Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Thursday, May 18th, 2023
It was cold last night with a low temperature of 28 degrees. It warmed up quick during the day and by noon the temperature was approaching 60 degrees. By late afternoon it was 65 degrees. Astrid spent the night brooding her chicks. Ares came to the nest with a small prey item at 1:50 AM. Astrid scrambled along the crossperch to get it from him and then proceeded to do a feeding. Ares brought more prey, another small item, at 3:48. Once again, Astrid took it from the crossperch and handled the feeding. At 5:29 Ares screeched to the box with more prey. This time he hopped inside the box and handed it to Astrid. While she settled in to do the feeding he hopped over to the West veranda. At around 7:15 Astrid left the nest but was back within a minute. At 8:14 Ares brought a Black-billed Cuckoo to the east veranda. Cuckoos had only just migrated back from the South and this was the first one we had seen. Astrid took the cuckoo from him and did a feeding. After 10 minutes she flew out with the leftovers. She came right back and resumed brooding. At 10:02 Ares again screeched to the box with prey. Astrid took it from him on the crossperch and conducted a feeding. Ten minutes later she was out with the leftovers. She came right back after stowing it. At 10:34 Astrid began calling from the box. We think she was probably watching Ares chasing prey or doing something else of particular interest. At 11:46 Astrid left the box and flew over to perch on the State Building. A minute later Ares arrived to babysit. As it happened, she was only gone for a couple of minutes. She came back, Ares left, she resumed brooding. At 12:32 PM Astrid left the box once more. She flew over to the State Building and to a relatively low perch. It was 57 degrees in the canyon, so the nestlings were in no danger. At 12:41 Astrid returned to the crossperch and from there hopped into the box and started brooding again.
At 1:09 PM Astrid was out of the nest again. She took a perch on the State Building. About 15 minutes later Ares was in the nest babysitting. He was gone again at 1:39, only to be back with them five minutes later. The interaction between Ares and the chicks is always interesting to watch. He looks at them with a curious expression like he’s trying to figure out what exactly they are. At 1:46 Astrid came barreling into the box. She was in and he was out. At 2:55 we heard Ares give a screech from somewhere in the canyon. He landed on the long perch and had a male Scarlet Tanager in his talons. I was reasonably sure that I’ve never seen him with one of those before. He has caught at least one female tanager over the years, but this was the first male that we ever confirmed. Astrid took it from him on the crossperch and did a feeding. Astrid left after the meal was over and Ares came back into the box. At 3:58 Ares was busy shading the egg while the two chicks sought shade in the back of the nestbox. Astrid then arrived with a plucked pigeon. Ares headed out and Astrid set about feeding the brood. Ten minutes later she left with the leftovers. At 4:58 the pair did a quick switch and then Ares was in the box with the nestlings. At 5:16 Astrid was preening on the lower steeple perch. She came to the box and relieved Ares at 5:37 PM. At 6:09 one of the chicks walked across the floor to the east side of the box. That was different. Up to date we haven’t seen the chicks doing any walking. Regardless, when Astrid arrived at the box 6:09 she wasted no time picking up the chick with her bill and putting it back with its sibling where she could shade them both with ease. At 6:24 Ares brought prey to the nest. Astrid danced across the crossperch to get it from him, took it inside and began a feeding. At 6:55 Astrid was on the State Building on a relatively low perch – the one she likes these days. Five minutes later she was back in with the chicks. At 7:42 she was digging and doing some housework chores inside the nest. She was back out on the crossperch afterwards. At 8:09 PM Astrid was back inside and brooding the chicks. Ares had been on the north face of the State Building but took off to go to his night perch. Goodnight all.