Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Wednesday, May 31th, 2023
It was mild overnight with temperatures in the mid 50s. After daybreak we quickly went into the frying pan. The temperature hit the mid 80s by midday and close to 90 degrees by late afternoon. Astrid was close to the nest for most of the night. At 2:23 AM Ares brought something small to the east veranda. Astrid took it from him, flew off, and then did not return to the box. She either ate the food herself or stored it somewhere. At 2:44 we heard Ares give a few long calls from somewhere in the canyon. A few minutes later one of the Peregrines was visible on the State Office Building. At 3:33 AM Ares screeched in with another small prey item. Astrid took it and did a feeding. At 4:12 Ares brought something else to the west veranda. It was small. Astrid took it, flew away, came back to the box, and did a feeding. At 5:24 the nestlings were starting to become activated. They were strutting around in the box and vocalizing a lot. At 5:26 Astrid hopped into the box for a minute but did not stay. A minute later she came back to the crossperch only to fly away again. At 5:31 she returned to the nest with prey. In the beginning she was only feeding Niles; Amelia was standing back. After a couple of minutes she joined in. At 5:53 the feeding was over. Astrid went out to the east veranda. Ares was on his pillar perch giving long calls. At 6:15 Astrid was up. She was next seen 15 minutes later on the hotel. She was in hunting mode. She flew out after something at 6:38 and then was back to the hotel less than a minute later with a freshly caught Pigeon. She spent some time plucking it on the ledge of the hotel. Meanwhile, at the nest Ares stopped in to do a chick check. At 6:52 Astrid arrived at the nest with her Pigeon. After an odd non-active minute or two (it was like she was deep in thought) she began to feed the nestlings. Once again Niles was feeding and Amelia was hanging back. The meal was over at 7:12 and Astrid flew out. At 7:28 Astrid was on the roof of the nestbox and ready to be outraged by the appearance of people in the office. At 7:30 Ares brought prey inside the nest. Astrid barreled in and seized it. It looked like she was about to do a feeding but then flew away with it instead. Most likely she realized that the nestlings had been stuffed only a short time earlier. At 7:50 Ares was on the long perch and Astrid was on the west veranda by 7:55 Astrid had gotten extremely irritated by seeing people in offices near the box. She began cackling and hazing the 15th floor of the building. One single cackle call lasted over 3 minutes at one point which amazed us. She would repeat that feat several times that morning. At 9:37 Astrid was still mad and was occasionally cackling about one thing or other. At 10:10 Ares was up on his pillar again. At 10:58 Astrid was giving more long cackle calls from the box area. Ares was also heard giving his usual long calls from his pillar perch. At 11:53 he screeched to the nest area with prey. Astrid took it and did a feeding. At noon the feeding was done. Astrid went to the east veranda and from there back to the roof of the box where she could keep an eye on the office windows.
At 12:30 PM Astrid was cackling and generally freaking out again over movement in nearby office windows. An hour later Astrid seemed to be done with tirades. She hopped into the nestbox and made shade for a little while. Fifteen minutes later both parents were on the State Building. White cotton flush from Cottonwood trees in by the Mohawk River floated on the air like snow flurries. At 2:09 she was back in the box with the nestlings. The temperature was approaching 90 degrees and the birds were in for an uncomfortable afternoon. Astrid remained in the box with them almost non-stop for the next 4.5 hours. We had no clue where Ares was during that time, but he never showed up at the nest to relieve his mate. Astrid gave shade, moved the nestlings around, put up with their complaining, and generally looked miserable, but she remained at her post through all of it. Just when we were about to sent the rangers out to find Ares, he showed up on the east veranda with food. Astrid took it from him and flew over to the hotel with it. There she proceeded to pluck and then eat a portion of it. At 6:51 she arrived at the nest with what was left. Both nestlings dashed over to her and made grabs for the food. They were famished. She fed them both for only a few moments and the Amelia left and went into the corner. After another minute Niles too gave up and went to the corner. Astrid followed after him, gave him one more bite, and then left the nest. The meal was over. Both parents were out of view for a while but at 7:22 Astrid appeared on the steeple and Ares on the State Building. Astrid came back to the long perch at 7:37 PM. Goodnight all.