Today we had a resurgence of winter-like weather. Despite that, the Utica Falcons were still thinking classic springtime thoughts. Ares was at the nest box by 5 AM. Astrid was barely visible on the State Building at the same time. Ares was occasionally issuing long screech calls into the darkness. Possibly this was a territorial proclamation to the world or maybe it was a signal to his mate that all systems were go. He’s obviously ready for the breeding season to get underway. At 6:15, it wasn’t even daylight yet when Ares flew over and mated with her on the State Building. It was a real mating this time, unlike yesterday’s failed attempt. By seven o’clock, Astrid was on the ledge of the hotel plucking a Pigeon that she presumably had just procured. Ares came over and tried to make a quick grab for some of it, but instead he only flew off in a puff of Pigeon feathers. Astrid started feeding on her meal, but she didn’t get far into it before she began trying to cough something up. Every time she tried to take a bite, she’d start to choke again. Finally she gave up on the meal and loped a few feet down the ledge. Ares showed up again and began feeding heartily. Astrid flew to her perch on the Grace Church steeple and, for a little while, it seemed she was trying to bring up whatever was stuck in her throat. Meanwhile, Ares vacated the hotel ledge. He had probably stored the leftovers somewhere.
By 8 o’clock, Astrid was back on the hotel and finishing the meal. Nobody saw it happen, but it’s likely that Ares brought her the leftovers as a tribute. Anyway, this time she finished the meal without any choking fits After that she returned to her steeple perch and Ares resumed his vigil at the nest box. Just before 8:30, they mated again, right there on the steeple. By 9 AM, snow began falling and the pair spent the balance of the morning on their respective perches. At about 3 PM, Ares had left the box, but in less than 10 minutes he was right back at the perch with most of a plucked Pigeon. It wasn’t clear where this meal came from, but it probably had been stored someplace. Astrid met him on the box’s perch and accepted the gift. She flew to the hotel with it and he joined her there.
Our monitoring was sketchy during this time, so we are not sure if both birds fed or not. A little later, Ares was at the box again. At 5:00, Ares dramatically left the box and Astrid dove from her perch on the State Building at the same time. It looked like she went straight down. Some vocalizing was heard, but we weren’t sure exactly what happened. Later, Ares was on the hotel eating some leftovers and Astrid had returned to the State Building. At a little after 6:00 PM, both falcons had gone off to their night perches in some undisclosed location. Goodnight falcons!
