Author: Matt Perry

It was a chilly evening last night, but temperatures rose into the low sixties by mid-morning. Of course the gusty winds made it seem much colder. Leave it to the falcons to make a liar out if me. In my last update I wrote about how overnight feedings were a thing of the past and then last night there were two early morning feedings. The first took place at 2:06 AM, when Ares brought in what appeared to be a cuckoo. At 3:38, Ares brought more prey to the nest box perch, but then he waited about a half hour before feeding the chicks from the lip of the box. Astrid then came to the nest and gestured to Ares that it was time for him to leave. However, when he left he took the food with him. Astrid waited on the perch for about 40 minutes before finally feeding the chicks leftover scraps that were already kicking around in the box. At 7:45 AM, Astrid became very upset and began giving incessant cackling alarm calls from the east veranda. Ares had just sailed off – either after prey or after an intruder, we didn’t know which. Given the intensity of Astrid’s flip out, we believe that an intruder was involved. There seemed to be no other obvious causes of her anxiety, like active cranes or people on the roof. Finally she did settle down and at 8:12, Ares brought a cuckoo to the box. Astrid took it and did a normal feeding. Chick # 1 and # 4 were front and center for the food. The other nestlings got something but not much. The next feeding was at 9:50. Ares brought in a Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Astrid started to feed, but then chick # 4 grabbed the whole meal away from her! Either Chick # 2 or # 3 started biting at Astrid’s tail. It seems the feedings are getting increasingly chaotic. Astrid soon tugged the prey back and started serving it out again. The next feeding was at 11:00. This time it was a Black-billed Cuckoo (Yes, a third cuckoo in one morning!) Astrid did the feeding as usual.  Through the afternoon A&A did some hunting, but didn’t manage to secure anything. Ares stopped at the box at 3:05 and fed the chicks some leftover scraps. The wind really picked up in the afternoon and the falcons were using it to their best advantage. They were soaring, hovering, diving and ascending with great ease. Meanwhile, the nestlings were getting restless and whenever an adult came to the box to check on them they were greeted by a screeching, hungry mob. One of the chicks (number one, I think) often stands in the center of the box and stares out into the canyon – watching and waiting for a parent to return. After not seeing Ares for some time, at 5:50 PM, he finally returned to the box – this time with a Mourning Dove. Astrid came in to deal with the feeding frenzy that ensued.  That wasn’t surprising given the length of time they went without a proper meal. After the feeding, Astrid did some fantastic gliding around the State Building and through the canyon. Ultimately she soared high and headed south. Following a quick check on the nestlings, Ares dove low behind M&T Bank, presumably trying to flush up some of the pigeons that hang out there. At 6:30, Ares was back to the box with food – this time it was a Semipalmated Sandpiper. Astrid took the prey and did the feeding. The final feeding for the day (I think) took place at 8:09 PM. This time it was a pigeon that had been partially plucked and processed. All four chicks got plenty to eat during the meal. Table manners were horrid and featured food grabbing, food stealing, tail biting, and some sneak attacks. I make no predictions about nocturnal feedings tonight. We shall just wait and see.

 

 

 

There were no feedings in the overnight hours – that is if we don’t include the last feeding of the day on Wednesday, which began at 9:56 PM and went on for at least 45 minutes! It does seem that super early morning feedings may be a thing of the past now that the nestlings are older, stronger and able to handle longer intervals between meals. At 5:00 AM, Astrid came to the box and began feeding out some leftover scraps from the previous night’s meal. It was just a few bites and it hardly constituted breakfast. Fortunately, only ten minutes later, Ares came to the nest box with fresh prey. Astrid grabbed it and handled the feeding, which is always her prerogative. Over the last few days we’ve noticed how the eyesight of the nestlings has been developing. They can now watch their parents from a distance. They watch them as they fly through the canyon and when they dart out after prey. The chicks respond to what they see by bobbing their heads up and down and by vocalizing. The next feeding happened at 8:53 when Ares arrived at the box with prey. At 11:02, he brought more food, but this time the prey was something unusual – a Semipalmated Sandpiper, which is a sparrow-sized migrant shorebird. Although the species is not an uncommon late summer migrant in the region, they are normally hard to come by in spring. Still, somehow Ares manages to find them. The next feeding occurred at 12:42 PM and afterwards the chicks enjoyed a long siesta – although it was occasionally interrupted by bouts of lively wing flapping and loud calling. At 4:45, dinner arrived at the box and Astrid did the feeding. One of the nestlings bit Astrid’s tail a few times while she was plucking the food. Ares brought in another Semipalmated Sandpiper at 6:20 (It’s as if they were on special somewhere?) Astrid took it and this time chick # 4 was the first in line to be fed. A few minutes into the feeding, Ares returned with another meal – this time it was an unrecognizable hunk of meat. Astrid took it and added it to the pot. At one point in the feeding, Astrid gave chick # 4 an entire sandpiper wing. For a while the chick tried to swallow it, but thankfully, gave up and dropped it. While the feeding was going on, chick # 3 was mostly standing in a corner of the box – looking at the wall. With the scant remainder of the meal, Astrid walked over. She managed to get the loner’s attention and fed out the last few bites. As I’m finishing up this update, the parent falcons are perched on the State Building and all four nestlings are crashed out in the nest box. Looking at them while they are sprawled out, I am astounded by the rate of growth of their wing and tail feathers. During the course of the last 24 hours, they appear to have grown nearly an inch. It’s a good reminder just how close we are getting to fledge time. Only about two weeks to go now folks!

