Author: Matt Perry

Utica Peregrine Falcon Update for May 24, 2018 –

It was a little bit on the cool side last night. Despite that, Astrid only spent about half the night in the box and little of that was spent brooding. The nestlings are big enough to keep themselves warm now. When they are chilly they climb onto each other and when they are too hot they spread out and/or find shade. They are becoming more and more independent, even as the sheaths of their primary wing feathers only just start to become evident. When Ares came to the box with prey at 1:52 AM, Astrid wasn’t there to take it. Ares waited on the cross-perch for a little while and then hopped into the box to do the feeding himself. After the feeding he stayed guard at the cross-perch for a while. He left and came back at 2:30, but only stayed for a minute.  He brought more food at 3:29, but Astrid was still nowhere to be seen. He went into the box, but no chick raised its head and he didn’t try to feed them. Meanwhile, Astrid was over on the ledge at Hotel Utica. She came back to the nest at 3:35 AM, took the prey from Ares, and carried out a feeding. At 7:23, Ares came to the long perch with a small piece of food. Astrid arrived a few seconds later. She scrambled over the cross-perch (screeching the whole time), leaned over and was just barely able to grab it. She nabbed it but also lost her balance and had to fly through the gap between the box and the perch. She flew in a wide circle, returned to the box, and carried out a short feeding.

At 7:51, Ares came and did a quick chick-check at the box. At the time Astrid was on the west veranda. She hopped onto the long perch and then back to the veranda. It was a move reminiscent of what the nestlings do in the days leading up to their maiden flights out of the nest. About an hour later, Ares was at the box again and giving chirp calls. Astrid was on a nearby perch and began emitting her trademark low donkey calls. Deb noticed that Ares had at least three birds stored in his pantry along the top row of ledges on the west face of the State Building. All were stored tail out, to help them from blowing out in high winds. At 9:10, Astrid arrived on the east veranda. She had prey in her talons. Ares had been on the long perch, but he left as she arrived.  The two big chicks were first to be fed. After they were sufficiently stuffed, the little one was in line for his share. By 9:24, they were all full, but Astrid still tried to get them to take more. Finally she gave up and took the leftovers out of the box. Ares did a chick-check at 10:45. A half hour later, we didn’t know where Ares was, but Astrid was on the east veranda and the chicks were in dreamland. At 11:30, Ares came screeching back into the canyon. He took a perch on the steeple and called a few more times. Talk about a dramatic entrance! Soon after, he was at the box on the cross-perch and Astrid was the one out of view.

Astrid landed on the roof of the nest box at about 12:20. She did this yesterday as well. We associate Astrid’s use of the box roof and the verandas with the nestling/fledgling training that normally takes place during the last week before fledging. Indeed, her demonstrations seemed a little premature, but we’re going to argue with Astrid’s judgments. At 1:10, we thought another feeding may have been underway, but it was just Ares trying to feed out a few scraps that happen to be lying in the nest. A cackle alarm call heard at 2:40, didn’t seem to be in reaction to any serious threat. At 2:50 (ish), a feeding was in progress and it was conducted by Astrid. At 3:50, there was yet another feeding. Ares handed prey to Astrid and she did the feeding. Astrid was on the steeple at 4:45, trying to bring up a pellet. After both parents were out of view for a while, Ares came back in and did a chick-check at 5:14. Astrid arrived at the box with food right afterwards and carried out a feeding. Following the feeding, the adults spent a lot of time coming and going from the steeple perches. Both were gone again at 6:20. Fifteen minutes later, Ares darted back into the canyon, did some nice elegant circles between the principle buildings and landed on the steeple. At 6:50, Astrid came and displaced Ares from his perch – now she was on the steeple and he was visiting the nestlings in the box. In a potentially dangerous move, one of the chicks backed all the way up and onto the lip of the box to eliminate. We’ve seen little ones do this in previous years and it always makes us nervous. At 7:10, it appeared that Ares displaced Astrid on the steeple perch! Turnabout is fair play, I guess. Five minutes later, they were both out of view again.

By 8:30, Ares seemed content on his perch at the State Building and Astrid on her steeple perch, but were they going to remain there for at least part of the night? Don’t bet on it.

