Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Thursday, May 25th, 2023
Our falcons nestlings have names! Thank you so much to all that contributed. There were lots of clever, thoughtful names to choose from. Alas, we cannot use them all. The female is Amelia and the male is Niles. We are also naming the chick that fell out of the nest before it was a day old. That one will be known as Athena. Thank you again to all that participated!
It was very chilly overnight with the low temperature down around the freezing point. It warmed up during the day but struggled to get into the high 50s. Astrid did not come into brood last night until 10:42 PM. At the time it was around 43 degrees. Ares brought something small to the nest at 1:35 AM. Astrid took it and flew away with it but did not come back to do a feeding. She either stored it or ate it herself. She came back to the nest five minutes later but did not have anything. Ares brought another small prey item to the box at 3:19. Astrid took it and did a feeding. She was feeding the nestlings in the back corner where they tend to be all the time nowadays. After the meal Astrid did some brooding. Ares was visible on the State Building. Astrid left the box at 4:54. She returned ten minutes later and got back to brooding. At 5:31 Astrid left the nest. The nestlings were squealing. She came back right away with prey and did a feeding. After the meal was over Astrid hopped out onto the long perch. Both falcons were on the State Building at 5:40. Ares screeched to the nest box fifteen minutes later. It appeared to be a chick check. He did some brooding after that but only for a short time. At 6:08 Astrid was on the hotel. She was likely hunting. She took off after something but then was back again ten minutes later. At 6:23 Astrid came to the crossperch but did not stay. She stopped at Ares’ pantry and withdrew some food. She took it to the nest and did a feeding. When the feeding was over Astrid brooded the nestlings. At 7:01 Astrid was on the roof of the box. Obviously, she was anticipating the arrival of people in the offices adjacent to the nest box. At 9:01 both falcons converged on the nest box. Astrid left quickly but then came right back to the crossperch. Ares was gone at 9:06. At 9:52 Ares brought food to the east veranda. Astrid took it and started a feeding. Ten minutes later the feeding was over and Ares came into the nestbox. For a little while both parents and chicks were all together at the nest. At 10:14 Ares was out but Astrid remained. At 10:54 Astrid brought in a small food item. She then did a feeding.
At 12:03 PM Astrid seemed upset and possibly did some hazing of the building. She came right back to the crossperch after that but soon took off again. At 12:33 Ares came to the crossperch. Perhaps thinking he had prey, Astrid then came right over, but then she displaced him from his perch. At 1:06 both parents were out of view. Ares arrived at the nest box a few minutes later. He walked over and checked out the chicks in their corner. At 1:10, Niles, the male nestling, walked out of the corner for moment, only to turn around and go right back. At 1:22 Ares landed on the crossperch with prey. Astrid scrambled over to get it and then fed the corner-dwelling trolls. After the meal Astrid left the nestbox. At 3:41 Ares came to the nest, hopped into the box and checked on the nestlings. He soon left but then was back again at 4:56. It looked like he was trying to feed them some scraps from the floor of the nestbox. Niles seemed interested and walked out of the corner and up to his father. Ares then went onto the crossperch. At 5:00 PM Niles walked across the back of the box to the opposite back corner. Perhaps inspired by her brother, Amelia emerged from the corner and walked into the box, stretching out her wings and she went. They had grown since the last time we had seen them ambulatory. At 5:25 Both parents converged on the crossperch. Ares immediately took off again and then Astrid flew to the steeple. She probably thought he was bringing food and had flown up to meet him. At 5:54 Astrid arrived at the nest with most of a plucked Pigeon. Obviously this was something she had caught and already eaten some of. She took it over to the nestlings’ corner and conducted a feeding. The feeding was a fairly raucous affair. When it was done Astrid flew out with the straggly leftovers. She was on the steeple perch for a while after that. At 6:28 Astrid came to the long perch and Ares was on the crossperch. It was nest guarding positions. Astrid then hopped into the box and Ares darted off into the canyon. At 7:19 Amelia walked a bit and flapped her wings a couple of times. That’s progress! Two minutes later Ares came into the box with processed prey. Astrid took it and did a feeding. It was pretty soon after a pretty large meal, so we didn’t expect them to eat much, but they packed some in anyhow. Astrid was out at 7:30 and over to the State Building. Ares was on an east ledge for a while but gone by around 8:20. Goodnight all.