By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Brrr, a chilly start to the day at 39 (F) 4 (C) degrees but it rebounded quite nicely as bright sunshine took over

Click on the pics to see the full version

My watch started right out of the gate as I spotted a falcon on the northwest corner of my building, Seneca Towers. I thought it was Billie at first as it looked big, but when it took off  a minute later, it looked more like 99 to me. Pre-dawn light is tough on a camera.

When whoever it was didn’t return I set out for downtown finding Dot.Ca (DC) on the Mercury money bag (MMB), Beauty under the northeast wing of the Times Square building (TSB) and the moon beside it at 7:30am. I was watching from the Broad St. Bridge (BSB).

<Beauty   DC> 

I looked up to see that Beauty had left the building and when I looked back to the MMB, DC was also gone so I checked out the river. When I didn’t find anything of interest there I looked at Mercury again and voila Beauty was on the base and DC back on the money bag.  He keeps track of his mate very well when it’s meal time.

A couple minutes later the Beautyful one moved over on the green part of the base and I thought DC would fall off trying to watch her every move. He literally had to spread out his wings to catch himself when he lost his footing while turning to watch her.

<Click it  

They both gave a look my way-love it when they do that!

Around 8:15am Beauty flew back to the northeast wing ledge of the TSB and DC remained for a minute or two then flew to the southeast wing ledge to be closer to his girl. Ain’t love grand!?

<Click it

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I went for coffee and on my way to my car in the hole on Basin St. next to the Wilder building I spotted DC circling the TSB and Beauty was gone. When I reached my car I grabbed my camera and as I was watching DC after he landed on the northeast wing ledge, he started looking straight down. No wonder, Beauty had landed on the column below him and right above the nest box.

One of them was vocalizing as Beauty had a fascinator (a feather stuck on her) on her beak. This was around 8:45am-it didn’t stay this way for long as Beauty flew up under the northwest wing.

They both flew off about 10 minutes later and returned with Beauty landing under the northwest wing and DC under the northeast wing facing her. She flew off again right away followed by DC. He returned to the northeast wing and Beauty flew up to him, some vocalizing occurred, then DC took off and she landed in his spot. No falcons there or at Seneca Towers. I was smiling when I ended my watch at 9:30am! 🙂

Click on the links to see todays videos

http://youtu.be/G-2mavh3e8U

http://youtu.be/WcqacUSjBdA

http://youtu.be/xfyQ-zupOrc

http://youtu.be/f4iQ7zOlgPI

http://youtu.be/wwlWvcn8nc8

http://youtu.be/ULSLl8mOF9k

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was breezy sun and clouds this morning and a starting temperature of  54 (F) 12 (C)

Click on my pics to see the full version

I was lucky enough to start my watch as I stepped out the door from Seneca Towers with Billie and 99 (new name for Mr. Yellow Tape). She was on the northwest corner railing and he was on the west side railing.

Buffalo Billie, as I like to call her (she is from Buffalo), flew off and came to rest near her beau on the west side railing. After that they were both off and flying for the next 10-15 minutes landing on different spots on the roof and flying again together.

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There was vocalizing and I got the feeling they were really enjoying chasing each other around and above the building, I too was enjoying it.

They continued flying around together and eventually disappeared to the north and didn’t return.

Time to head downtown-as I was stopped at the traffic light at State St. and the inner loop I checked the north side of OCSR with my binoculars and spotted Dot.Ca (DC) on the top ibeam north corner. I pulled over on State St. across from the Rochester Plaza Hotel to observe our bright white friend.5 minutes later DC turned into the sun and suddenly he was our golden boy as he walked out of view to the east side of the ibeam.

As I made my way toward Times Square (TSB) I could see Beauty under the northeast wing. I went to Basin St. in the hole to watch and 3 minutes later she flew east out of view.

I then drove up to the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) where a surprise was waiting for me at 8am-DC was on the Mercury money bag (MMB) and the Beautyful one was on the base of Mercury.

Beauty stood there calmly but DC was definitely looking for a meal to fly by. They looked at each other and then DC spotted something and flew off into a stoop at first, then came out of it and flew over by the Radisson Hotel before flying to the TSB under the northeast wing.

