Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Thursday, May 11th, 2023
The overnight period was chilly with low temperatures in the mid-thirties. Daytime highs were in the high 60’s. Astrid was on the nest all night long. Ares brought a small food item to the nest at 2:10 AM. Astrid took the food on the crossperch and conducted a feeding. The feeding lasted for about five minutes when the chick had its fill. At 5:27 Ares brought more food to the box. This time the prey was dropped during transfer and Astrid shot down after it. Apparently, she recovered it because minutes later she had it on the hotel. Ares had come to the box but left as soon as Astrid arrived to do the feeding. At 5:32 she flew out with the leftovers. At 10:00 AM Astrid was calling from the nest. She then did some egg jostling which made us wonder if one of the eggs was pipped. If so, we couldn’t confirm it. By 11:00 AM the nestling was squealing. Astrid was watching for Ares to appear with another meal. Where was that guy! A minute later Astrid left the box and then came right back with food. Did she get it from Ares or from the pantry? We think it was from him. Only a few minutes later he was on the steeple perch. She did the feeding and was finished by 11:12.
At 12:23 PM Ares screeched to the long perch with food. Astrid took it on the crossperch and conducted the feeding of the chick. During the feeding we scanned the two eggs for pips but only saw blemishes and spots of whitewash – certainly nothing conclusive. Astrid took out the leftovers at the end of the meal and Ares came to the box in the interim. Astrid was back in less than a minute and Ares was out again. At 1:32 Astrid was out of the box again. We don’t know if Ares had given her food or why she had left. Once again, Ares came right over to babysit. Astrid was back in five minutes and took over. At 3:12 Ares came to the box and asked for a turn brooding. It was getting warm in the box but Astrid declined to let him take over. At 3:48 he was in the box and doing shading duty. We weren’t sure when Astrid left. At 5:10 Astrid was doing another feeding. It was over in a few minutes, and she was back to brooding. Astrid was pout of the nest again at 6:50. Ares came in and did some brooding and some digging around in the stones. Astrid was back at 7:09 PM and Ares left with no argument. Astrid did some jostling of the eggs which made us think that she was hearing or feeling activity in one of the eggs. Maybe there will be a hatch soon. We shall see. Goodnight falcons.