The Utica Falcon Nestlings Need Names!! Please Send Name Suggestions for One Female and One Male Falcon

Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Sunday, May 21^th, 2023

It is time to name the two nestlings! Please send your name suggestions (one male and one female) to our website or Facebook Page.

It was warm overnight with some light rain. The temperature was in the high 50s. The morning was mostly overcast with some lingering misty rain. That ended by mid-morning and skies became partially clear. The high temperature was 70 degrees. The day was quite breezy. Astrid was on the nest all night long. Ares brought a large prey item to the nest at 2:59 AM. Astrid took it on the crossperch and did a feeding. She only fed for 6 minutes before taking the leftovers out of the nest and presumably storing them. She came right back to the nest and continued brooding. At that time Ares was on the west face of the State Building. At 5:32 we heard Ares giving long calls from somewhere in the distance. Fifteen minutes later he screeched to a landing on the State Building. At 5:49 Astrid left the box and flew over to the State Building. Ares came over to babysit. He tried to brood the nestlings but had difficulty due to their size – they had gotten too big! He ended up just pushing them towards the east wall of the box. It looked pretty hilarious on our whitewash camera. At 5:58 Astrid came back to the nest and Ares took his leave. At 6:31 Astrid left the box and then both adults were out of view for a short time. Only five minutes later Astrid was back at the nest and brooding. At 8:00 she left the nest but came right back with food. During the feeding she doled out the food evenly. At one point she started to leave the box but then turned around and came back in. Ten minutes into the feeding she was still trying to give them more even though they had ceased begging and appeared full. She finally flew out with the leftovers. Ares came in and tried to brood but Astrid was back immediately so he didn’t get a chance. At 10:53 Ares screeched to the nest and asked for a turn with the nestlings. Astrid ceded the nest to him only to come back moments later with food. Ares departed as she started a feeding.

At 12:03 PM Astrid left the nest and flew over to the State Building. She was back in the nest and brooding at 12:16. Fifteen minutes later she was cackling from the nest. She was reacting to a non-falcon raptor or Turkey Vulture in the canyon. At 1:43 Astrid went over to the east veranda and the chicks were left alone. It was 63 degrees by that point and not a problem. She was back and brooding at 1:46. Ten minutes later Ares was up on his lookout post on the roof of the State Building. At 2:00 Astrid left the box to do a food pickup. She was right back to do a feeding. At 2:09 the meal was over. She left and the nestlings were left alone. Astrid returned to the east veranda at 2:20. The nestlings were getting restless at this point and doing a lot of squealing. At 2:47 we heard Ares screech through the canyon. Astrid flew out to meet him, she took food from him, brought it back to the nest, and did a feeding. At 3:15 Astrid was gone and Ares was babysitting. At around 3:35 Ares was giving chirping-type alarm calls, which could be an indication there was a falcon intruder in the canyon, but we couldn’t confirm that. Regardless, he left the nest in pursuit of some raptor. At 3:45 Astrid was back on the east veranda and Ares had returned to the State Building. At 4:26 the larger nestling was walking around in the nest. They had been becoming more ambulatory in recent days. At 4:32 Astrid was in the nest brooding the youngsters. She started by brooding the smaller chick and then switching to the larger one. At 5:11 Ares brought a Blue Jay to the east veranda. Astrid took it and flew over to the hotel with it. There she spent some time plucking it and eating some off the top. She brought it to the nest five minutes later. The nestlings were about a foot apart inside the box and so she positioned herself between them and fed them alternately. At 5:27 the meal was over, and Astrid was out. She stopped back briefly a few minutes later and then flew off out of view. At 5:49 both adult falcons were on the State Building. Ares came over to the nest at 6:00 PM and spent a short time with the nestlings. At 6:29 Astrid was on the north face of the State Building and Ares was back on his lookout post on the roof. Perhaps he was watching for intruders or maybe he was hunting. At 7:23 Ares brought food to the east veranda. Astrid came out of the box, took it, flew off, boomeranged back, and then did a feeding. It was the last meal for the night. Goodnight all.