Falcon Watching Boring? :-)

[Carol P.]

Boring?  Falcon Watching?  Nah.  If watching these falcons for hours on end, sitting, flying, sitting, eating, sitting, copulating, sitting, sitting, sitting & more sitting.  You get the idea.  Lots and lots of sleeping.  It is not all action.  Although that is mostly what would be reported in a Watch Report, if there was any.    

All the Rochester Watchers watch these birds out of love and respect and admiration.  Many Watchers do not report on the board, don't even have a computer.  Other Watchers will report for them if possible.  I & others report all our sightings.  I don't have much time to post official reports, like I used to and I'm really glad that MAK does.   

So who thinks that Falcon Watching is boring?  Not me!   

[margaret]

Boring?  Falcon Watching?  Nah.  If watching these falcons for hours on end, sitting, flying, sitting, eating, sitting, copulating, sitting, sitting, sitting & more sitting.  You get the idea.  Lots and lots of sleeping.  It is not all action.  Although that is mostly what would be reported in a Watch Report, if there was any.    

All the Rochester Watchers watch these birds out of love and respect and admiration.  Many Watchers do not report onIt the board, don't even have a computer.  Other Watchers will report for them if possible.  I & others report all our sightings.  I don't have much time to post official reports, like I used to and I'm really glad that MAK does.   

So who thinks that Falcon Watching is boring?  Not me!   

Carol, you and MAK, and Joyce and Brian and so many others are the mainstay of these reports.   Your reports are NEVER boring, and for all of us out here --- keep them coming.     

[valhalla]

Boring??  Rich and I freeze in our tracks to watch a hummer at the window, watch and care for Praying Mantis, drive around counting Osprey and Bald Eagles, and shriek with a Falcon in the back yard!  Boring only if you don't get it and I feel sorry for those that don't.

We view all of God's Creatures with wonder and awe!  Boring? I don't think so!

[Carol P.]

Here, here Janet!  When the Falcons are sitting and snoozing, there are so many things to Watch!  Never boring.   

[chlosmom]

i think falcons look so cute when they snooze---and cute is something when you are looking
at wild rators

[valhalla]

Here, here Janet!  When the Falcons are sitting and snoozing, there are so many things to Watch!  Never boring.   

Oh, put those other "things" in the mix and the entertainment doesn't stop - especially in urban areas or where people are gathered     The "things" you see!   

[jeanne]

OMG,  in years past, we have had some very INTERESTING sights to see when falcon watching was "quiet."

[Carol P.]

Here, here Janet!  When the Falcons are sitting and snoozing, there are so many things to Watch!  Never boring.  

Oh, put those other "things" in the mix and the entertainment doesn't stop - especially in urban areas or where people are gathered    The "things" you see!  

Oh, Janet, my friend.  You have no idea (well maybe you have! lol) the things we've seen while watching Falcons!  Things you CANNOT put in a Falcon Watch Report!  It's very interesting, ahem!  

[Donna]

And let's not forget the man MAK saw a few mornings doing his business next to the dumpsters!!! Now see, there's always something going on!!  Never a dull moment!

[MAK]

And let's not forget the man MAK saw a few mornings doing his business next to the dumpsters!!! Now see, there's always something going on!!  Never a dull moment!

 

[valhalla]

Oh, put those other "things" in the mix and the entertainment doesn't stop - especially in urban areas or where people are gathered    The "things" you see!  

Oh, Janet, my friend.  You have no idea (well maybe you have! lol) the things we've seen while watching Falcons!  Things you CANNOT put in a Falcon Watch Report!  It's very interesting, ahem!  

Oh, my understanding of the "things you see" is quite good!  For some, the world is your toilet AND that is where I stop!

[Carol P.]

And let's not forget the man MAK saw a few mornings doing his business next to the dumpsters!!! Now see, there's always something going on!!   Never a dull moment!

Donna - Your little smilies crack me up.  

Let's see, I've seen people doing their business many times. I've seen couples doing their business three times now (ask Dawn about the first time and Joyce and a whole bunch of Watchers the 2nd time, the 3rd time I was by myself).  I've seen homeless men sleeping under blankets of newspapers on cold mornings.   I've seen a young couple on a bench on the pedestrian bridge enjoying an evening together get covered from head to toe in bird poop as a Great Blue Heron flew overhead.  They never knew what caused their, ummm, problem; but the Watchers had seen the whole thing!

Oh, and I was questioned by the police after a robbery at ES&L (a bank at Kodak office).  The officers asked me if I had seen a young man with a dew rag and a bag of money run by.  I was there by myself on the pedestrian bridge, with my camera and binoculars.  I said to the officer, no, I think I would have noticed someone running down the bridge with a big bag of money and I would have taken his picture for you!  That got me a smile.

Then there was the man Dana and I found laying on the ground behind the building across the street from KO.  We really did think he might be dead because we couldn't see him breathing.  Dana was on her phone calling 911 while I approached him to see if he was ok.  As I got closer, he jerked (and so did I!) and turned and starting snoring softly.  Thank God!  The 911 operator promised to send a police officer immediately to check him out.  

That is one thing we were good at, keeping the pedestrian bridge and the surrounding area safe.  I don't know how many times we would see something going on that we didn't like.  All it took was for one of us to raise our camera and point it at them and poof!  they were gone!

Oh! and I've seen a movie being filmed on the gorge floor (The Alphabet Killer) and Kathy O and I were in a movie as an extra!  We had to sign a release.    and firemen repelling off the bridge to the ground below.  and big rocks falling off the gorge wall and hitting the water below, KA-BOOM! and a whole herd of deer skating across the ice covered river and icicles larger than houses (well maybe I exagerate) hanging off the gorge wall.  and we saved a whole family of Ducks, mom and her 10 tiny babies.

The good things far outweigh the bad.  The incredibly nice people that would approach us, people from all over the world and from home, and ask us what we were looking at made it all worthwhile.  I have made so many close, dear friends over my years of Falcon Watching, on this board and everywhere.  I am forever grateful for that.  

So, my answer is no, Falcon Watching is never boring for me.  

[Patti from Kentucky]

I remember on my first trip to Rochester (2004), on my first full day of falcon watching it was one of those smoking hot days (even I was hot) where the falcons are either so hot they don't move, or if they do take to the air, they ride the thermals into the atmosphere and quickly become tiny specs.  But I just knew that as soon as I left there would be an awesome display of talon tag, so, determined not to miss any opportunities, I stuck it out all day long, didn't take lunch or dinner breaks...ate energy bars and snacks and whatever the locals carried out to the bridge to share...and almost nothing happened all day!  Joyce spent a lot of the afternoon with me, so that helped!

I still enjoyed myself in spite of nothing happening, but I'm fairly good at just enjoying my own thoughts (or not thinking at all).

[Carol P.]

Patti - I remember the first time I met you.  I was at the east end of the pedestrian bridge and you were walking towards me from the west end.  I saw you and checked you out with my binoculars (they are so useful for so many things).  I just knew you were there to see the Falcons!  Gee, what was my first clue?  The binoculars, camera, backpack and a parka jacket on a nice warm morning.   

[valhalla]

I still think that the hard-core watchers should obtain credentials from RPD or Sheriff's Dept.  Or at least ascertain that most of the Dept knows who you are.