Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Sunday, May 14th, 2023
It was chilly last night with a low temperature in the high 30s. It took a while to warm up after sunrise. By noon it wasn’t quite 60 degrees. The high for the day was in the mid-60’s. Astrid spent the night on the nest as expected. Ares brought food to the box at 3:15 AM. Astrid took it and conducted a feeding. The two nestlings were doing a lot of squealing and were quite hungry. Ares was back with more food at 4:00 AM. Astrid accepted it on the crossperch and doled out another feeding. At 5:28, Ares returned with another prey item. Astrid took it and started trying to feed the chicks. Obviously, they were still full from their previous meals. After a few minutes though, they began to rally, and vie for food. At 5:59 we noticed that Ares was on the State Building. Astrid abruptly left the box at 6:23. We weren’t sure why, but the temperature was only 41 degrees which can be dangerous for unprotected nestlings and/or eggs. Apparently not overly concerned – both Falcons were perched on the State Building. Astrid was back to the nest at 6:24. At 7:12 we heard Ares giving long calls from somewhere in the canyon. Astrid called back from the nest. He then came to the box and did a food drop. Astrid handled the feeding. When the feeding was over about six minutes later, Astrid left the nest and Ares came in. He didn’t even have time to get comfortable. Astrid was back only two minutes later. Ares flew over to the State Building. At 8:39 Ares was back in the box and babysitting. Astrid relieved him less than a minute later. At 10:34 Astrid left the box. We weren’t sure why. Was it an intruder? Moments later both adults piled into the box at the same time. The nestlings had been calling, were they both responding? Astrid stayed on to brood while Ares headed out. At 11:22 the pair switched and Ares was on nest duty. Once again, it was a short turn for him. A minute later Astrid came back and he left. At 11:49 Ares brought prey to the box. Astrid took it from him on the crossperch and did a feeding.
At 1:01 PM Ares and then Astrid began giving cackle type alarm calls. Astrid soon blasted out of the box. She did not seem at all happy. Most likely this was due to a non-falcon intruder. Ares came in to watch the chicks five minutes later. Astrid then came in and relieved him. At 2:15 Astrid left and Ares seamlessly came in to take over. Astrid was back two minutes later and Ares was out again. At 3:14 we heard Ares giving long calls from somewhere. Astrid called back from the nest. At 3:26 he came to the nest. Astrid left and he came in. He was squeaking while the chicks were squealing. Three minutes later Astrid came into the box with food. Ares left and she started a feeding. At around 4:30 Ares was on duty again in the box. We were not sure how long he had been there. At that point he was sitting next to the chicks and the egg and not throwing shade on them. The nestlings wanted to be fed and they were biting at Aries bill. At 4:40 Astrid was back to the nest and Ares was out. She immediately said about brooding the clutch. At 447 Astrid was out of the nest once more and we heard Aries screeching. Two minutes later Astrid came back to the nest with food. Most likely Ares had caught something and they transferred it off site. At 5:35 Astrid was feeding the nestlings again. Ares came to the crossperch at 5:49. Astrid was out 10 minutes later. Ares came in but stood on the lip of the box for a little while. At 6:14 Astrid was back to the nest and Ares was up. Astrid went over and stood on the cross perch at 6:29. She remained there for quite some time. Ares came over and asked for a turn brooding at 7:05 but Astrid didn’t take him up on it. She was in the nest and brooding again a few minutes later. At 7:55 PM Ares was on the east veranda. He was gone before 8:00. Goodnight all.