Peregrine Breeding Log for May 8 – 9, 2019:
Wednesday, May 8th started out cool with temps in the 40’s. By the afternoon we reached the high 60’s. Astrid was on the brood all night. She did some jostling of the remaining egg – still trying to induce hatching. There were no overnight feedings. Ares came to the box at around 4:30, but he had no food. He gave a few long calls from the crossperch and then left. He came back with a small food item at 5 AM. She flew off with the leftovers and then came right back to resume brooding the clutch. We thought we could hear the chick inside egg # 4 calling but couldn’t be sure. At 7:49 Ares brought food to the box. Astrid took it from him and started feeding the nestlings. The prey appeared to be part of a Pigeon. Astrid seemed to be doling out the food pretty evenly to all three chicks. Following the feeding, Astrid flew off with the leftovers. Ares then came into the box. She relieved him only a short time later.
At 10:20 AM Astrid gave cackle-type alarm calls from the nest. Ares was seen on the top of the Antenna on the roof of the hotel, so perhaps there was an intruder. Although maybe not a falcon. At 11:06 Ares screeched over to one of the steeple perches. He remained there for a while. Astrid left the box before 11:45 and Ares came in to take over. She was on the State Building for a short time and then at 12:10 they switched again. A minute later Ares had returned to the steeple perch and was giving a cackle alarm call. After that he swooped off. We don’t know what that was about. At 1:27, Astrid made a dramatic exit from the box (not too unusual for her). She came back a few minutes later followed by Ares. He had prey which she quickly relived him of. She then conducted a feeding. The meal was a short one, after which she was brooding the clutch again.
In the early afternoon, workers were cleaning the west face of the State Building. Perhaps that was why the falcons were getting irritated? As most of us are aware, the west face is where Ares has traditionally stored food – it’s his pantry. At 2:28 Astrid left the box, Ares landed on the crossperch and then Astrid came back. The pair conversed on the perch for a little while and then Ares was out. She climbed back onto the chicks and the egg, but then only a minute later she was off again. Ares returned to watch the chicks. She was back at 2:36. Evidently, she left the nest yet again shortly after since it was Ares on the nest at 2:46, and he was giving alarm calls. When we looked again, she was back on the nest and he was gone. Who can keep up with this stuff?
Ares brought more food at around 3:05. Astrid carried out the feeding which was done by 3:12. Ares did a quick check at the box at 3:53. Right after that he stationed himself next to the box on the west veranda. Nearly an hour later Ares was still there and he issued one of his long calls. He then brought food to the box. In fact, he brought it right into the box for Astrid to take easily – that is opposed to his usual method of making her scramble out on the crossperch and lean out as far as possible to grab what he dangles from his bill while standing at the end of the long perch. The feeding was over quick and then Astrid was shading brood. She then deliberately separated the egg from the chicks and just shaded it for a few minutes. After that, she was above the entire brood with wings slightly arched and posed as if she was shading all. The only problem was, she was positioned so the sun was still hitting all the chicks and the egg . So she really wasn’t shading anything. At 5:49, she dove out of the box again. She perched on the State Building and then came back to the box, only to directly leave again and go to the steeple. Ares was also on the steeple, on the adjacent perch, but then Ares left and came to the box. And all that happened with in the course of a couple of minutes. She left the steeple shortly after that and was probably hunting.
At 6:12 Astrid was still out of view. Ares went out onto the crossperch and gave a few long calls. He then went to the corner of the box and began digging in the stones with his bill. A few minutes later they had switched again and Astrid was with the nestlings, but then she was out at 6:18. She was on the steeple and he flew back to the box. A few minutes later Astrid was feeding on the hotel. We don’t know if it was fresh food or something out of storage. Five minutes later she brought it to the nest. She was tearing at it in the corner while Ares awkwardly stood between her and the chicks. That strangeness lasted only a couple of minutes and then he was out, and she started a feeding. At 6:32 the meal was over she and took the leftovers out of the box. She returned less than a minute later. Ares was located on the west veranda at 6:37. From there he screeched over to the box, but it was just another short check in. Ten minutes later he was back with food. This time he made Astrid get it from him at the end of the long perch. She scrambled out and then stretched to get it. She took it over to the hotel and fed for a little while. He came into the box to babysit. They switched again at 7:02, and then she was in for the night. Ares was next spotted on the hotel at 7:33. He remained there for about fifteen minutes and then was out of camera view. Astrid did some jostling of the egg. She was behaving as if the egg just needed a little coaxing in order to hatch. We thought it was pipped earlier, but further examination showed that what we saw was merely a blemish on the eggshell. We also thought we heard the chick inside the egg calling, but it’s always hard to be sure. Good night falcons.
