A full month out from liking egg laying time, Astrid and Ares have been increasingly active in and around the nest area. Flight displays by both partners are being witnessed (unfortunately, none of our 3 cameras are able to pick up their aerial gymnastics.) However, all courtship behavior taking place inside the box is being live streamed to this site. The nest box displays consist of the pair bowing to each other and engaging in calling and counter-calling. What’s most exciting to us is that for the first time we are able to hear these vocalizations!
Contributions to the Utica Peregrine Project have enabled us to purchase an outdoor microphone, which is now mounted inside the nestbox. We’re happy to report that the mic is working, but we have yet to figured out a way to reliably stream the audio on the site. Fortunately, videos posted on this website and on our Facebook page will now contain audio. Peregrine Falcons are very vocal birds and they produce a decent variety of calls and courtship time is one of their most vocal periods. Not having sound meant that we were missing an important part of their interactions.
Lately Ares has been bringing Astrid food offerings, which you could say is akin to taking her out to dinner. A few of these food handoffs have taken place inside the box and we’ve been able to record them for posting. Look for these on Facebook.