Author: Matt Perry

It was quite cold in the early morning with temperatures hovering around the freezing point. Astrid began calling for Ares to take over incubation at 5:40 AM. He showed up in the canyon at 6:30, but didn’t come over to the box until 7:50, which was pretty late for the first switch of the day. If these birds have taught us anything in four years, it’s that they are not entirely predictable. Ares remained on the nest until Astrid relieved him at 10:35. At noon Astrid began giving interactive calls and then abruptly left the nest. It seemed like she was giving chase, but we couldn’t confirm the presence of an intruder. Before two minutes had elapsed, Ares was back in the box and tending the eggs. At 12:35, Astrid zoomed back into the canyon and with a dramatic flourish landed on a high perch on the State Building. She sometimes does this right after she escorts an intruder out of the territory. A half hour later she was seen sunbathing on the ledge of the hotel. Although I have seen other raptors engage in this type of behavior, we’ve never before seen it with the Utica falcons.  She was lying flat on her stomach with wing and tail feathers completely spread out. This exposes parasites like feather mites to the sun’s rays and if it doesn’t kill them outright, it makes them more obvious and more able to be picked off during preening. She did this for about 15 minutes before returning to the box and brashly ejecting Ares off the eggs. She loomed over him and then tread on his tail while giving an unusual rattling call. He was out in a few seconds and she resumed incubating for what would be the hottest part of the afternoon. The pair switched again at 5:00 PM after which Astrid was seen on several different perches including on the church steeple. From there she watched pigeons and occasionally launched herself after them. As far as we know she never caught one. She really seemed to revel in staying out late, all the while alternately hunting and preening. Astrid was back on the nest by 7:30 PM.

On this Earth Day we can be grateful for the important environmental laws that made it possible for Peregrine Falcons, Osprey, Bald Eagles and other birds of prey to return to our skies. The original race of Peregrine Falcon that inhabited the Eastern United States went extinct in the mid-1960s. That was largely due to the widespread use of the pesticide DDT. When DDT was banned for use in the US in 1972 and the Peregrine was designated as an Endangered Species, a path to recovery for these birds became possible. At that time dedicated organizations like the Peregrine Fund began captive breeding programs (using other races of Peregrine primarily of North American origin) and by 1975 they began releasing Peregrine Falcons into the wild. The reintroduction program was remarkably successful and 40 years later we can again enjoy sharing our environment with these remarkable raptors. It’s important to remember that environmental regulations can have major positive impacts!

This morning Ares relieved Astrid at the nest box at 6:00. He didn’t bring her a tribute, but soon enough she was eating breakfast on the ledge of the hotel. The meal may have been the leftovers of a dove that Ares caught the previous night. The day was quite cool, windy and overcast with occasional light showers. The falcons responded to this by making their changeovers at the nest box extremely fast and taking care not to leave the eggs uncovered for long. In the early afternoon, Ares was seen plucking and then eating something on the hotel, but as far as we know he didn’t offer to share it with his mate. At 6:45 PM, Astrid began calling and then abruptly vacated the nest. It was hard to tell what was happening, but she may have been in pursuit of an intruder. Before 2 minutes had elapsed, Ares was back on the eggs. Astrid returned to the State Building a few minutes later, but then flew off again. She remained elusive and mostly out of our PTZ camera view for more than an hour. We weren’t sure if she was hunting or what she was doing, but clearly she was staying out later than usual. Occasionally Ares would let out a squeak as if he saw her, but we were unable to confirm that with the cam. At 7:37 PM Astrid finally returned to relieve Ares. At that point we believed they were settled for the night.

 

It’s amazing how often our falcons do something right smack on the hour. One begins to suspect they carry pocket watches. The first change-over took place at 6:00 AM. Ares screeched as he approached the box, announcing himself as he usually does. He brought no food tribute. After leaving she flew in circles in front of the west face of the State Building – this was almost precisely the same thing she did the previous morning. She was likely checking the window ledges for stored prey. At 6:30, we didn’t see her with our cameras, but we believe she was perched somewhere near the box. She must have called, because Ares gave what sounded like response vocalizations and then he abruptly leaped off of the eggs and darted though the canyon. He was heading north. Before two minutes were up, Astrid returned to the box and resumed incubating the eggs.  At 8:00, Ares was back with prey. She grabbed it and flew off with it while he took over nest duties. At 8:30 she was back. Her full crop indicated that she had eaten; however, for some reason she just stayed out on the box’s perch and didn’t ask Ares to switch for a while. That was unusual. These days they don’t normally both stay at the box together for more than a minute. The rest of the morning through early afternoon featured several more typical changeovers. The last one took place at 2:40. That time Astrid took over and remained there for the rest of the day and evening. Ares spent some time on the State Building, but after that we weren’t sure where he ended up. We suspected that since the weather had cleared up some (it had been gently raining) he may have gone hunting. Sure enough, that’s what he had been up too. At 5:30 PM he was seen on the hotel ledge plucking prey and then devouring a good share of it. He flew away with the leftovers, but didn’t bring it to Astrid. We suspect that he stored it and will give it to her in the morning. Or perhaps she will pull it out of the pantry herself. We shall see.

As of tomorrow (April 21st), 16 days of incubation will have been completed, which is approximately the half-way point to hatch day. For the most part the falcons’ changeovers have been quick and seamless. The pair relieved each other about 7 times during the course of the day today. As for the first switch of the morning, Astrid had been calling Ares to come take over for about 20 minutes before he consented to come at 6:15 AM. We weren’t sure what the hold up was and he came with no food tribute. Interestingly, after Astrid left she flew in fairly tight circles just west of the State Building. She may have been looking to see if Ares had stored any food on the ledges on that side of the building. He does tend to treat that particular building like a pantry especially when there are young in the nest. As far as we could tell, Astrid didn’t find take any food and instead only took a perch. At 8:20, during another switch out, Ares did bring a hunk of food (prey wasn’t recognizable). Astrid took it and fed on it over on the State Building. At 1:10 PM Ares tried to take over incubating from Astrid, but she wouldn’t leave the eggs. He gave up and few off to another perch instead.  After the final switch for the day, at around 4:00 PM , Ares ended up on the west face of the State Building and Astrid was, of course, tight on the eggs.