Utica Peregrine Falcon Update for May 31, 2018 –
On the heels of few very inactive overnight periods, last night was quite busy. The moon was near full, but that probably had little impact on the falcons’ activity levels. The nestling’s last meal was at 3:30 PM on Wednesday and so they were in need of a very early breakfast, and that’s just what they got. Ares brought a small meal to the box at 11:30 PM. Astrid did the feeding. At midnight he brought in a more substantial meal and Astrid again handled the feeding. At 2:03, Ares showed up with yet another meal – this one was an entire bird. Astrid seized it and fed the chicks. Astrid left the box at 2:20 AM, only to come back 15 minutes later with a small prey item of. She fed the chicks until two of them toppled over and then she fed the one that remained standing. At 2:54, she left the box with the scant leftovers. Two minutes later Ares arrived at the nest with a small item. After satisfying himself that Astrid wasn’t poised to jump out of nowhere and grab the goods, he began to feed one of the chicks from the lip of the box. For some reason he didn’t feed for long and soon was out again. When he left, he left the food in the box. Astrid returned to the nest at 5:36 and began feeding the nestlings some scraps from the floor. After that she went over to the west veranda.
At 7:08, Ares brought more food to the box and Astrid fed the young. Following that meal both parents were perched on the State Building for a little while. Astrid and Ares seemed to be keeping a close watch on the nest today. One or the other – often both, were guarding throughout the morning and well into the afternoon. Ares in particular was much more interested in the box today than he had been for the last two days. Of course it was a cooler day and it was mostly overcast, so Astrid wasn’t obsessively shading and standing vigil with the chicks. As for the nestlings themselves, they look different today. Their wings and tail feathers are protruding more and that’s impinging on their pure white, snowman like appearance. Besides their black masks, they now each have their patch of tan plumage behind their eyes. Their movements are not as shaky; their walking is smoother; they also bob up and down their heads quickly while observing moving objects outside the box (especially flying parents). One of the chicks did us a service by using its downy plumed body like a cloth and wiping off our whitewash smeared camera. The next feeding took place at 9:30. Ares brought something and Astrid did the feeding.
At 11:37, Astrid came to the box with some leftovers. She began feeding the nestlings. She was barely into the feeding when Ares showed up with a bat. For a little while both parents were feeding simultaneously – Astrid feeding two and Ares feeding one. When Astrid’s food ran out, she turned and took what remained of Ares’ bat. He left and she continued feeding until all the food was gone. For quite a while, Ares was guarding the box from the long perch and Astrid was guarding from a pillar to the west of the box. They held these stations until a bunch of loose balloons sailed over the canyon at 1:30. Ares flew – he may or may not have gone up to investigate the UFOs. Astrid flew over to guard the box. The falcons carried on their close monitoring of the nest right through the afternoon. This was the first afternoon in a few days that Ares remained in view. At 3:36, Ares brought prey to the nest. Astrid took it from him on the cross-perch and then hopped into the box to feed the chicks. One chick grabbed the whole meal away from Astrid, but she tugged it right back and resumed doling in out. Soon all three nestlings were feeding. After the meal, both parents were perched near each other on the State Building. Astrid left at around 4 PM and we weren’t sure where she went, but she was likely hunting for Pigeons. At 4:30, we located Ares on the ledge at Hotel Utica. He apparently had caught a Pigeon and was plucking it. Astrid was still unaccounted for. After eating a small portion, he took it over to the nest and then presided over a marathon feeding of all three chicks. It went on for about 18 minutes and it was the longest feeding that Ares has ever carried out in the five seasons that he’s nested in Utica. This is all thanks to the fact that Astrid didn’t interrupt him. Presumably she was still out hunting and had no idea what was going on at the home front. When Ares was done with the feeding there was nothing left – no leftovers to store. Everything went into the three chicks. He went out onto the long perch, wiped his bill off, cleaned his talons, and preened for a while.
At 5:15, one of the nestlings was looking out into the canyon and saw Astrid fly through. The chick called out as Astrid landed on the State Building. Fifteen minutes later Astrid was on the steeple. She was looking very sleek. Her lack of a bulging crop was obvious. What was also obvious was that she was still hunting. As she sat upon the steeple her eyes followed every potential prey species that flew through the canyon. At 6:03, she flew up to the box to look in on the nestlings. Ares stopped by too. He actually picked up a small scrap of food on the floor and flew away with it. After a short visit to the State Building, Astrid was off hunting again. This time it paid off and she was seen plucking and then eating prey on the hotel ledge. She ate quite a bit of it herself before bringing the rest over to the nest. Of course the nestlings had already been packed full of Pigeon only a relatively short time before. Astrid insisted on stuffing them some more. Two of them partook for a little while, but their hearts weren’t in it. One of the larger chicks kept opening his bill and somehow fitting tiny bits in, but after a while, Astrid decided to give up and store the leftovers. She took them to the pantry and then settled back down on State Building near Ares.
At 7:20, Astrid relocated to the top of a pillar just west of the nest box. At just after none PM she moved to the long perch at the box. All five Peregrines had full crops and seemed settled for the night. I suspect there won’t be any more feedings for a while, but I’ve been wrong before, so don’t put money on it.