Thursday, May 9th had a cool start. It was somewhat windy as well. It looked like rain was imminent for most of the morning, but it didn’t materialize. However, there were a few brief showers in the afternoon. Astrid spent the night brooding the chicks (and the egg). Ares brought food to the box at 2:30 AM. Astrid handled the feeding. He brought more food at 3:40 AM. This time Astrid wasn’t taking it. He didn’t linger long and flew off into the dark canyon. At 4:49, he returned with what looked to be the same food. Astrid still wasn’t taking it, but instead of leaving, he just stayed on the crossperch holding the food and occasionally giving long calls. Ares’ crop was quite large so it’s clear he had an early breakfast. Astrid was vocalizing (squeaking) quite a bit and jostling the egg (and chicks) a lot. We think she was trying to send Ares out, but he wasn’t leaving. He just continued to try and convince her to take the meal. We could hear the chick calling inside last egg and figured that Astrid could too, and she was intent on jostling it out. At 5:24 Ares brought the prey inside the box and handed it to Astrid. She took it and tucked it beneath her as if it were one of the chicks. Of course, she knew it wasn’t but she didn’t want to leave at that juncture and with a chick so close to hatching.
At 5:31 we heard Ares screech from somewhere in the canyon. At 5:52 Astrid took the prey item from beneath her and began feeding on little bits of it. She was snacking while brooding! They were just breaking all the rules today. She then flew out of the box with it. At 5:57 she returned to the nest with the same food (although a little diminished) and started a feeding. All three chicks seemed to vie well for the food. Astrid ate the last small hung of the food and then settled back down to brooding. At 6:17 Astrid gave a warning cackle from the nest. We weren’t sure what that was about. A half-hour later we noticed that Ares was on a window ledge east of the nest on the Adk Bank. At 7:03 he screeched to the box, but only for a short check in. At 7:32 AM, the fourth and final egg in the clutch hatched. Astrid had quickly tucked the new hatchling beneath her and then ate part of the eggshell. At 7:47, Astrid stood up and revealed the new chick again. It was still pink and damp. At 8:00 we noticed that Ares was on the east veranda. It was as if he was on guard duty even though Astrid was with the nestlings. At 9:00 he came over to the crossperch and then hopped into the box. He then ate some of the eggshell right in front of Astrid. That was different! Following that interesting behavior he got back onto the crossperch and gave a cackle alarm call. He flew off after that – heading south with purpose. He returned two minutes later with prey. This time he came right into the box and passed the food directly to Astrid. She proceeded to feed the brood. All got enough helpings including the newest addition to the family. Somehow it was able to hold up its head and vie with its older siblings. Astrid flew off with the leftovers at 9:15 and then came back straight away and was brooding again. At 9:46, Ares came to the nest with more food. That time Astrid sent him off.
At 10:00 Astrid was calling from the box. Ares was on the Adk Bank Building, on a ledge west of the box. He had prey – possibly the first cuckoo of the season. Astrid gave a cackle alarm call at 10:47. That was probably in response to workmen on the State Building roof. By 11:30, Astrid was giving her trademark donkey calls. Ares moved from one of the verandas to the crossperch. He seemed to want a turn with the brood. He hopped into the box but then went right back onto the crossperch again. A couple minutes later he gave an alarm call – probably due to the roof people. After that he went back onto the east veranda and back to guard duty. At 11:45 he brought more food to the box and Astrid conducted another feeding. Again, the littlest nestling seemed to hold its own eith the sibling and got a decent share. It was so satiated that it toppled over at the end. At 11:57 the meal was over, and Astrid exited the box. Ares came in for only a moment before Astrid returned and climbed back onto the chick pile.
At 1:15 Ares was photographed sitting on a window ledge on the east face of the bank building. He was looking right into an office window. At 1:28 PM he screeched to the nestbox. A few minutes later he was on the west veranda – on guard duty again. At 2:32 Ares brought more prey to the box and Astrid conducted another feeding. The meal was finished at 2:40. Ares was then seen guarding the box from the east veranda. At 3:37 Astrid was calling from the box. She took off shortly after. Ares arrived on the crossperch before a minute was up. He came into the box with the chicks for a few minutes but seemed at a loss as to what to do with them. They were a writhing heap of baby dinosaurs after all. He opted to go back out onto the east veranda’s perch and monitor them from a safe distance. After some more contemplation, he came back into the box and got onto the chick pile. Astrid came to relieve him at 4 PM. An hour later she was calling from the box. She probably heard or saw him fly by with prey. He was on the hotel ledge plucking something fairly sizable. About five minutes later he was on the long perch with it. Astrid scrambled over to take it and I thought may have dropped it, but I wasn’t sure. A couple of minutes later she had it in the box and was plucking it some more. At 5:10 she began to feed the brood. The newest chick was at the back of the pack so we weren’t sure if it got much that time. The meal went on for some time so it probably did. Astrid took out the leftovers at 5:23. She was back and brooding two minutes later. At 5:30 Ares resumed guarding the family from the west veranda.
At 6:48 Ares left the veranda, flew by one of our rooftop cameras and headed south. We saw him on the west face of the State Building a few minutes later. Of course, the workmen had all left by that time. About the same time Astrid abruptly left the box. The chicks were alone for only about a minute and then Astrid returned. At 6:56 Ares came to the nest with a small chuck of food. Astrid took it from him and started a feeding. During the meal the youngest chick was in the back again and possibly didn’t get anything. At 7:11 Astrid up and left the box yet again. Ares screeched right over. He came into the box and began awkwardly brooding the chicks as only he can. For a while it looked like he was king of the cotton balls – with all the chicks crashed out against his chest. Astrid reappeared on the State Building at 7:16. She came over to relieve him at 7:20. He then went off somewhere we can’t see with our cameras and she settled down for the night. There ended yet another big day for the Utica Falcons.
