Wet heavy snow fell heavily through the night and through the morning accumulating up to a foot in some localities. The temperature remained in the mid-thirties and the wind picked up as the day progressed. Astrid was on the eggs all night long. Ares screeched to the nestbox at 5:00 AM and the pair did a quick switch on the eggs. The next changing of the guard occurred at 7:47. That time Astrid took over. At 8:25 our streaming cameras all went down and for a while we had no way of knowing what the falcons were up to for about three hours. When the cams came back online at 11:47 Astrid was on the eggs (still or again) and Ares was on the State Building. The PTZ cameras were still partially obscured by snow and ice. At 12:14 PM Ares screeched to the box again and the pair switched without complaint or coercion. She went over to the State Building. At 12:45 Ares gave a cackle-type warning call from the nest which likely meant that a Turkey Vulture was flying through the canyon. Neither him nor Astrid gave chase. At a few minutes before 1:00 PM Ares gave a squeak call – that meant that Astrid was up. We located her a few minutes later. She was feeding in some leftovers (perhaps from Ares’ pantry) on the upper ledge of the hotel. Snow was still falling but it had eased up from what it had been earlier. Rain was also starting to mix in. At 1:11 she was finished with her meal, and she flew over to the northeast corner of the same ledge. At 1:20 she took off and went directly to the State Building. When Ares saw her come through, he started calling like he saw an intruder. He got off the eggs and darted into the canyon. While he was landing on the State Building, she left her perch and flew to the nestbox. She quickly got onto the eggs. At 3:12 PM the falcons switched again, and Ares took over on the nest. Astrid was on the State Building at 4:28. Thirty minutes later Ares was squeaking as if she had flown, but she was still on her perch. He kept squeaking for a few minutes – perhaps he wanted her to take over on the eggs. She finally did leave but she didn’t come to the nest. She returned to the State Building a few minutes before 6:00. At 6:35 PM the falcons switched probably for the last time for the day. Ares flew to the State Building initially but was up and out of view before long. Goodnight falcons.
Who came to be a resident at your Utica nest first, Ares or Astrid? How long have they been a “pair” ❤️ They are such a sweet pair.
Astrid and Ares showed up together as a pair in 2012. They were both adults and unbanded. We put the box up for them in 2013 and they started using it the following year