Author: Matt Perry

Utica Peregrine Falcon Update for April 4, 2018

Ares

The weather gave us a roller coaster ride for sure today. It was overcast, rainy, and relatively cool in the early morning, followed by a break in the clouds and a gentle warm up by noon. Temperatures in the afternoon peaked in the fifties, but extremely high winds, dropping temperatures, and a variety of precipitation types occurred in quick succession during the afternoon. Astrid came into the nest box at 7:15 Tuesday evening. At the time we thought she was close to laying her second egg, but we didn’t know exactly how close. Through the evening as we watched her on the monitor, there were a couple of times we thought she was getting close to producing an egg, but it didn’t happen. It wasn’t until after midnight that she truly looked ready. At 12:54 AM, she produced the second egg of her clutch, although we couldn’t be sure at the time, since Astrid didn’t afford good looks at more than one egg at a time. That is, until she shifted at 1:19. We confidently pinned the egg laying time to 12:54. That means the interval between the laying of the first and second eggs in the clutch is 63 hours, which is about average for Astrid, although it could be considered on the long side for Peregrines Falcons.

Ares brought a Woodcock to the box at 2:55. Astrid accepted the gift and took it over to the Hotel ledge. Ares waited out on the cross-perch and resisted the temptation to investigate the new egg. In fact he didn’t really check it out until Astrid returned at 4 AM. At that time they did a minor face to face display over the egg, but then Ares left the box. Astrid hunkered down on the eggs after that. At 6:00, we were hearing Ares giving some long calls from somewhere not too far away. We weren’t sure what he was trying to convey. Astrid lifted her head and looked around during the first volley of calls, but didn’t for the second. Perhaps he was asking if she wanted to switch without physically coming to the box. At 6:20, they did switch out and Ares took a turn in the box. Astrid didn’t go far. She was on one of the pillars located west of the nest box. At 6:50, they mated on the pillar – and then they mated there again a half-hour later. Astrid came to the box after that, but before she was even settlde in, Ares arrived with food. Awkwardly loping onto the cross-perch, she leaned in and pulled the prey from Ares’ beak and then flew over to the Hotel with it. There she proceeded to eat it on a ledge. She was back on the same pillar by 7:45. A few minutes later, the pair mated again. Following that, Ares came back to the box and adeptily tucked the eggs beneath him. He is an old pro now isn’t he.

The pair mated on the pillar again at 8:43 and then Ares retrieved a gift for Astrid.  At 8:50, Ares screeched out of the box. He took a perch on a ledge close to Astrid’s pillar. We don’t know if she took the gift, but he came right back to the box, so she may have. At 9:11, they switched out and she took a turn guarding the eggs. At 9:50, they switched again. At that point what they were engaged in was guard duty and not technically incubation. At 10:42, while Ares was in the midst of his shift he began incubating. Astrid came to the box at 11:04, and when Ares showed a reluctance to leave, she muscled up right behind him and compelled him get off the eggs and leave the nest. After a few minutes, she too was incubating. If this continues without interruption, in 33 days we can expect our first hatch. At 12:30, Astrid called when she saw Ares fly through the canyon. He made a stop at the Hotel and picked up some leftover meal, but he didn’t bring it to the box. Astrid left at 12:52 and Ares arrived only a minute later and resumed incubation. Astrid spent a short time on a pillar west of the box and then she was out of view for a while. When she left at 1:45, Ares screeched off after her and left the eggs unattended, but within five minutes he had resumed sitting on them. At 2:05, Astrid was in view again on the State Building and Ares went to join her. This time the eggs were uncovered for about 45 minutes, which means they full incubation couldn’t have started yet. Of course, the sun was flooding into the box by this time and the outdoor temperature had reached into the mid- fifties. So the interruption in incubation at this early stage likely wouldn’t be detrimental to the eggs’ development. At 2:45, Astrid was on the eggs again and Ares was on the State Building. By this point in the afternoon, the winds were becoming very intense. There were 35 MPH sustained winds and gusts of up to 60 MPH. Fortunately, the falcons can usually deal with high winds, being a species that normally breeds in some of the windiest environments in the world. The falcons switched at 4:00, and Ares was now in the box. He covered the eggs for about five minutes and then both falcons were flying in the canyon again. Both falcons returned at 4:30 – Ares to the box and Astrid to the State Building. We saw Ares come in, and he literally flew into the box sideways. No flapping at all, just riding the air escalator.

At 5:25, Ares left the box just after Astrid vacated her perch. One of them darted by our camera at breakneck speed. Fifteen minutes later, Ares flew in low toward the State Building and then swooped straight up to land on a top floor ledge. After that he used the wind to slide right back to the box. At just before 6, Astrid appeared on the State Building and Ares joined her over there. Five minutes later, Astrid floated over to the nest box and huddled on top of her two eggs. Ares did some more flying and then came right back to a high perch on the State Building. He stayed there until 7:35, when he likely flew to his night perch.

Utica Peregrine Falcon Update for April 3, 2018

It was a chilly but dry start to the day. Temperatures were in the 30’s and, early on, seemed to be on the rise. The skies were overcast and rain began falling by late morning. Later on, rain was slightly more significant, winds increased and temperatures dipped back down. The previous night, Astrid remained out of the box until the last minute – coming in at 7:45, which was essentially dusk. She remained in the box until 11:47 PM, and then returned at 1:17 AM. Ares came in to relieve her at 3:23. He only stayed for a half-hour. A few minutes later, Astrid came into the box to resume guard duty. At 5:45 Ares arrived with prey; it was a Woodcock. Astrid took it and dashed over to the Hotel ledge. She fed until 6:05, and then flew over to perch on the State Building. At 7:30, she was on the building’s west face where we can’t see her with our cameras. A half-hour later, Ares was trying to lure her out with a Woodcock that he had gotten out of storage. She wasn’t at all tempted. Well, she did just had one for breakfast! He ended up flying it over to the Hotel and eating some himself before coming back to the box without it. By that time, Astrid had left the west side of the building and was now standing on one of the steeple’s lower perches. The pair mated there at 8:24. Twenty minutes later Astrid made several short trips to the box in quick succession. We think it was workmen in an office adjacent to the nest box that was the cause of her apprehension. As it turned out she didn’t become overly upset. At 9:17, Ares relieved Astrid at the box and she went back to perching on the State Building. However, only ten minutes later, some more covert drama caused the falcons to become all worked up again. One of them (probably Ares) went up onto the roof of the State Building. At 9:45, the all-clear was sounded and the falcons began behaving more normally.

At 10 AM, Astrid joined Ares at the box, but they were only there for a few seconds. Something  had gotten them agitated again, but we didn’t know what. Both returned to the box five minutes later and they had a lively conversation. Following that, the falcons seemed more at ease. Well, as much at ease as can be expected for high-strung Peregrine Falcons during the breeding season. At 10:16, the pair mated on the cross-perch. Ten minutes later, Ares was back with a gift for his partner. She took the small undifferentiated hunk of meat to the Hotel and ate it there. At 10:38, she was back at the nest box. She hopped from the cross-perch to the west veranda and a moment later they mated there. Ares then went to the west face of the State Building and perched in the very same place Astrid had been earlier. He flew back through the canyon at 12:15. Astrid thought he was flying in to mate. She leaned forward, but he landed in the box instead. They vocalized together for a few minutes and then she flew off and out of camera view. He sat with the egg for a few minutes, but then went out onto the cross-perch. At 12:30, Ares took a stroll around the east veranda. He gave a few low intensity long calls and then went back into the box to check the egg. It’s still there, fella.

