Another Day in the Lives of the Utica Peregrine Falcons

The falcons had an early start this morning. Ares arrived at the nest box at 5:11 AM. This time he had a tribute for his mate. It was still very dark out but we identified the prey as a Brown Thrasher. Astrid took it with her when she left and Ares took over incubating the eggs. A few switches later, while Ares was at the nest, a pigeon perched on one of the falcon’s favorite places on the steeple. We weren’t sure where Astrid was at that point, but regardless, the pigeon survived its stint in the danger zone. The afternoon was very warm in the box and by 1:30 Astrid was anxious to have Ares take over. He came to the box with a dramatic screech and the pair changed places. By 3:30 Ares was shading the eggs and not incubating.  Ten minutes later Astrid was back in the box. Over the course of the next hour or so, she was looking increasingly uncomfortable. She was panting with her beak wide open. When Ares relieved her at 6:05, she immediately went over to the hotel and drank water from a puddle for at least 5 minutes. Ares spent much of his last shift in the box shading the eggs. At 6:56, while Astrid monitored the situation from her perch on the steeple, he called and then hopped out onto the nest box perch. After that he flew over to the State Building. Astrid took the hint and came back to the box. At this point she was settled in for the night. Ares at on the County Building for a while and then presumably went off to his night perch.