Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Thursday, June 1st, 2023
It was a little cool last night with temperatures in the mid 50s. Once again, the day was hot. By noon the temperature was in the high 80s. By late afternoon it was 93 degrees. Astrid spent most of the night in the nest area, mostly on the long perch. Ares brought a small prey item at 2:45 AM. Astrid took it and did the first feeding of the day. Ares brought another small bird at 3:27. Astrid took it and did another feeding. At 4:40, just to mix things up a little, Ares brought his next offering to the west veranda. Astrid handled the feeding. That meal was over after only five minutes. After that Ares gave a few long calls and blasted off from the veranda. Astrid moved onto the crossperch. At 5:41 Astrid was up. The nestlings were acting very lively, moving around and calling. Niles decided he liked to be right up to the lip of the box looking into the canyon. At 6:07 Ares came to the box to do a chick check. When he left the nestlings squealed. We noticed that the nestlings are beginning to follow the movements of their parents as they flew through the canyon which means their eyesight is developing and becoming keener. At 6:55 Astrid was engaged in feeding the nestlings. Ares was on the east veranda at the time which meant he likely brought the food. Five minutes later when the feeding was done, Astrid went to the crossperch. By 8:00 Astrid was on the roof of the nestbox and Ares was on the east veranda. At 8:52 Astrid had a short freak out over movement in an office adjacent to the nestbox. She seemed to get over it quickly today which was an improvement over her behavior on Wednesday. At 9:49 Astrid came to the crossperch. The nestling squealed in response. Once again, she was back up on the box roof where she could keep an eye on the office. At 11:02 Astrid came to the nest with prey. We are not sure if she got it from Ares, from the pantry, or if it was something she obtained on her own. She then conducted a lengthy feeding session. At the end of it the nestlings had turned away. However, Astrid remained to polish off the leftovers. At 11:44 Niles did quite a bit of wing flapping in the nest. Astrid moved up to the roof of the nestbox to keep a guard on the office.
At 12:37 PM Ares visited the nest for a chick check. After that both adult Peregrines were on the State Building for a little while. At 1:08 Astrid came to the nestbox. After a moment on the crossperch she hopped inside the box. She was shading although Niles and Amelia were not underneath her, nor was the sun flooding the box yet. At 1:28 Astrid was seen jostling the egg. I don’t think that’s going to help at this point, Astrid. At 1:46 Ares brought prey to the nest. Astrid took it from him and flew over to the hotel. There she plucked it and fed on it briefly. She brought it to the nest a minute later and fed it to the nestlings. After only two minutes Amelia stopped feeding and went over to the corner – ceding the meal to her brother. At 1:50 the meal was over and Astrid left the nest. She was back in the nest providing shade at 2:48. At 3:34 we heard Ares giving long calls from somewhere close by. It turned out he was on the steeple, The nestlings responded to his calls with vocalizations of their own. By 4:00 it was very hot in the nest – 90 degrees or better, Astrid seemed committed to staying with them during the hottest part of the day. She continued providing shade and wrangling them at unpredictable intervals. When she tried to jostle them or shift them, they would squeal protest calls. At 5:47 Astrid left the nest. There was more shade in there now, so she felt OK about not being in there. At 6:02 she was on the lower steeple perch. At 7:11 PM Ares brought food to the crossperch. Astrid barreled in and grabbed it and did a feeding. Niles grabbed it away from Astrid initially but she took it right back. Both nestlings fed aggressively to begin with. Amelia got most of it and Nile went into the corner for a while. He came back before the meal was over and managed to get a few bites. The meal ended at 7:25 and Astrid left. She was on the steeple for a while and then sometimes before 8:30 she came to the west veranda. The nestlings were sacked out like Peregrine snow angels on the floor of the box but became animated again at around 8:30. It was starting to cool down a little by then. Niles spent some time sitting by the lip of the box and starring out into the canyon. Goodnight falcons.