Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Friday, March 31st, 2023
It was cold last night with temperatures in the low 20s. After daybreak there was a modest warmup. By midafternoon it was in the high 30s although a steady rain had moved in by then. Astrid spent the first part of the night in the box but was out on the crossperch by 2:30 AM. I was not sure when she left the box because all of my recordings shut down sometime after midnight. She left at 2:33. Ares came to the box at 2:55-ish, and she came to the west veranda right after that. She spent some time preening while he lobbied to get her to come into the box. She finally joined him at 3:14 and the pair conducted a short ledge display. Ares brought food to the west veranda at 4:22. She took it and flew off but we were unable to locate where she went. He stayed on the long perch until about 5:00. Ten minutes later, they were together in the box participating in another ledge display. After Ares left, Astrid stayed in the box. At one point she fell asleep. Ares returned at 6:30 and the pair did a practice incubation switch. At 7:02 Ares had prey on a west ledge and was processing it. Five minutes later, he gave it to her but we didn’t know where she took it. At 7:28. Astrid was on the west veranda. The pair mated there a minute later. They mated again only five minutes later, and then again at 7:58. At 8:20 they were dancing in the box once more.
At 8:54 Ares was on the east veranda and Astrid was sleeping in the nest box. At 9:42 the falcons conducted another ledge display inside the box. They did a practice incubation switch at 10:26. Twenty minutes later they mated on the State Building. Just before noon Astrid was on the east veranda and Ares was inside the box. He wanted to dance and she wanted to mate. They mated one minute later. At 12:16 PM the pair engaged in another ledge display at the nest. They seem to be going for the record today. At 12:51 they did another practice incubation switch. At 1:35 Astrid was on the east veranda asking to mate. Instead of mating, Ares left the box and came back with a small piece of food. He gave to Astrid on the east veranda. She ate it right there while he watched. At 2:52 Astrid was asking to mate again. They did so at 3:12. At 3:38 Astrid was back on the east veranda. We noticed that Ares was in the box at 4:06. He had moved to his pillar perch a half hour later. Astrid asked to mate a couple of times, once while Ares was on his pillar and once when he was in the box. Both times he flew out as if he was going to oblige her, but then did not come back. At 5:05 PM Ares brought a small piece of food to Astrid on the east veranda. She took it and flew off with it. She returned to the west veranda at 5:17 and Ares jumped back into the nestbox. At 5:20 she was asking to mate. They did so less than a minute later. At 5:23 Ares was back on his pillar and Astrid was on Deb’s perch. Ares returned to the box at 5:37. It was then that we noticed he had a full crop. At 7:04 PM Astrid moved to the east veranda. The pair mated there ten minutes later. At 7:33 Astrid entered the nestbox. It looked like she would be doing another all-night sitting, but will it result in an egg? We shall see. Goodnight all.