News, video, and more about Utica's Peregrine Falcons
After fledging successfully from the nestbox at 5:48 Monday morning, Orion was observed making a some excellent flights and landings. However, at approximately 7:50 AM, she struck a window of the State Office Building and was killed instantly. Herbody was recovered by DEC personnel. If more details of the incident are discovered they will be relayed at a future time.
On Sunday, Orion remained in the immediate vicinity of the nestbox. She did a lot of calling and some exercising. She was also well fed. Astrid continues to reject her, but made about 75 % fewer dives on her than she did the day before. We’ll take that as progress. It was only too clear on Sunday that Orion’s father and brothers are all squarely on her side. More than once, Ares brought food to Orion, including one remarkable incursion made in the midst of one of Astrid’s swooping raids. Even more remarkably, more than once, Comet flew to Orion’s defense by challenging his mother and even chasing her off. It was fledgling solidarity day in the canyon and it was something to see! Definitely Comet was in rare form on Sunday. The fledge watch volunteers got to see him make a kill. It was large prey too. By the description, I believe it was a pigeon! Comet flew laboriously with it over to the State Building, where with great effort he managed to pull it up over the ledge. This is an amazing feat for any fledgling of his age, but especially for Comet who seemed so slow to take to flying. We’re not sure what to expect from our falcon family on Monday. Lately every day has been filled with surprises. It seems certain that Orion will try to fledge very soon and when she does we are uncertain what Astrid’s reaction will be. Possibly she will attack or at least try to drive Orion into potentially dangerous situations. Will the males falcons be on hand to play interference for Orion? We don’t know. Fledge watch volunteers are needed more than ever for this next phase. It’s quite a show, folks.
This just in: As of 6:00 Monday morning, Orion has fledged!!! She took a nice flight around the Canyon and landed on the roof of the Adirondack Bank Building. Comet is there with her. Importantly: Astrid did not interfere with Orion’s flight.
After being absent from the Downtown breeding site for just over a week, Saturday morning, Orion, the youngest of this season’s brood, was brought back and released at the nestbox. Things didn’t go smoothly. Putting Orion in through the back of the nestbox worked like a charm, but Astrid, who was already quite perturbed for some unknown reason, went ballistic. She dove at the box again and again, which served to get the entire family (minus Orion) agitated and flying in tight circles around the bank building. So it was a swooping swarm of frenzied raptors that greeting Orion’s return. Astrid’s alarm chatter was nearly incessant and it put everyone’s nerves on edge – birds and falcon watchers alike. Orion spent her first hour home backed up into the box and ducking each time Astrid swooped close. By an hour later the parents, Comet and Skye, were all back on the State Office Building and some semblance of peace and quiet returned to the canyon. Later on Ares landed on the nest box and got a close look at his daughter. He couldn’t stay long, but he was obviously not looking at her like an intruder. After that, Comet and Skye returned to the box together. This was the first time all 3 siblings had been together since Comet inadvertently fledged about 11 days before. The three birds seemed fine together and spent over an hour loafing on the box’s perches and side verandas. Soon Orion was causal enough to preen and practice flapping. She even started hopping up onto the roof of the nestbox. Later on in the day after a successful midair food exchange from Ares to Comet, Comet brought the prey over to the nest box and Orion grabbed it. Was that an intended feeding? Unfortunately as the day wore on, Astrid didn’t lighten up at all. She resumed diving at Orion in a manner consistent with an attempt to drive away an intruder. Time will tell if Astrid will change her behavior toward Orion. In the end, the acceptance shown by the other members of the family will mean little if she continues to reject her. If the rejection continues the chances of a mishap will increase and the need to have Fledge Watch volunteers on hand will be greater.
It’s getting increasingly difficult to keep up with the young Peregrine Falcons as they explore their domain and become more adept at flying. On Wednesday, for the first time after leaving the nestbox, both Skye and Comet made a brief return to the old homestead. They didn’t stay long though – there’s just too much else to do. On Wednesday morning they discovered Hotel Utica and its accommodating wide ledges. Their parents have been trying to lure them over there for some time, usually using food as the incentive. After harassing their parents for a while both fledglings seemed to disappear on the east ledge of the hotel. Only after getting a higher perspective were we able to determine that they were still there, just fully sprawled out and apparently sleeping. Talk about being comfortable in new surroundings! The flight skills of both youngsters are improving with each day. On Thursday they engaged in some impressive sparring matches – including one that let them as high as 800 feet and lasted nearly 10 minutes. Despite Comet’s initial reluctance to fly, he has now caught up to Skye in terms of skill and endurance. In fact it’s become difficult to tell the two of them apart, whether in flight or perched.
Orion is progressing well at the Wildlife Rehabilitator’s facility. We will be releasing her back into the Downtown canyon on Saturday.
The high winds that blew through the Downtown canyon on Monday were exploited to the fullest by the falcon family. Astrid and Ares put on an amazing show for the benefit of their young pupils. They dove, swooped, rolled, hovered and executed some maneuvers that words can’t do justice to. A few times they flew in with prey and tried to entice the fledglings to follow them, which admittedly didn’t work too well. Both Comet and Skye seemed to prefer the days when their meals were given to them with no expectations of work. Despite that both fledglings did quite a bit of flying today and they made some great strides. They performed a variety of flight maneuvers and, importantly, got in a lot of practice using their landing gear. Twice, Skye followed his mother as she ascended to high altitudes. Comet circumnavigated the greater downtown canyon, soared back and pulled off a perfect landing on a narrow window ledge of the State Office Building. The fledglings also soared together and did some mid-air sparring. Skye displaced Ares from his perch at least 3 times and Astrid at least once. That was his not-to-subtle way of saying that he was hungry. Today we noticed that the parents have a well stocked pantry. There were 4 birds being stored on high window ledges of the State Building. Interestingly, all of this prey was stored in an identical way – tail out.
Since they rediscovered each other a few days ago, Skye and Comet have been keeping close company – often sharing the same ledge perch. Their sister, Orion is set to return to the canyon at the end of the week. In captivity she has been able to practice flying and landing in a large flight cage; this means she shouldn’t be too far behind the others in acquiring skills. We have every expectation that she will be readily accepted back into the family, just as Tres was last year.