Solely due to a failed mating attempt, we found out where Astrid was hiding from our cameras. Ares went behind the steeple, gave a short mating chatter and then dashed around from the other side. Evidently she was on one of two steeple perches we can’t see with our cameras. At 1:13, both falcons were at the nest. She was out on the cross-perch and he was inside the box giving chirp-calls. She was alternating between ignoring him and signally the desire to mate, and he seemed to just want her in the box. She won out in the end and ten minutes later they mated. Following the subsequent guard duty switch, she moved out onto the east veranda and was again asking to mate. He jumped out of the box, boomeranged back through the canyon and presto, another mating occurred. Following that, Ares assumed a perch on the west face of the State Building and she stayed in the box. By mid-afternoon we had entered the egg-laying window for Astrid. Since she was remaining in the box so long, we thought that maybe she would lay early. Nope. The falcons switched out again and she took a perch on the State Building. She made a quick visit to the box at 4:05, and used the time to have a loud conversation with Ares, but the time wasn’t right yet to lay her egg and so she flew back to the State Building. Meanwhile, he was content to be in the box. She returned to the nest at 5:10, and again, she was asking Ares to mate. He obliged and afterwards she got comfortable in the box; she adjusted the egg and used her bill to do some digging in the corner. We thought it was pretty likely she would stay in the nest until it was time to lay the egg, but she had other ideas. At 5:38, she abruptly flew out of the box and out of camera view. He came to the nest at 6:00, and it was obvious he was very wet. She had landed on the State Building, but was soon up and flying. She flew low over through the canyon and disappeared. He also took off with purpose. One might think a female Peregrine Falcon would avoid unnecessary energy expenditures right before egg-laying time, but one would be wrong to think that. We then went for another stretch without knowing were Astrid had gotten to. Finally at 7:05, she showed up at the box and the pair mated on the east veranda. Ten minutes later she was in the box, Ares had retired to his night perch (presumably) and Astrid seemed poised to lay egg # 2. Intervals between eggs may differ with different individual female falcons. Astrid tends to lay her eggs an average of 58-59 hours apart. Once she took as long as72 hours between eggs. As I’m writing this update we are closing in on 59 hours after the first egg was laid. Will there still be a new egg on the scrape tonight. The likelihood is pretty good.

Utica Peregrine Falcon Update for April 2 2018

It was seasonably cool this morning, but temperatures got up into the 50’s by midday. It was mostly sunny and the wind picked up in the afternoon. It was favorable conditions for falcons, surely. Astrid settled in to the nest box at 6:20, Sunday night and stayed with her new egg until 12:35 AM. She flew out at that time, only to return at one o’clock to resume her guard duty. She is not engaged in full incubation yet, so the egg is often left on its own; merely guarded and not sat upon. Ares brought Astrid a Woodcock at 2:20. She took it over to the Hotel ledge to eat. She ate only a small portion before shoving the leftovers to the back of the ledge and returned to the nest at 2:40 AM. The nest and egg were alone in the interim. At 6:06, a food transfer took place at the box. Astrid took her gift over to the Hotel ledge and this time she ate the whole thing. Whatever it was, she liked it better than Woodcocks. When she was finished at 6:30, she landed on the steeple. He came to the box and did some of his long wailing calls and then at 6:45, they mated on the steeple. They both returned to the box at the same time, but she didn’t stay. Instead she flew back to the steeple and he drew box duty for a while. Soon enough he took to the air again. Both falcons interacted at the box at 7:45, but Astrid left directly following that meeting.

Though the morning, Ares continued visiting the box periodically, but Astrid stopped taking shifts in the mid-morning. In fact, hours were passing and we weren’t seeing Astrid in the canyon. Ares didn’t seem to be overly anxious about it, and he normally gets very agitated when he doesn’t know where she is. Deb got a call about a dead falcon found about a mile or so southeast of the canyon. Both of us get calls like this at least several times a year, and they usually turn out not to be falcons. Most involve Cooper’s Hawks or Sharp-shinned Hawks. Of course, since we hadn’t seen Astrid in a while, the call took on a more troubling aspect. Deb went to collect the bird. Indeed it was a Peregrine Falcon. It was an un-banded first-year male. Perhaps this was an intruder the pair had been dealing with recently. The unfortunate young falcon had been struck by a vehicle, but we couldn’t rule out that it had been in a fight as well. It had sustained multiple injuries and perhaps one or two were consistent with being in a dogfight with another Peregrine. We will never know for sure. The stranger had been on the periphery of Astrid and Ares’ territory, so it’s possible there was an altercation of some kind. Most likely, since he was in juvenile plumage, they more likely would have only chased him out and not really harmed him. However, they do get more serious about incursions into their territory once they begin nesting. After identification, the DEC was notified and the bird was turned over to them.

