By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

It was a beautiful morning for a falcon watch. It was just too bad we couldn’t find a falcon. Dana and I searched everywhere. After driving all over and not finding a falcon, we decided it was time to head over to the pedestrian bridge at High Falls (HF). To the gorge!

I really miss watching from there. There are so many good memories of Mariah, Kaver and their young ones flying through the gorge and in front of the falls.

From the pedestrian bridge (Pont de Rennes Bridge), we had a great view of the downtown area. Dana spotted an adult on Powers and I saw it fly to the jail communication tower. From where we were, it was way too far to positively ID. Larry and Gimli joined us.

An adult Red-tail Hawk was flying up and down the east side gorge wall, landing in different trees. We could also see two, what we assumed to be, juvie Red-tail Hawks on a light at Frontier Field.

Dana yelled “falcon”! There was an adult falcon flying past the Frontier Communication Tower, towards Kodak. The falcon stooped towards the river and continued north and out of sight. Well, that was exciting!

Larry headed out and Dana and I watched the Red-tail Hawk floating over the river. So graceful! All of a sudden the Hawk let out a very loud RTH screech! (Not to be confused with a fake Bald Eagle cry that you hear in the movies.)

The Hawk cried out and headed straight towards us, the sun behind it. That’s when we saw what caused its agitation. Out of the sun, a large, adult Peregrine Falcon stooped directly on the Hawk, hitting it right in front of us!

The Hawk quickly flew out of the area and the Peregrine headed south towards downtown. Well, that was awesome!

I saw Larry heading back our way, saying “Did I just see what I thought I did?” Hahaha!

After Larry really left, lol, we spotted a falcon eating on the old Radisson. Time to head back to Court St for a closer look. I took some pics and I’m pretty sure it was Blaze.

Now, if only Kanfai Malachim and Blaze would find the gorge!

It was time to end our morning watch.

Here are a few pics of pics of the morning watch.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

The temps and humidity are rising, but it was a beautiful, cool, sunny morning.

My first sighting of a falcon was an adult on the SW corner of the Five Star Bank. I arrived just in time to see this falcon stoop and swoop low over the Martin Luther King Park, just south of Five Star. I quickly lost sight of this falcon.

I drove all over, not hearing or seeing a falcon, so I went back to the Court St Bridge (CSB). I saw a juvie fly through crying loudly with an adult. The juvie landed on one of the jail buildings and the adult landed on top of the Times Square Bldg (TSB) nest box. They both took off while I was tweeting. Kathy O arrived saying that she saw 2 falcons land on the Powers Bldg. I could only see one.

Both falcons left the Powers Bldg, one flew east past the old Radisson Hotel. A few moments later I spotted both juvies talon tagging over the apartments on Andrews St. Dana joined us just in time to watch Kanfai Malachim (KM) and Blaze practicing their skills.

Dana and Kathy decided to get a closer look at the aerial display, while I remained on the Court St Bridge. Just after they left, both juvies flew out of view for a moment, then Blaze flew back carrying food in his talons. There must have been a food transfer where I couldn’t see it. Blaze landed on the west side roof of the old Radisson to enjoy his breakfast.

When I walked down the river path to get a closer look, I could see that both Blaze and Kanfai Malachim were next to each other. KM watched as Blaze ate.

Kathy O, Dana and Larry O joined me and we sat down on benches in the small park on the east side of the Blue Cross Arena along the river. We had a very nice view of downtown from there.

We watched for awhile as Blaze finished his meal and first KM then Blaze took off. We ended our watch at approximately 8:30 am.

I spoke to long time Watcher Dan S this morning, to catch him up on all falcon matters. He’s doing great and says hello.

Here are some pics of pics from the morning watch.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

There wasn’t a whole lot of activity this morning, but we did positively ID Kanfai Malachim (KM) and Blaze, plus we saw one adult. I do believe the adult was Nova based on size only.