Beauty remained on Mercury base until around 8:30am when she flew to a small ledge on the southeast corner of TSB briefly then off to the southeast side top ibeam of OCSR.

I left the bridge and went down to the hole on Basin St. to watch after Beauty left OCSR and flew to the TSB landing under the southeast wing across from DC. They stayed like this for about a half hour  then someone alarm called and they both took off to the NE out of view.

They returned soon after taking over the same ledges they had just flown from around 9am.

DC  

Beauty   

I left our downtown pair of Peregrine Falcons, checking Hawkeye and Seneca Falls with no sightings ending my watch at 9:30am. I also saw our Seneca Falls pair making for a big old smiley face! 🙂

Click on the links below to view a photo album and videos from todays watch

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqj8U

http://youtu.be/EjTjtirQOLw
http://youtu.be/4Tl2CrPkTs4
http://youtu.be/C29BB2lZe_g
http://youtu.be/ctQdhjABfYI
http://youtu.be/Upugcd-k00Q
http://youtu.be/ckuVC5h331w

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was mostly cloudy with a starting temperature of 58 (F) 14 (C)

Click on my pics to see the full version

I’m getting started later and later as it is still dark at 7am now. I found Billie on the southwest end of the building having herself some breakfast on the roof as I got to my spot on Seth Green Drive.

She finished up about 10 minutes later, did some feaking and walked down to the north west corner of the section of the roof she was on, then took flight at 7:39am. She looped around to the east side of the building and turned north flying out of sight.

I left for downtown when she didn’t return and found Dot.Ca (DC) eating his breakfast too. He was on the back part of the Times Square building (TSB) on the 6th column from the northwest corner.

DC finished up his meal and did some feaking (when they wipe their beak on the edge of wherever they are perched). A minute later at 9:18am Beauty came flying in from the north-DC flew off and she took his spot while he flew over to the northwest corner of the Widows Walk (WW) railing.

The Beautyful one stayed a minute then flew up to the northeast wing ledge. In the mean time DC moved over to the west side of the WW railing before flying off.

DC came flying in to join Beauty under the wing-there was vocalizing and Beauty was bowing but DC only stood there. Beauty then took flight,  and at the time I thought I saw a tiny bit of food in her beak but my pics don’t show it. She had checked out where he had been eating and now I believe he was there to check out if she had food as well. These two are very comical when it comes to food!

DC moved right over after she left and was looking around where Beauty had been, he then settled down for a while. Every so often DC would look on the ledge turn around and settle and repeat it almost like he was tanning himself and trying to do it evenly. I’m sure it had more to do with heating his body evenly with the suns rays that peaked thru the clouds on and off.

DC also did a little scratching and stretching and of course he pooped! I shared space with him for almost an hour before leaving to look for Beauty.

I wasn’t able to find our girl so I left for home checking Hawkeye, where I stopped to video tape the lower falls before heading to Seneca Towers. There were no falcons to be seen at either location and so I ended my watch with a smile at 10:10am! 🙂

lick on the links below to check out the videos from my morning watch
http://youtu.be/Tb84gxIOgVM

http://youtu.be/MKNIubdyfJo

http://youtu.be/UQccJKbDmJI

http://youtu.be/5h42U_GIjhw

http://youtu.be/j0YlUd7aNmI

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I wasn’t able to stay out to long today, but I wanted to see if I could find Dot.ca since he was not seen this morning.  From the Broad St Bridge, I could see a falcon on the Times Square Bldg on the north east wing ledge.  It wasn’t until I had parked down on Aqueduct St aka “the hole” that I saw TWO falcons up there.  Both Beauty and Dot.ca were sitting side by side.

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Before I left, Dot.ca went into hunt mode.  He took off, first heading towards the OCSR and then back to the northwest wing ledge.  After a few moments, he again took off, this time heading south.  When I ended my watch, he had not returned, but Beauty remained on the northeast wing ledge preening.

I’ve been seeing them together a lot lately.  Here are a couple of pics from my Saturday afternoon watch.  Both Beauty (right) and Dot.ca (left) were on the top Ibeam of the OCSR.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

This morning started out overcast and breezy with scattered showers and a temperature of 48 (F) 9 (C)

Click on the pics to see the full version

When I first left Seneca Towers this morning I didn’t see any falcons- I forgot something and had to go back and when I got there I saw a falcon on the northwest corner railing. I believe it was Mr. Yellow Tape-he took off while I tweeted out my findings.

