Saint Patrick’s Day – The Utica Peregrine Falcons Have a Moderately Busy Day

This morning started out even colder than yesterday morning. Temperatures were in the low twenties. But the strong gusty wind made it seem colder. Temperatures moderated into the 30’s by mid-day. Of course March 17th is Saint Patrick’s Day, and in Utica there is a big parade that crosses right through the falcon’s canyon. No one expected a conflict and there wasn’t one. The falcons weren’t especially early birds today. Both showed up at the box together and performed a very short (five seconds) ledge display. Astrid flew right back into the darkness and landed on a high ledge on the State Building. Ares stayed at the box for a little while, left when she flew, and then and came back to the box when she returned to her perch. The falcons continued in a similar manner for few more hours. One was on the roof of the State Building for a few minutes. At one point Ares flew off in the direction of the Utica Marsh, but both falcons were on the State Building by 9:30. Ares had flown in with some prey and was feeding on it. Astrid moved in closer to him and “asked” for a share. He then abandoned it, thus allowing her to take over.

The Saint Patrick’s Day parade started at 10:00, and Astrid and Ares had seats in the high bleachers. But honestly, other than the canyon being a little noisier than an average day, the falcons didn’t seem to notice anything unusual, green hats and bagpipes notwithstanding. Both falcons did take off at around 11 AM. Astrid was seen doing some nice slow soaring. Afterwards she came back to the State Building and he returned to the box. At 11:30 he made a stop on the hotel ledge. At one point he launched after something, or at least we thought he did. Regardless, in two minutes, the pair was mating on the State Building. He was back to the box afterwards and she was flying around in the canyon. Her return to the State Building was announced by Ares in his  own squeaky speak.  While up on the lip of the box, it seemed like Ares finally noticed the parade – or he was looking in its direction anyhow. He seemed less than captivated by it. After all there was no pigeon float or troupe of starlings dressed in green, playing the pipes. Not much of interest for a Peregrine Falcon there.

At slightly after 1 PM, the pair had a ledge display at the nest box. There was no fancy foot work or any beaking this time. The display consisted of deep bows, with Ares standing on his masterpiece of a scrape. The “dance” was only about five minutes long. Ares left first and flew over to the State Building. No doubt he was hoping that Astrid would make him the happiest bird in town by laying an egg right in the center of his scrape. Well, she didn’t do that. She did make four scrapes herself – at least one was in Ares’ trench. She also bit the lip of the box a few times. When she left, she went over to the State Building, but wasn’t there for too long. Shortly after two o’clock, she was out of view of our cameras and stayed that way for the next 4 hours. At 2 PM, Ares was on the ledge of the hotel feeding on prey. Unlike his mate, Ares made a few appearances at the box, but then disappeared from our cameras at 3:40. It’s possible the pair mated around that time. Deb thought she heard Ares’ mating chatter call. Astrid finally came back onto our radar at close to 6 PM. She landed on the cross-perch of the nest box, but didn’t stay more than a minute or two. Ares was seen ten minutes later. He had a leg of some bird prey in his talons and was calling for Astrid to come take it. He had a nice big crop himself, so we were pretty sure that he had a share of that prey (and possibly all but the leg he was holding).  Astrid was last seen on the roof of the State Building at 6:47. After stowing the food, Ares spent some time on the cross perch of the nest box. The early evening light lit him up beautifully there. Where are all the photographers when the lighting is this good? He went to his night perch a few minutes before 7 PM.