Utica Peregrine Falcon Update for April 3, 2018
It was a chilly but dry start to the day. Temperatures were in the 30’s and, early on, seemed to be on the rise. The skies were overcast and rain began falling by late morning. Later on, rain was slightly more significant, winds increased and temperatures dipped back down. The previous night, Astrid remained out of the box until the last minute – coming in at 7:45, which was essentially dusk. She remained in the box until 11:47 PM, and then returned at 1:17 AM. Ares came in to relieve her at 3:23. He only stayed for a half-hour. A few minutes later, Astrid came into the box to resume guard duty. At 5:45 Ares arrived with prey; it was a Woodcock. Astrid took it and dashed over to the Hotel ledge. She fed until 6:05, and then flew over to perch on the State Building. At 7:30, she was on the building’s west face where we can’t see her with our cameras. A half-hour later, Ares was trying to lure her out with a Woodcock that he had gotten out of storage. She wasn’t at all tempted. Well, she did just had one for breakfast! He ended up flying it over to the Hotel and eating some himself before coming back to the box without it. By that time, Astrid had left the west side of the building and was now standing on one of the steeple’s lower perches. The pair mated there at 8:24. Twenty minutes later Astrid made several short trips to the box in quick succession. We think it was workmen in an office adjacent to the nest box that was the cause of her apprehension. As it turned out she didn’t become overly upset. At 9:17, Ares relieved Astrid at the box and she went back to perching on the State Building. However, only ten minutes later, some more covert drama caused the falcons to become all worked up again. One of them (probably Ares) went up onto the roof of the State Building. At 9:45, the all-clear was sounded and the falcons began behaving more normally.
At 10 AM, Astrid joined Ares at the box, but they were only there for a few seconds. Something had gotten them agitated again, but we didn’t know what. Both returned to the box five minutes later and they had a lively conversation. Following that, the falcons seemed more at ease. Well, as much at ease as can be expected for high-strung Peregrine Falcons during the breeding season. At 10:16, the pair mated on the cross-perch. Ten minutes later, Ares was back with a gift for his partner. She took the small undifferentiated hunk of meat to the Hotel and ate it there. At 10:38, she was back at the nest box. She hopped from the cross-perch to the west veranda and a moment later they mated there. Ares then went to the west face of the State Building and perched in the very same place Astrid had been earlier. He flew back through the canyon at 12:15. Astrid thought he was flying in to mate. She leaned forward, but he landed in the box instead. They vocalized together for a few minutes and then she flew off and out of camera view. He sat with the egg for a few minutes, but then went out onto the cross-perch. At 12:30, Ares took a stroll around the east veranda. He gave a few low intensity long calls and then went back into the box to check the egg. It’s still there, fella.
Solely due to a failed mating attempt, we found out where Astrid was hiding from our cameras. Ares went behind the steeple, gave a short mating chatter and then dashed around from the other side. Evidently she was on one of two steeple perches we can’t see with our cameras. At 1:13, both falcons were at the nest. She was out on the cross-perch and he was inside the box giving chirp-calls. She was alternating between ignoring him and signally the desire to mate, and he seemed to just want her in the box. She won out in the end and ten minutes later they mated. Following the subsequent guard duty switch, she moved out onto the east veranda and was again asking to mate. He jumped out of the box, boomeranged back through the canyon and presto, another mating occurred. Following that, Ares assumed a perch on the west face of the State Building and she stayed in the box. By mid-afternoon we had entered the egg-laying window for Astrid. Since she was remaining in the box so long, we thought that maybe she would lay early. Nope. The falcons switched out again and she took a perch on the State Building. She made a quick visit to the box at 4:05, and used the time to have a loud conversation with Ares, but the time wasn’t right yet to lay her egg and so she flew back to the State Building. Meanwhile, he was content to be in the box. She returned to the nest at 5:10, and again, she was asking Ares to mate. He obliged and afterwards she got comfortable in the box; she adjusted the egg and used her bill to do some digging in the corner. We thought it was pretty likely she would stay in the nest until it was time to lay the egg, but she had other ideas. At 5:38, she abruptly flew out of the box and out of camera view. He came to the nest at 6:00, and it was obvious he was very wet. She had landed on the State Building, but was soon up and flying. She flew low over through the canyon and disappeared. He also took off with purpose. One might think a female Peregrine Falcon would avoid unnecessary energy expenditures right before egg-laying time, but one would be wrong to think that. We then went for another stretch without knowing were Astrid had gotten to. Finally at 7:05, she showed up at the box and the pair mated on the east veranda. Ten minutes later she was in the box, Ares had retired to his night perch (presumably) and Astrid seemed poised to lay egg # 2. Intervals between eggs may differ with different individual female falcons. Astrid tends to lay her eggs an average of 58-59 hours apart. Once she took as long as72 hours between eggs. As I’m writing this update we are closing in on 59 hours after the first egg was laid. Will there still be a new egg on the scrape tonight. The likelihood is pretty good.
