Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Friday, April 28th, 2023
It was chilly overnight with temperatures in the low forties. Mostly sunny skies prevailed during the day and the high temperature was in the low 60’s. Astrid spent the night on the eggs with no interruptions. Ares came to the box and they did a quick switch at 5:19 AM. They changed again only an hour later, and Astrid resumed incubation. At 8:05 Ares was up on his favorite pillar perch. He was giving long calls and Astrid was calling back. That went on for a couple of minutes and then Ares came to the box for a quick switch. Astrid left without argument and flew over to the State Building. At 9:34 she was back at the nest and negotiating with Ares to take over incubation. He held out for about 7 minutes and then got up and left and was out of sight for a while. At 11:07 Ares returned to the canyon. He landed on his pillar and gave a series of long calls. At 11:40 he came to the box and requested a turn on the eggs. Astrid didn’t want to leave, and he didn’t press the matter. He left instead.
At 12:36 PM Ares was seen flying a top speed and heading for a Turkey Vulture that was flying through the canyon. He didn’t strike the vulture but did cause it to change course and leave the falcons’ territory. After his police action Ares landed on a light pole on the roof of the Adirondack Bank building where he let our roof camera take some close-up pictures of him. Thanks Ares! At 12:49 Ares was back on his pillar. He moved to an east ledge after that, remaining for at least a half hour. The next switch occurred sometime before 2:15 PM. Ares was on the nest and Astrid took a relatively low perch on the State Building. At 4:05 PM she came to the box for but it was only for a fast check in. Ares continued incubating until 5:17 when Astrid returned for the last changeover of the day. She was then in place for the night. Goodnight all.