Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Wednesday, May 3rd, 2023
It was chilly again overnight with low temperatures in the high 30’s. After daybreak light rain continued. The day’s high temperature was no better than 42 degrees. Astrid sat on the eggs through the night. Ares came to the nest early – at 4:20 AM. He didn’t come into the box but made his request to take over the eggs from the crossperch. She was not ready to leave so he flew back out instead. At 5:34 Ares was back at the nest. This time Astrid was more than ready to leave. She gave loud donkey calls as she got off the eggs and made for the exit. She flew to the State Building as he got settled on the eggs. At 6:36 Astrid was on the hotel, but she wasn’t there long. Ten minutes later she was back on the State Building. At 8:07 the pair switched again – that time Astrid came back onto the clutch. At 9:40 Ares screeched to the nestbox with a small prey item. Astrid came off the eggs, accepted the food on the crossperch and flew off with it. We couldn’t find where she went, but suspected she may have taken it to a window ledge on the east face of the bank building. Apparently, she had been seen feeding on Pigeon there the day before. Ten minutes after getting her gift she was and flew up to a perch on the north face of the State Building. Ares called out when he saw her fly through and land. At 10:08 AM Astrid came to the nest and requested a turn. When he looked like he wasn’t yielding, she became assertive and pushed him out. Five minutes later he was on the State Building. Ares was out of view for a while after that. At noon we spotted him on the corner of the upper ledge on the hotel. He was probably hunting. A Turkey Vulture floating through the canyon in the rain provoked no response from the falcons.
At 12:10 PM he was at the nest asking for a turn. He immediately walked behind Astrid and she got up and left. She flew over to a perch on the State Building. At 1:56 they did another changeover. That time Astrid took over on the eggs while Ares sailed over to the State Building. At 4:46 Ares came into the nest and almost immediately walked behind Astrid to shift her off the eggs. It worked although she wasn’t too pleased about it. She flew back over to the State Building. At 6:18 Astrid checked in at the box. It was obvious that Ares didn’t want to go, so she sailed right out again. She came back for the final changeover of the day at 7:51 PM. Ares left the nest and Astrid settled onto the clutch. Goodnight falcons.