As I was driving East on I490 a little before noon for my very first Fledge Watch, I had quite a thrill when I noticed a car speeding past on my right with a license plate that read “Shakymon!” I didn’Â’t want to risk a speeding ticket trying to keep up, but when I parked at High Falls and walked onto the pedestrian bridge, there he was! After spending hours
everyday for weeks on his website, I was very excited to meet him!

We didnÂ’’t see any activity over the gorge or around the smokestacks (except for a mylar balloon floating across the gorge) so Shaky, Carol P. and I walked down Mill St. behind the red Rochester Plumbing Supply building. From that vantage point, the shady north side of the Kodak Tower is visible. Since the heat index was 100+ degrees, we thought maybe the girls would be trying to stay cool. Sure enough, we could see two falcons sitting on the shady north side on the 19th floor ledge.

A little after 12:30, the two birds took off and seemed to be just floating around on the wind near the top of the tower for awhile. They landed, then soon after a pair flew off in a game of “catch.” Susan C. and Larry had joined us and he identified the bird in the lead as Mariah. There was a lot of vocalization as one of the girls chased Mariah. Mariah would circle around and touch down on the cupola or one of the ledges for a second until her pursuer almost caught her, then sheÂ’’d take off again. Mariah must have had some food stashed somewhere, because after one of her touchdowns, she suddenly had meat in her talon. She dropped it and it was successfully snatched from the air by her daughter.

After a few minutes, another juvie joined them. One of them landed on the point of the NW rocket and balanced there for a few minutes with wings outspread, then she or another juvie landed on the top of the ball at the NE corner of the 20th floor and again balanced with outspread wings.

At 1:00 all the other watchers had to leave to get back to work. I guess an audience of one was not enough to inspire a performance, because I didnÂ’’t see much activity after that. At about 1:30, I walked up Mill Street past the Plumbing Supply building again (not a pleasant place to stand around since it was in direct sun and even the breeze was blocked by the building.) Suddenly one of the falcons came flying in at high speed from the SE, circled the tower and landed on the North ledge of the 20th floor. A juvie immediately and very loudly came running across the ledge out of the shadows to join her/him. A few minutes later another bird streaked in from the SE and landed on the tower.

I lost sight of all of them as they settled into the shadows. I was looking directly into the sun and it was hazy and hard to see. I walked all the way around the Kodak building thinking maybe I would be able to see better from another direction….wrong. When I got back to the shady area in front of Bru, 2 other watchers with a baby in a stroller were just leaving, but pointed out that one of the falcons (they thought maybe Kaver) was sitting on the NE ledge at the bottom of the cupola.

At about 2:15 I saw a brief flight near the NE corner of the 19th floor, so I headed back out into the sun on Mill St. and could see someone sitting on the 14th floor ledge on the part of the tower that juts out on the north side (the Philadelphia Tower.) I then walked over to State St. right in front of the East side of the tower and from there I could see another bird
perched on the ornate railing on the 19th floor. She was still there when I had to leave at 3:00.

I felt bad leaving the girls unattended. But hopefully the after-work watchers would be starting to arrive soon…in spite of the heat! IÂ’’m hoping for a cold spell by next week when IÂ’’m scheduled to be on watch again!

Sue M.

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