Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Saturday, April 22nd, 2023
It was cool overnight with some light rain showers. By morning it was sunny and the temperature was in the low 50’s. The temperature peaked in the mid-seventies by midday. A storm front came through in the evening and dropped the temperature back into the fifties. Astrid was on the nest all night long. Ares came at 5:07 AM and they did a quick switch. He got onto the eggs and she bolted out the door. It was dark out but Astrid’s wings caught the ambient light from the city as she floated in front of the west face of the State Building. As she checked out the contents of Ares’ pantry, she resembled a white balloon or a UFO. Perhaps she found something palatable. We saw her next when she landed on a ledge on the north face of the same building. Ares called out when she landed and clued us in. At 10:10 Ares was vocalizing on the nest. We don’t know if that was because of what Astrid was doing or some other reason. Perhaps he wanted to be relieved. She came to the crossperch at 10:32 and then hopped into the box. She crowded up behind Ares and he got off the eggs pronto. She took over incubation as he darted off.
At 1:23 PM Ares was on his pillar perch preening. Five minutes later he dove after something. He must’ve missed it because he came to the box less than a minute later. They did a quick switch; Ares took over incubation and Astrid went to the State Building. The next changeover was at 2:28. That time Astrid took over on the eggs and Ares was out. He was out of view until the next switch at 4:40. By 5:20 Astrid left the State Building where she had been perched and then it was her turn to be out of camera view. At 6:53 PM we noticed that Ares was sleeping while on the nest. At that point it was clear that a storm was coming in from the southwest. Astrid was back on the State Building and was likely to come back to the nest before the storm hit. She came and relieved Ares at 7:13 PM. The rain had started, and Ares was out of view. Goodnight all.