Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Thursday, April 6th, 2023
Heavy rain fell off and on overnight. The temperature stayed in the low 50s. Astrid spent most of the night in the box on the eggs. She did leave at 2:40 AM and returned 15 minutes later. Ares brought prey, possibly a Killdeer, to the west veranda at 3:47. Astrid came over to take it and then flew away with it. Ares was on the crossperch after that. Astrid came back to the west veranda perch at 4:12. The pair mated there at 5:25. Astrid went back into the nest at that point and took over on the eggs. At 6:30 the Falcons switched. Astrid went over to the State Building and Ares came onto the nest. However, he only sat for a few minutes, and then was out on the long perch. At 6:39 the pair mated on the State Building. At 6:42 Astrid came to the east veranda. They mated there two minutes later. Afterwards, Astrid went into the box and climbed onto the eggs. At 7:49 Astrid was up again and Ares was on the crossperch. Fifteen minutes later Ares was up and Astrid was on the crossperch. She then got back on top of her clutch. At 8:19 we thought that we missed a food exchange, and that Astrid had gotten a food gift, but only a minute later she was on the steeple without prey. Ares then joined her on the steeple. At 8:40 Astrid was on the hotel for a few minutes, but then went back to the steeple. At 9:39 she was back on the eggs. Five minutes later, Ares brought prey to the box. Astrid took it on the crossperch and flew off with it. She took it to the hotel.
10:04 AM Astrid was on the steeple once more but soon moved to the crossperch. The falcons mated there at 10:17. Ares went to the steeple afterwards and Astrid got back on the eggs. At 10:51, the pair did a changeover that featured some beaking. It was half ledge display and half a standard changing of the guard. Astrid left and Ares took over on the eggs. He was doing a good thorough job with incubation, that was, until about 12:06 PM when he left the eggs and went out on the crossperch. By this point there had been a few extended periods in which the egg was not being incubated, so obviously continuous incubation had not yet begun. At 12:10 the falcons mated on the State Building. At 12:11 Ares came back to the nestbox and got back onto the eggs. At 12:30 the falcons switched and Astrid took a turn on the nest. The next switch took place at 2:06 PM – that time Ares relieved Astrid. He was gone by 2:18 and the eggs were alone again for an extended time. At 3:09 Astrid was in the box incubating. At 4:22 Ares was on the State Building and Astrid was still on the eggs. At 4:39 they switched, He went to the box lip and Astrid went to a steeple perch. At 5:32 the pair mated on the steeple. Astrid got onto the eggs right after that. At 6:13 Ares brought prey to the long perch. Astrid took it from him on the crossperch and flew over to the hotel. At 6:28 Astrid was done with her meal and went to the steeple. Ares remained on guard duty at the box – he wasn’t incubating, only standing by. Ares left the box at 7:15 and Astrid flew there less than a minute later. She soon got on top of the eggs. Tonight somewhere close to midnight Astrid should lay her 3rd egg. It will be dark in the box at that time, but we will do our best to get the time.
Little Falls Falcon Update: Wednesday morning at approximately 8:14 AM Anna laid her 4th and probably final egg of the 2023 breeding season. Congratulations on the full clutch!!
