First full day of spring? So says the calendar. We had another chilly start to the day with temperatures in the low twenties. Later on conditions improved; the temperatures rose into the thirties and the sun was nearly unobstructed in the sky. The Utica Falcons had a very early start to their day. Astrid arrived at the box at 1:43 AM. She wasn’t there looking like she was preparing to lay an egg. In fact, she was sitting on the box’s cross perch. She later moved out onto the east veranda’s perch. Neither would be an advisable places to lay an egg. Ares became visible on the north face of the State Building at around 5 o’clock. Just before 6:00, he came to the box and had a conversation with Astrid. He was standing in his prize divot and she was still on the veranda. It seemed clear by the intensity of Astrid’s calls that she wanted some breakfast. To us it seems like all he wants if for her to come and lay an egg on his scrape. Eight minutes later she was in the air. She flew over to the Hotel ledge and appeared to transition into hunting mode. If he’s not getting breakfast, then she will rustle up some for herself. At 6:30, both falcons were flying and at the same time one of our PTZ cameras went down, so our monitoring was a little hobbled. At 7:15, Ares was at the box and calling a lot. He screeched off into the canyon just as Deb arrived in her parking lot. At around 7:40, Ares was at the nest box again, but this time he had prey in his talons. The food was mashed up a bit, but appeared to be a starling. Since Astrid wasn’t coming to take it, he left with it, but then brought it back a half-hour later. Surely she’ll want it now? Nope. Actually, we weren’t even sure where she was at that time. He left again with the food and returned without it at 8:47. Three minutes later Astrid appeared from nowhere and was vocalizing at the box. she entered the box with him, but then left before any “performance” took place. She sailed out through the canyon and headed toward the Hotel. In a moment he was airborne as well. She found something to feed on at the Hotel ledge (it looked like leftovers from a pigeon meal). He landed near her and monitored her while she fed. To him she is an object of endless fascination. At 9:20, when she was finished, both returned to the canyon. Astrid took a perch on the steeple and Ares screeched over to his guard post (the box). Two minutes later the pair mated on the steeple. Twenty minutes later, both were on the State Building. At 9:44, the pair mated again – this time on the State Building. Afterwards Ares dashed over to the Hotel and partook of some scant leftovers. Seven minutes later, he was at the box, sitting in his scrape. Yep, it still seemed pretty good. Not much erosion took place since his last visit. The pair mated on the State Building again at 11:16. Shortly after that someone opened up a window in an office adjacent to the nest box. That upped both falcons. Astrid flew by the bank of windows to satisfy herself that nothing was amiss. She returned to the State Building a few minutes later.
At noon, Ares gave a cackle alarm call. Both falcons initially stayed in place and then Ares was up. He sped northward, but wasn’t gone for long. A little while later, we saw him on the roof of the State Building. Had he been upset by a migrant raptor flying over? Both falcons were flying again at 1 PM. Astrid did a wide circle over the canyon and then returned to her perch on the State Building. The pair mated, and then less than ten minutes later, Ares appeared at the nest box with prey. He began plucking it right there in the box. He was still processing the meal when something raised his ire. He started giving harsh “kak” calls. Was it an intruder? We saw nothing on the cams, but a migrating raptor could easily have been flying over. His cackle call transitioned into long screech calls and then he gave few more kaks. He launched off the perch and soared in front of the east face of the State Building, but he was not in pursuit of anything. He still had Astrid’s gift in his talons. He zipped around the north face of the building and glided up to perch on a window ledge right next to the one she was on. She began requesting a mating, but he only wanted to give her his gift. He bobbed the food up and down before her, but she wouldn’t take it. He put it down and picked it up and offered it to her no less than three times, but her answer was still no. After that, Ares returned to the nest box. He worked on his scrape and ate a stone of two. At 2:10, both falcons were up in the air again. We lost them quickly this time and so we weren’t sure what they were up to. Twenty minutes later, Ares screeched up to the nest box. He had prey again, but something different this time. He plucked it for a few minutes and then took it off and likely stored it. Soon he was up on the roof of the State Building. At 3 PM, Astrid showed up on a window ledges right below were Ares was. The pair was soon airborne again (why waste this great flying weather). First Ares cast himself into the wind and a few minutes later, Astrid sailed through the canyon. She took a turn around the steeple before putting down on the State Building once more. As for Ares, he landed at the nest box and put in some quality time with his project. I think it’s going to be a wine cellar. At 4:00, the pair shared a short ledge display at the box, after which Astrid conducted an inspection of Ares’ feat of engineering. Ares kept his bowed posture during her check over. After the dance, Ares left and Astrid did some chores around the box. Most notably, she made a mini scrape in the center of Ares’ super scrape.
At 4:25, the falcons were flying again. Ares, as always, became very excited when he saw his mate in the air and so he flew to the box and began vocalizing. Astrid flew slowly by the high windows ledges on the west side of the State Building. These are the cubbyholes where Ares stores meals and now Astrid was perusing them. Once she found something that struck her fancy, she extracted it and took it over to the Hotel. She fed on it for about ten minutes and then was up again. While sailing around the canyon she saw some potential prey and made a play for it. Ares had stopped at the box, but left to join her in the sky above downtown. At 5:15, she was on the State Building again and Ares was popping in and out of the nest box. Right before 6 PM, he brought more food to the box. And then, just as he had done earlier, he brought it up to the ledge next to where Astrid was perched. They did some conversing; he tried to get her to take the food and she tried to interest him in mating. He went back to the box with the food still in his talons. This time she followed after him, plunged into the box, grabbed the food and launched out with it. Again, she took her gift over to the Hotel to eat. At 6:10, she was soaring before the west face of the State Building. We saw her use the wind and effortlessly ascend high above the building. At 6:55, Astrid and Ares mated once again on the State Building. He was in and out of the box a few more times after that. The last place we saw him was on the roof of the State Building. We believe he went to his night perch at 7:30. Astrid remained in place on her high perch until close to 8 PM. Good night Falcons. Will Astrid Lay an egg tomorrow? Some say there’s a high probability. Stay tuned!
