Falcon Flights, Window Washing, Road Repair

It doesn't look like Sabrina's quite ready to take off, but there were plenty of watchers out this morning just in case she decided to take the leap. Among the morning's attendants were Dan Stiehler, Dana & Lou, Lisa McKeown, Brad Carney, Jeanne, Carol. We had a number of new watchers as well, including Roger & Marian, Kelley, and several others whose names I have unfortunately forgotten. I arrived shortly after 7:00, but the only flying at that time came from a noisy little fledgling American Kestrel (Falco sparverius). Shooting into the morning light, the best I could do was a smudgy sort of sillhouette as he flapped madly near the High Falls smokestack:
     

We were taken aback to see that a number of people had gone outside on the 19^th floor, which sent Mariah into DefCon 2. She swooped and dove on the intruders, though she kept a distance and wasn't nearly as aggressive as she was on Banding Day. Carol circled around to the north side of the building to see if she could divine their intentions. Upon her return she reported that they were cleaning the windows of the offices and conference rooms:


Now, the 19^th floor is home to all of the top level executives at Kodak, and doubtless they need to have clean windows, but the timing of the job, so close to fledging, could have been better thought out in this writer's opinion. In their favor, they worked quickly and didn't linger outside once they were finished. Still, the energy Mariah expended in her sorties could have been better directed toward hunting. As far as I'm concerned it was needless provocation and poor planning on someone's part.

Fortunately, no sooner had the cleaning crew left than Mariah and Kaver renewed their aerial tuition while their pupils looked on:
     

Kaver left for a time only to return bearing prey, which he promptly deposited in front of the waiting Sabrina:
     

When she had eaten her fill, Mariah dropped down into the nestbox to take the remainder for herself. Afterward, she and Kaver were back in the sky. Here's one of the many times they flew close together:


Our watching was made somewhat unpleasant by the incessant sound of jackhammers tearing into asphalt. State Street is undergoing road maintenance and the current locus of attention is right outside of the Kodak office:
     
For some reason I'm reminded of overgrown Oompa Loompas...

The cacophany below didn't appear to bother the falcons, though. Here's Sabrina fanning on the east side of the playpen while Kaver sits nearby:


One of the highlights of the morning was seeing Aura take her first step out of the nestbox. To the perch rail she went, much to our shouted delight:
     

I left around 10:00 so that I could get home and walk Tessa and Quest before the day turned too oppressive. On my way out I spied this amorous pair in flagrante delicto. I haven't a clue as to what sort of birds these are. I thought perhaps a grossbeak of some kind, or maybe a finch?
     
UPDATE! Thanks to Helen for the ID of English Sparrow (Passer domesticus)!

Though we didn't get to see any of the eyases take off, the flying from the adults was enough to keep us engaged. Perhaps we'll see some fledging tomorrow. I'll be back out in the morning to keep an eye on things.