The Little Falls Peregrine Falcons now have two hatchlings in their nest on the Adirondack Bank Building in Little Falls. The first hatch occurred on May 6th at 3:56 AM. The second hatch occurred at 4:36 PM. There are still two more eggs on the nest scrape, and we will be sure to report any further developments.
Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Saturday, May 6th, 2023
It was chilly overnight with temperatures in the low 40s. A full moon and patchy fog made the Canyon look quite beautiful and mysterious. During the day the temperature shot up into the high 60’s for the first time in a while and the skies were cloudless. Astrid was on the nest all night long. Ares seemingly came out of nowhere to switch at 5:07 AM. It was a quick changeover. Astrid went to the State Building but soon was checking Ares’ pantry on the west face of the same building. At 5:24 she was over on the hotel and she was in hunting mode. She darted after something 20 minutes later. Apparently, she was unsuccessful and went back to the west face of the State Building to presumably recheck the pantry. At 6:06 her luck changed and she caught a Pigeon. She landed on the hotel with it and proceeded to pluck it. She had her breakfast while the sun rose. Interestingly, her shadow was cast on the wall behind her and made it look like there were two falcons feeding. She showed no sign of being distracted by her shadow. At 6:39 Astrid was done with her meal and she flew over to the steeple. She was back to the nest for a switch at 7:01. As she took over on the eggs, Ares flew over to the State Building. At 8:17 Astrid was vocalizing on the nest. Likely it had to do with something Ares was up to. At 10:52 she was calling again. This time it was in reaction to Ares flying through the canyon and landing on the State Building.
At 12:13 PM Ares came to the box and the Falcons switched. Astrid initially flew over to the State Building, but 20 minutes later she was on the hotel sunbathing. A couple of minutes later she was back to her steeple perch. At 1:10 she was up once more. The next changing of the guard occurred at 3:27. Astrid took over on the nest and Ares remained elusive for a while. At 3:57 Astrid was calling from the nest. That probably meant that she was watching Ares fly in and land somewhere. We thought we heard some long calls from Ares but they were distant and we could not confirm it. At 4:30 we noticed that Astrid was shuffling the eggs. Sometimes falcons do this to induce the eggs to hatch. It could be that she is sensing movement inside the eggs. At 5:23 Ares was up on the lookout post on the roof of the State Building. For the next hour or so he was making forays out from that perch. Likely he was hunting but he could have also been on the lookout for intruders. It seemed like he was not going to relieve Astrid before nightfall. However, Astrid seemed OK with that. At least she wasn’t calling to be relieved. Of course, I wrote that too soon. Ares came to the nest at 7:00 and the pair switched. Astrid was on the State Building for a while and then she was out of view. She returned for the last switch at 7:28 PM. Ares seemed like he didn’t want to leave for a few minutes, but then he got off the eggs, flew out of the box, and headed to his night perch. Astrid settled onto the eggs. Goodnight falcons.