Utica Peregrine Falcon Update for May 17, 2018 –
Astrid was with the brood all night as expected. Ares brought food at 12:37 AM and then at 2:48 – both times Astrid conducted the feeding. Astrid left the box at 5:20 and went over to the State Building. At that point Ares hadn’t been seen for a while. At 5:30, both falcons converged on the box. Ares had prey and Astrid was scrambling over the cross-perch to take it from him. They dropped the food during the transfer and it fell toward the pavement. Both parents went down after it. After a minute of not seeing either falcon, Astrid showed up at the box again. She didn’t have the prey. At 5:37, they were both together on Hotel Utica. Ares had apparently recovered the prey and he did a safe handoff to Astrid on the hotel’s wide ledge. Astrid took it over to the nest and proceeded to feed the chicks. Did Ares have to go all the way to the sidewalk or road to pick up the lost prey or did he catch it on the way down. We don’t know. At 5:51, the nestlings had stopped feeding; they were full. Astrid took the leftovers away and stored them. We noticed that during the feeding the smallest chick edged right in there between its siblings and made sure it got its share.
Ares had taken a perch on the steeple at 5:45, and he stayed there for quite a while; sometimes apparently snoozing. At just after nine o’clock, Ares flew into action again and likely was off hunting. At 9:17, Astrid left the box; Ares arrived on the long-perch and seemed prepared to take over nest duty, but then Astrid returned and he left. She brooded the clutch until about 9:21 and then she casually flew off. She flew out over Genesee Street and to the west face of the State Building. Of course that’s were Ares’ pantry is. She few up to a west face ledge, withdrew some food and then zipped back to the box. She then carried out a feeding. When she was finished with the feeding she went out onto the perch. Ares began screeching from his perch on the steeple. We weren’t sure why.
At 11:15, Ares brought prey up to the nest again, but this time he went over to the east veranda to do the handoff. Astrid met him over there, took the food and flew off with it. A minute later she came back to the nest and began feeding the chicks. Fifteen minutes after that, Astrid left the box and flew over to the State Building. Ares was on the steeple, but within a few minutes he screeched over to the box. Astrid took that opportunity to go over to Hotel Utica and lay herself flat on the wide ledge. Her feathers were stretched out and she was sunbathing. At noon Astrid had come back into the canyon. She got irritated when some nameless person looked out of an office window. She went over to the east veranda and just stared at the window for a while – just waiting for it to make a false move. By 12:20, both parents were on the State Building again. At 1 PM, Ares was on nest duty. He spent a little time brooding and more time standing on the lip of the box. At one point he explored the east veranda. It was proving to be a popular place today. At 1:30, it was Astrid who was on the east veranda and peering at the office window again. We weren’t sure when they switched places. A few minutes later, she was over on the steeple. For the next couple of hours, the parents were in and out quite a bit. They weren’t visiting the box as often either. As the afternoon progressed and the sun invaded more and more of the box’s interior, the chicks were having to move to shade on their own, and they were doing it. For the first time they were ambulatory in the box. They even went separate ways. The smallest chick moved to the near right corner and the other two were closer to the middle. Eventually one of the others moved to the near left corner. Finally at 3:10, Astrid showed up on the steeple, but she didn’t fly right over to the nest. In fact she flew off in another direction entirely. However, Ares did come back to the nest. He didn’t stay; soon the pair was flying around the western part of the canyon. The sun was bright and the winds were perfect for free and effortless soaring. At 4:11, both adults were at the box. Ares had prey and he passed it over to his mate. She took it and began a feeding session. By 4:30, Astrid had taken away the leftovers and stored them. She came back to the box and tried to shade the nestlings. They weren’t cooperating. The three were as far away from each other as they could be. Astrid picked up one of the chicks with her bill and put it down in a place where she could shade it properly. She then tried to move another by scuttling it along with her wing, but it wasn’t working well. For a while she was shading them in shifts. She’s start with one, tuck it beneath her, and then go over to the next one and do the same thing. It wasn’t graceful sight. It didn’t help that the chicks weren’t cooperating with the endeavor.
At 6:42, Ares flew into the canyon and he had prey in his talons. He landed on the west face of the State Building. She got excited when she saw him and began to call. Actually, she called a lot, but he wasn’t in any hurry to come over. Finally she flew out and buzzed by him on his perch and then came back to the box. He didn’t budge. He was plucking or possibly eating. Soon after he made his was over to the nest. Just like earlier, he went over to the east veranda for the food transfer. Astrid flew away with the food, circled the canyon and then came back to the box to conduct the feeding. First it was just the two near chicks that were being fed, but then the little one in the corner got itself up and walked over to its siblings. Soon all three were feeding. By 7:30, Astrid was in the box with the nestlings, but as it got later, she moved out onto the cross-perch. Ares was content to be perched on the north face of the State Building. He was tucked up in a corner and probably dozing. At 8:30, she made a couple of late tours of the canyon, each time returned to the long perch at the box. At 9:10, She came into the box and began brooding. Good night, falcons.
