Huge Day!! Two Eggs Hatch on Monday and Another on Tuesday – Also, For the First Time, Ares Was on Duty at the Nest When a Hatch Took Place

Peregrine Breeding Log for May 6 – 7, 2019:

Monday, May 6^th started out cool and damp. Temps rose quickly through the morning and by noon topped out in the 60’s. later on the skies cleared as well. Astrid had an active night jostling the eggs around and shuffling them. It was too dark to see what was happening in the nest or if there were any pipped eggs. However, at 5:28 when Ares came to relieve Astrid, I could hear the faint calls of a chick from inside one of the eggs. Deb went back and looked at the video from the switch and got a few still shots of the eggs. Sure enough, two of the eggs appeared to have pips. They were eggs # 1 and # 2, the dame ones we were about to give up on because they had reached 36 days of incubation (33 days is normal for this nest). Of course, rules are made to be broken, especially when it comes to Astrid and Ares. A local Wildlife Biologist once labeled the Utica falcons as “quirky”. I think he may have been right.

The falcons switched again at 6:15. Another look at the eggs under daylight conditions was helpful in confirming what we believed we were seeing. At 8:54, Ares screeched through the canyon with prey in his talons. He landed on a west ledge on the Adk Bank building and began plucking. The falcons switched again at about 9:15. Ares probably gave her the food he had processed earlier. She was seen feeding on the State Building a little while later. She retuned to the nest at 9:38, but Ares didn’t want to leave. They had a long negotiation about it. Ultimately, he gave in and she took over on the eggs.  By 12:45, we had gotten a better view of the pip in egg # 1 and it had gotten much bigger. At 1:30 PM Astrid was doing more jostling of the eggs. She was obviously assisting in the hatching process in the best way she knew. She abruptly left the nest at 1:40. We were then able to clearly hear the chick calling inside the breeched egg.

Ares came into the box before a minute was up. At 1:54, we noticed Ares picking at the hole in egg # 1. He was widening the gap and assisting in the hatch. We had never seen Astrid do that, let alone Ares. In past years when a hatch was imminent, she wouldn’t even let him take a turn in the nest. Meanwhile, Astrid was perched across the canyon on the State Building. For the first time in 5 years and 15 hatches, she was going to let Ares preside over a hatch. At just before 2 PM, he was picking at the hole in the first egg again. Shortly after that, the falcons called to each other across the canyon. We weren’t sure what that was all about, but hoped it wasn’t in response to an intruder. A couple of minutes later he was biting at the hole in the egg again. Astrid left her perch at 2:09. We thought maybe she was heading for the box, but she veered off in another direction and we couldn’t find her. Ares gave a cackle alarm call at 2:21, which may or may not have been in response to an intruder or an errant raptor flying over. At 2:47, she had returned and was on one of the steeple perches. She seemed as calm as could be. He gave another alarm call about a minute after that. We had no idea why, but neither parent left their posts. Was he alarmed about being in the nest while a hatch was taking place?

At 3:06 PM we had our first hatch of the season and it happened while Ares was on duty at the nest. It might not sound like a big deal, but it’s never happened before. All previous (15) hatches from 5 seasons were presided over by Astrid. Ares celebrated the hatch by eating a portion of the cast-off eggshell. Ares is not great about dealing with new chicks. He knew he had to shade it from the sun, but the chick had moved too far from the eggs and he still needed to cover those too. What does a poor male Peregrine do? He tried shading the chick with his tail while covering the eggs under his wings. But it was too awkward to maintain the position. He moved back and forth between covering the eggs and covering the chicks a few times. At 3:32, Astrid returned to the nest. Ares seemed more than willing to get the heck out of there! Astrid immediately scooped up the wandering chick with her bill and placed it among the eggs. Now Ares, see how the expert does it!

At 3:42, we noticed the hole in egg # 2 had become larger. Ares brought food to the box at 5:08. Astrid took it and began the first feeding session of the season. It was short and a little problematic. The new chick was wobbly and toppled over a few times while trying to gape for food. It got a few little pieces and then Astrid took the leftovers away. Meanwhile, the hole in egg # 2 was still widening. The chick inside was visible and definitely trying to get out. Only a minute after leaving the nest Astrid was back. Chick # 2 hatched at approximately 5:31. This time it was Astrid’s turn to eat some eggshell. At 5:51 she tucked the remainder of the shell beneath her as if it were still a whole egg.

At 6:35, Ares was seen on the State Building. That was the last time we saw him for the evening. As for Astrid, she was doing a powerful amount of egg jostling and shuffling. It seemed she was trying to induce hatches in the remaining two eggs. They can’t all be expected to hatch on the same day, Astrid.

Tuesday May 7^th had a dark and damp start. Temps were in the 50’s in the early morning and that changed little by mid-day. Rain became steadier in the afternoon and there developed more of a chill in the air. Astrid was on the two chicks and the eggs all night. Ares came to the box with food at 2 AM almost on the dot. Astrid took the prey and then commenced an awkward feeding. It was dark in the box and difficult to make out all the details of what was happening, but at the strart of the feeding, she was ripping off bits of food and then holding them out too far away for the chicks to reach. It was a relatively short feeding and by the end she did get closer to them. As for the nestlings, both seemed to be vying well. Astrid took what remained of the food out and then came right back to resume brooding. At 5:19, Ares showed up at the box and Astrid left. For a few minutes he stood at the edge of the box, seemingly contemplating the chicks before climbing on to them. Even then he was mostly on the eggs and had the chicks out in front of him. Astrid arrived with food at 5:35 and Ares bailed. She fed both chicks only the smallest amount and then left with the food. She was back one minute later and brooding again. Before she returned, we got a good look at the two remaining eggs and one had a large pip in it. It certainly explained why we could hear a third chick so well.

At 7:28, Deb said that a third hatch was imminent. Sure enough, at 7:34, it happened and another Peregrine chick joined the fold. Following the hatch, Astrid ate part of the eggshell. Ares came to the box at 8:10 – just for a check-in as it turned out. At 9:02, Ares was feeding on something large on the hotel. It was a Pigeon – a prey item he only rarely obtains by himself (Astrid is typically the Pigeon catcher). At 9:10 he brought food to the box, but Astrid sent him out again. At 11:19 Ares brought food to the nest again. That time Astrid took it and fed the chicks for a little while before abruptly flying out with it. Just as abruptly she returned with the food and resumed feeding. While feeding Astrid gives loud squeaking calls to compel the chicks to gape their bills and put their heads up. When she left the second time, Ares came in to babysit. For a while we thought we had a pip on the 4^th egg, but it turned out to be a feather stuck to the shell and not a hole.

At 2:03 Ares came to the box. He wanted to take over, but Astrid wouldn’t leave. He left instead. He did a check-in at 3:30 PM and was out again. At 4:42 Astrid casually got up and left the nest. Ares came to take over a minute later. She relieved him at 4:46. Ten minutes later, Ares brought food to the long perch. Astrid had to go onto the crossperch and stretch way out to get it. I thought she dropped it, but she didn’t. Both parents then flew off in opposite directions. He came right back to sit with the nestlings while she went to feed on the hotel. At 5 PM she brought food to the box and began a feeding. After about 6 minutes she flew off with the leftovers. She was back less than a minute later and went back to brooding. She jostled the last egg and the chicks a few times. Ares came to the box at 6:49, but she wouldn’t leave and sent him out again. At 7:15 he was seen on the State Building. He left sometime before 8 PM. Astrid remained on the three chicks and the egg for the rest of the night. She did some jostling after 9:30 PM.