Morning Falcon Intruder & Chasing Away the Vultures

Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Saturday, May 20^th, 2023

It was warm overnight with a low temperature in the high 50s. There may have been a few drops of rain, a substance our area has seen little of in the past three weeks. Mostly overcast skies marked the morning although there were some substantial breaks of sun. The high temperature was in the low 70s. Astrid was on nest duty throughout the night. She left the box at 3:23 AM but came back 5 minutes later. In stark contrast to the night before, there were no overnight feedings. At 5:24 we heard Ares giving long calls from somewhere in the canyon. It looked like Astrid may have been watching him. Indeed, we saw him zip around the east face of the State Building at one point. At 5:27 he came to the nest with prey in his talons. He hopped into the box with it, and she accepted it. She then proceeded to conduct a feeding. The lesser nestling was in front and the greater was in the back row. The smaller one was able to get quite a few bites of food from his vaunted position, but the greater one still went over his head a few times (These chicks really need names). At 6:11 Astrid went out to the crossperch. We noticed that Ares was up on his favorite pillar perch having a nap. Ten minutes later Astrid was back inside the nest and brooding. She moved out onto the crossperch at 7:05, but was back in after a minute. At 7:14 Ares brought more food to the east veranda. Astrid took it, flew off with it, came back, and did a feeding. Ten minutes later she was back to brooding the nestlings. At 8:04 she was doling out another meal. We were not sure if Ares brought it or if she went out and retrieved it. At 8:24 she was brooding and we saw her jostle the young ones and the egg. Normally we associate jostling behavior with inducing eggs to hatch. In this case there are no more eggs that are going to hatch and the nestlings certainly aren’t going to hatch, so why is she doing it? Perhaps there is another reason. At 9:19 Ares was heard giving screech calls from somewhere downtown. He then screeched to the nest box with prey. Astrid scrambled over the crossperch to take it and then proceeded to do a feeding. At 10:00  AM We heard more long calls from Ares. Twenty minutes later he came to the box and asked for a turn with the clutch. Astrid was quite vocal and, more or less, said no. He hopped over to the east veranda instead. At 11:08 Ares was inside the box talking to the nestlings. Astrid was on the crossperch at that time. At 11:16 Ares began giving chirp style alarm calls from inside the nest box This meant that there was a falcon intruder in the canyon – something they always take with great seriousness. We did not see this raptor, but Ares saw it and he let us know in no uncertain terms. He blasted out the box, presumably in pursuit and left the nestlings alone. Astrid was on the State Building at the time. She came to the cross perch about 8 minutes later. She came in to brood at 11:30. Ares screeched to the east veranda at about the same time.

At 12:13 PM Astrid left the nest. Ares came in a minute later. After that she was on the State Building. She relieved him at the nest at 12:18. She moved out onto the cross perch 1/2 hour later and then left the box ten minutes after that. At 1:30 we noticed that she was tucked in on the east veranda. She appeared to be looking in the office window, and probably waiting for someone in there to make a false move. As it happened there was no one in the offices today. At around 1:45 a flock of 15 to 20 Turkey Vultures flew through the Canyon. Both Astrid and Ares scrambled and promptly ushered them out. At 1:52 Astrid came into the box with a hunk of leftovers. She proceeded to do a feeding. She left with a small piece that remained at 2:01. She was back to the crossperch a minute later, but was not there for long. At 2:34 Ares came to the nest with a male goldfinch. Astrid barreled in behind him, took the prey, and did a feeding. At 2:49 the chicks were alone in the nest. At 3:10 Astrid was on the crossperch, and from there jumped up onto the roof of the nest box. Once again, she was peering into an adjacent office, watching for monkeys. At 3:26 she came back into the box to brood. About five minutes later Ares screeched to the long perch with prey. Astrid took it on the crossperch and did another feeding. At 3:56 we could hear Ares giving long calls from somewhere in the canyon, probably from the State Building. A few minutes later he was in the nest babysitting. While there he did some housework including digging in the corner which is apparently a very vital task. Astrid came in and relieved him at 4:28. By then it had begun to rain lightly in the canyon. Astrid stayed brooding for the next three hours. Ares was on the State Building for a while but then we lost track of him in the rain. Astrid left the box at around 7:30 PM and returned moments later with some food. She then feed her chicks who were surprisingly well behaved considering how long they had gone without eating. Goodnight all.