the Watch, Shaky saw a Falcon fly to the communication tower over the County Jail. As we watched, the Falcon flew back over to the Times Square Bldg, south side.

Around 1:30 pm, we noticed that Mariah was no longer on the gorge wall. Now where did she go! I walked out for a better look at the gorge wall and under the bridge, no Mariah. All looked peaceful downtown. I then walked to the west end of the pedestrian bridge and saw what I’m pretty sure was Mariah sitting on the SE corner of the red brick building near the corner of Smith St. and St. Paul.

At 2:45 pm, I left Susan C and Jeanne on the bridge. Close to 3:00 pm, I
received a text message from Susan saying that Mariah had returned to the east side gorge wall.   She sure does love that gorge! 🙂

Carol P.

It was a gorgeous day for a Falcon Watch.  I met many Watchers out on the east end of the pedestrian bridge over the High Falls, Genesee River.  From here we have a great view of downtown Rochester, the Kodak Tower, gorge and points north.  Watchers today included Lisa McK, Larry O, Sue(Bess), Shaky,  Susan C, Carla & Jeanne.

During the noon hour, we were joined by approximately 25 children.  Very excited children that wanted to know where Mariah and Kaver were.  We explained the situation to them and their teachers.  This was the class that gave Diamante his wonderful name last year.

Just before the class arrived, Larry O saw Mariah fly into the gorge from the north.  She flew under the bridge and landed on the gorge wall below the shady tree.  This was a new spot for her.  We tried our best to point out Mariah’s position, but she was very well hidden.  She blended perfectly with the wall, with her dark gray back towards us.

As we tried to patiently point out her position, someone yelled, “there she goes!”.  Mariah took off flying north just above the gorge wall.  There was a loud squeal of delight from the kids as they yelled, “Mariah!  Hey Mariah over here!”  Now we were in the center of the pedestrian bridge and Mariah was well over the Genesee Brewery, so the enthusiasm from the children went unnoticed.  🙂

We watched her head north and out of sight.

Later in the Watch, a Falcon was spotted on the Times Square Bldg below the NE wing at the top of the building.  We believe that this was Archer due to the very white chest.  He flew off and another larger falcon landed on the platform in front of the nest box located there.  As I watched, the bird we believed was Beauty entered the nest box.

So, all three Rochester Falcons were spotted today.  All still seems to be peaceful.  Archer and Beauty downtown and Mariah north of the downtown area, including the Kodak Tower and the gorge.  Could these be the territorial lines between them?

Carol P.