There were no overnight feedings last night, which seems to be the new trend. Both parents were in hunting mode in the early morning, but nothing was brought back to the box until 7:47 AM ish, when Ares came in with what looked to be a Mourning Dove. This is the latest breakfast we’ve seen this season. All the nestlings promptly lined up for this feeding since it had been so long in coming. Another feeding took place at 9:54. Shortly after, the adult falcons were heard giving alarm calls before darting out of the canyon. It was possible that there was an intruder, but none could be confirmed. It’s true that as the chicks develop and get closer to fledging, the parents (especially Astrid) become more sensitive regarding the presence of any potential predator in the territory. For the balance of the morning, A & A continued to be on edge and were missing from view for extended periods of time. At 12:14, Ares came to the box with a Black-billed Cuckoo. He started to feed, but one of the chicks latched onto it with its talons and tried to pull it away! Ares was in the midst of tugging it back when Astrid appeared at the box. Instead of giving the prey to his mate so she could conduct the feeding, Ares flew away with it and stored it on the State Building. At 12:17, Astrid began doing a lot of screeching. We thought that maybe she wanted Ares to come back with the food, but it wasn’t happening. Astrid seemed to be upset, but we weren’t sure why. Was there a crane or a cherry-picker being operated in the canyon? Those things annoy the heck out of her. Perhaps she’s upset with Ares for putting that last meal away prematurely. Regardless, Ares did bring more food at 1:00. He fed the young for a little while, and then, just like before, one of the chicks grabbed the food away from him. At 2:55 PM, another feeding took place. Ares brought in what looked like another cuckoo and Astrid served it to the nestlings. Again in the late afternoon, the falcon pair may have been alarmed by intruders or some equipment in the canyon. However, it was possible that they were only out on a prey sortie. In the mid-morning some fierce rain storms skirted the area – some where to the south of Downtown and some to the north. The wind picked up at 4:30 ish and some rain began pelting the canyon. We expected one of the parent falcons to swoop in to guard the nest box, but they didn’t. Apparently A & A thought the chicks were safe enough on their own in the box; or, they somehow knew the storm wasn’t going to amount to much. At 5:20 PM, the young falcons received a feeding. Ares brought the meal in and Astrid ripped it up and served it. All the chicks got in line as they had done with the first meal of the day.
The Utica Peregrine Falcon Project sponsored a Falcon watch on Wednesday night. The weather was perfect. We saw A & A in the canyon for most of the evening. At around 7:20 PM, when the pair failed to catch any fresh prey, we watched Ares fly over to his “pantry” on the State Building and pull out a stored cuckoo. This he brought over to the nest box. He passed it to Astrid and she did the feeding. A little later on, Astrid went over to the hotel and had a drink from one of the large puddles on the lower ledge of the building. At 8:30, we thought the show was over; we were wrapping up the watch and heading to our cars. Suddenly Ares left his perch on the State Building and flew back and forth once before the east face of the ADK Bank Building. He stirred up a pigeon and then drove it south toward Elizabeth Street and towards Astrid. She tore after it, but didn’t secure it. After that, it was getting dark, but the pair didn’t seem to be finished for the night. Astrid perched on the ledge of the hotel – watching for prey, and Ares sailed off to the north and possibly went hunting near the river. At 9:45, Astrid returned to the nest box just to do a quick check. After she left we thought, finally, that was it for the night. And then at 9:56 PM, Astrid piled into the box with a clunk – carrying a large prey item in her talons. It was either a Pigeon or a Woodcock – hard to tell in the dark. A long feeding followed. Thanks to all that attended tonight’s falcon watch. It was a good one!
