Monday February 21 2022
Weather was mostly sunny for a change and warmer than it had been in recent days. Initially temperatures were close to the freezing mark, but jumped into the 50’s by the end of the morning. We were thinking the Utica Peregrines were running late with breeding behavior, but we were wrong. According to the previous years’ records, they were right on time. The first matings and food giftings usually take place at the end of February.
Today, Astrid showed up on a high perch on the State Office Building at 4:45 AM. At 6:20, we noticed that Ares was on his lookout post on the northwest corner of the same building. Fifteen minutes later, Ares screeched to the next box. He made squeaking calls and long calls to entice Astrid over, but she kept her perch. By 7:30 AM, he had joined her over there. After a stop at the box, Ares flew over to the hotel and took a perch on the lower ledge. He remained there in a sunny spot until around 10:00 when he went back to the box. At 11:35 we noticed that Astrid was on the steeple. Ares had been on the State Building, but then came back to the box and called to his mate. He did some fussing around inside the box and, at one point, he made a scrape in the gravel. A little after noon, both falcons were out of view.
At 12:49 PM, Ares was at the box giving short calls. Astrid was glimpsed flying by the bank building. Was she doing a flight display? A minute later the pair were engaging in a lively ledge display (dance) inside the box. After four minutes, he dove out and took a perch on the steeple. She remained in the box for a little while doing housework. At one point she also did a scrape. At 1:00 Ares dove after something – prey we presume. At 1:38 Ares was at the nest and Astrid on the steeple (the pair kept alternating perches today!) He left his perch at 2 o’clock. Twenty minutes later he brought part of a bird to Astrid and gifted it to her inside the box. She grabbed it quickly and adeptly and flew over to the hotel with it. Ares stayed on the crossperch for a few minutes and wiped his bill. It had been the first verified food exchange of the season. At 2:44 Astrid was on the steeple and Ares was at the nest box. They remained in place for well over an hour. At 4:40 we noticed that they had switched. It was Ares on the steeple and Astrid on the west veranda (we were starting to get confused!) A minute later, Ares flew over and the pair mated. It was the first successful mating of the 2022 breeding season. He returned to the steeple and Astrid stayed on the veranda. They mated again twenty minute later. At 5:32 she flew over to the State Building; she darted back and forth in front of the west face a few times and then disappeared. Perhaps she was doing a flight display. We couldn’t be sure, and we don’t know if Ares was someplace where he could’ve seen her. By this time the sun was going down, and the falcons were most likely off to their night perches. Good night all.