Author: Matt Perry

There were no feedings in the overnight hours. There was also no adult seen guarding or visiting the nest box during that time. At 4:54 AM, food was brought to the box and a feeding took place. At around 5:30, we noticed that A &A had both landed on windowsills on the State Building and stayed perched there for some time. This is interesting since they normally avoid the windowsills in favor of the much more narrow perches above the same building’s window frames. When they are on the actual windowsills they run the risk of being startled by people in offices. Of course, no one is usually in the offices at 5:30 in the morning, and that may have played into their calculations. We have noticed in past years that as fledging time approaches, the adults will land in atypical places. We think they do this in order to demonstrate to keen-eyed youngsters that there are some easier places to land. For fledglings, flying isn’t nearly as difficult an activity as landing. Landing on a wide window sill is an advisable thing for beginners attempt. At 7:04 AM, more food came in and another raucous feeding was underway. At one point, Spirit stole a piece and brought it into a corner while Zander nipped at Astrid’s tail (this is getting to be a reoccurring thing!) Max and Luna settled in and let Astrid give them a good feed.

Today a group of fledge watchers hiked the canal trail to the Utica Marsh with the aim of seeing either Astrid or Ares hunting. We never did see them. We saw a lot of other raptors and quite a few vultures. Highlights included two adult Bald Eagles, three Osprey and at least one Red-tailed Hawk. A falcon flew over us at one point and we thought for a minute it was Ares. Luckily it stopped to perch on a distant power-line. We put the scope on it we saw that it was an American Kestrel. Well, we had the falcon part right anyway! Lots of songbirds were heard and seen between the river and the canal all the way to the marsh. There is certainly no shortage of prey species for the falcons in that area. Just before noon, we spotted Astrid on the hotel ledge. Her wings were spread out at her side and she was in a squatting position. She was obviously sunning herself. A few minutes later Ares screeched up to the nest box with most of a morning Dove. Astrid abruptly abandoned her sunbathing and flew over to the box. She took the prey from Ares and conducted a pretty well-disciplined feeding. This time all for nestlings were vying together in one group and were well behaved, at least at the beginning. As the feeding went into overtime it kind of devolved into the usual anarchy.

The appearance of the nestlings continues to evolve as flight feathers, body contour feathers and now even spotted chest feathers are growing in. There is more and more wing exercise happening in the box now. So far the youngsters seem to be taking turns, which is good because if all four tried to do it at the same time it wouldn’t work. The nestlings spent much of the afternoon sprawled out in the shady corners of the nest box. This was their first hot afternoon experience in sometime. By 5:00, they started getting restless and very vocal. Astrid was nearby, but Ares was nowhere to be seen. At 6:00 PM, he finally came to the box with food.  Astrid arrived and took it, but as soon as she came into the box the famished chicks rushed at her – all four screaming like barnyard pigs. Spirit grabbed the food away from Astrid and took it to the corner. The three other chicks took turns trying to rip pieces off the carcass. Yes, they were feeding themselves. Instead of grabbing the food back and doing a feeding, Astrid just left the stage and allowed them to sort it out themselves. They did manage it, if clumsily. Self-feeding in this manner constitutes another milestone in their development.

Our on site falcon watch began at 6:30 PM, and our guests didn’t have to wait long before the action began. At 7:02 Astrid came back with most of a pigeon and conducted a long and fairly orderly feeding session. At 7:20 Ares brought in a hunk of some unidentifiable prey and Astrid served it to the young. As it got darker, I could still make out the forms of Astrid and Ares on their respective perches – her on the steeple and him on the State Building. It’s hard to believe, but we are getting very close to the beginning of Fledge Watch. Please consider volunteering to help us out this season. With four nestlings, we will need all hands on deck!

