The weather was mild overnight with temperatures keeping close to 60 degrees. After dawn skies were overcast and the temp hit 70 before noon. The day was windy and pleasant although the afternoon high was close to 80 degrees. Astrid was in and out of the nest area throughout the night. She would be guarding on the long perch for a while and then gone and then back. There were no overnight feedings. Ares screeched to the box at 5:30 AM, but it was just to do a chick check, he brought no food. Astrid showed up seconds after Ares. She was likely expecting a delivery as well. Ares left when she came in. At 5:38 Ares was back and this time he had prey in his talons. Astrid took it and began a feeding. At 5:59 the meal was done, and she was out. Ares was on the west veranda at that point, and he moved to the long perch after Astrid left. At 6:31 Astrid landed on the west veranda. Fifteen minutes later she was vocalizing, making flights around the canyon, and buzzing the building. This was her reacting to people coming into offices. At 7:16 Ares brought prey to the crossperch. Astrid swooped in to take it and then she conducted a feeding. The meal was over at 7:33. Ten minutes later Ares was on the crossperch and just missed getting sprayed with whitewash by one of the chicks. At 7:47 Astrid was back up on the roof of the nestbox.
At 11:39 AM Ares screeched to the long perch. He had done a few chick checks before this one. At 12:21 PM Ares brought food to the west veranda. She took it, flew around with it, and eventually landed at the nest. She then conducted a feeding that lasted about ten minutes. After the meal she went to the State Building. At just before 1:00 PM Ares came to the crossperch and stayed guarding for a while. At 1:30 some men were up on the roof on the bank building. They were working to repair the cable to our PTZ one camera. Predictably Astrid became upset and did some swooping and some hazing. This continued on and off for the next few hours. Unlike his mate, Ares became only mildly upset. He gave a few long calls while she let lose the full-throated cackle calls. He mostly watched what was going on from several different perches while she handled lion’s share of the hazing and swooping. At a few minutes before 5:00 PM Ares perched on one of the light poles of the roof of the Adirondack Bank Building and watched the proceedings at close range. At 5:10 everything calmed down. The roof workers had gone inside, and the parent falcons went to the State Building. They remained there of the next few hours. Meanwhile the nestlings lounged inside their box and managed well in the heat. At 7:15 PM Astrid came to the long perch and got the kids squealing. She left and then a minute later Ares came to the box and really got them going. The nestlings were well overdue for a meal by this point. With Astrid being so wary about the nest building, we wondered if they would get fed again before nightfall. At 7:22 Astrid brought some small food item to the nest. The eager chicks both tried to bite it away from her before they settled down and took what she doled out. They were obviously very hungry. While the feeding ensued, Ares stopped by with a cuckoo. Astrid sent him out and continued the feeding. She was done moments later and went out onto the crossperch. At 7:45 Ares came to the crossperch and got the nestlings excited. Astrid was perched on the State Building. She seemed in no hurry to go back to the nest. The chicks are getting close to wanting to name the two Utica nestlings. One is obviously a female and the other could be a large male or another female. We will decide soon regarding the names – most probably, we will ask for suggestions on the falcon Facebook page. Stay tuned and goodnight all.