Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Friday, April 21st, 2023
It was cool overnight with temperatures in the high forties. Come morning the temperature climbed quickly and we hit the mid 70’s by midday and 84 by late afternoon. Astrid sat on the nest through the night as expected. Ares was on a window ledge just west of the nest area at 4:00 AM. He was busily plucking something we couldn’t see. I suspect it was a Woodcock. He came to the nest at 4:11 without it. We think he stored it on one of his pantry ledges on the State Building. Astrid screeched quite loudly as they switched. It was likely she was expecting a meal. An hour later they switched again, and Astrid came back on the eggs. We don’t know if she had gotten any breakfast or not. At 6:18 Ares came to the long perch with a small prey item. She scrambled over the crossperch to take it. She flew off with it, but we were not sure where to. Meanwhile, he got comfortable on the eggs. She made a visit to the crossperch at 6:30 – just for a check-in? Ares didn’t stir. Clearly, he wasn’t ready to leave so soon. At 7:10 she tried again. She used gentle persuasion – beaking with him and not being pushy. It worked. He got up and flew. At 7:44 Astrid was calling while on the nest. It was possible Ares was dealing with an intruder, but we couldn’t confirm it. It was also possible he was actively hunting in the canyon, and she was just reacting to his efforts. At 8:47 Ares came to the box. He walked around behind her to compel her to leave. In other words, it wasn’t gentle persuasion. Regardless, it worked. Astrid was out and he was in. At 9:30 Astrid landed on the crossperch for another routine check-in. She was out again before Ares reacted. At 9:44 AM Ares left the eggs and the box and flew in pursuit of what was likely a male Peregrine intruder. The two birds darted off to the south. Astrid wasted no time coming to the box and resuming incubation. There were lots of raptors migrating through the region on the favorable winds, so we weren’t surprised the falcons were having issues. A Turkey Vulture floating over the canyon at 10:46 elicited no reaction from the falcons. By that time Ares had returned from his policing and was perched on the steeple.
At 12:15 PM the falcons switched, and Ares came back on house duty. Astrid initially flew to a ledge on the State Building. At 2:15 we heard a cackle-type alarm call from Astrid. Likely she was reacting to a passing non-falcon raptor or vulture. At 4:10 it sounded like another falcon intruder was in the canyon. This time Ares gave a few high chirps and then darted out of the nest. He seemed to be highly agitated. Obviously, he was in pursuit of something. When he left, the eggs were alone, but not for long, as Astrid came out of nowhere to resume their incubation. As for Ares, he was heading north after whoever it was that pissed him off. At 6:28 the falcons changed places. They did it very fast and businesslike. They did their final changeover for the day at 7:38. Astrid came onto the nest and Ares headed for the west face of the State Building. Goodnight all.