Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Tuesday, May 2nd, 2023
It was another cool overnight with temperatures in the low forties. Some light rain fell intermittently. Those conditions continued during the day. The midday high was 50 degrees. Astrid was on the clutch all night long. Ares arrived at the box at 4:58 AM and the pair switched. Astrid was visible for a moment – her open wings catching the light as she flew in front of the west face of the State Building. At 6:34 she was on the north face of the building. At 6:48 Astrid landed on a hotel ledge with prey. We think it was a pigeon. However, she did not stay for more than a minutes and flew off with her quarry to some unknown location. At 7:13 Ares came off the eggs. We weren’t sure what was going on but both falcons were issuing cackle-type alarm calls. Perhaps someone came into an office adjacent to the nest, or was it a non-falcon intruder? At 7:15, only two minutes later, Astrid came to the box and climbed onto the eggs. At 7:38 we heard Ares giving chirping type alarm calls. That probably meant they were dealing with a Peregrine intruder. At 7:43 Astrid called from the box in reaction to Ares returning to the State Building. Both falcons then remained in place for the next three hours. Ares left at around 11:30 – again, possibly because of an intruder. At 11:39 Astrid came off the eggs and flew into the canyon. Moments later she was on the State Building. We think Ares was engaging an intruder at that time. At 11:41 she returned to the box and to the eggs. A minute later she was calling again and obviously upset. Ares came to the nest, looked in on her, and then flew out again.
At 11:55 AM Ares was on a steeple perch giving long calls. He was up about 5 minutes later. At 12:32 PM the Falcons finally switched and Ares got a turn on the eggs. Interestingly, it appeared that Astrid wasn’t very keen to leave. Each year when hatching time approaches Astrid does not like to leave the eggs. We have not reached our hatch window yet but perhaps she is sensing activity inside the eggs, or she intuits timing and understands when her hatch window opens. When Astrid left she flew over to the State Building and took a relatively low perch, one that is roughly even with the 15th floor of the bank (where the nest is). At 2:08 PM Astrid was back at the nest requesting to take over incubation. Ares didn’t want to leave but acquiesced without much pressure. At 3:08 Ares landed on the State Building and Astrid called out to announce the news. Thirty minutes later he was on the steeple perch. At 3:48 the falcons switched. Astrid flew over to the State Building and Ares settled onto the eggs. Ares left the box for some reason at 4:46. There was probably an intruder to deal with. Astrid was back to the box and on the eggs within thirty seconds of Ares leaving. He returned to the State Building ten minutes later. At 6:36 Ares came to the box to request a late shift on the clutch. Astrid didn’t really want to leave, but he was insistent and so she let him. She flew to the State Building and he got onto the clutch. At 6:46 Astrid was on the hotel. It appeared that she had brought some leftovers there. She didn’t feed for long and was soon back on the State Building. At 6:51 PM Ares started calling and then he got off the eggs and sailed out into the canyon. It appeared that both falcons were flying and probably dealing with an intruder although one we didn’t actually see. Three minutes after Ares left the box Astrid was back and covering the eggs again. She was most likely in for the night. At 7:34 PM we noticed that Ares was on his lookout post, but he was gone a minute later. Goodnight falcons.
Little Falls Falcon Update
It looked to us as if one of the eggs in Anna’s clutch was pipped this afternoon, but we couldn’t be certain about it. We may just have to wait until tomorrow to confirm a pip, a hatch, or no pip and no hatch. Indeed, there may be a Peregrine nestling in the Little Falls nest by morning – or maybe not. We will let you know.