Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Tuesday, February 21th, 2023
It was a cold start to the day with temperatures only in the mid 20’s. After dawn it was sunny, but only until mid-morning. The temperature was near 40 degrees by noon. Rain and sleet squalls came in the afternoon. Both falcons appeared at 6:00 AM – Ares at the nest and Astrid on the State Building. Ten minutes later they mated on the State Building. At 6:56 Ares was inside the box trying to get Astrid to come in for a dance. She was on the crossperch trying to entice him to mate again. She then moved over to the east veranda and they mated moments later. At 7:25 Ares brought Astrid food. She took it and flew over to the hotel to eat it. At 8:43 Astrid was on a window ledge to the east of the nest. It is possible they mated there, but we couldn’t be sure. An hour later Ares came back with another food gift. She took it from him inside the nestbox and darted over to the hotel. At 10:00 Astrid came to the west veranda. Ares reacted by excitedly hopping into the box. He still wanted his dance! At 10:18 the pair mated again – this time on the west veranda. Ares flew up to his favorite pillar perch afterwards. The two falcons remained in place until Astrid flew to the crossperch at 11:36. Less than a minute later Ares came to the box. She walked out onto the east veranda while he tried to persuade her to join him in the box. They mated again at 11:49. At noon Ares was back up on his pillar.
At 1:25 PM the falcons mated on the east veranda. Ares boomeranged back to his pillar right afterwards. Rain started falling by 1:40, but it didn’t appear to dampen the falcons’ spirits much. Ares brought yet another food tribute to Astrid at 1:54. She accepted it on the east veranda and then flew over to the hotel. However, she didn’t eat it. We weren’t surprised since she already had a full crop. So did Ares for that matter. She stored the food and flew to a window ledge west of the nestbox. Ares excitedly hopped into the box – still hoping for a dance. Astrid flew again, but not to the box; this time she landed on the remote office perch (Deb’s perch). By 3:24 the weather had deteriorated. Rain and sleet squalls were hitting downtown. Astrid and Ares moved to the north face of the State Building which may have been out of the weather. At 4:00 she went to her steeple perch and Ares came to the box, but neither stayed for long. We assume they both went to their night perches early. Goodnight all.