Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Thursday, April 27th, 2023
The downtown canyon was very foggy overnight. In fact we could barely make out the State Office Building with our PTZ cameras. It was chilly too, with a low temperature of 34 degrees. The high temperature for the day was 61 degrees and it was attained in the late afternoon. Astrid was tight on her eggs all night long. Ares screeched to the nest at 5:05 AM. He left when Astrid failed to stir. He went to his pillar perch for a while instead. At 5:38 Astrid began vocalizing. Ares came over and they switched. The next changeover happened sometime before 7:50. Astrid took over on the eggs. Later on, when Ares landed on the steeple perch Astrid announced it. She also sounded off when he landed on the State Building at 10:12. He was out of site for a while after that. We then rediscovered him at noon sunning himself on one of the hotel ledges. A few minutes later, Ares was gone and there was a Pigeon in the same spot where he had been. Did Ares get so much sun that it transformed him into a Pigeon? I think we can safely rule that out.
The next changeover occurred at around 12:24 PM. Astrid had been sitting for quite a while and seemed eager to get a break. They switched again sometime before 1:52 and then Astrid was back on the eggs. At 3:02 Ares was giving long calls from the steeple. Astrid answered him back with her own distinctive vocalizations. At 3:38 Ares came back to the box and unceremoniously ousted Astrid to get his turn. It had gotten a lot warmer by then and the sun was flooding into the box. Ares did a little shading as well as incubating. At 4:10 he came off the eggs and stood on the lip of the box for a minute. It was warm enough to do without risking the eggs. At 4:23 he called out from the nest. As it happened, she had just landed on the State Building and he was announcing it, as she does with his movements around the canyon. At 5:54 Astrid came to the crossperch for a check-in. Ares didn’t want to leave and so she let him stay. She flew over to the steeple and got some good preening in. She was gone from the steeple by 6:24 and we didn’t see her again until she showed up at the box at 7:11 PM. By then she was ready for her night shift and Ares quickly ceded the nest to her. He was up on the lookout post for a little while after that. He finally flew about a half hour later. Goodnight falcons.