Author: Matt Perry

The Utica Peregrine nestlings took the first day of our Fledge Watch very seriously. Although none of the 3 took the opportunity to actually fly, both Tres and Leda left the box and explored the window ledges on both sides of the box. Negotiating around the pillars between the windows was a bit tricky, but the 2 youngsters soon got the hang of it. Watching this from the ground was nerve-racking for the human observers. As for the parents – Astrid did eventually entice Tres back into the box with a food delivery, while Leda was content to spend the night by herself on one of the window ledges. Leda was fed at her new location. Meanwhile, Indi, our largest female and the first chick to hatch, remained at the box the entire day and never ventured out onto the perches. Who knows what will happen today! If you are in town, please stop in and join the Watch. Bring binoculars and prepare to be nervous!

An interesting transformation has occurred in the nest box over the past several days. The 3 down-covered Peregrine Chicks that we had become so attached to have morphed into immature raptors. If you had skipped the last week of viewing, you might wonder who these 3 rambunctious and fully feathered young falcons are that took over the nest box. Well actually they have names now; the Utica Peregrine Falcon Project has named them Independence (Indi), Leda and Tre (that’s in order of hatching).  As we begin this week, we are anticipating the possibility of our first fledge to take place. It could happen anytime within the next couple of weeks, but each day these birds are looking more and more ready to take their first flight. They have been flapping their wings incessantly and by the looks of their well-developed wing feathers, it might happen sooner than later. In light of this we will be begining our Fledge Watch on this coming Wednesday. On Monday, June 23 at 6:30PM we will have an informational meeting for our Fledge Watch Volunteers. All interested people are encouraged to meet us in the bank’s parking lot at the back of the Adirondack Bank building at that time. We hope to see you there!

We’ve seen a number of interesting changes in behavior with the Peregrine chicks over the last few days. The most remarkable involving our largest one (presumably a female). More than once when the parents brought prey into the box she’s been grabbed it away from them and hauled it off into a corner where she could eat it herself. What a little miser! We’ve also been seeing some gentler behavior between the chicks which involved  beak touching and subtle head gestures. These are actions that mimic what adult birds do when interacting with each other. More and more wing flapping has been taking place every day and it really puts on display the amount of  feather growth that has taken place. These chicks are quickly turning into falcons. Our Fledge Watch is probably going to start in the middle of next week. We still need volunteers so please do register today! The falcons need your help and so do we!

For the last few days we’ve been struggling to see through the fog of whitewash on the main camera. It has almost been like watching the birds in a dream! We hope to be switching to camera 2 as soon as we are able. Some may remember the last time we switched to the backup camera, it was immediately rendered useless by a troublesome feather that adhered to its lens. Now the nemesis feather has shifted somewhat and we’ve been able to get a much clearer view. This camera looks at the nest action from the perspective of the back of the box, so we should be able to see the young as they look outside through the box opening. It should be perfect for fledging time, which is now only a few weeks away. Speaking of which, if you are able to help us with our organized Fledge Watch please register ASAP on this site’s Fledge Watch page. We hope to see you there!

Our 3 little nestlings are not so little any more. In fact they’ve been exhibiting all manner of new behavior this week. They’ve been seen walking upright, feeding themselves (just a little bit) and shock of shocks – hopping up on the ledge. One of them actually did that just today and admittedly caused us some some heart flutter. Certainly their wing and tail feathers have been coming along nicely but they still have a long way to go. I guess that this was a foreshadow of things to come. Speaking of which, we need to set up a fledgling watch for our fine little trio. We’re hoping that there will not be a shortage of volunteers to help us safeguard Utica’s first fledglings on their maiden flight. There will be more information forthcoming on this project. If anyone of you have doubts about participating because you’ve never done this kind of thing before, just remember that none of us have experience doing this either. We’ll all be jumping into the wind just like the falcons.

Meanwhile, I’m sure that everyone has noticed the improvement in our falcon cam view. Sure there’s still some whitewash issues, but the resolution has markedly improved and the field of view has grown. Thanks to John Matthews, Deb Saltis and Steve Bennett for figuring it out. They are the best team anyone could wish for!