Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Tuesday, May 23rd, 2023
It was cool overnight with temperatures in the mid 40s. Once again, it warmed up quickly during the day. By midday the temperature was in the mid 70s, and by the end of the afternoon it was close to 80 degrees. Astrid spent most of the night in the nest. At 1:43 AM she went out onto the long perch and then flew off into the darkness. She returned to the long perch at 2:27 but did not come into the box to brood. The two nestlings were huddled in the corner and seemed to be tolerating the cool conditions. Ares came to the box with prey at 2:44. Astrid took it and did a feeding. Once the meal was done, she resumed brooding. At 5:07 Ares brought more prey to the nest. Astrid handled the feeding. Afterwards Astrid went back up onto the long perch and from there she flew into the canyon. At 5:28 Ares came to the east veranda with more prey. Astrid scrambled over the perches to get it; she flew off into the canyon with it, came back, hopped into the box, and did a feeding. At 5:49 the adults were in guarding positions on each veranda. Fifteen minutes later Ares was gone and Astrid was on the long perch. At 6:30 she had hopped up onto the roof of the box which meant that she was preparing to be annoyed by people in nearby offices. At 6:47 she was in the box brooding but not for very long. At 7:18 Ares was in the box with the nestlings. He soon moved out onto the crossperch. As for the nestlings, they were still crowded in the back corner of the box where they had been since the previous evening. Were they ever going to move out of that corner? By 8:30 both Falcons were up. Ares landed on the State Building. And Astrid returned to the east veranda. At that point movement inside an office adjacent to the nestbox caused Astrid to go up onto the roof of the box again and glare at the office window. At 9:29 Ares delivered more prey to the east veranda. Astrid hopped over and grabbed it. She flew out with it and then came back to the box. Another feeding followed. After the meal was over the parents assumed guarding positions once more on the east and west verandas. The nestlings were still huddled in the corner of the box. At 9:57 Astrid returned to the roof of the nest box. At 10:30 Ares was on the long perch giving long screeching calls. Ten minutes later we heard him calling from somewhere in the canyon. He then landed on the steeple. Astrid came to the crossperch at 11:19. Astrid called out when Ares took off from the steeple. We wondered if she was putting in her lunch order? At this time the nestlings were beginning to squeal and become restless although they still hadn’t left the back corner of the box. At 11:53 Astrid had gone to the steeple but darted when a window was opened on the 15th floor of the bank building. She then restationed herself on the roof of the nest box. At at 12:09 she moved to the crossperch. Moments later she was giving loud cackle type alarm calls and then she went after something, presumably a non-falcon intruder. She came right back to the box afterwards. It was obvious that she was on high alert. Ares was on the steeple at 12:10. He flew over to the crossperch five minutes later but did not stay long.
At 12:22 PM Astrid was on the lower steeple perch. She darted from that position a couple of minutes later. She was back on the steeple at 1:00. She was on the crossperch at 1:18 when Ares brought more food to the east veranda. She grabbed it, flew off, boomeranged back, and did a feeding. The prey appeared to be a male goldfinch. Once the meal was over she moved back out onto the crossperch. At 1:25 she was back on the steeple. At 2:00 the female nestling finally walked away from the back corner of the box. It was just in time for Ares to show up with prey. Astrid took it and did a feeding. When the feeding was done Astrid moved out to the crossperch. She was on the steeple at 2:11. At 2:30 Ares screeched to the box to do a chick check. Right after that one of the parents was seen soaring east of the State Building, probably on a hunting foray. At 2:46 Ares was back in the box with the nestlings. Two minutes later Astrid showed up and he ceded the nest to her. Astrid then proceeded to push the female out of the corner so she could provide shade for her. Astrid shaded the nestlings for about 15 minutes and then went out onto the crossperch. At 3:18 she was on the lower steeple perch. At 3:44 Ares brought a Black-billed Cuckoo to the east veranda. Astrid took it and fed it out to the chicks. She left when the meal was over. At 4:12 Ares was on the State Building and Astrid was on the steeple. She was back in the box and shading the chicks at 4:28. Hey doesn’t Ares usually get tasked with shading duty on hot afternoons? How come he’s getting out of it? At 5:03 she was shading and jostling them. For a while the male was in one back corner and the female was in the opposite corner. Astrid wasn’t happy about that and herded the female nestling over to the opposite corner to be with her sibling. Of course, five minutes later they had switched corners again. We hadn’t seen Ares for a while at that point and Astrid seemed to be waiting for him to show. At 6:55 Ares arrived at the box. He did not bring prey. Astrid left the steeple, presumably in search of food. At 7:30 Ares was up and Astrid came to the box with prey. It was probably something she got from Ares’ pantry. At 8:00 PM Ares brought more food to the east veranda. Astrid took it and did another feeding. That was probably it for the night. Astrid stayed on the crossperch for a while and Ares was on the State Building. Goodnight all.