Warm Afternoon leads to Egg Shading – Long Negotiations Take Place Between the Pair

Utica Peregrine Falcon Update for April 23, 2018 –

The morning started out cool, but much like yesterday, the sun was unobstructed and the air heated up very quickly. By early afternoon the temperature had reached 70 degrees for the first time since anyone can remember. For the first time this season, the falcons had to do a substantial amount of shading in the nest to make sure the eggs didn’t overheat.

Astrid had relieved Ares at 8:20 PM, Sunday night. She remained on the eggs until Ares came to the box just before 4 AM, Monday. He had what appeared to be a Mourning Dove in his talons. Just like the previous morning, Astrid squawked over to the cross perch, side-stepped over to him, grabbed the food and launched into the darkness. A few minutes later, she was feeding on the hotel formerly known as Hotel Utica and Ares was settled down on the eggs. At 7:19. Ares came over from the State Building and the pair did a quick changing of the guard. Astrid spent a little time on the State Building and then it was back to the box.  Only an hour had gone by since their last switch. She came onto the cross perch, and for a few minutes it almost looked like she was asking to mate, but instead she hopped into the box. She then stood alongside Ares, who was still incubating, and just stood there. It looked like she was asking him to leave, but she wasn’t being insistent about it, she simply loomed over him. He was looking back up towards her and lightly chirping. Clearly he didn’t want to leave. This went on for an unprecedented eleven minutes. Finally, she got a bit more assertive and threatened to step on his tail. At that point he got off the eggs and left. Just the day before, she left him incubating for four consecutive hours in the morning – but not today. At 10:35, Ares screeched back to the box and the pair switched again.

At 1:25, Astrid came to the box to relieve a slightly reluctant Ares. A little later he was seen on various State Building perches. By 3:10, sunlight was pouring into the nest box and Astrid was getting hot. She was seen panting and sometimes shading the eggs. She called a few times, but Ares wasn’t coming over. He had landed on the back on the State Building, but was obviously not rushing over to the box. She began shifting back and forth between incubating and shading and seemed to be struggling to find a happy compromise between the two activities. She certainly didn’t seem comfortable; she never had liked tending the “hotbox”. In the four previous seasons, (according to Astrid) hot afternoon shifts were Ares’ domain. Although in 2017, she did more hot-shifts than ever before.  After having a look at Astrid’s tongue (which was visible while she was panting), Deb said that she thought Astrid seemed thirsty. At 5:26, both falcons were at the nest box. Surprisingly enough, suddenly Astrid seemed like she didn’t want to leave. Ares was there trying to take over, but she stood behind the clutch and was not budging. They conversed a bit and Astrid gave some of the same vocalizations she gives when she wants Ares to leave, but he wasn’t leaving. Suddenly, some kind of understanding was reached and she ceded the box. Ares took up pretty much where she left off – partly shading and partly incubating. Astrid was next seen on a ledge at Hotel Utica and as Deb predicted, she was drinking from a puddle. After that she did some flying around the State Building.

At 6:47, Astrid was perched on the north face of the State Building. At 7:40, She flew off to the north – probably after prey. Ares saw her leave. He came away from the eggs and then flew off screeching. Astrid came to the nest three minutes later and settled down on the eggs. And so ended another interesting day in the canyon. Good night falcons!