Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Monday, April 3rd, 2023
It was cold overnight with temperatures in the mid 20s. It warmed up after Daybreak and by afternoon it was 62 degrees. It was windy all day, but the wind really picked up in the early evening. At 11:05 last night Astrid left the nest. She came back five minutes later and settled down on the egg. At 3:14 AM Astrid started vocalizing and came off the nest. She went over to the west veranda and continued calling. We thought that perhaps Ares brought food, but we didn’t see him anywhere. She flew off into the night without anything in her talons so there had been no exchange. However, after she flew off, we heard Ares screech four times in a row from some unknown location. Astrid returned a few minutes later, called a few times, and then climbed back on the nest. At 3:37 Ares came to the long perch with a Woodcock. Astrid came out to take it, but then, realizing what it was, she hopped back into the box again. Then she seemed to change her mind. She came back onto the crossperch and scrambled over to Ares. The transfer was awkward, and it seemed like she had a hard time getting her wings in the right position to fly. She finally managed it. I checked with the PTZ cam but I couldn’t find where she went. Ares stayed on the long perch for a little while before going into the box. He was squeaking a fair amount which probably meant that Astrid was view for him. At 3:50 the pair mated somewhere near the box. We know this because we heard Ares’ trademark mating chatter. Astrid came back into the nest a few minutes later. At 4:20 AM Ares came to the west veranda and Astrid left. He came into the box after that. By that time the temperature was 27 degrees. At 4:40 Ares was on the lip of the nest box. He left five minutes later. At 4:47 Astrid came to the west veranda and started vocalizing. It sounded like she wanted to mate, but there was no follow up mating. Instead, she came inside the nest and settled on the egg. By 6:14 the pair had switched and Ares took a turn guarding the egg. After a few minutes he was out on the crossperch. At 6:38 Astrid came to the east veranda perch. The pair mated five minutes later. They mated again at 7:02, and possibly again an hour later. At 8:52 no one was guarding the egg. Astrid was back in the nest at 9:10, and twenty minutes later they switched. Ares was with the egg for only a few minutes before going out onto the crossperch. At 10:32 they switched once more and Astrid came onto the egg. By 10:56 she was out on the crossperch. A minute later Ares brought prey to the west veranda. She went over to take it and flew off. She brought it to the hotel and Ares flew to the State Building.
At 11:37 AM Astrid was on the steeple perch and Ares was at the nestbox. They mated on the steeple at 11:40. Just before noon Astrid was at the box. The falcons did another switch at 12:13 and then Ares was on egg duty. Astrid flew over to the State Building. They were both there at 12:39. At 1:10 Ares was out of view. Astrid was with the egg at 2:49 but was up again less than a half hour later. Ares came to the box sometimes before 3:15. He was giving screeching calls a little while after that. At 4:43 Astrid was in the box and on the egg, but a half hour later both falcons were on the State Building. At this time the temperature was 62 degrees. At 5:46 Ares was on the hotel plucking prey. A minute later he brought it over to a ledge adjacent to Astrid’s perch on the State Building. She wasn’t coming over for it so he flew to the ledge next to hers. When it was clear she wasn’t coming to get it, he brought it right to her ledge. After a minute she flew over to the hotel to eat her dinner. Ares came by and sat next to her for a little while and watched her feed. While Astrid was on the hotel the wind picked up even more and was really buffeting our PTZ camera. at 6:11 Ares flew to the nest to check on the egg. Astrid left the hotel at 6:20 and came to the west veranda at 6:42. Both falcons came into the nest box and did a hybrid ledge display/switch. Afterwards Ares was gone. At 7:00 PM Astrid left the box. Shortly after that Ares arrived with a small food item. It may have been a bat. He nibbled on it, flew away, came back, nibbled on it some more, and then was gone again. By this time it had started raining. At 7:25 Ares returned to the nest box and Astrid to the west veranda. It was getting dark at this point nearly time for their crazy night antics to begin. By 7:49 Astrid was in the box on the egg and Ares was out of view. Goodnight all.
Little Falls Falcon Update: The Little Falls birds now have 3 eggs on their scrape. There was a more than 92 hour interval between the laying of eggs # 2 and # 3. This is far longer than the average interval. Regardless, all else seemed to be normal at that nest. A couple of days ago, wildlife photographer Bob Burns took some pictures of the Little Falls falcons. We are sharing some of those below:
