Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Sunday, May 7th, 2023
It was cold overnight with temperatures in the high 30s. There was a dramatic warm up after sunrise. The temperature rose to 70 degrees by early afternoon. Astrid was tight on her nest through the night. Ares was first seen on the State Building at 4:20 AM. He was up and then back at 4:50. He came to the nest at 5:11 and the pair executed a quick switch. Astrid initially flew over to the west face of the State Building. As is her habit, we expect that she was checking the pantry for any viable meals. At 5:30 she was flying in front of the west face – again perusing the ledges. At 6:30 Astrid perched on the steeple. The next switch occurred at around 6:50 AM. Astrid took over on the eggs and Ares was a free agent in the canyon once again. At 10:15 Astrid was calling from the nest. We then heard Ares giving long calls from the steeple. He gave long calls on and off for the next 35 minutes and she continued answering him. At 10:54 the falcons did a rapid changing of the guard. Ares got behind Astrid and she immediately left the box. She flew over to a relatively low perch on the State Building as is her recent habit. At 11:33 Astrid was back on the steeple perch. She stayed there for about 25 minutes and then went to the hotel and sat in the sun for a little while. After her stunning session she was back to the steeple. She was out of view for quite a while after that.
At 2:00 PM Ares abruptly left the nest. We don’t know where Astrid was at that time but it was 70 degrees so we weren’t worried about the eggs being left alone. Most likely it was an intruder that brought Ares off the nest but we could not confirm that. He gave some long calls which meant that he was trying to call Astrid over. Less than 5 minutes after he left the eggs he returned and was back on them. At 2:23 Astrid showed up on the State Building. Ares gave some squeaking calls which tipped us off to her arrival. Ten minutes later Ares was giving a cackle type alarm call. Most probably that meant there was a non-falcon Raptor flying through the Canyon. At 2:55 PM Astrid was at the box, taking over incubation from Ares. Ares flew over to his lookout post on the roof of the State Building. A few minutes later we started hearing what we believed were muffled begging calls from a chick inside one of the eggs. Astrid jostled the eggs after we heard the sound which was another indication that one of the eggs was close to hatching. Indeed, the jostling is done to induce and/or assist hatching. Since the start of the Hatch window is May 8th (tomorrow) this took us by surprise. Astrid throws us some curveballs on occasion, all so we don’t get too smug and think we know it all. At 5:32 Ares came to the box and we got a chance to see the eggs during the changeover. Sure enough, one of the eggs had a pip or a hole in it. The chick inside was using its egg tooth to bang its way out of this shell. This means we could have a hatch at anytime, most likely tonight or tomorrow morning. Surprisingly, Astrid allowed Ares a nice long turn on the eggs even though a hatch is imminent. She is full of surprises. At 6:40 Ares came off the eggs and went on to the crossperch. He was calling, although it wasn’t an alarm call. After only about 30 seconds he got back onto the eggs. It was then that Astrid arrived. Ares left quickly and she settled onto the eggs. Most likely she is in place for the night. These are exciting times! We should have the first hatch of the season by tomorrow. Goodnight all.