 

There were no overnight feedings last night, which seems to be the new trend. Both parents were in hunting mode in the early morning, but nothing was brought back to the box until 7:47 AM ish, when Ares came in with what looked to be a Mourning Dove. This is the latest breakfast we’ve seen this season. All the nestlings promptly lined up for this feeding since it had been so long in coming. Another feeding took place at 9:54. Shortly after, the adult falcons were heard giving alarm calls before darting out of the canyon. It was possible that there was an intruder, but none could be confirmed. It’s true that as the chicks develop and get closer to fledging, the parents (especially Astrid) become more sensitive regarding the presence of any potential predator in the territory. For the balance of the morning, A & A continued to be on edge and were missing from view for extended periods of time. At 12:14, Ares came to the box with a Black-billed Cuckoo. He started to feed, but one of the chicks latched onto it with its talons and tried to pull it away! Ares was in the midst of tugging it back when Astrid appeared at the box. Instead of giving the prey to his mate so she could conduct the feeding, Ares flew away with it and stored it on the State Building.  At 12:17, Astrid began doing a lot of screeching. We thought that maybe she wanted Ares to come back with the food, but it wasn’t happening. Astrid seemed to be upset, but we weren’t sure why. Was there a crane or a cherry-picker being operated in the canyon? Those things annoy the heck out of her. Perhaps she’s upset with Ares for putting that last meal away prematurely. Regardless, Ares did bring more food at 1:00. He fed the young for a little while, and then, just like before, one of the chicks grabbed the food away from him. At 2:55 PM, another feeding took place. Ares brought in what looked like another cuckoo and Astrid served it to the nestlings. Again in the late afternoon, the falcon pair may have been alarmed by intruders or some equipment in the canyon. However, it was possible that they were only out on a prey sortie. In the mid-morning some fierce rain storms skirted the area – some where to the south of Downtown and some to the north. The wind picked up at 4:30 ish and some rain began pelting the canyon. We expected one of the parent falcons to swoop in to guard the nest box, but they didn’t. Apparently A & A thought the chicks were safe enough on their own in the box; or, they somehow knew the storm wasn’t going to amount to much. At 5:20 PM, the young falcons received a feeding. Ares brought the meal in and Astrid ripped it up and served it. All the chicks got in line as they had done with the first meal of the day.

The Utica Peregrine Falcon Project sponsored a Falcon watch on Wednesday night. The weather was perfect. We saw A & A in the canyon for most of the evening. At around 7:20 PM, when the pair failed to catch any fresh prey, we watched Ares fly over to his “pantry” on the State Building and pull out a stored cuckoo. This he brought over to the nest box. He passed it to Astrid and she did the feeding. A little later on, Astrid went over to the hotel and had a drink from one of the large puddles on the lower ledge of the building. At 8:30, we thought the show was over; we were wrapping up the watch and heading to our cars. Suddenly Ares left his perch on the State Building and flew back and forth once before the east face of the ADK Bank Building. He stirred up a pigeon and then drove it south toward Elizabeth Street and towards Astrid. She tore after it, but didn’t secure it. After that, it was getting dark, but the pair didn’t seem to be finished for the night. Astrid perched on the ledge of the hotel – watching for prey, and Ares sailed off to the north and possibly went hunting near the river. At 9:45, Astrid returned to the nest box just to do a quick check. After she left we thought, finally, that was it for the night. And then at 9:56 PM, Astrid piled into the box with a clunk – carrying a large prey item in her talons. It was either a Pigeon or a Woodcock – hard to tell in the dark. A long feeding followed. Thanks to all that attended tonight’s falcon watch. It was a good one!

