Utica Peregrine Falcon Update for May 29, 2018 –
Astrid remained in the vicinity of the nest for most of the overnight period. Ares came to the box with prey in the hour of 3 AM, but for some reason, they didn’t complete the food transfer and Ares flew away with it again. It seemed like Astrid was primed to take it, but something wasn’t right. At 5:17, Ares brought a cuckoo to the box. Astrid took it and began feeding the nestlings. She called for him to come back a few times in the following hours, but he didn’t comply. For part of that time we could see him perched on the State Building in open defiance of her commands. Astrid and Ares’ favorite perches of the day included the steeple, the pillars above the box, and the State Building. At 8:00, both parents were at the box – Ares on the cross-perch and Astrid on the west veranda. The next meal came at 9:19. Ares brought it and Astrid handled the feeding.
Besides doing an increased amount of wing flapping today, the chicks were practicing some of their falcon calls. The loudest call they give is the harsh cackle alarm call. Several times now, they’ve given this call in response to seeing an adult flying. At 11 AM, Astrid was on the ledge at Hotel Utica. She had spread out her wing and tail feathers and was having a sun bath. Meanwhile, Ares came to the box for a chick-check. Astrid flew in next and sent Ares on his way. Fifteen minutes later Ares was perched unusually low on the State Building. Perhaps he was eyeing some of the Pigeons, Starlings and House Sparrows that inhabit the lower reaches of the Peregrines’ canyon. Soon he was up and flying in high circles above downtown. Deb noticed that Ares had three dead birds stored on high ledges on the west face of the State Building. All were stored tail out. Two appeared to be cuckoos. Ares visited the chicks at 12:40. He was more causal than usual and actually seemed to mingle with them. He let them lightly peck his bill for food (which he didn’t have) and he walked from one to the other. He is now getting more comfortable with this group.
At 1:12, Ares brought prey to the box. Astrid grabbed it from him and did a feeding. It was a fast-paced meal. Seeing it from the whitewash cam was pretty intense. After dropping off that meal, Ares managed to elude our cameras for over four hours. By contrast, Astrid remained visible for much of that time. At one point she plunked down on the roof of the next box. At around 4:30, she started getting very interested in the nest. It was very warm out and the sun was flooding into the box’s interior. She came in and, after the chicks finally settled down (and realized there was not going to be a feeding), she did some shading. Interestingly, much of her shading efforts were not impacting the nestlings, which were already finding shade in the corner of the box. She was however, shading the egg pretty well. At 5:17, Ares finally showed up in the canyon. He had prey in his talons and he sailed right over to the nest. Astrid was on hand to take it and she proceeded to feed the famished chicks.
Following the meal, Astrid put in a lot more time at the nest box. She did plenty of shading, while Ares got off without doing any. He spent most of the evening on a ledge on the north face of the State Building where it was nice and shady. At 5:30, Astrid flew over to the Hotel Utica and had a drink of water from one of the puddles. As of 8:25, Ares had remained in place on the State Building and Astrid was on her steeple perch. By then the chicks became fairly restless but were well short of mutinous. Were the parents both in place for the night? Find out in the next exciting episode.