Utica Peregrine Falcon Update for June 11, 2018 –
Astrid was on watch for most if not all of the overnight session. Ares came to the box with a small prey item at 12:45 AM. He stood at the very end of the long perch with it. Astrid had been on the west veranda and she scrambled over to take it, but Ares flew away with it right before she reached him. To our knowledge, he didn’t come back with it. He did come to the box at 5:21, but only for a chick-check. Four minutes later he came back with a cuckoo. One of the chicks (probably Milo) immediately grabbed it and took it to the back corner of the box. Astrid arrived too late to intercept it and so she turned and flew out again. Milo tore at the cuckoo for a little while as did Petra, but like Astrid, they are just not enthusiastic about cuckoo flesh. Following that, Angel went up near the front of the box. Suddenly he had stepped up onto the lip of the box. It was probably the first time one of these chicks has stood completely on the lip while facing out. He did some flapping and he made all of us nervous. Finally he came back down and went to the corner to rip into some floor scraps.
At 7:30, we discovered Astrid on the hotel working on a freshly caught Pigeon. After she took her portion, she flew over to the box and gave the nestlings a good feed. There were lots of antics during the long feeding. At one point Angel came close to jumping on Astrid’s back! There was lots of grabbing too, but Astrid was more or less able to hold it together. She did have to stop one of the chicks from biting her tail. She used her wings to push the baby aside. After the meal, Astrid took the leftovers out and stored them on the State Building. Mounting the lip of the box seemed to be the thing to do today. Even Petra was seen doing it briefly. At 8:20, Ares brought a bird wing to the nest and was feeding it out from the lip of the box. After that, Ares was out of view for quite some time. While he was out, Astrid was on guard duty on the east veranda and the nestlings enjoyed a mid-morning siesta. Petra backed onto the lip of the box again at 10:56. He flapped like mad and then hopped right back into the box.
Ares showed up on the State Building again at just before noon. One of the nestlings noticed him fly in and responded with a long screech call. Ares came over to do a chick-check about 18 minutes later after which, he went to the east veranda. Astrid came in and landed on the west veranda, but didn’t stay long. At 12:24, cackle alarm calls were heard and the Peregrine parents tore off towards the north. The nestlings became very quiet in response to their parents behavior. Only a couple of minutes after they left in such a hurry, both were back and perched on the State Building. At 1:10, Milo looked like he was contemplating flying into the canyon. Fortunately he didn’t go for it since it’s far too early and he’s not prepared yet. Another week of wing exercise and then maybe. At 1:53, Angel was the one getting too adventurous. He went from the lip of the box to the bar that holds the cross-perch! He was a little uncoordinated about his return to the box, but he made it OK. The nestlings were just starting to settle down when Ares popped in for a chick-check and got them all excited again. He went over to the west veranda and then walked all the way out on the long perch before leaving. Was he giving them a lesson on some of what they will need to master before fledging?
At 2:24 PM, Astrid gave a cackle alarm call and headed north. Again, she was only gone for a couple of minutes, so it probably wasn’t an intruder issue. Both Milo and Angel kept taking turns going out onto the lip of the box, but it seemed to be Angel that was really into it. When Ares flew back into the canyon at 3:45, Milo got activated. He flapped his wings and seemed to squealed out some demands. At 5:27, Astrid came to the nest with a Pigeon leg. One chick took it and that was that. Ten minutes later, Ares brought a full meal over. Astrid took it from him and did an old fashioned feeding. Everyone behaved – mostly.
At 6:15, Angel was having fun going up and down from the lip of the box. He was teetering some and doing some intense flapping. It was all very exciting for those of us monitoring him. At 7 PM, Ares screeched back into the canyon. He had prey and was plucking it on the State Building. Ten minutes later he brought the meal to the box and Astrid came to serve it to the youngsters. Angel had been up on the lip of the box again right before Ares came, but he got down in time and was enthusiastic about getting his supper – as was Petra. Milo sat out the start of the meal. He was looking out into the canyon instead. By 8:20, the nestlings still weren’t done testing themselves. Angel was again climbing up onto the lip of the box. Five minutes later, Astrid came to the nest to do a chick-check. We thought that may have put the cap on the evening, but Angel had to mount the rim one more time before bed. Up until that point Ares had been hanging out on the ledge of the hotel. He came through the canyon and vocalized with Astrid (who was on the steeple), before taking a night perch on the State Building. The kids slowly began to settle down after that and by 9:30, Astird was on her window ledge perch located east of the nest box. Good night all!