Utica Peregrine Falcon Update for May 13, 2018 –
It was cool overnight with some fog. The fog served to reflect light from the city and that made it easier than normal to see what was happening in the nest box at night. The temperature got into the low 70’s by early afternoon. Sunny skies prevailed.
There was no overnight feeding last night, nor was there a last egg-hatch. Ares brought an entire American Woodcock to the long perch at 4 AM. Astrid did her best tightrope walking routine as she scrambled along the cross perch to take it from him. Finally she had it, but getting over the gap between the cross perch bars is always the issue. Woodcocks are very bottom heavy and that makes them difficult to handle. Astrid switched the bird from her beak to her talons and then back to her beak again. Finally she leaped with it in her mouth and just made it past the lip of the box. She didn’t start tearing into it though, nor did she attempt to feed it out to the chicks. She bit at it a little bit and seemed to be trying to brood it with the chicks. She knew this wasn’t going to work, so she took the woodcock and flew off to store it. We later saw it up on Hotel Utica. At 5:25, Ares brought a hunk of prey up to the nest and Astrid quickly fed it to the chicks. Twenty minutes later Ares came back to the box, but this time he wanted a turn brooding. Astrid scuttled his plan, and Ares went over the steeple for a while instead. At 7:52, Ares was back at the nest box with more food. This time it was another small and unrecognizable hunk. Astrid had left and so it was up to Ares to do the feeding. It was his first chance this season. He came in alongside the writhing chick pile and started trying to tear pieces of meat off the carcass. He was indeed feeding the nestlings, but his technique wasn’t quite up to standard. He was offering food mostly just to one of the chicks. He wasn’t chirping loudly as he fed like Astrid does, and so the chicks weren’t all responding. After a few minutes, Ares was done. He left and he took the meal with him. Astrid returned to the box at 8:27 and she began brooding the chicks again. Seven minutes later, Ares came to the box with the same prey he had before. Despite the begging calls of the hungry chicks beneath her, Astrid encouraged Ares to leave with the food again.
The pair switched at 10:11, and then Ares was with the chicks (and the egg) once again. He was doing a good job at brooding this time, but was relieved only twenty minutes later at 10:37. Just before 11 AM, Ares brought a small food item too the box. Astrid took it and dolled it out to the nestlings. A little while later, Astrid was getting annoyed with flies buzzing around in the box. She was following them with eyes and moving her head around drastically. It looked fairly ridiculous. At 11:45, both falcons took to the air. Astrid launched from the box and Ares from the State Building. We had no idea what they were up to. A few minutes later Ares came to the nest. At 11:51, Astrid was back with the chicks and brooding again.
Astrid left the nest again at 1:07. She perched on the State Building briefly and then returned to the chicks. At 2:25, Ares brought prey to the box and Astrid conducted another feeding. Ten minutes later she flew out with the leftovers. Ares came over in the meantime. The pair switched at 3:05, and Astrid took over brooding – although by this time the job involved much more shading, as the afternoon sun was flooded into the box. She was spreading her tail feathers and partially holding out her wings to create a canopy over the chicks. At 4:40, Ares came to relieve Astrid, but she wouldn’t leave. He stood alongside her for about five minutes before making his way back to the perch. And then at 5:23, Astrid just up and left the box and went over to the State Building. Ares came right over and began his own shading efforts. After 25 minutes, he moved out onto the perch and then left the box. Both parents were on the State Building for a few minutes and then Astrid returned to the nest. At 6:20, Astrid was getting cagey again. She hopped up onto the cross-perch and then went over to the west veranda and stood on that perch for a little while. We were very surprised at what happened next. Astrid was on her perch facing in towards the building and Ares came and tied to mate with her! Now who expected that? The pair hasn’t mated since the first week of April. Astrid didn’t allow the mating. She came back into the nest proper and returned to the chicks.
Astrid left the box again at 6:45. This time she went over to Hotel Utica for a little bit. Ares came over to stay with the chicks while Astrid took to the air again. She flew around the State Building checking Ares’ pantry on the upper ledges. She didn’t seem to find anything so she broke off from her circling pattern and flew towards the north. In less than a minute she was at the box with an unrecognizable hunk of leftovers. At that point she conducted a long feeding session. Happily all three chicks were vying well and even the smallest one was getting a good share of the food. Astrid was getting a meal too since she was eating all the reject pieces and there seemed to be a lot of those. At last check Astrid was on the nest and Ares was out of view. He had been on the State Building, but by 8:30, he was up.
Will the last egg hatch? Probably not at this point, but we try not to make too many categorical statements when it involves this nest and this pair!