A Most Busy Falcon Day & Three Bats in the Afternoon?

Utica Peregrine Falcon Update for May 25, 2018 –

Astrid spent nearly the entire night on the perch at the nest box. As far as we know there was no attempt at an overnight feeding until 3:50, when Ares brought food to the box. When Astrid reached out to take it, it fell and Ares went after it. We didn’t see the prey on the sidewalk or in the road, so we assumed Ares got it, but if he did, he didn’t come right back with it. Astrid had gone right over to the steeple. At 4:02, Ares brought something small over to the box; was it the same prey? Astrid took it and fed the chicks. At 5:35, she was feeding the chicks again, but no new food had arrived, so she must have been feeding out scraps in the box.

At 8 AM, there was a feeding in progress. We weren’t sure if Ares brought prey in or if Astrid did, but it was her handling  the feeding. It was a small meal and it didn’t spread very far. At 8:40, both parents were perched close to the box – Ares on the long perch and Astrid on the east veranda. It wasn’t clear whether they were being especially protective for some reason. At one point, Ares hopped into the box proper, but then was greeted by squealing, hungry chicks. He bailed out. At 9:24, both parents came to the box with food. Astrid was doing the actual feeding and Ares was standing behind her – I guess waiting his turn. As he waited he took little bites of the meal. He then went out onto the cross-perch and at that point, he just seemed to be eating the thing himself. Finally he jumped into the box again and started feeding one of the chicks while Astrid was busy with the other two. He got a few bits of food into the nestling before Astrid commandeered his vittles.

At 11:23, Ares brought a bat to the box. Astrid took it and fed it out to the chicks. For the next several hours, the parents were very active – not staying on any perch for long. Weather conditions were perfect for their favorite type of flying. It was sunny and windy. I think Astrid had her heart set on getting a Pigeon, but was having difficulty. At 12:06, the pair went over to the ledge at Hotel Utica to sunbathe. Astrid really got into it. She stretched out her wings and lay flat as a pancake. Ares didn’t take part for long and he came screeching up to the nest box at 12:09. Soon after that he made a dramatic pass by our PTZ camera. He was following Astrid at the time. By then she had finished sunning herself and was back to hunting.  At 12:46, we thought we heard a falcon giving the cackle alarm call. It was one of the chicks – and a very convincing rendition it was! Ares brought a live bat to the box at 1 PM. Astrid took it, but didn’t quite know what to do with it. Fortunately, she dispatched it fairly quickly and then she fed it to the chicks. Less than ten minutes later he came back with another bat! Were they on special today? Seriously though, where is he getting bats this early in the afternoon on a bright sunny day? At 1:15, Astrid got mad about people in offices getting too close to their windows and she hazed the building for a short while.

For the most part, the parents were leaving the chicks on their own to deal with the heat, but Ares did stop by a couple of times to do some shading. The next feeding took place at 4:55. Ares brought the prey and Astrid conducted the feeding. We need to review the video to determine what species of bird it was. All we know now is that it wasn’t another bat. The parents remained very active through early evening. They were very difficult to keep track of with our cameras.  They were occasionally doing very short chick-checks, but otherwise, they were having little to do with the nest. The next feeding took place at 7:07. Ares brought in what looked to be a cuckoo. Astrid took it from him and began a feeding. Astrid finally came to the next box perch at 9:10 and appeared to be set for the night. That was until 10:20, when she decided to go over to the steeple. A few minutes later it seemed like she was perusing prey. Ares was visible at the same time on the State Building. She came back to the box at 10:28, and began feeding the chicks. It seems that a falcon’s day is never done!