Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Saturday, April 8th, 2023
It was cold overnight with a low temperature of 26 degrees. It warmed up slowly during the day, with the temperature eventually peaking at 43 degrees. Astrid stayed tight on the nest all night long and there was no super early visit from her mate. Ares screeched to the box at 6:08 AM and the pair switched. Astrid did a lot of vocalizing as she got up and left and as Ares settled on the eggs. It was obvious she was very eager to get out of the box. At 6:21 Astrid landed on the east veranda perch. Ares had been vocalizing and she gave her famous donkey call upon arrival. It was just a check in, and she was gone again in less than a minute. She went over to the steeple. At 7:01 Astrid returned to the nestbox and started negotiating with Ares about switching. It was clear he did not want to leave. She did some beaking with him, but the soft approach was not having its desired effect and she had to resort to shoving him off. At 7:18 we heard a few long calls from Ares from somewhere in the Canyon. At 7:58 Ares brought prey to the crossperch. Astrid took it and flew over to the hotel while Ares took over on the eggs. At 8:30 Astrid was done with her meal and went to perch on the steeple. At 8:54 she moved back to the crossperch. Ares did not take much coaxing to leave that time and she went back to incubating. After 9:20 Ares was up and down from the State Building a few times. perhaps he was hunting. At 10:24 Ares came into the nest. He wanted to switch but Astrid did not want to leave. He got up close behind her and pushed her off the eggs. She left and he took over incubation. At 10:34 Astrid was on the State Building.
When Astrid came to the box at 11:46 AM she initially stayed on the crossperch. Ares came off the eggs, flew out, doubled back, and mated with Astrid on the crossperch. She then got onto the eggs. The next changing of the guard occurred at 1:00. Ares took over on the eggs and Astrid went to the lower steeple perch. At 3:05 Astrid came to the crossperch. Ares was sitting tight on the eggs and looked like he was pretending to be asleep. Astrid stood behind him for 10 minutes waiting patiently for him to decide to leave. Finally, without her need to strongarm him, he did leave and flew over to the State Building. At 4:25 Ares returned to the box and the pair did a quick switch. Ares took over incubation and Astrid went back to the lower steeple. It was obvious that Ares had now become very serious about incubation. At 6:52 Astrid came to the crossperch. Aries flew out, boomeranged back, and they mated. Ares then flew off – probably to his night perch and Astrid got on to the eggs. That was probably the last switch of the night. Goodnight all.