So I continued on to downtown where I found Beauty under the northeast wing of Times Square (TSB).  She had her back to me as I was parked on Basin St. next to the Wilder building  in the hole, but when she turned her head I knew it was her.

She appeared to be nibbling on something and the proof came when she turned around to feak on the ledge edge.

She stood there showing herself for a brief time before turning around to show her back once again. It started to rain lightly.

Around 8:12am the Beautyful one shook the rain water off and flew east.

I made the trip around downtown checking all the usual spots but didn’t find her or Dot.Ca (DC) until I went to Bragdon Place next to the Radisson Hotel to check the OCSR elevator shaft. Nobody in there but I did spot Beauty next to it on the top ibeam with her head tucked into her wing sleeping.

I stayed with Beauty a while then looked for DC before leaving downtown around 9:45am. I had to run a couple errands before going home and when I got there at Seneca Towers I spotted Mr. Yellow Tape on the north end windows-top ledge west side. A minute later he started vocalizing and let me know that Billie was flying in to join him-she landed on the east side across from him.

<Him  Her>

Buffalo Billie had food in her crop and spent the whole time perched and resting but the mister was alert and looking everywhere for a food source. The only thing he moved was his head and would not raise his left leg to show me his band.

<Her    Him>

I started out on the Seneca Towers property and ended up on the other side of the chain link fence by the Veterans Memorial Bridge. They have a nice big American Flag and a big stone monument there, so I had to take a pic of them.

I was starting to wonder if our unidentified male would ever fly off or raise his leg so I could get an ID.I hung out a bit longer and watched them closely.

Just as I was about to pack it in Billie flew off and he went right after her. Darn, the take off shot wasn’t clear enough but they came back and Mr. Yellow Tape showed me his leg before settling back in his corner on the top window ledge. Success-although they are not the clearest of pics after cropping them so much you can absolutely make out 99/BA.

The B wasn’t showing completely but the next pics show it quite clearly.

After looking on a list of Rochester Falcons known to be alive I found him only he has no name and he was gendered a female at banding.
Yellow female   99/BA B/G   yellow   May-2013   Rochester, NY

He came from an undisclosed location near Rochester as requested by the DEC  because it is an unsecured site and we don’t want any harm to come to any future birds there. So it looks like we’ll be having another naming contest folks! We can all smile now for knowing who Billie’s beau is here at the Seneca Towers site! 🙂

Click on the links below to see todays videos
http://youtu.be/NhSeENGQTFY

http://youtu.be/1fd0dII94QE

http://youtu.be/NAzCKJPbaPk

http://youtu.be/5vuxPNOeJ0M

I just wanted to share a video that I put together today. This is dedicated to those who venture outside with their binoculars and cameras in hand and report what they see and hear to sods like me who seem to be getting out a little less every year. Hopefully, this brings you memories of another wonderful year in Rochester. As another season draws to a close, I want to thank you for your reports, tweets, posts, dedication and service.

Lou

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

A cold start this morning with clouds and sun and a starting temperature of 39 (F) 4 (C)

Click on the pics to see the full version

Well, for the first time in many days I say no falcons on my Seneca Towers building when I left for my morning watch. I arrived downtown around 7:20am finding Beauty under the northeast wing of the Times Square building (TSB). I parked on Exchange Blvd. in front of the Blue Cross Arena for the best view of her.

10 minutes later Dot.Ca (DC) flew in and buzzed by Beauty like a flash, making her duck-he flew over to the southeast wing ledge and landed. My best guess is that he went by her so close like that to see if she had food.

Unfortunately, his back was to me and if I had moved to another location they both would have had their backs to me so I stayed put-it worked out good because he left after a few minutes while I was changing the battery in my camera. The Beautyful one moved over showing herself better and did a little preening and feather plucking-she’s still not quite done molting.

I left her just before 8am and came across his whiteness, DC, on the northeast corner of the Kodak Office launchpad. He was looking hard for breakfast-there was something below him he was especially intrigued with and I thought he was going to go after it but didn’t.

