Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Tuesday, April 25th, 2023
It was cool again overnight. With temperatures in the forties. The day was mostly overcast with high temperatures in the 50’s. Astrid spent the night on the nest. Ares came to the box at 5:54 AM and they did a rapid changeover. As he got situated on the eggs Astrid flew to the west face of the State Building. By 6:30 she was out of view. The next switch occurred at 6:42 and Astrid was back on the nest. At 8:09 Ares brought food to the box. This was the first time in many days that we’ve seen this behavior. He doesn’t usually do food deliveries at this point during the incubation period. She went to the State Building with her gift as he took over on the eggs. At 8:37 Astrid made a quick stop at the nest to check on things. She was in and out. At 9:16 when she returned to the State Building, Ares announced it with a squeak call. They switched a minute later and then Astrid was back on the eggs. At 11:37 Ares came to the nest and asked for a turn. He was insistent and immediately maneuvered behind her to compel her to leave. It worked. She flew out and the nest was his. At 12:08 PM she was back for another turn. Ares took some convincing to leave, but after a couple of minutes he acquiesced and flew out.
At 1:13 PM the falcons were giving cackle-type alarm calls. We weren’t sure if that was due to a migrating non-falcon raptor, or due to loud fire truck sirens blaring downtown. At 2:24 Ares came to the box, got behind Astrid, and tried to get her to cede the nest. She wouldn’t budge and he gave up. Navigating around behind her, his balance was off, and he had to extend his right wing – something only rarely done by adults inside the box. For a moment his wing draped over Astrid’s back; she responded with a priceless look. At 3:34 Ares left the State Building, came to the nest and they switched. She flew to the State Building while he got onto the eggs. At 4:34 Astrid came to the box to ask for a turn on the eggs. She was patient. She stood next to him (didn’t get behind him) for almost ten minutes, beaking and not being pushy. Ares wasn’t yielding and she finally gave in and left the nest to him. She went back to the State Building for a while. She didn’t come back to the nest until 7:42 PM – that was the last switch of the day. Ares had a nice long session. Goodnight falcons.