By Rochester Falcon Watcher Dana

Click on the following YouTube links to see my Falcon Watch Pics and Videos.

The first one is my 7/5/22 Video

https://youtube.com/watch?v=kTlAWuugo4s&feature=share

The second one is from 7/10/22. Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/F3lR22xevyU

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

We were so happy to have a new pair this year after losing Beauty and Dot.ca. When Nova and Neander laid four eggs in the Times Square nest box, we were ecstatic. When three of the eggs hatched, we fell in love all over again with three tiny, white fluff balls.

We watched them grow up, their white fluff fell out, and their beautiful brown feathers revealed themselves. We now had a hint of what they would look like as adults. I’ve always said it’s like opening a present when their masks were revealed.

But, with happiness, sometimes comes sadness.

We started the fledge watch last Tuesday, sitting in the hole (Aqueduct St), surrounded by construction and loud noise. Sometimes, if we listened very hard, we could hear the eyases crying to their parents from above.

On the 4th day of the fledge watch (Friday 7/8), KM took flight for the first time. I wasn’t there to see it, since I had been on watch for several hours that morning. It was time to head downtown to check on KM. She had flown to a building behind the Telesca Bldg. When I arrived, KM had made a 2nd flight to the top of the Wilder Bldg. She was doing great!

I may have missed Kanfai Malachim’s (KM) fledge flight, but I was there to see Zara launch herself from the end of the nest box wall on the Times Square Bldg. It was a strong flight that took her to the top of the Wilder chimney. She landed on the corner, flapped a few times and then steadied herself. It was a very good landing for her first time. She did great! Sadly, that was the last place I saw Zara. She took a couple more flights for the evening watchers who last saw her flying up to Wilder from the Telesca Bldg. After that, the evening watchers ended their watch.

I was there early Saturday morning with fellow watchers Dana Kathy O, Lisa McK, Lukka (Zara’s namer) and Alyssa. We found KM immediately on the building behind Telesca. After that we searched for Zara, but we never found her. It’s been three days now and still no sign of our Zara.

Saturday was another happy day. At 9:23 am, it was Blaze’s turn to fledge. Blaze landed on top of the Wilder Bldg very close to KM. They’ve been pretty much inseparable since then.

We are continuing to search for Zara. I am still hoping for a miracle!

This morning, Monday 7/11, I arrived downtown at 7 am. Kathy O and Dana joined me. It was going up to 90F today.

We found all four Rochester Falcons on the Powers Bldg. First the adults took off. KM and Blaze stood up and started to walk around. When Nova came back with food, the chase was on!

Both juvies (yes, they are now juvies), took off from Powers and flew towards the Times Square Bldg (TSB). Nova landed on the Powers lower roof with food. The juvies landed on the Telesca roof. Nova took off with the food and landed on the TSB NW wing ledge, where she cached the food and settled on the light.

During the morning, there was a lot of flying by both KM and Blaze, before they both settled on the NE wing ledge where they could keep an eye on mom. Neander kept watch from the south side of the OCSR, 2nd Ibeam.

By 1:00 pm, we totally lost our shade and it was getting very warm. It was time to head home.

Now to explain why I haven’t been posting any pictures. I am not able to download pictures at this time. I have lots of pictures and videos I would love to share, but I can’t at this time. So I took some pictures of pictures to share. They’re not very good, but you get the idea. Hope you enjoy!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Watchers: Dana and Carol P.

After a long day of record breaking rain fall here in Rochester, NY, I was very happy to get out to check on our falcons.

Dana had already started watching when I arrived. We met on the Court St Bridge. The Genesee River was rocking and rolling. Lots and lots of rain had caused the water to be extremely high and it was moving fast. The river wasn’t the only thing that was active. Golden was out and about and chasing his favorite mom all over the place. Dot.ca was there too, but Golden was Beauty’s little shadow this morning.

Beauty brought in food and landed on the northwest corner of the Cross Rds Bldg. Dot.ca was hanging out on the OCSR. It wasn’t long before Golden came in screaming. He landed next to Beauty and a tug-o-war began. Golden grabbed the food and began to eat his breakfast. Beauty decided she was hungry too and took a bit for herself.

After finishing their small meal, both took off. Beauty in the lead with Golden right behind her. They zipped over the Blue Cross Arena. Golden returned, flying over us, and landed on a OCSR IBeam, below Dot.ca. This is the first time we had seen him land on an IBeam.

Since Golden was settling in for a nap, Dana and I decided to check out the ST location. We saw both adults and all three juvies together. Another first for me.

Ok, here are some of my favorite pictures from my morning watch. Enjoy!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Morning Falcon Watchers: Larry O, Dana and Carol P.