DC started preening and plucking feathers as he is still not done molting either. I was parked on State St. right below the tower instead of on Mill St. where I usually go. It got me that much closer to him.

At just about 8:15am DC pooped and got set to fly off very fast to the south toward Times Square and I followed right behind him.

When I caught up with DC he was on the Mercury money bag and Beauty was below on the base. My guess is that she flew from Times Square and he thought she was going after food and just had to check it out. lol I parked in the hole parking lot to see both of them-unfortunately the back lighting was not good making for dark photos.

Around 8:45am DC flew over to the northeast wing ledge on Times Square and Beauty followed right behind him. As she came up to land he flew off and she took his place as he ended up on the top ibeam of OCSR near the south corner.

I went to get coffee and DC left while I was gone-I left Beauty on Times Square and found DC back on the northeast corner of the Kodak Office launchpad.

I didn’t stay too long before leaving for home-I checked Hawkeye and Seneca Towers but came up empty! I ended my watch at 10am after sharing space with Beauty and DC, who left a smile on my face as they always do! 🙂

Click on the links below to view todays videos

http://youtu.be/KQboBZi6wvI

http://youtu.be/GrUm9CglEAk

http://youtu.be/5CLssvMT4Yc

http://youtu.be/jfVw0w-i4Os

http://youtu.be/ZKKxx2Oom7w

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

I’d say fall has arrived here in Western New York as a cold front dropped some rain and temperatures with a strong wind out of the west. The starting temperature this morning at 6:45am was 59 (F) 15 (C) -we’re heading down, as of right now at 3pm it is  55 (F) 13 (C)

Click on my pics to see the full version

As I was leaving my parking lot at Seneca Towers I saw Billie fly off the top window ledge on the south end of the building. When I got to my spot at the beginning of the visitor parking where I can see the south and west sides of the building thru an opening in the trees, I spotted her on the north side roof railing.

I wasn’t sure it was her because the darkness of the dawn sky would not allow for a clear picture. After getting my pics on the large computer screen I could see that there was no yellow tape on the right leg band, when she ran over to the northwest corner and showed some leg when she flew off to the south a couple minutes later.

As I had to make it a quick watch this morning I couldn’t stay with her as she flew back and landed on the north side railing again. It started to rain lightly as I left for downtown. On my way down St. Paul St. I spotted a falcon (looked small-maybe Mr. Yellow Tape) flying from the east side of the river by me and crossing to the west side near Lake Tower Apartments on Lake Ave. From the Andrews St. bridge I spotted a falcon on the base of Mercury around 8am, so I whipped down to the Broad St. bridge to see who it was-Beauty.

From the north side of the bridge I watched a bunch of pigeons fly out from under it and go over to their hiding spot below the Rochester Convention Center. I wasn’t the only one who watched them and the next lone pigeon that came out to join his friends got hit by a stooping falcon named Beauty. She didn’t hit it very hard and it escaped her clutches as it flew east. The Beautyful one circled above the river then went back behind the Thomson Reuters building and landed back on the base of Mercury.

I stayed to share space with Beauty until about 8:30am as she continued to look for breakfast to present itself.

Larry tweeted that he was on the other end of the bridge-I looked to see him and his dog Harold. I had to end my watch as I had a busy morning ahead but I drove down to say hi and bye before leaving. It’s a rarity to see other watchers out so early, especially in the off season, so I was happy to see them. I left downtown at 8:30am with a smile as I saw Rochester’s 2 female falcons and 2 of its male falcon watchers! 🙂

Click on the links below to see just a couple videos from todays watch
http://youtu.be/DY_zwHfRl0o

http://youtu.be/ep4WlGipQr8

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

When I started my watch at 4:30 pm, it was 72 degrees (F) with high winds and sunshine.  When I ended my watch at 5:30 pm, the temp had dropped to 68 degrees, it was windy, cloudy and lightly raining.  Tomorrow will be much cooler than the temperatures of the past week, with high temps in the 50’s.

My first stop when I arrive downtown is to always check out the Kodak Tower. Before arriving, I received the following tweet from MAK, “Rich from Federal building reports 2 sightings in the last hour over Kodak Office, Main & State St.”  It wasn’t until I got to the east side of the K-Tower that I 1st spotted Beauty on the east side launchpad and a few minutes later, Dot.ca on the 20th floor or letter level.

