Fledge Watch – Carol Phillips – Sunday June 24 – 3:00 – 7:30 p.m.
I wasn’t the Official Watcher for this time, but since there wasn’t one, here’s what we saw.
There wasn’t very much activity during the hot afternoon. At first we were only able to spot three of the fledglings. All were on the tower, resting. The watchers took turns walking around the tower, trying to spot the missing bird. Finally, after a couple of hours, we found the missing Falcon. It was Linn. She had decided it was a nice time to lay flat on the 16th floor ledge of the Kodak Tower. Now she was awake and it was time to join her sisters.
Linn flew out and landed very nicely next to Ananta and Grace who were on top of the middle smoke stack just east of the tower. Sacajawea was on the tower just above Mariah, and Kaver was sitting up on the playpen railing, near the nest box.
Around 6:00 p.m., Mariah came off of the tower in a stoop. She flew low and fast between two buildings east of the tower. More Watchers had gathered for the evening watch and everyone was amazed to witness Mariah’s amazing stoop into the Genesee River Gorge. We watched her make a left turn, that should have been impossible, but not for Mariah.
The fledglings were whining/kakking, anticipating that dinner might soon be delivered. But, Mariah did not return and we did not see where she went.
As I was leaving around 7:30 p.m., Kaver was still up on the playpen railing. Ananta was on the tower, Linn and Grace were on top of the middle smoke stack and Sacajawea was on the catwalk, about half way down the southern smoke stack. That’s when I noticed a small falcon-shaped bird flying towards the top of the center smoke stack!
This smaller bird started to swoop on Linn and Grace, over and over again. You could actually see the two young Peregrine’s duck every time the smaller bird came too close. I quickly grabbed my binoculars and was able to identify the attacker. It was a Kestrel!
I quickly looked back at Kaver to see if he was going to react, and the answer was yes! Kaver dove off of the tower and did battle with the Kestrel. The Kestrel was more maneuverable than Kaver, but Kaver had speed and strength on his side.
It was over quickly. First Kaver was chasing the Kestrel and then the Kestrel was chasing Kaver back to the tower. Kaver landed on the lily’s (a decorative lightning rod at the top of the Kodak Tower) and the Kestrel flew off towards the south. It was an amazing way to end my Watch.
By that time there was quite a large crowd of Watchers gathered across the street from the Kodak Tower. The fledglings were in good hands.
Carol P.