It had been a few days since I had seen Golden. He had been seen and heard on the Rfalconcam cameras multiple times yesterday afternoon, so I was hoping he’d be around this morning. I was not disappointed.

For the first hour or so, I only found Beauty and Dot.ca. I searched all over the downtown area with no luck finding Golden. So, I settled on the Court St Bridge to continue my morning watch.

After a few minutes, a falcon zipped through over the Court St Bridge, heading south. Pigeons took to the air in panicked flight, trying to escape the speedy huntress. One was not so lucky. Beauty snatched one up and headed back to the Blue Cross Arena. She landed on the roof and I heard the glorious call of a juvie falcon. Golden followed his mom and also landed on the roof. Both took off, I lost track of where Beauty headed with her meal.

Golden flew over to the Civic Ctr roof across the street from the Blue Cross Arena. I wasn’t sure where Beauty ended up. By the time I drove closer for a better view, Golden took off heading north. The only falcon in view, when I ended my morning watch, was Dot.ca on the south side of the OCSR.

After I left, Dana spotted both Beauty and Golden near Midtown, both with full crops. Obviously, Golden found Beauty and shared her meal.

Here are some pictures from my morning watch. Enjoy!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Needless to say, my heart was broken when I got the call to pick up Freyja. We’ve had our share of sadness over the years, but this one really hit me hard. Fly Free Beautiful Freyja. I will miss you, always.

For the last week, many of the Rochester Falcon Watchers have been visiting downtown Rochester and the ST location to keep an eye on our young falcons. Golden is getting a lot of attention from both Beauty and Dot.ca. His training is going extremely well. I’ve seen him chase pigeons, kestrels and Great Blue Herons. Nothing is safe from him. As for the ST juvies, there are three of them, two girls and a boy, they too are doing really well.

There is such a difference in what we see at both locations. Downtown, Golden is more of a loner, having no siblings to play with, he hangs out with Beauty and Dot.ca. While the ST juvies are usually playing with and chasing each other, with Billie & Beau watching form nearby.

I really wanted to share some of my favorite pictures from the past week of so. Hope you enjoy!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Watchers (during my watch): Dana, Larry O and Carol P.

7:00 – 10:00 am

Another hot, humid and steamy day. Again the temps are going up to 90 today. This is getting old. The good thing is it’s supposed to cool down soon, with much needed rain on the way.

It took me awhile to find the falcons this morning. The first falcon I found was Beauty on the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT). It didn’t take long for Golden to find Beauty’s hiding spot. He flew in and knocked her off. Both flew over me heading south. Soon after they left, Dot.ca flew out from inside the Frontier Communication Tower framework. He flew up to the white disk. I have to assume there was food up there.

I next found both Golden and Beauty on the Widows Walk (WW). For the majority of my watch, Golden remained there until he finally left, flying back towards the FCT. He ended up on the shorter of the two communication towers, where he moved in out of sight, probably for a nap.

No Freyja sighting today. We’ll keep looking.

We ended our watch at that time and made a quick visit at Seneca Towers, where Dana and I found Beau and one juvie in view.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from today’s watch. Lots of Golden Wings! Enjoy and stay cool!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Watchers (during my watch): Larry O and Carol P.

6:30 to 9:00 am

Hot, hot, hot! Another scorcher with temps up into the 90’s expected today. I decided to stay in the hole (aka Aqueduct St) where there was a lot of shade and a nice breeze. At least it was bearable there.

Thankfully, just after I parked my car, Golden showed up carrying food. He landed on the Wilder Bldg and made his way down to the SW corner. He played with his food for awhile, then cached it near the SW corner. He is such a busy young falcon. lol

Golden made his way back to the ladder and then took off, flying gracefully above me. I felt honored to be there to see just how well he is doing. He headed back towards the Times Square Bldg, where Dot.ca was prepping or eating food on the SE corner nook. This is a spot the adults will cache food.

Golden continued towards downtown where I lost sight of him as he flew directly into the sun over the Hyatt. He next showed up flying high above the Xerox Bldg.

Dot.ca finished with what he was doing and took off, clutching a small “package” of food. DC flew over me, heading east over the river. Not quite sure where he was taking this bit of food?

Beauty had spent most of the morning at the Powers nest box. Larry O joined me for a short while before heading out.

While he was there, a juvie (assumed to be Golden) came in vocalizing. He landed on the NE wing ledge and walked in out of sight. Probably for a nap. Beauty flew over from Powers, landing on the TSB nest box platform. After a few minutes, she walked in to enter the nest box.

I’m just going to say, that I have not given up on Freyja. I won’t for a long time. We have had miracles happen in past years when juvies had disappeared for awhile. I’m still hoping she’ll show up some day. 🙂

The heat was rising and all was quiet, so I ended my downtown watch. On the way home, I stopped to check out the ST juvies. I was just in time to see two juvies flying together over the river. One had a scrap of food and the other one wanted it. The chase was on. The 3rd juvie was eating. So happy to see Billie and Beau’s three juvies doing well.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from today’s watch. Enjoy and keep cool!