It was another rainy night in the falcon’s urban canyon. Astrid spent most of the night on the nest box perch. There were no overnight feedings. At 5:30 AM, Ares arrived at the box, but without food. The nestlings rushed at him, screeching like mad and drove him right out. At 6:30, Ares returned, this time with a hunk of food. Astrid took it and began feeding the hungry mob. At 8:23, a more hefty meal (A pigeon) was brought to the box and the chicks got a good feed. Heavier rain after 9:00 AM hampered the parents’ ability to hunt and so there were no feedings for the balance of the morning. The chicks all have names now, thanks to the recent naming contest. In hatching order we have: Spirit, Maximus (Max), Zander and Luna. We admit to having some difficulty telling them apart, but we do our best. Luna has the lightest colored legs and feet. Spirit is the largest and has the largest feet and the other two are currently tough to tell apart, although Zander has a habit stealing food and dragging it into corners. The next feeding began at 3:23 PM, when Ares brought in a Mourning Dove. Astrid did the feeding and it was a lively one. At one point Spirit loped over and grabbed the whole meal away from Astrid. Astrid moved in to get it back and they both tugged on either end until, not surprisingly, Astrid prevailed and resumed the feeding. Spirit did manage to “liberate” a large hunk and took it to a corner to work on. Astrid then concentrated on feeding Luna and Max. Always the loner, Zander hung back at first but then edged in closer. He reached over the heads of his siblings to snap up some prime servings. At 4:20, Astrid was spotted over on the ledge of the hotel plucking away at a pigeon. Five minutes later she was back at the box conducting another feeding. Spirit and Zander were served first. After a little while, Zander took a share and brought it into the corner, which is his thing. After receiving her fill, Spirit moved off and Luna and Max walked up to get their share next. At 6:14, Ares came to the box with most of a Semipalmated Sandpiper. Astrid pushed in to do the feeding, but only Luna seemed to have any appetite. While Astrid tore at the prey, Zander started biting at her tail. I don’t think it was appreciated. Astrid soon took the meal out and stored it on the State Building. Lately A&A have been hanging out on perches we can’t see with our PTZ camera. Consequently, we sometimes go hours without knowing quite where they are. Tonight at about 7:30, Ares reappeared on the east veranda of the nest box and at 8:00, Astrid showed up on the north face of the State Building. Wednesday Night beginning at 6:30 PM we will be on site for one of our pre-fledge falcon watch events. We encourage all to stop down to see the falcons in person, meet some of our watchers and have a look at the canyon. We can’t guarantee that the birds will put on a show, but often enough they do. It should be interesting!

The overnight was enlivened by an after midnight thunderstorm. Astrid was at the box through most of it. Of course she was on the outer perch receiving the brunt of what the elements had to offer. There were no feedings during the rainy overnight hours. Ares visited the box at 5:00 AM, but didn’t have any breakfast with him. Five minutes later, Astrid arrived with food. At 6:00, Astrid was seen doing some flying around the State Building. Actually, the parents did a lot of soaring around today – between storms and showers, that is. At 6:55, Ares stopped at the box, again without food. He picked up a bone that had been laying on the floor and tried to give it to one of the chicks. The chick took it, but then dropped it again. The nestlings look much different today than they did yesterday, with much more of a salt & pepper look as dark contour feathers push up through the downy white fluff that covers their bodies. The development of their wing and tail feathers continues at an astonishing pace. In a matter of days they will have completely outfitted falcon wings. At 7:35, Astrid entered the nest with most of a pigeon carcass. She then began a feeding that would go for over a half an hour, with one interruption. At 9:29 AM, Ares brought in an unidentified chunk of prey. Astrid came in to do the feeding. At 9:50, Ares brought in more food, but the chicks were already so stuffed that only one put its head up to feed. After taking a few bites, that chick was done and so Ares took the leftovers out and presumably stored them somewhere. In the latter part of the morning, A&A were both seen dashing off after prey – sometimes alone and sometimes as a team. By 12:30 PM. They had both been out of sight for a while as another storm was looming. Not long before the storm hit, both parents came into view and Astrid took her station on the outer perch of the nest box. Through lightning and very heavy rain, Astrid again stood her ground, right until the storm finally abated. During the storm the nestlings remained quiet and huddled. After the storm, A & A resumed their hunting forays around the downtown area and likely beyond and into their greater territory.  At 4:54 PM, Astrid brought in some leftovers (looked like a pigeon wing and a bit more) and started feeding the eager crew.  The dynamic in the nest during feedings usually follow the same pattern. Chicks one and four get in line first and chicks two and three hang back a bit. Chick two usually ends up strongly vying for his share and chick three typically grabs a hunk and takes it over to the corner of the box and picks at it. As I’m writing this update, at 7:45, the nestlings are mostly sacked out, but all are facing out toward the open part of the box. Chick one is the only one standing upright, but also is looking out and toward where their parents are perched on the State Building. Ares just darted off toward the north and then sailed right back up to where he had just been, and when he did the chicks all moved their heads to track his flight. I assume there will be another feeding before nightfall, but as usual that’s never a sure thing. As I’m wrapping it up here, suddenly, Astrid began giving constant alarm calls from the State Building. Nothing seemed to be amiss. Ares was still on his perch and there were no signs of intruders. I wondered if she was doing this to get a rise out of the pigeons that nest in the adjacent buildings. If so, it doesn’t seem to be working – at least not yet.

