Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Wednesday, March 29th, 2023
The weather was all over the place today. The overnight was cold with temperatures in the mid 20s. By afternoon it had warmed up to 50 degrees and the sky was partly sunny. Wind increased in the afternoon making life more difficult for people, if easier for falcons. Rain turned to snow in the evening and temperatures dropped into the 30s. Astrid spent most of the night in the nestbox. She left at 2:54 AM but then returned to the crossperch only ten minutes later. At 5:09 Ares arrived at the nestbox and Astrid took it as her cue to leave. Both falcons were on the State Building at 5:50. At 6:00 Ares came to the box with a Woodcock. He spent some time plucking it while he patiently waited for Astrid to come over and take it. To our disbelief, at 6:26 Astrid did come over and take it from her mate. She flew over to the hotel with it and started picking at it. To no one’s surprise she soon gave up and abandoned it on the hotel ledge. She was back on the steeple a few minutes later. The falcons mated there at 6:30 after which Ares returned to the nestbox
At 7:27 AM both falcons were at the nest area. Astrid was on the east veranda perch and Ares was inside the box. She was bowing and asking to mate. There may have been a mating at that point, but if there was, we didn’t see it. At 9:46 the falcons were partaking of a ledge display in the nestbox. Ares was gone 6 minutes later. After he left Astrid worked on her scrape in the middle of the box. At 10:17 both falcons converged at the box again for another ledge display. After 7 minutes Ares was out. Astrid spent some time in the box and we wondered if she was going to lay her first egg but at 11:45 she went to her steeple perch instead. At 2:47 PM Astrid was on the State Building and Ares was in the nest box. At 4:30 the falcons had another ledge display at the box. Ares was out eight minutes later and Astrid remained to do some work around the nest. At 5:10 Astrid was out of the box. At 5:23 Ares came to the nest and was giving chirping calls. We don’t know if that had anything to do with an intruder in the canyon. The falcons mated on the west veranda at 5:30 PM. Ares was on the State Building right after that. At 6:18 Ares came to the nestbox and Astrid left. She flew directly over to the State Building. By 6:45 it had become exceedingly rainy and windy. Ares was on the State Building and remained there until 7:18. At 7:39 Astrid arrived on the crossperch and from there she hopped into the box. It seemed like she was going to do a sitting. Perhaps tonight is the night for the first egg?! By 8:00 it had gotten much windier and rainier. By evening the rain was turning into snow. Our PTZ 2 camera was immediately obscured by ice. Goodnight Falcons.