Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Sunday, May 28th, 2023
It was relatively warm last night with temperatures in the 50s. After daybreak we experienced a warm up. The high temperature in the afternoon was in the low 80s. For the most part the nestlings in the box showed little signs of discomfort. Apparently, the days of the parents providing shade are well over. Astrid spent most of the night on the crossperch or on the long perch. She was gone for short periods a couple of times during the night. Ares brought a small bird to the box at 3:06 AM. Astrid took it on the crossperch. It was possible the prey was still alive during the transfer, but it may have just been the wind moving its wings. Astrid handled the feeding. At 5:08 Ares came to the nest and checked on the nestlings. He was only there for a minute. Five minutes later he was back with a hunk of food. Astrid arrived at the same time, grabbed the food and did the feeding. At 5:27 Astrid was on the State Building and Ares was up on the northeast lookout on the roof of the State Office Building. He was in hunting mode. At 6:12 Ares brought more food to the nest. Astrid took it on the crossperch and did the feeding. Ares returned to the State Building and to the northeast lookout. After the meal Niles did some wing flapping. The nestlings were starting to show some tan plumage on their cheeks as well as a fringe of feathers protruding from the end of their tails and the trailing edges of their wings. Their bodies also seem to be increasing in size exponentially. The nestlings were back in the corner of the box but they were not so tied to it as they had been in recent days. They were switching to the corner on the opposite side of the box. They were also doing more walking around and wing flapping. At 7:45 Astrid was on the roof of the nest box. This being Sunday she did not have anyone in the office to glare at. At 8:52 Astrid was feeding the nestlings again. We are not sure where the food came from. At 10:39 one of the nestlings was heard giving a cackle type alarm call. It was just practice and there was no real threat.
Otherwise, and visited the nest at 12:26 PM. Astrid made a short visit at 1:36. Otherwise, there were no feedings in the early part of the afternoon. At 2:32 Ares brought a Starling to the east veranda. Astrid took it and did a feeding. It was more raucous than meal times have been with this clutch. It seemed like the nestlings were very hungry this time. Both parents were visible on the State Building at 2:47. They took turns visiting the nest and checking on the chicks at 3:00. At 4:14 Ares brought food to the east veranda. Astrid took it and did the feeding. Niles bowed out early, ceding his place at the front of the chow line to Amelia. A few minutes later he walked back to get his share. At 6:08 Ares brought prey to the nest. He hopped in and started the feeding, but before he could get really into it, Astrid barreled in and took over. At 7:23 Ares brought more prey to the east veranda. Astrid took it and handled the feeding. The prey appeared to be leftovers of a Pigeon. Astrid began by feeding Niles. Amelia stood by patiently for a little while before joining in. At 7:35 the meal was over and Astrid went out onto the long perch. At 7:42 Niles was laying down at the front of the box with his bill resting on the box lip. That was the first time we had seen that behavior this season. The action was probably over for the night – although that’s always hard to say conclusively. Goodnight all.