 

Utica Peregrine Falcon Update for May 23, 2018 –

It was a little cool overnight with some fog developing. Astrid spent most of the night in the box. She did take a few short breaks. In great contrast to the night before, there were no overnight feedings. Ares came to the box once, but without food. At 5:25 AM, Ares relieved Astrid at the nest. She vocalized like she often does when he comes in with food, but appeared not at all pleased when she saw there was nothing in his talons. Astrid then flew around the State Building checking Ares pantry ledges. A minute later he was out of the box. He came back quickly with a catbird. Astrid met him at the box and took the prey. She plucked it like in fast motion and proceeded to feed it out to the chicks. After the meal, both parents took adjacent perches on the Grace Church steeple. They looked like gargoyles or griffins and appeared well suited to the architecture. At 5:50, Ares brought a whole starling to the box. Astrid came over to take it but she dropped it shortly after the transfer. She dove down after it and we weren’t sure what happened then. We couldn’t see anything on the sidewalk or in the street below the box, so we assumed that Astrid recovered the prey. At 6:12, she was on Hotel Utica. She may have eaten the Starling there on that ledge. There was a pile of feathers near her and her crop looked full. Why she didn’t take it back up the nest is unknown. A minute later both adults resumed their griffin impersonations on the church steeple.

At 7:49, Ares gave it another try; he brought more food up to the nest box. This time he landed on a window ledge west of the nest box. Astrid went there to get it from hm. Once she had it in the nest she plucked it and then doled it out to the chicks. The nestlings were impatient to get the food and they were picking at it with their bills even as Astrid was ripping off strips for them. The chicks had obvious full crops but Astrid was still stuffing food into them. One chick was picking at the food on its own. After the meal both parents were on the State Building for a while. Ares brought a small hunk of food to the box at 9:41. Astrid arrived, took it from him on the perch and fed the chicks. If anyone thought the nestlings might be more ambulatory today they were wrong. All three spent most of the day in a heap in one corner of the box. They did a little walking around – mostly one at a time. One of the big chicks (I think it was # 1) rested with its head on the lip of the box for a little while. Some wing flapping and some preening took place as well. They are surely getting bigger fast. At 12:23, Ares screeched up to the cross-perch. From there he jumped into the middle of the box. One of the larger nestlings waddled up to him, touched his bill to Ares’ bill and then went back to the chick pile in the corner. Ares remained on guard in the box for a little while after that. At 12:38 he gave a loud cackle alarm call, but he didn’t leave; neither did Astrid leave her perch on the State Building. He was likely reacting to a passing Turkey Vulture. Five minutes later he gave another alarm call and then moved onto the east veranda. Shortly after that he flew off. Deb saw him flying in high circles over the canyon. By 12:55, he was perched on the State Building with Astrid.  Astrid and Ares spent much of the afternoon on the steeple and on the State Building. Ares was out of our view for a few extended periods. Presumably he was hunting.

The next feeding took place at 1:33. We think that Ares brought it and handed it off to Astrid on the east veranda. An hour later Ares brought more prey to the nest. Astrid shrieked over and took it from him and then conducted another feeding. At 2:44, she left the box with the leftovers. The wind really picked up in the mid-afternoon. Fortunately, falcons like wind. It means less energy needs to be expected to fly. Ares was gone for a while in the late afternoon. He showed up again on the State Building at 5:40. He was there plucking prey for quite some time. Both parents were in the air after that and they did a food transfer somewhere. Astrid came to the box with what looked like a little plucked chicken and proceeded to feed the chicks. After a rather long feeding she went over to the steeple. At 6:25, she flew over and plunked down on the roof of the nest box. Now nobody expected her to do that! According to Deb, she may have done that once before today. At a few minutes before 8 PM, Astrid came to the box just to check on the nestlings. She fed out a few scraps that had been lying around in the box and then sat on the cross-perch for a little while. The chicks did some lumbering around at that point. One of the big two stretched its wings and did a few awkward wing flaps. The smallest one walked over to the lip of the box and bobbed its head up and down a few times. After that, all three retired to their corner again. Astrid few to the steeple for a little while and then retured to the box by 8:25. Ares was still on the State Building and seemed to be settled for the night – the first part of the night anyway.

