Utica Peregrine Falcon Update for April 25, 2018 –
We had a wet start to the day. It was overcast and misty. Temperatures were in the high forties, but edged into the fifties by the end of the morning. Rainfall was mostly light through the morning, but picked up a bit in the afternoon. By evening, precipitation was light again.
Astrid had come into the box at 7:22, last night, which could be considered early by recent standards. As expected she held the fort all night. At 5:30 AM, we heard Ares screeching from somewhere off camera. It sounded like he had food for her, but where? She got off the eggs and left the box. He came into the nest from stage right. Was he perched on a ledge somewhere east of the east veranda? He settled down on the eggs pretty quickly, but we weren’t sure where she ended up. At 7:15, Deb spotted Astrid on the south side of the State Building. She had a large crop, so it’s conceivable that Ares did hand food off to her earlier. They switched again at 7:17, and then Astrid was back on the eggs. The falcons switched out again at 9:05, at which time it was Ares turn on the eggs. Astrid flew out and took a perch on the State Building. At 10:17, she came back to the box, but Ares didn’t want to leave and so she dashed back to the State Building. Twenty minutes later she came back again and this time Ares was ready to cede the nest to her. Ares was next seen on the west face of the State Building.
At 12:32 PM, Ares came to the nest and relieved Astrid. Despite the rain, which was falling heavier at this time, she flew a few circles in front of the west face of the State Building. She then disappeared for a while behind the building, only to emerg again a few minutes later. All of her movements were narrated by squeaks from Ares at the nest. At 12:40, he gave a very understated alarm cackle. We weren’t sure what that was about. Astrid wasn’t in view at that time. Rain became a bit heavier by midafternoon. The falcons next switched at 2:28. Astrid did some picking at stones while she was sitting. She even got off the eggs and dug for a little while in Ares mega-scrape on the west side of the box. Why was she doing it? Don’t ask us, we just work the cameras. The next changing of the guard took place at 4:08, and then Ares was on the eggs. After leaving the nest, Astrid did some flying around the State Building. Ares chirped with every move she made. She spent some time on the north face of the building and then at 4:30, she left and was out of camera view until 6:19, when she reappeared on top a pillar above and west of the nest box. Her crop was half full and she was preening. She looked like she’d just had dinner and a bath. Five minutes later she took flight. We thought she would go to relieve Ares on the nest, but she wasn’t ready for that yet. She went over to the State Building instead. At 6:52, Astrid was finally ready to come home. She flew across the canyon and relieved Ares at the nest. We didn’t see where he went to, but it was out of our camera view. After she settled down on the eggs, she did housekeepeing – mainly moving stones around. It did seem like she was in for the night.
