Carol P's Blast from the Past Falcon Watch Reports

[PatriciaRose]

Great story! Thanks for sharing!

[valhalla]

Too bad no one has a picture of her expression, which I'm certain was priceless!

[Carol P.]

Here is a report from 6/29/10, the day we "lost" Callidora and she literally became a jail bird!

Callidora Takes Being a Jail Bird to an Extreme! - 6/29/10
Rochester Falcon Watcher: Carol P.

What a day!  I’m not even going to mention Watcher names.  I think every Watcher that could make it downtown came to help search for Callidora, even two ladies from Watertown!  :-)  Even the Falconcam team held their meeting near the Times Square Bldg.  Everyone wanted to help.  In all the years I’ve been a Rochester Falcon Watcher, we’ve never lost a bird during fledging, and it wasn’t going to happen now!

As both Larry O and Jim P reported, at 12:30, Callidora took flight from the Talesca bldg aka the Four Corners bldg.  All day, Beauty had been bothered by workers on a building just north of the Times Square bldg (TSB).  They couldn’t have chosen a worse day to start working on the roof of this building with Callidora just fledged.

When Callidora took off, she headed towards the TSB, gaining altitude.  She landed on the metal grid work at the top of the TSB, clinging like a bat.  She never did land on a ledge.  When she let go, she flung out her wings and headed towards the river and then swung around the Blue Cross Arena aka War Memorial.  Her intentions were good, she really did try to return to the TSB, but she was tired.  We lost her somewhere over the Civic Center.

Watchers spread out and attempted to find her with no luck.  All afternoon Watchers began to gather.  Everyone was really concerned for Callidora’s safety.  I think most of us walked a few miles today, checking building roofs, getting inside taller buildings to check the roofs below.  No one was able to find her and it was starting to get dark.

Around 8:30 pm, Larry decided to take one more walk around the area.  With Cleo by his side, he headed west down Broad St, crossing Exchange St.  At the same time I heard him yell something out from across the street, I noticed that Beauty was skimming the tops of the buildings in the area that we thought Callidora had landed.  I quickly caught up with Larry and Cleo and we continued to walk west.  Other Watchers joined us, walking and in cars.  By this time Beauty had continued west and we thought maybe she had been on a hunt and nothing else.

Larry and Cleo were first around the the corner on N Fitzhugh, now heading south.  The rest of us were hanging back, checking the buildings.  This is when Larry yelled out, “I HAVE CALLIDORA!â€�  â€œI SEE A RED BAND!â€�  We all ran towards Larry’s position and one by one we saw what he saw.  A beautiful brown just fledged juvenile name Callidora!  and Beauty was flying just above her!

The Rochester Falcon Watchers arrived, gathering in the dark on the corner of N Fitzhugh and a no-name one-way street, next to a very old, beautiful church.  She was on the roof of the Monroe County Jail on the north side, not very far from the TSB.

We were all so relieved.  WooHoo’s! echoed through the night.  Both Larry and Cleo got lots of hugs tonite.  :-)

For 8 hours we had lost our wayward traveler.  But now she was safe and we were happy.  I had drained 3 camera batteries tonite and didn’t have even enough power to take one picture of Callidora.  But, it didn’t matter.  My long lens friends were clicking away.  There will be plenty of pictures for everyone to see.

It was a long day of Falcon Watching, but it was all worth while.  My thanks to everyone that made it out to help find Callidora.  What a great group you are.  and special thanks to Larry O and Cleo.  We can all sleep easier knowing that she is safe.

When I left, Jemison was safely on top of the TSB and Beauty was on Mercury’s foot.  I’m not sure where Archer was.  What a wonderful way to end this day.

[valhalla]

I remember this!  Great "history" story!   

[Carol P.]

I remember this!  Great "history" story!   

 

[Kris G.]

I remember that day well.  Although not there in person, we followed the saga as it was happening and were so relieved that Larry had finally found her that night. So sad to know she's no longer flying the skies but she brought so many smiles to us who watched her daily antics with Jemison.  Her pre-fledge pacing and first flight off the nest box was one of the funniest things I've ever seen! 

[patsy6]

Wow, what a great description of what must have been a very tense and exhausting day! 

[MAK]

I remember that day well-we did a lot of walking to find Calidora. It was such a relief when Larry reported that he found her-there were lots of high fives and cheering. It took the rest of us a long time, even with Larry coaching us to find her because she blended in so well. I have much respect for Larry to have spotted Cali up on that jail roof. 

[Carol P.]