Even though at night the weather was fairly mild with only a small amount of rain, there were no overnight feedings. Astrid was on the nest box perch and calling for Ares in the hour of 4 AM, but he was nowhere to be seen. At 5:00, both A & A were on the hotel, but neither had food. It was obviously not a productive night of hunting, nor were there any meals stored in any of the falcons’ “pantries”. In the pre and post dawn hours, both falcons remained in hunting mode – making quick forays out after unseen prey. And then at a couple of minutes before 7 AM, food arrived at the box and Astrid conducted a marathon feeding (about a half-hour long). Apparently she had secured a Pigeon. Often when a meal comes to the box these days, not all of the chicks get in line to be fed, but this time all were giving Astrid and the food their undivided attention. After all, they hadn’t been fed since 4:30 the previous afternoon. More food was brought in by Ares only an hour later. We thought all the chicks would be too stuffed to partake, but the bigger chicks rallied and somehow packed it in. Astrid isn’t usually fond of the first day after a weekend (in this case, after a long weekend) since it means people will be in their offices again and too close to her nestlings. She was upset and did some swooping in front of the offices adjacent to the nest box, but she didn’t do this for very long. It was great that they got a significant feeding in early since steady rainfall would inhibit hunting for most of the rest of morning. At around 10:30, our original nest camera (appropriately dubbed “whitewash cam”) was hit with “whitewash” from one of our marksmen chicks. I suppose we were lucky it lasted this long with four well-fed chicks going off in all directions. With luck, as the chicks get bigger, one of them will make like a squeegee and rub up against the cam’s transparent lens protector and clean it off (don’t laugh, this has happened before!) At noon, Ares brought a whole Starling to the box. Astrid came in, collected it from Ares and then proceeded to pluck it. For some reason she did this while facing out toward the open part of the box. This meant that her tail and wing tips were bouncing up and down in front of the chicks and tantalizing them. A couple of the rambunctious snowmen couldn’t resist having a nip or two. Astrid didn’t seem to mind. As usual the nestlings did a lot of sleeping today, but they also did a considerable amount of exercising. They walked, flapped and interacted more than ever before. Their voices too are becoming ever stronger. Grabbing food away from each other and even from their parents is beginning to become a thing. The next feeding took place at 5:08 PM. It appeared to be a Mourning Dove and it was brought in by Ares. Astrid did the feeding. The two oldest chicks dominated this feeding. One of the two younger nestlings grabbed a small hunk of the meal and dragged it over to the other side of the box and tried picking at it himself. Rain storms threatened in the late afternoon and evening, but none hit the downtown canyon at least as of this writing. I spoke too soon. Now rain is hitting the PTZ camera.

 

 

 

Last night there were only two early morning feedings. Both took place prior to the start of the steady rain. The first meal came in at 12:39 AM. It was a small prey item brought by Ares. The second was larger and was brought in by Astrid at close to 3:00. Following that meal the rain began in earnest and there wouldn’t be another feeding for several hours. During the rainiest part of the morning, Astrid was on the nest box perch, while Ares was on top of a window pillar located above the east veranda. Both parents were completely exposed to the elements, which is typical. During their fast, at least two of the nestlings were seen picking at the scant about of leftovers kicking around in the box. There was at least one tug-of-war-war session between the growing chicks. And that wasn’t all, at one point a chick picked up a small chuck of something; Astrid noticed it and tried to take it, but the chick waddled around in a circle trying to hang onto it. A silly slow-motion chase ensued that Astrid obviously wasn’t taking seriously. Finally she grasped it in her bill and tried to pull it away, but the chick held on with its little talons. Astrid prevailed, but the first thing she did once she had it was to rip a little meat off and feed it to the same chick. By 10:00 AM, the chicks were screeching to be fed. Rain was still coming down, but somehow, Astrid retrieved some prey (a Mourning Dove) from storage. The rain let up by early afternoon and A&A were able to more easily hunt again. The next feeding took place at 1:48 PM. Astrid brought in a Pigeon this time. It was a large meal and all the chicks including number 4, got their fill. At 4:00, Ares was spotted plucking something on the hotel ledge. It was a Mourning Dove and he appeared to be making a meal out of it himself. Of course he has to keep his strength up too! As it turned out, there was plenty left when he dropped it off at the box at 4:17 and Astrid topped off the nestlings with it. At around 4:50, Ares was on duty at the box when Astrid apparently flew out after something. We don’t know if it was prey or another raptor or what she was perusing, but whatever it was it elicited an unusual response from Ares. He gave an alarm call and then flew straight up – landing on the roof of the nest box. This is something that, as far as we know, he hasn’t done before. Astrid has been up on the box’s roof before, as have some of the fledglings from years past, but never Ares. He soon came down and resumed his guard post on the nest box perch. As I’m writing this at 8:00 PM, the nestlings are getting restless in the box. Ares has been out of view for around an hour. He may be out hunting or just perching somewhere that we can’t see with our cameras.