At 10 AM, Astrid came back into the fold and the pair had a noisy reunion at the nest box. It was a ledge display but there was no beaking or fancy footwork involved – only conversation. Directly after, Astrid flew out, but then came back twenty minutes later and took over guarding the egg. As it turned out, her shift was a short one; Ares came back at 11 o’clock and the pair switched out. There was an aborted mating attempt just before noon on the State Building. Following that, Astrid came to the box for another shif. After she settled down, she began trying to bring up a pellet. Every 30 seconds or so she would thrust her head forward, point her head up and open her bill wide. She did this about a dozen times after which, she quieted down and settled back on the egg. The pair switched out only fifteen minutes later, and Ares went over to the State Building. In few minutes, they mated. After they both changed perches at least a half-dozen times, they mated again – this time on the steeple. At 2:12 they mated yet again on the steeple. Directly after that, Astrid darted up to the box, but didn’t stay. And that’s how it went for the balance of the afternoon really. Astrid didn’t take another shift sitting with the egg. In fact the egg was often left on its own in the box. On a day like this, that is no problem, since it wasn’t too cold and since incubation has yet to begin. At 2:25, Ares came to the box with food. He actually brought it right inside the box. Astrid wasn’t coming to get it and we joked that he was going to try to feed the egg, but that didn’t really happen. Ten minutes later, Astrid did come over to take the food from him. She fed over on the steeple. At 3:30, the pair mated on the State Building and they did it again about an hour later – and then again; that time exactly an hour later.  We were beginning to see a pattern!

At 5:52, Ares brought prey over to a ledge just west of the nest box. He was plucking like mad for a few minutes and then he brought it briefly to the box. Without a good look, we couldn’t identify the thing, but it seemed big. He flew past Astrid a few times with it, but she didn’t seem interested, so he stored it instead. At 6:15 they mated on the steeple. Five minutes later, Astrid was soaring around the canyon. She took a perch on the County Building for a little while and then disappeared from our cameras for about an hour and a half. As it got darker, Ares seemed like he was more than ready to be relieved from egg duty at the box, but she didn’t seem to be in any hurry to return. Finally, at 7:41, she came over and landed on the west veranda. Ares dove out of the box and the pair mated one last time. Directly after that, she came into the box and settled with the egg. He presumably went off to his night perch and she was likely in place for the night. We don’t expect a second egg to be laid until sometime tomorrow evening.  Goodnight falcons.

Utica Peregrine Falcon Update for April 1, 2018

Overnight strong winds developed and temperatures dropped into the high twenties. Rain and snow began falling and the higher elevations in the region were treated to an inch of snow. By afternoon, conditions had improved. It was still very windy, but the sun was out in a big way. Astrid and Ares had a very active overnight session. She arrived at the box at 7:30, Saturday night. At 9:36, she very abruptly bailed out of the box. She seemed to be watching something intently just before exiting, but we have no idea what she saw. We heard her giving some vocalizations about five minutes after flying. An hour later, she was back and  settled in the box, but then the same thing happened again. She heard or saw something, and at 10:37 PM, she dove out of the box. This time she did a lot of vocalizing, but again, we couldn’t locate her with the cameras. It sounded like it was only her calling but we couldn’t be sure of that. Although her vocalizations conveyed agitation, there were no cackle-type alarm calls heard. Both falcons came to the box at 11:18 PM. She limited herself to the cross-perch while he came all the way in. In a minute, Astrid was gone again and Ares lingered for about 10 minutes. She returned to the nest at 2:07, he came a little while later, but she sent him away with harsh vocalizations. There was a really quick food exchange at the box at 3:43. The prey was small, but she took it just the same. We don’t know where she went to feed on it. At 7:42, the pair came to the nest box and did a ledge display. Lots of beaking took place during that display and Ares’ mating chatter was hear shortly afterwards, which is a solid indication that they mated. She left at around 8 o’clock. Twenty minutes later, Ares came back to the box with prey. Astrid grabbed it and flew off into the canyon.  Both were back at the box 8:45 for an impromptu ledge display. It was an extra fast dance and neither falcon stayed long afterwards.