Kathy O and I searched all over downtown before, from the Court St Bridge, she spotted two falcons on the Five Star Bank. By the time we drove over to that area, both falcons were gone. Kathy and I split up. She went over to Geva, where she found a very large Red-tail Hawk, but no falcons. From the back of Midtown, I spotted a juvie falcon eating on the east side of the old Bausch and Lomb (B&L) building. After a look at a zoomed in pic, I could see Kanfai Malachim’s blue band.

As I was watching KM eat, Blaze flew over screaming. He ended up landing on a smaller antenna on top of the RG&E Bldg. Not sure what this building is now called. Because of the sun, I couldn’t tell for sure if he was chasing an adult, but I thought he may have been based on his behavior.

Blaze remained on the antenna while Kanfai Malachim finished her breakfast. Kathy O and Larry O joined me behind Midtown.

A few moments later, KM took off, flying around the B&L building heading west. By the time we looked back at Blaze, he was gone! So now we were falconless. Time to drive around again.

As I was heading out, an adult came flying in from the west, landing on the RG&E building, just to the left of the leaf logo. Based only on size, I thought this might be Nova. Looks like we may have found one of her hiding places.

We all ended up parking on the Court St Bridge. Where Kathy spotted a falcon on top of the OCSR elevator shaft.

It was a beautiful, cool Tuesday morning watch. Temps only expected to go up into the mid 70s today. So refreshing after so many 90F days!

Here are some pics of pics, sorry for the poor quality, from the morning watch.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Dana

Please click on the following YouTube links to view my watch reports for July 15th through July 21st.

7/15/22

7/16/22

7/17/22

7/19/22

7/21/22

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

This morning’s watchers were Dana, Larry O and Carol P. Another hot, steamy day! Starting early helps us beat the heat.

The first falcon I found was Neander hunting off of the Frontier Communication Tower. He was successful on his 2nd attempt. He flew with the prey heading towards the Powers Bldg.

I followed the best I could, but could not find him. I met Dana on the Court St Bridge. Nova was at the TSB nest box.

Nova took off and stooped over us and the river on the south side of the bridge. Neander joined her on a tandem hunt. Nova grabbed a large, dark bird and carried it over the river heading for the red brick building just south of the Blue Cross Arena. I believe they made coffins there a long time ago. Nova landed on the SW corner and started prepping her meal.

We spotted Neander nearby on one of the jail buildings across the street from Nova. A juvie flew over us and landed on another building across from Nova watching her.

Dana and I walked up to Exchange to get a closer look. That’s when Kanfai Malachim (KM) flew up to Nova and grabbed the food from her. Nova took off and landed on the Wilder Chimney.

Blaze joined KM and they shared their breakfast.

Larry joined us under the Freddy Sue Bridge where we watched the falcons from.

Here are some pics of pics from the morning watch. Again, sorry for the poor quality.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P

Hot, hazy and humid! It’s a three H day! Temps will be in the mid 90s today. It’s already 90F at 1 pm.

The morning watchers, Dana, Kathy O, Larry O and Carol P have been arriving downtown early to get in a couple hours of watching the Rochester Falcons before it gets too hot.

On the way in, Dana found an adult on the north side of OCSR. Soon after parking on the Court St Bridge (CSB) we spotted both juvies, Kanfai Malachim (KM) and Blaze come flying in from the east, over the river, behind the OCSR, and landing on the east side of the Cross Rds Bldg. They both settled in for a nap.

An adult was seen on the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT). It then took off and landed on the Times Square Bldg (TSB) SW wing ring. Then back to FCT top arm.

Just before 8 am, we’re pretty sure it was Nova that brought in food and dropped it off on the Cross Rds Bldg for KM and Blaze. KM grabbed it, but Blaze got his share.

We still haven’t seen any food transfers between adults and juvies. We’ve only seen them drop off food. Hopefully we’ll start to witness more training soon.

By 9:00 am, the heat was unbearable, so we headed home.

