Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Saturday, March 4th, 2023
A winter storm hit last night and this morning, bringing snow and sleet and some gusty winds. The snow and rain continued through most of the day. The temperature was at the freezing point overnight and got into the mid-30s by the afternoon. Ares arrived at the nest box at 6:06 AM. Astrid showed up on an east ledge 10 minutes later. Ares announced her arrival with squeaking calls. At 6:27 she was bowing and asking to mate. At the same time, she was trying to bring up a pellet. It shows that she can multitask! She came to the box at 7:09. At 7:20 Ares screeched to his pillar perch and Astrid called back to him from the box. She also did some work inside the box which included some digging around Ares’ crater of a scrape. At 8:12 Ares came to the box with prey. Astrid took it and flew off. At 8:23 Astrid was on a ledge and was calling. At 9:08 we noticed that Ares had claimed his own east ledge, and he appeared to be snoozing. At 9:52 he had moved to his pillar perch and was snoozing up there.
At 11:30 AM Ares was wide awake and Astrid was asking to mate. The pair mated less than a minute later. At 12:21 PM Ares was back up on his pillar perch. They mated on the East veranda at 12:42. Afterwards Astrid stayed on the veranda tucked in close to the window. At 1:13 Ares was up on the lookout post on the roof of the State Building. At 1:49 Ares brought another round of food to Astrid at the box. They had a tug-o-war over it before Ares let go and allowed her to take it. Astrid was on a steeple perch at 2:06. It was raining by this point. Astrid was up from the steeple at around 2:45. One of the Falcons showed up on the State office building at 3:30. We think it was Ares. He came to the nestbox at 5:20, stayed only briefly and then flew back to the State Building. He was still there at 6:00 PM while I was writing this. Goodnight all.