Utica Peregrine Falcon Update for May 22, 2018 –

It was a rainy day in the canyon at least until mid-afternoon. Astrid spent the entire night in the nest box as usual. There was a total of 5 feedings between 12:25 AM and 3:55 AM. Each time, Ares brought food to the nest and Astrid did the serving. The meal that came in at 1:12 AM was the largest in size and may have been a whole blackbird. At 5:15, Ares brought an entire Eastern Kingbird to the box. Astrid took it and handled the feeding. Ten minutes later, Astrid took away and stored the leftovers. She returned to the box and stayed out on the long perch for a while. At 7:13, Ares arrived with more food. Astrid did the feeding. Initially only two of the chicks were participating, but then the third joined in. Twelve minutes later, Astrid was gone and Ares was out on the long perch. By 9:16, Ares was on a window ledge located east of the nest box. As for Astrid, she was on a ledge to the west of the nest box. Perching on the Adirondack Bank building seemed to be the thing to do today; both parents were repeatedly found on either side of the box – sometimes on top of pillars and sometimes on window ledges. Astrid and Ares occasionally did chick-checks at the box.

At 10:52, Astrid came to the box with part of a meal and fed the young for about ten minutes. The next feeding was at 12:39 and again was comprised of leftovers. Following that short meal, both parents were out of view for a while. As for the nestlings, they were not very active and were mostly remaining in a heap on the west edge of the box. For any viewers watching from the camera nicknamed “overkill”, no chicks were visible in the box. That’s why it’s good to have multiple cameras! At 1 PM, Astrid showed up again on a pillar located west of the nest box. Five minutes later, Ares screeched up to perch on a window ledge west of nest box. After a few minutes he walked over and went into the nest box proper. There he was faced with a pile of comatose chicks. He poked one of them with his bill to see if it was OK. The nestling stood up, stretched and then settled back down again. At 1:30, a lone House Sparrow was bouncing around on the ledges above the Peregrine nest. At one point the wacky bird landed on the cross-perch right next to Ares. Astrid had been tracking the bird with her eyes but neither falcon made a play for it. Nope, that’s not the way they hunt. At a little before 2 PM, Astrid got very upset and began hazing the bank building – or one of the offices anyhow. Someone must have stood too close to a window. Both falcons landed on the perch of the box nearly simultaneously. Following that incident they kept a pretty close watch on the box. At 4:05, Astrid was on the ledge at Hotel Utica plucking away at a Pigeon (probably). It was possible that Ares handed it off to her since he was seen shortly before that picking at his feet and wiping his bill. After eating a share of it she brought it to the box. What followed was a long feeding. At 4:22, she flew out with the leftovers. All three chicks were showing nice full crops. The pair continued to keep a close eye on the box – usually from the steeple or the State Building. Ares was often on the cross-perch or on one of the verandas.

At 6:53, Ares brought prey to the box. Astrid met him there – awkwardly scooted across the cross-perch and took the food. She then hopped into the box proper and fed the nestlings. Just before 8 PM, Astrid and Ares had left their perches on the State Building. One of them (probably Astrid) was seen flying around the west face of the building. Astrid then showed up at the box with a hunk of something. She proceeded to feed all three chicks. Indeed, despite the difference in size, the smallest nestling seems to hold its own in the food line. By the end of the meal, the chicks’ crops were beyond huge. After she severed out the meal, Astrid went back on to the cross-perch again, but then she suddenly dove back into the box. We think she heard thunder – not her favorite weather phenomenon. It had begun to rain. Ten minutes later the rain had petered out and she was back out on the cross-perch. Ares had returned to the State Building. Both adults seemed to be in place for the night. Well, the early part of the night anyway.