 

Overnight was cool again (only in the high 40’s), with one raucous feeding at 3:42 AM. The next feeding took place at 5:13. During that, Chick # 4 ripped part of the meal away from Astrid. The two had a little tug-o-war over it, which (no surprise) Astrid won. After which she resumed feeding. At 7:06, Astrid brought over about half a pigeon and proceeded to feed the nestlings. Once the chicks had received a good portion, she began taking a share herself, and right there in the nest. Ares came to the box at 7:52 and he began feeding the nestlings some leftovers that were scattered around in the box. At 9:10, he came back to the box, but this time with a more substantial hunk of food. Astrid met him there, took the food and flew off. She brought most of it back twelve minutes later and fed the brood. Rain started falling before midday and continued as light showers. The nestlings alternated rest with exercise, which consisted of flapping their wings and walking around the box. One of the chicks (I think it’s # 3) likes to dig or at least poke around in the back corner of the nest box. We’re not sure why or what he hopes to accomplish with that behavior. Later as the first chick wildly flapped its wings, another watched it with its head cocked to the side. Ares came into the box at 2:03 PM with a small hunk of meat. One of the chicks immediately grabbed the food away from him. Now empty handed, he decided to cut and run. That was easy to understand considering the mob he was facing. He came back twelve minutes later and resumed feeding the nestlings scraps from the floor. At 4:15, there was what seemed like a repeat performance: Ares came to the nest with a very small scrap of food; chick # 4 grabbed it away from him; he left shortly after. Steady rain made for a quiet late afternoon and we saw little action from the parent falcons. At 5:30, finally there was a more substantial feeding. Ares brought it and Astrid did the feeding, which was surprisingly polite and orderly. At 6:27, Ares stopped at the box and tried to offer two of the chicks an old bone that had been lying on the floor of the box. Unsurprisingly, nobody was interested in it. Later in the evening, overcast skies and steady rain slowed everything down to a crawl. Ares was seen making a few hunting forays, but nothing else was brought to the nest. The chicks, for their part, did a lot of preening and sleeping. We shall see if there is any more action in the overnight hours.

 

It was another cool evening with some light showers overnight. Ares brought food to the nest box at 3:58 AM and Astrid swooped in to do the feeding. At 5:20, Astrid was back, but this time seemed to be feeding out only some scraps that were already in the box. As soon as it was light enough, we could see how the appearance of the nestlings continues to rapidly evolve. Their primary and secondary flight feathers have grown out significantly, as have their tail feathers. Beneath their black face masks the chicks’ tan cheek patches are now quite obvious. Dark contour feathers are just starting to poke through their downy white body plumage. They will soon have a salt & pepper look. The nestlings (particularly eldest one) are doing much more exercising. Now when the parents show up at the box they can expect to be greeted by a riotous mob – all screeching, crowding and grabbing. It’s just going to get more intense as we move closer to fledging time. At 7:30 AM, Astrid was very upset. She was standing on the nest box’s main perch and giving long cackle alarm calls. Just like yesterday morning, she did this for several minutes, and again, like yesterday, we don’t know what triggered it. Ares was perched on the State Building at the time. All four chicks were snug in the nest. No intruders were seen (by us anyway), and since it was Saturday there were no people in the offices adjacent to the nest box. What was her issue? At 8:45, Ares came to the box with prey. This time it was a freshly caught Great-crested Flycatcher. Astrid took it and did the feeding. Only fifteen minutes later, Ares was back with more prey – something that had already been plucked and wasn’t easily recognizable. Astrid barreled into the box, snatched the prey away from Ares and did the feeding. After that medium sized meal there wasn’t any other feedings until 3:40, when Astrid brought in what looked like an immature starling. Before that the nestlings did a lot of sleeping, exercising and watching the world outside of the box. During that long spell between meals, Ares did visit the box once. When he came inside the chicks rushed him and pecked at his bill. His initial reaction was to retreat back out onto the perch, but then he jumped back into the box and tried to feed out a whole cuckoo wing first to one chick and then another. Each in turn would take it and then drop it to the floor – leaving it for Ares to pick it up again and give it to another. It was a good game to pass the time until a real meal came in. At 5:08 PM, we saw A&A soaring around the canyon on the PTZ camera. They were using the steady winds to glide around the State Building, pick up speed and then dart off to the north, presumably in search of prey. The nestlings watched their parents’ stunts and screeched in response. At 6:53, Astrid returned to the box with something small and apparently picked-over. Chick # 4 immediately grabbed it away from her. For a minute it seemed like Astrid didn’t know what happened to it and she began feeding out a truly minute piece that was still in her talons. Finally she realized what had happened, snatched the food back from the thief and began a proper – if short feeding.  At 7:30 PM, Ares came to the nest with another starling. This time he conducted the feeding. This was while Astrid was still out of sight. She came back to the State Building about 5 minutes later and then flew over to the box. Since Ares was deep into the feeding, she restrained her urge to grab the food away from him – or at least she held back for a few minutes. Finally she dove in to take over. His response was to take what remained and leave! At 8:00, Astrid returned to the box with the leftovers from the last meal and finished the feeding. About half way through, Ares screeched by the box and then landed on the church steeple. What the meaning of that is anyone’s guess.