Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Saturday, May 13th, 2023
It was relatively warm overnight with temperatures in the 50s. The daytime high was in the low 70s and the skies were mostly sunny. The wind kicked up early and continued through the day. Astrid spent the night on the nest. Ares brought fair-sized prey to the nest at 2:48 AM. Astrid took it and did a feeding. Ten minutes later when the meal was over, she took out the leftovers which still looked like an entire bird. Astrid was back on the nest in less than a minute. Ares appeared to be on the west face of the State Building at 5:00. At 5:17 we heard Ares giving screeching calls from somewhere in the canyon. That was likely an indication he had caught something. A few minutes later he brought food to the nest. Astrid took it and conducted another feeding. When it was over, she flew off with the leftovers. She was back to brooding at 5:39. Ares was on the steeple at that point. At 5:44 Astrid had left the box. We are not sure why. The temperature was 55 degrees, so there was little jeopardy for chicks or eggs as long as the interlude wasn’t too long. We saw that she was on a relatively low ledge on the State Building and Ares was still on the steeple. At 5:51 Ares came to the nest. He wasted little time in tucking the chicks and the egg beneath them. Indeed, he was doing a great job. At 6:14 Astrid was on the hotel feeding on something. A couple of minutes later she was up. At around 6:30 she was back on the nest. At 7:43 we heard Ares giving long calls. Astrid left the box and then both parents were on the State Building. At 7:47 Astrid was back in the nest. With the egg uncovered, we visually inspected the egg for pips but saw none. At 8:27 Ares brought more prey to the box. Astrid left instead of taking it and Ares stepped in to do the feeding. He was doing a very competent job, at least feeding the larger chick. Astrid came back to the nest at 8:31 and Ares’ feeding experiment was over. At 9:41 Ares was on the hotel. A minute later he had gone to the steeple. Ares delivered food to the box at 10:28. Astrid took it and did a feeding. At 10:36 Astrid was back to brooding but we noticed the egg wasn’t completely covered. Obviously, we don’t know if it is still viable, but it probably is for another day or two. At 11:46 Ares was on the hotel plucking and then feeding on prey. We thought he might bring it to the box but he didn’t. Perhaps he stored what he didn’t eat.
The next switch occurred at 12:32 PM. Once again Ares was doing an outstanding job brooding the nestlings and the egg. As a matter of fact, I thought it was Astrid. Astrid was giving him a nice long turn. At 1:18 Astrid was back and they did a quick changeover. At 2:09 Ares brought food to the box. It looked to be a Blue Jay. With some awkwardness, Astrid took it on the crossperch and flew away with it. We expected her to come back to do a feeding, but she did not. Ares then came into the box and began contemplating brooding. At 2:29 Astrid was back on the nest. Five minutes later she was jostling the egg and the nestlings, which made us think that perhaps there is hope for the last egg. At 2:50 Ares was on the steeple giving long calls. He took off a minute later. It was getting quite warm in the box with the sun flooding in. Astrid started shading the chicks and the egg. At 3:42 Ares screeched over to the east veranda. We think he wanted a turn with the brood but Astrid was not ready to leave and so he flew off. Ten minutes later he screeched back to the box again. This time he came inside and asked for a turn. It looked like Astrid wasn’t going to leave and then suddenly she changed her mind, stood up and flew out. Ares spent some time looking at the chicks, and deciding how best to proceed. The larger nestling began begging to him. Ares then started to provide shade. At 4:05 Astrid was back and Ares was out. Astrid was very hot on the nest with back intercepting the sun. She started panting. At around 5:25 the Falcons switched and Ares was back on duty. Astrid was on the steeple. Once again Ares was doing an excellent job shading. Astrid returned at 5:28 and took over. At 6:06 Ares was plucking prey on the hotel. He brought it to the box ten minutes later. Astrid took it and conducted a feeding. We could see that both chicks were getting fed. At one point the larger nestling toppled over and the little one got more attention. By 6:28 mealtime was over, Ares came into the box and Astrid left. At 6:50 Astrid was back to the nest and Ares was out. She immediately resumed shading. That was probably all the action we were going to see for the night. Goodnight all.