Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Friday, April 7th, 2023
It was cold and windy overnight and it stayed that way pretty much throughout the day. The low temperature was in the mid to high 30s and the high temperature during the day was only 40 degrees. The day was partially sunny, but it remained extremely windy. Astrid was on the nest all night long. Following a few contractions, she laid her third egg at 12:50 AM. Ares came to the west veranda with a Woodcock at 4:12. Astrid sat up but, unsurprisingly, she was not interested in taking the gift. After a minute Ares flew off and presumably stored the prey. At 6:06 Ares was up on the lookout post on the roof of the State Office Building. Ten minutes later he came to the box and they switched. Ares settled on the eggs and Astrid flew over to the State Building. At 6:38 Ares left the box to mate with Astrid. He returned right afterwards and got back onto the eggs. It was clear by this point that continuous incubation had begun and it seemed that Ares had gotten with the program. At 7:41 the pair switched again and Astrid took over incubation. Ares went to the State Building. At 8:24 He came to the long perch with prey. He hopped into the box with it, but Astrid didn’t want it and she sent him away. At 9:19 Astrid got off the eggs and went out onto the crossperch. She was giving chirping-type alarm calls. However, she didn’t leave and after a couple of minutes she got back onto the eggs. At 9:31 Ares was back for a switch. She didn’t want to leave so he got behind her and more or less pushed her out. After she flew, he started to get onto the eggs but became distracted and went to the lip of the box instead. He took off a minute later. As it happened, he left in order to mate with Astrid on the State Building. A minute later Ares was back in the box, incubating.
At 10:23 AM the falcons switched again, and Astrid took over egg duty. Ares had been on the State Building but took off at 11:26. There was a Peregrine Falcon intruder (probably an immature) active in the Canyon. Ares dealt with the stranger first but then he came to the box and fetched Astrid. This was an indication that the intruder was a female – therefore more of a threat to Astrid and more worthy of her big guns. So, Ares took over incubating while Astrid took over the police action. At 11:39, after presumably escorting the stranger out of the territory, Astrid returned to the State Building. At 11:42 she took over on the eggs. At 12:34 Ares was on the State Building. He took off from there at 12:50. At that point we believed that there was another intruder in the Canyon. Astrid became upset. She came off the eggs went to the lip of the box. After looking around she returned to her eggs. At 1:08 Astrid got off the eggs again and went to the crossperch. She flew away like she was on a mission. Obviously, she was in pursuit of something. Ares came back to the nest immediately and took over on the eggs. We glimpsed a raptor flying southwest of the State Building but soon lost sight of it. Was that Astrid or an intruder? At 1:12 Ares got off the eggs and went to the lip of the nestbox. A minute later he flew off leaving the eggs alone. It was 39 degrees. At 1:17 Ares returned to the box and Astrid returned to the State Building. Ares got back on the eggs. They hadn’t been left alone long enough to get cold. The next changing of the guard took place at 2:56 PM. That time Astrid took over on the eggs. At 3:41 Ares brought food to the box. Astrid took it and flew over to the hotel. Instead of staying with the eggs Ares flew over to watch Astrid eat. Thankfully, he was back in the box and on the eggs after only a few minutes. Astrid finished her meal and was on a high ledge on the State Building again at 3:58. The next switch took place at 4:18. Astrid came in and was not very pushy. She beaked with him and he got up on his own volition and left. At 4:13 Ares was back at the box asking for a turn on the eggs. Astrid left without argument and Ares got a turn on the eggs. At 5:30 we saw that Astrid was on the State Building. At 7:11 Ares was off the eggs and to the lip of the box. Astrid came right over. He left and she settled on the eggs. That was it for the night. Goodnight falcons.