Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Tuesday, March 7th, 2023
The overnight was chilly but calm. The average temperature was in the high 20s. The morning was bright and sunny, but clouds rolled in by midafternoon. The wind picked up in the afternoon and there were some periods of light snowfall. Ares arrived at the nestbox at 6:04 AM. He was calling like he saw Astrid but we could not find her with our cameras. He flew out a couple of times, perhaps in order to mate, but we did not confirm that either. At 6:32 it was clear that Astrid was on the State Building. Ares pulled some food out of storage and brought it directly up to her ledge. She accepted it and flew over to the hotel to have breakfast. At 6:56 Ares was back at the nestbox. He started calling when Astrid returned to the State Building. At 7:26 both were on the State Building. At 8:02 Ares screeched to the box but did not stay for more than a moment. For the next several hours he was in and out-of-the-box frequently, and Astrid was up and down from the State Building several times. Just before noon it was Astrid that came to the box for a change. She was gone fifteen minutes later. Directly after, there may have been a mating but we could not confirm it. At 12:32 PM Ares came to the box and was squeaking. He didn’t vocalize for very long and soon flew over to the State Building. At 12:41 he came back to the box. Again, he didn’t linger, but floated away on the strong wind. Indeed, it had gotten remarkably windy. Astrid was already on the State Building and Ares landed on a ledge close to her. At 2:05 both Falcons converged at the nest box for a ledge display. As it happened it was a fast one and Ares dove out after only a minute or two. Astrid then spent quite a long time in the box. It almost seemed as if she was preparing to lay an egg, but it’s way too early for that kind of thing! The Falcons were quite low profile for the balance of the afternoon. One or the other briefly perched on the State Building or on other downtown perches. Ares showed up at the nestbox at 454. He stayed for five minutes and then darted off – possibly to go to his night perch.