Here are a few not very good pics of pics. Sorry for the horrible quality.

After a very much needed day of rain, I went downtown to search for our Rochester Falcons. The first falcon I found was an adult on the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT). I’m pretty sure it was Neander.

Driving around downtown Rochester is extremely frustrating right now, construction around ever corner. Parking to watch falcons is almost impossible. The Court St Bridge is the only bridge open for parking and they were putting up cones when we left today. Hopefully we won’t find the Court St Bridge closed to parking tomorrow morning.

On with the falcon watch. Dana, Kathy and I found both Kanfai Malachim (KM) and Blaze on the FCT platform. It wasn’t long before they both took off heading south. We drove over to the Court St Bridge and joined Larry O there. Both juvies were together on the Times Square Bldg SW wing ledge. Nova was on the Jail Communication Tower.

First KM and then Blaze took off. Mom was the target. Blaze landed on top of the tower and KM knocked mom off and landed in her spot. Nova flew north and landed on the corner of the Powers Bldg.

Both KM and Blaze took off heading north, talon tagging and flying together. They both landed under the antenna on one of the jail buildings.

From there they both headed north behind Cross Rds. One juvie ended up on the level below Nova on Powers. Not sure where the second juvie ended up.

It was time to end our watch. The temps were rising and going up to 88F. Warm days are coming.

Here are some pic of pics from my morning watch.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Sunday morning watchers: Dana, Kathy O, Lisa McK, Larry O, Linda and Carol P.

It was a beautiful morning and since there wasn’t much traffic this morning, we decided to watch from across the river on the west side of the Convention Center. We had a terrific view of the whole area from there.

At first we only saw Nova and Neander. We could hear a juve now and then, but could not find it. One of the adults actually made it out to the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT).

Finally a juvie flew in and landed on the Wilder roof. Shaky was able to positively ID this juvie as Kanfai Malachim (KM) from the Rfalconcam cameras.

She stayed there for awhile before taking off and meeting Blaze high above the river. There was a short burst of talon tagging before they both headed back towards OCSR. KM went behind the building and Blaze landed on top of the disk. He took some short flights around the disk before settling for a short while on the south side.

Blaze took off again, heading towards us and we were treated to some very fancy flying by him. He then headed west.

There was no more activity during our watch. We did check the north side of OCSR on our way home, and found a juvie on the 2nd Ibeam and an adult below on the 3rd Ibeam. We searched the city, but were unable to find a 2nd juvie or adult.

Temps were rising into the 80s, so it was time to end our watch.

No pictures today.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Watchers Dana and Kathy O joined me early this morning on Aqueduct St, aka the hole. As usual, it was filled up pretty quickly by construction workers.

We first spotted Kanfai Malachim (KM) on the Wilder Bldg. She was enjoying the sun on a chilly morning, preening and watching the pigeons moving around on the building below her. Eventhough her crop was bulging, she was interested in checking out the bird life around her.

I kept hearing another juvie crying and tracked down Blaze who was sitting just below Neander, who was sitting on the NW wing ledge of the Times Square Bldg. Blaze’s crop was not as large as his sister’s.

Neander took off and landed on top of the Wilder chimney, above KM. He had food with him, but Blaze had spotted Nova on top of Cross Rds with a larger meal. He quickly joined her there and grabbed her offering. Not to let a good meal go to waste, Neander finished off his meal.

Both Neander and Nova flew over to the OCSR where they kept watch over their young ones.

KM took off and first landed on the Widows Walk and then joined Blaze on the Cross Rds Bldg, where they both enjoyed a long nap.

Larry O, who has been spending his time watching from the Court St Bridge during the morning watch, joined us for awhile.

At approx 10:30 am, Kathy, Dana and I ended our watch.

Here are some pics of pics from this morning.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Dana

Please click on the following YouTube links to view my watch reports for July 13th & July 14th.

7/13/22

7/14/22