Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Sunday, June 11th, 2023
It was relatively warm overnight with temperatures in the 50’s. The day was warm with highs in the low 80’s. Astrid spent the night on the east veranda. Ares was on the State Building in the evening but left sometime in the predawn hours. There were no overnight feedings. At 5:15 AM Astrid came to the box and the nestlings became highly excited and vocal. Ares appeared on the steeple at around the same time. Astrid had prey on the hotel moments later. At 5:22 she brought it to the box. Amelia was first in line to be fed. Six minutes later Amelia moved off and Niles got a turn. At 5:31 both nestlings stopped eating and so Astrid started polishing off what was left. After Astrid left, Niles did some serious wing flapping. Meanwhile Ares was on the hotel looking for food scraps left over from Astrid’s prey processing. At 5:50 Astrid was on the east veranda. At 6:16 Ares brought prey to the box. Astrid took it and mostly fed Niles. A few minutes later she left with the food. At 6:49 Astrid was on the east veranda and Ares was on his favorite pillar perch. At 7:18 Ares gave some long calls and Astrid, some interactive calls, but they were still on their perches. At 7:28 Astrid flew up to the roof of the nestbox. She had moved over to the State Building at 8:50. At 9:24 Astrid flew back to the east veranda and the nestlings went wild. Amelia was picking at food scraps in the back corner of the nestbox. Astrid then hopped up to the top of the box. Amelia started flapping her wings and Niles looked at her sideways and upside down. Amelia then let out a loud cackle call. The nestlings did some beaking after that. At 9:38 we heard the parents giving chirping type alarm calls. That meant a Peregrine intruder was in the canyon. Both parents were out of view for about fifteen minutes. Presumably they were dealing with the intruder. At 10:00 the nestling began squealing which likely meant they could see one or both of the parents returning. At 10:09 we saw there was one on the State Building. At 10:37 Astrid plunked back down on the roof of the nestbox. We heard Ares screech to a landing on the State Building at 10:45. Ten minutes later he was plucking prey on a window ledge west of the nest. At 10:57 Ares brought prey to the nest. Astrid met him there but was too late to take it. Niles grabbed it from Ares and took it to the back of the box. Both nestlings tried to feed from it for a while. At 11:09 Ares was back on his pillar and Astrid was on the State Building. At 11:21 Astrid came to the nest, plunged to the back of the box and recovered the stolen food and then proceeded to serve it out to Amelia. At 11:33 the meal was over and Astrid left the nest.
At 11:55 AM Ares arrived at the nest with food. Amelia rushed him. Ares held onto the food this time and started plucking it against the lip of the box. Neither nestling got in line to be fed – they just stood and screeched. Ares started giving little call notes. He moved to the center of the box and Niles pushed past Amelia to get served. Ares then proceeded to do a feeding. First Niles was getting every bite, but then Ares positioned himself between the nestlings and then Amelia got a few bites too. Interestingly Astrid was on the State Building during the entire meal and didn’t not feel compelled to fly in and take over. At 12:03 PM Ares went out onto the crossperch. The meal was over and he had done a very good job. At 12:07 Amelia was putting on a one nestling flap-fest. Niles watched her with great interest, cockling his head one way and then the other like a perplexed dog. We noticed that the nestlings’ plumage, with is blotchy salt & pepper appearance – a study in browns, whites, tans, and grays, is a near perfect match for the feather strewn floor of the nestbox. The afternoon was fairly hot in the box and the nestlings looked uncomfortable some of the time. Long gone were the days of shading. At 2:00 Ares made an appearance on the east veranda and the nestlings became highly excited. It was possible that Ares brought food and they stole it from him, but we couldn’t confirm it. It does seem like they always have something squirreled away in the back corner of the box these days. Both parents were out of camera view between 3:10 and 3:40. Astrid finally visited the nestbox at 5:00 PM. She kept trying to recover some food from the back corner of the box but the nestlings were blocking her. Fifteen minutes later, she managed it and started a feeding. She fed Amelia first and then Niles. Astrid turned her body to block Niles so she could feed Amelia. At 6:07 Ares showed up on his pillar perch. It was the first time we had him in view for about four hours. At 6:44 Ares was up on his lookout post – in hunting mode. At 6:56 Astrid was at the nest. She plucked some prey from the back of the box and started a feeding. The meal was over after six minutes and Astrid was out. At 7:10 the nestlings were engaging in some intense wing flapping. At 7:41 Ares brought prey to the nest. Amelia tugged it away from him and took it to the back corner of the box. Astrid showed up and, after a few valiant attempts at recovery, she managed to grab the food and start a feeding. The nestlings were fairly well behaved during the feeding session. This was probably the last feeding of the night, Goodnight all.