Utica Peregrine Falcon Update for May 21, 2018 –

Overnight was cool and a thick fog developed in the downtown canyon by early morning. At times we couldn’t even see the State Office Building with the PTZ cameras. There were three overnight feedings: Ares brought a small meal at 11:08; Astrid had to stretch out far to take it and then she fed the young. The next meal arrived at 2:09; Ares dangled a whole bird from the long perch and Astrid had to dance across the cross-perch and then bend over to take it from him. That time she fed the young for a full 26 minutes! At 2:57, Ares brought what appeared to be a cuckoo. He stood on the long perch and adjusted his grip on the prey a few times before Astrid got up from brooding, hopped up onto the cross-perch and edged close enough to take it from him. It took a few minutes for the chicks to rally, but they eventually ate part of the meal. After about five minutes, Astrid flew off to store the remainder. At 6:00, Ares flew through the fog to check in at the box. It seemed like he was offering to take over brooding, but Astrid declined and sent him back out. He disappeared back into the fog. About a half hour later, we could just make him out in the fog. He was on a high perch on the State Building.  Astrid left the box at 6:46. Maybe she checked Ares’ pantry, but we couldn’t see what she was doing. Ares came right over to the box to be with the chicks. At 7:22, Astrid brought food to the box and started feeding the nestlings. At 7:54, Ares had prey on the State Building. He dashed over to the box and this time came right inside with the food and handed it to Astrid. As per usual, she did the feeding. As it turned out, it was a really short feeding. The chicks were already full and didn’t want any more. By 9:30, Astrid was out of the box and Ares screeched over and landed on the cross-perch. Astrid landed on the east veranda and Ares moved out onto the long perch. Five minutes later, they both flew into the canyon and for the next hour they did a lot of soaring around and visiting favorite perches. Occasional chick checks at the box were also occurring. At 10:30, Astrid was back to brooding the chicks and Ares was sunning himself on the ledge at Hotel Utica.

By 11:00, the falcons were soaring around again. At 11:39, Astrid was circling the State Building. She flew slowly in front of the building’s west face and grabbed some stored prey. Just then Ares darted into the canyon from the west and flew right up to the nest box. Astrid arrived shortly after with the food and proceeded to feed the chicks. Ares remained on the cross-perch for part of the meal, letting out occasional screech calls.  We weren’t sure what that was all about. After the feeding, Astrid seemed to watch the antics of the chicks with great interest. Their walking is getting stronger and their head-motions have become more controlled. They have even done a few wing flaps. Their eyesight is also becoming keener. They are reacting more to what they see.

At 1:33, Ares brought food to the east veranda. Astrid took it and flew off. She then returned with what looked like the same food and began feeding the nestlings. The smallest chick was front and center for this short feeding. As the afternoon progressed, the parents spent increasing amounts of time away from the box. We were convinced that Astrid was away trying to procure a Pigeon, but we had no real evidence of that – we  basing our conjecture on past behavior. Ares was doing most of the chick-checks at the nest. As the sun invaded more and more of the box, the chicks retreated further back and into the corners. They were uncomfortable and squealed at irregular intervals. At 4:11, Ares brought a scrap of food to the nest and started feeding. He was doing quite a good job and impressed us with the chirps of encouragement he gave to the two chicks that partook of the meal. Astrid always chirps during her feedings in order to compel chicks to open their bills, but Ares didn’t do it that way. This is something that may be a new innovation for Ares. We shall see if he repeats the behavior in the future. At 4:24, people coming close to windows in offices near the nest box caused the parents to go into hazing mode. Astrid seemed to come out of nowhere to commence swooping. They soon settled down and shifted to guarding mode – Astrid on the steeple and Ares at the box.

At a little after 5 PM, Ares was in the box and shading. Of course he was mostly shading the egg and not the chicks, but the chicks were in their corners and didn’t require the assistance. At 5:17, Ares gave a loud cackle alarm call. He flew right out of the box and very rapidly climbed in elevation. He flew over the State Building and headed west. Tracking him with the PTZ cam, we saw no intruder, only him, but he soon flew too high for the camera. A few minutes later he was back on the cross-perch like nothing happened. At 5:40, Ares retrieved a cuckoo out of storage and brought it to the nest. It’s like he has a whole closet full of cuckoos somewhere. Astrid blasted in (as if from nowhere again), grabbed the food and commenced feeding. Following the feeding both parents were on steeple perches. The both converged at the nest box for a joint chick-check at 6:45. Seven minutes later, Astrid brought some scant leftovers to the box and did a short feeding. At 7:42, Ares retrieved some more leftovers and Astrid did another short feeding. After that, Astrid perched on the steeple and Ares was on the State Building. She returned to the nest at 9 PM, while Ares stayed on his State Building perch. Good night, falcons!