Now for the 2nd Part of my morning watch. At ST I found all three of Billie and Beau’s young ones. Two were flying high, chasing each other. One eating breakfast. I just love knowing that these juvies are Mariah & Kaver’s great grand kids!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Watchers (during my watch): Dana, Linda, Lisa, Larry O and Carol P. Bonus drive-by by Dan. 🙂

7:00 am to 10:00 am.

The heat and humidity is rising here in Rochester, NY today. It was almost 80 degrees (F) when I started driving around downtown at 7:00 am. My phone says it is 90 degrees as I type this at 1:35 pm. Temps are expected to go up well into the 90’s. I joined Dana on the Court St Bridge just in time to see some fantastic flying by Golden and Dot.ca. They were all over between the Times Square Bldg and Xerox. Golden is doing extremely well with Dot.ca as his teacher.

At one point, both Beauty and Dot.ca attempted a bowing session at the Powers nest box, but alas, Golden had other plans. As soon as his parents went into the nest box, Golden landed on the corner screaming. Dot.ca immediately flew out of the nest box and up to the NE wing ledge on the Times Square Bldg. Beauty will not be bullied by her little boy. She remained at the Powers Bldg with Golden.

After awhile, Dot.ca flew out to the Xerox Bldg and Beauty flew over to the Times Square Bldg and went into the nest box there for some shade. Golden went into the Powers nest box and then up to the roof where he was able to get some shade.

This is where they all were when the watch was ended at 10:00 pm. The heat was rising quickly and we all decided it was time to go.

No Freyja sightings this morning. We’ll keep looking for her.

I stopped at ST for a quick look on the way home. Pretty sure it was Beau that I saw attempting to hide from his and Billie’s three young ones (verified by Dana). Two of the three juvies were tearing up the sky above, screaming and talon tagging.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from my watch. Enjoy and keep cool!

Some pictures from the RFalconcam Cameras.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Watchers (during my watch): Dana, Lisa McK, Kathy O, Larry O & Carol P.

7:00 am – 1:00 pm

The watch started out with lots of rain and a bit of wind. For a couple hours we all drove around looking for the falcons. Golden was hanging out on the Powers Bldg along with Beauty and Dot.ca on and off.

By 10:00 am, I was the last watcher left. The rain finally stopped and the temperatures rose along with the wind. Some gusts were quite strong. Temps are expected to go up to 92 degrees (F) today (even more heat and humidity tomorrow). I decided to travel on foot today. I feel I see more and hear more than when I’m driving around.

At approx 10:50 am, both Beauty and Dot.ca were at the Powers nest box with Golden. I saw a falcon take off and fly towards OCSR. Then there were two falcons flying over OCSR. They headed towards the Times Square Bldg, then continued south. I assumed that it was Golden getting flying lessons from one of the adults. Imagine my surprise when I looked back at the Powers Bldg and both DC and Golden were still there. So, who was getting flight lessons from Beauty? There was absolutely no aggression. Sadly I was not able to get a picture with both falcons in it.

The rest of my watch was very quiet until Golden finally woke up and started to cry. He took off from Powers, flew over OCSR and ended up landing on the same ledge with Beauty. I believe he attempted to knock her off, but she wasn’t giving in this time. lol

Golden landed on the column above the nest box and then hopped down to the east side, center ledge, above the nest box. I saw him for a moment, until he walked further in on the ledge. That was the last time I saw him before ending my watch.

I just wanted to say, that I believe that it was Golden I was seeing throughout my watch, but there were some times when I was unable to see a band to verify that it was always him.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from today’s watch. Enjoy!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Watchers (during my watch): Kathy O, Lisa McK, Dana, Larry O and Carol P.

7:00 am to 1:00 pm

The temps are rising along with the humidity. Temps up into the high 80’s expected today.

The watchers have continued to search for any sign of Freyja. We all have hope that she is ok and that she will show herself to us soon. Neither Beauty or Dot.ca seem concerned, so we have to follow their lead and continue to look for her. After seeing her day before last, flying and landing so well, I have hope we will see her again.

So, today’s watch was all about our beautiful Golden. He is doing great, flying and landing with great confidence. Today he tried to knock Beauty off of the back extension of the Times Square Bldg, where she was preparing food, which he eventually got at the nest box area.

The Widows Walk has become a favorite spot for Golden. He just loves to watch the small flitty birds and pigeons landing and flying below him. Needless to say, I believe he knows that these are what he will eventually be hunting on his own.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from today’s watch. Enjoy!