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It was really windy. I never tire of seeing these beautiful creatures go into a high speed stoop, especially with a high wind boost! Dot.ca took off and almost immediately tucked his wings back.  He was like a missile as he stooped over me, heading north.  He swooped over the metal frame shell of a building and a cloud of Starlings rose up after he passed over.  Dot.ca dove over and over again on the area the Starlings had come from and then gained altitude, flying east over the river and then turning south. I lost sight of him when he flew behind the RG&E Beebee plant.

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I turned around to watch Beauty, who remained on the launchpad.  I’m sure she was watching Dot.ca from up there.  After a few moments, as I was taking pictures of Beauty, I saw her crouch down like a cat.  Sure enough, she was reacting to Dot.ca’s return.  He landed near her on the northeast corner of the launch pad.

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They both relaxed and remained near each other, until Dot.ca again took off.  Joyce had joined me and tweeted “Down the street from CP, I saw DC chase a bird then came around and flew high to the north over gorge, then I lost him in clouds”. Beauty stayed where she was for a little while longer.

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The clouds were moving in and it started to lightly rain.  At a little after 5:00 pm, Beauty took off and flew around the south side of the K-Tower.  Neither Joyce or I saw where she ended up.  We drove around the tower looking for her, but never did find her.  Joyce had to head out and I drove around trying to find falcons.  I only found one, with its back to me on the north side of OCSR top I-Beam.  It was raining harder now and I could not verify if it was Beauty or Dot.ca.  I was unable to find a 2nd falcon.

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At 5:30 pm, it was time to end my watch.  All was peaceful and quiet.  On my way home, I drove down to the lake to check the Russell Station, where Dana and I had seen the unbanded juvie last weekend.  Luck was with me.  I spotted a falcon on the top catwalk of the west stack.

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It was too far a distance and the lighting was bad, so I could not positively say this was the juvie or not.  But I do believe it was. The falcon took off and hovered over the east end of the building and then lower, where I could no longer see it.  It then reappeared on the lower catwalk of the west stack.  Now it was really time for me to end my watch!  Goodnight everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

It was probably the last nice morning weather wise for a while as a cold front is working its way into the area as I write this. It will drop temperatures 10-20 degrees. Today was sunny with blue skies and windy conditions-starting temperature was 56 (F) 13 (C)

Click on the pics to see the full version

As I got my car turned around to check Seneca Towers I spotted 2 falcons fly together to the west side roof railing. They took off almost immediately and flew around to the south end of the building with one of them hovering above the roof antenna on that end briefly. The 2 of them flew playfully above the building and disappeared to the northwest.

I left for downtown and pulled over on the south side of the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) as I spotted a falcon (most likely Beauty) on one of the northeast corners of Bausch & Lomb.  As soon as I stopped she flew off and was riding the therms above Xerox around 7:30am-she flew back and forth over B&L and Xerox 2 or 3 times then disappeared to the east. I checked around town a couple times with no luck so I checked the river-found the Great Egret and  Great Blue Heron from the Court St. Bridge.

The egret was below the south side of the BSB and the heron was under the north side of BSB. The heron flew to the south side and moved around to a couple different spots so I drove over to the BSB and also found a Black-crowned Night Heron down below me.

In my travels I ran into DebbieH near He’s Chinese and had a quick chat as she had to get to work. I went to the City Hall parking lot to check out the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) and found the Beautyful one on the northeast cube with her back to me. I went down in front of the Sister Cities garage on Fitzhugh St. to watch her from the front.

At first she was preening, but it turned into a look around the area perch for Beauty and less than 5 minutes later she leisurely flew southeast out of view.

I never saw another falcon after that as I checked downtown one more time before heading home to Seneca Towers. No falcons were present there or at Hawkeye but that didn’t stop me from smiling as I ended my watch at 9:45am. 🙂

Click on the links below to view todays videos
http://youtu.be/7qi1iDXgpTI

http://youtu.be/QQ8XcQOnisc

http://youtu.be/4zxYwPJfRUQ

http://youtu.be/8sdEfezzvYs

http://youtu.be/rBm9ci44fVk

http://youtu.be/4YAUZ0a5-fk