Utica Peregrine Falcon Update for May 20, 2018 –

It was slightly cool with intermittent rain last night. Astrid spent the night in the nest brooding the three chicks. Food was brought to the box at 3:36 and then at 4:20. The earlier meal was a cuckoo. The second meal was a large hunk of a dove or Pigeon. That meal went on for some time. After dawn, Astrid was out of the box for a little while. She brought more food in at 6:42 and conducted a feeding. After the meal  Astrid flew over to the State Building and landed on the same ledge as her mate. That was different. If they were conversing, we couldn’t hear them. She was back to the box at 7:33. She spent a little time cleaning up the scraps of food that were scattered around the box. Meanwhile the chicks were all together in a heap at the center of the box. Deb said that the snow men had become a snowbank! Following her stint at housekeeping, Astrid was out and Ares was in, but then he left only a few minutes later. Astrid came back at 7:50. Rain was falling by this point and it was time to brood the chicks again. Ares sat out the rain on a high ledge of the State Building.

Astrid left the box at 9:51. She landed on the State Building near Ares. He then dove off his perch and screeched up to the box.  He considered the hyper active nestlings for a moment and then he was out again. He zoomed through the canyon and around the State Building. We thought that maybe he was looking for stored prey to bring over, but when he returned to the nest, he had nothing. He then picked up a bird’s leg from the floor of the box and put it into the mouth of one of the chicks. The chick tried to swallow it, but then one of its siblings grabbed it away – even pulling it out after it had almost completely disappeared down the first chick’s throat. Soon all three were trying to get the leg. Ultimately it was the smallest chick that managed to somehow  swallow it. Astrid came home shortly after this event. She brooded for about a half hour and then left the box again. She was back with a meal at 10:56. It was a big chunk of something unrecognizable. After the meal, Astrid resumed brooding and Ares stayed on a high perch on the State Building. At just before 1 PM, Ares was at the box and practicing his brooding technique. He was doing pretty well especially considering how squirmy the nestlings were. Astrid took over at 1:36. She was in and out a few times. At 2:49, a meal was brought into the box. It was a small item so Astrid dolled it out quickly. Despite how restless the chicks were, within a few minutes she was brooding again.  She let out a harsh cackle alarm call at 3 o’clock, but it probably was in reaction to a Turkey Vulture flying over. Neither adult budged from their respective stations.

By 3:30, neither parent was at the nest. Evidently the afternoon was warm enough for the nestlings to be left on their own for extended periods. At 4:16, both falcons arrived at the nest box. Both had prey in their talons. Astrid probably had a hunk of a dove and Ares had an intact cuckoo. She came into the box to feed out her contribution and Ares flew off to store his. I suspect the cuckoo will make another appearance in some upcoming meal. By 5:09, the clouds had finally broken and Astrid needed to resort to shading. Not for long though, soon she was out and taking a variety of perches around the canyon. Both parents did periodic chick-checks at the box. At 6 PM, after seeing some movement in an office adjacent to the nest box, Astrid swooped back and forth in front of the windows for a few minutes. Ares went and guarded the box during this incident. An hour later, the parents were doing quite a bit of flying around. At one point Ares was perched on the steeple and Astrid displaced him. That’s shadow of things to come once the nestlings become fledglings. Displacing dad from his perch is a favorite pastime of juvenile Peregrines. At 7:44, Ares came to the box with prey. It looked like he was going to get away with doing a feeding and then suddenly Astrid piled in, grabbed the food and began plucking it like mad. She gave a nice lesson in plucking to the assembled chicks. After the feeding, Astrid and Ares took perches on the steeple and the State Building. Astrid was back in the box before 9 PM and Ares remained visible on the State Building for some time after that. That seemed to be it for the day’s action. Good night, falcons.