On such a cold day, it's time to post a falcon watch from a HOT July day.  It was 90 degrees and Callidora had finally found the Gorge........

Callidora Finally Discovers the Gorge - 7/28/10

It was a very warm day in Rochester, NY today, high near 90 degrees (F).  After leaving work at 3:30 pm, I went in search of Callidora, Beauty and Archer.  Especially Callidora, because she hadn’t been seen that morning.

I quickly found Archer and Beauty together on the top I-Beam, south side of the Old Changing Scenes Restaurant.  A quick drive around to the north side and there was Callidora on the top I-Beam on the north side.  Yay all three!  I decided to settle on the Andrew St. Bridge to keep an eye on Callidora.

At approximately 4:30 pm, Callidora took off flying north over my car, heading for the gorge.  I grabbed my binoculars and saw that the brewery pigeons were up! and Callidora was calmly flying in their midst.  I jumped into my car and got myself over to the east end of the pedestrian bridge as quickly as I could.  I was so afraid that I would miss her!

I parked my car, grabbed my camera and binoculars and made my way out onto the pedestrian bridge.  Callidora was still flying above the Genesee Brewery, but she was heading north, down the river.  Drats!  Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait very long for her return.  For about 15 mins, she entertained me, chasing pigeons, diving on gulls, swooping down the gorge wall, over Skye’s bldg.  It was just like it used to be with Mariah and Kaver’s fledglings.  This is what I had been waiting for.  I quickly texted out that she was in the gorge, but no one was able to join me.  Here’s just a little bit of what I saw.

Callidora Discovers the Genesee River Gorge - 7/28/10

Callidora eventually headed back towards the city (south), flying over the river and the buildings along the way.  She chased pigeons and anything else that flew into her path.  Eventually she landed very low on the Frontier communication tower.

Later in the evening, I was joined by MAK, Dana and Lou.  Before it started to rain, we had the pleasure of watching Callidora, Beauty and Archer flying together over Midtown, HSBC and Xerox.  Callidora was very vocal as she chased her parents around the area.  Just as it started to rain heavily, all three left the area, heading west.

I said my goodbyes and did a quick check of the area on the way home.  I found one falcon on the top I-beam of the old Changing Scenes Restaurant, south side.

I’m so glad that Callidora finally discovered the wonders of the gorge that so many fledglings before her enjoyed.  I really hope it won’t be her last visit and that other Watchers will be able to see her gracefully fly above the High Falls.

[jeanne]

 

I love this, Carol!!!  I like to think that somewhere in the heavens this baby is flying free like this. 

[Carol P.]

I love this, Carol!!!  I like to think that somewhere in the heavens this baby is flying free like this. 

Me too Jeanne.  She beat the odds and survived her first year.  Now she is flying free with all the others that we've lost over the years.   

[patsy6]

And she's showing her sister Voyager the way.   

[valhalla]

I also remember this report.  Callidora was my birthday egg....

[Carol P.]

Here's a different type of report from the blast from the past files.......The first report of Quest's travels after she had not been seen in Rochester for a week.  Quite amazing!   

Quest's Journey Begins!  8/12/08

Now that sightings of the fledglings are getting to be few and far between, we thought we’d try to get some more use out of the FledgeWatch Blog.  And what better use could we put it to than keeping track of Quest’s travels?  So we’ve decided that the FledgeWatch Blog will be the place where we’ll update you on her movements.

We’re happy to report that Quest’s transmitter is sending good data on it’s pre-programmed schedule.  Quest hasn’t been seen in the Rochester area in more than a week.  So we were quite surprised to receive some data points that placed her well north of Rochester.  In fact, our most recent locations for her include the state of Maine and most recently, just over the border in Quebec, Canada!

This is certainly great news!  To have traveled that far, Quest is most certainly hunting on her own, so she seems to be off to a good start!  Of course, as we’ve often mentioned, life for a first year Peregrine is hard, so these early successes aren’t necessarily an indication of her long term success.  But the early news is promising.

We hope to begin publishing maps of her travels very soon.  We’re working on automating the data feeds to cut down on the amount of manual analysis that needs to be done with each set of received data.  So keep watching these pages for more news!

-Jess

[Vandrefalk]

Haven't been here in a long time -- like so many of us, life gets busy.  Just want to say I miss all of you and the old days of the Kodak board and kfalconcam.  But I'm so glad you have all kept this up and I do remember to check now and then this time of year.  Still miss Mariah and Kaver, but know Beauty and DotCa have captured your hearts as well!
Vandrefalk