After spending some time on the State Building, Astrid flew over to the box at around 9:20. Five minutes later I checked the video feed and right after that she was snoozing in there. Twenty minutes later, Astrid and Ares performed a short ledge display at the box. She remained after he left and did some serious housework. She made at least four scrapes, bit at the lip of the box for a while, and then moved on to digging in the hole she started the other day. After a while she stopped her chores and went to the side of the box when she makes scrapes. She seemed somewhat anxious and unsettled, She shifted positions a few times before settling on a spot that had her facing the inner corner of the box. After a few barely perceptible contractions, at 9:55 AM, Astrid laid her first egg of the season.  Initially we could only see a tiny bit of it, but its rich brown shell color was unmistakable. She immediately hunkered down on it. Ares came to the box at 10:20. This was his first opportunity to see the new egg. The pair did a sort-of ledge display – during which, Astrid kept in position over the egg. They did some beaking and then after about five minutes, Ares stepped around to the other side of the box. She turned right with him while straddling the egg and effectively keeping him from really getting an eyeful. He left after that and flew over to a ledge on the State Building. At 11:10, Ares returned to the box and this time Astrid had no problem with allowing him to see the egg. As a matter of fact, she got up and left the box, leaving the nest and contents all to him. He fussed with the egg for a little while and then carefully rolled it under his chest, but after a few minutes, he was up again and left the box. She flew back a couple of minutes later and took charge of the egg. At noon, they switched again. Ares spent only a few minutes with the egg and then he was gone. He was utilizing the high winds and soaring at great speed through the canyon. It seemed they were leaving the egg in charge of the nest. Twenty minutes later he was back in the box and guarding the egg. It’s important to point out that continuous incubation will not begin until at least half the clutch is laid. At 1:35, Astrid and Ares mated on the State Building. Afterwards, she came immediately back to the nest. She left at 1:43, and the egg was left unattended until Ares returned at 2:17. Seven minutes later he was speeding through the canyon again. He flew right up to Astrid’s perch on the State Building and they mated again. Following that, Astrid returned to the box. He quickly joined her there and the pair had a conversation in falcon-speak. They beaked one time and then she left. He left only minutes later and did some impressive wind surfing.

Astrid came back to the box at 2:47. The afternoon sun was flooding into the box at this point and she seemed to be appreciating its warmth. She napped for only a minute or two. At 3:30 they switched out and Ares was on duty again. She stayed on the State Building until about 4:50, and then she ventured out of our camera view for a short while. Ares was in and out of the nest, but at 5:05, he started giving excited vocalizations. He saw Astrid come back into the canyon and land on the State Building. He remained at the box for another ten minutes and then dramatically launched out onto the wind and sailed off to the north. He ended up on the roof of the State Building, but didn’t stay long. He dashed right back to the box, and then right back to the State Building. For around five minutes he was perched near Astrid on the structure’s north face, but then he vanished. Less than a minute later he was at the box with a large hunk of prey. Astrid glided down to meet him and accept the gift. She soon flew away with it, but we couldn’t find where she went to feed. Ares came back to the nest at 6:07 and Astrid showed up on the State Building at about the same time. They mated shortly after that. Astrid was at the box by 6:20, and that’s when she began her stewardship of the egg. She will most likely be guarding it all night long. She’s not beginning to incubate yet, but she’s also not going to permit it to freeze. She will most likely lay her second egg sometime Tuesday evening. Ares was last seen on the State Building at 7:40. He’s not expected to take any night shifts with the egg, but may bring food for Astrid at some point during the night.