Author: Matt Perry

Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Wednesday, June 14^th, 2023

It was cool and rainy overnight with temperatures in the 50s. Rain continued through the day. The high temperature was in the low 60’s. Astrid was around the box area for much of the night. She was on the east veranda for a while and then moved to an east ledge, and then she was out of view. Ares was on the State Building late last night but then out of view in the predawn hours. Astrid came to the long perch at 4:42 AM. Predictably, that got the nestlings up and active. Astrid tried to go into the box, most likely to look for food scraps, but the nestlings were too excited to let her pass. At 5:22 Ares brought prey to the nest. Astrid took it but promptly lost it to Niles. Niles took the food to the back corner of the box. Ares went to an east ledge and Astrid was on the crossperch contemplating how to recover the food. At 5:38 Amelia got a turn feeding in the back of the box. At 5:42 she was on the lip of the box eyeing the east veranda. At 5:51 Niles was flapping his wings inside the box. A few minutes later he was up on the lip of the box. He did some flapping while there much to our consternation. At 6:15 Niles had come back onto the floor of the box and was trying to bring up a pellet. At 6:48 Niles got back up onto the lip of the box followed by Amelia. They were both up and down from the lip several times in the subsequent thirty minutes. At 7:18 Amelia went over to the west veranda! Ten minutes later, Niles crossed over to the veranda as well!! Of course, this move wasn’t so surprising with Amelia given her stage of development. Her flight feathers are all in and she has very little downy white plumage left. However, we have never had a nestling that looks like Niles, with all his fluffy white down, go onto a veranda. The two of them seemed to be having a great time, interacting, flapping their wings, exploring, and napping. As it happened they would remain there for the balance of the day. At 8:25 there was a food drop, we did not see it but suddenly Niles had food at the back of the veranda. It didn’t look very large and was probably just scraps. At 10:25 Ares was on his pillar perch to the east of the nest and Astrid was on the State Building. It was still raining. Astrid flew over to the roof of the nestbox at 10:34. Ten minutes later she came to the crossperch. The nestlings became excited, but they did not try to scramble back into the box. At 11:46 Ares brought food to the far edge of the west veranda. Astrid flew over to take it and immediately lost it to Niles. Niles brought the food to the back of the veranda. He then spent some time picking at it. Poor Amelia was missing out once again. At 11:50 Astrid went into the nestbox with leftovers of the white Pigeon she caught the day before. She ate some and then brought what was left to the west veranda. The nestlings were very excited. First, she fed Niles and then Amelia joined in and got a share.

At 12:22 PM Ares was back on his pillar. Astrid was on a pillar as well – one located to the west of the box. The nestlings were quiet and resting in the rain on the west veranda. In light of new evidence, we now think that Amelia is a male falcon. The camera that points at the veranda is not a fisheye and does not distort falcon sizes, and we could clearly see that Amelia (or “Amelio?”) is about the same size as Niles and clearly smaller than Astrid. At 1:47 Amelio was flapping his wings but by 2:18 both nestlings were napping. A minutes later they sprung back into action. At 2:20, probably Ares did a food drop. We missed seeing it but Astrid was feeding Amelio with whatever it was. At 2:32 it was raining again and the nestlings were flapping and horsing around. Being in the rain and the wind has accelerated the loss of Nile’s white down feathers, but he still has more than he should for a veranda bird. At 5:53 Ares was on the steeple and Astrid was on the State Building. The nestlings were active flapping and moving around on the veranda. At 5:55 Astrid came to the long perch. It was raining once again. At 6:32 PM Ares brought prey to the far edge of the west veranda. Astrid flew over and grabbed it but immediately lost it to Amelio. He picked at it for a while and then walked away from it. At 6:40 he went back into the nestbox, seemingly with little trouble – just a few flaps of the wings for balance and he was in. By then the rain was accompanied by some thunder and lightning. Niles was in the middle of the west veranda platform and didn’t seem to be in a hurry to go inside. By 7:00 PM he had moved to the near edge of the veranda platform. He was close to coming into the box but seemed content to stay where he was. By this time Astrid was on the steeple and Ares was on the State Building. An hour later Niles was on the edge of the veranda right near the box. He was facing in and nestled against the base of a pillar. Perhaps he wouldn’t be coming back in tonight. We shall see if he changes his mind later on. Goodnight all.

Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Tuesday, June 13^th, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MrIImdzgIg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llCsw1pVRQM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbYPkY8Jr78

It rained off and on last night. The temperature was in the 50s. The day was partly cloudy with high temperatures in the mid 60s. Astrid and Ares were visible for part of the night, Ares on the State Building and Astrid on the east veranda. She left the veranda at 2:42 AM. Before she left she flapped her wings in the rain and had a shower. The nestlings became active at around 4:25 AM. At 5:32 we heard Ares call. Both nestlings responded with their own squealing vocalizations. At 5:41 Niles was doing some serious wing flapping. Ten minutes later he surprised us by hopping up onto the lip of the box and staying there. He came back down at 6:00  but then was back up on the lip only moments later. His curiosity was extreme. He was looking all around at the canyon and looking straight down towards the street. At one point it seemed like he was interested in the West Veranda and we were wondering if he was going to try to make it over there. Luckily, he did not. He is not mature enough. His flight feathers are still growing out and he obviously still has a lot of white down in his plumage. We had to strain our brains to think if we ever had a nestling with so much down plumage act so adventurous. Ares arrived on the East Veranda with prey at 7:00. He brought it to the lip of the box where it was promptly grabbed by Amelia. She took it to the back of the box but didn’t seem to know what to do with it. Astrid arrived moments later. It seemed for a moment like she was going to try to recover it but Niles charged her and she left. Ten minutes later Niles was feeding on it in the corner. Amelia had her turn five minutes later. Niles then moved up onto the lip of the box again. By that point Astrid was on the steeple. At 7:30 Ares came to the crossperch. He moved back and forth between the West Veranda and the crossperch a few times. It seemed like he was showing the nestlings where the veranda was. We’ve seen the falcon parents do this kind of thing before. Not to be left out, at 8:00 Amelia started bobbing her head while she was looking out into the canyon. Sometimes that’s a sign that a nestling is about to fledge. At least she looks the part now that she’s lost most of her white down. At 8:20 Ares brought food to the east veranda. Astrid took it, flew away, came back, and started a feeding. Miraculously, the food wasn’t grabbed away by either of the nestlings. She started out by feeding Niles, but Amelia got a turn as well. We couldn’t see what the prey was but obviously it was something sizable, perhaps a Mourning Dove. Astrid finished it after the young both turned away. Astrid left the box at 8:41. At 8:53 Ares made a number of stops on various perches and verandas. Was he encouraging the nestlings to be more active outside of the nest? Astrid was on the steeple at that point. At 8:55 Amelia got up onto the lip of the box. She didn’t stay there for too long. At 9:20 Astrid was on the roof of the nest box giving cackle calls. Eight minutes later she flew into the canyon, cackling as she went. When someone went up on the roof of the bank to do some maintenance both Astrid and Ares carried out some hazing. Thankfully, the work didn’t take very long and the falcons got over it quickly. Astrid was soon back up on the roof of the nest box watching the office window. At 6:56 Amelia was up on the lip of the box looking out into the canyon. She began bobbing her head at one point which was worrisome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNUWtzK065U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlhYfn31NGs

At 12:22 PM Ares brought prey to the nest. Astrid took it but then immediately lost it to Amelia. Astrid grabbed it back and then Niles stole it. He took it to the corner. Astrid left after that. At 12:52 Amelia was in the corner eating scraps and both parents were on the State Office Building. Less than an hour later the nestlings were sprawled out in the nest resting. At 2:00 they had another spurt of activity – dashing around the nest and exercising. Amelia began picking at scraps. At 2:37 Amelia let out a loud cackle call. At 3:19 Astrid came to the nest with most of a Pigeon. She then proceeded to feed it out to the nestlings. She started by serving Niles, but Amelia eventually joined in. They fed until they were not hungry anymore and walked away. Astrid left the nest at 3:37. Amelia did some wing flapping after her mother left. At 3:43 the nestlings beaked and then they squabbled. A parent visited the box at 4:48 and that got the chicks all excited again.  At 5:04 Ares was on the east veranda. At one point he started hanging his wings a bit as if he was shading. Of course, there was nobody and nothing to shade on the veranda. At 6:57 PM Amelia was up on the lip of the nest box. She bobbed her head at one point, and we wondered if she was going to attempt to fledge. Thankfully, she went back into the box instead. The nestlings were crashed out on the floor of the box for a while, but at 8:11 they were up and looking out into the canyon. Astrid was on the east veranda by then and Ares was on the State Building. It looks like we might be starting official fledgewatch a little sooner than we thought. We will keep everyone informed. Goodnight all.

Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Monday, June 12^th, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB7UrIq3d5M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TQDjYGgxaE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8SXmEFQej4

It was warm overnight with temperatures around 60 degrees. The sky was overcast through the morning with a high of 73 degrees. Later in the afternoon it was close to 80 degrees. Rain came before evening and the temperature dropped into the 60’s. Astrid was in the vicinity of the nest for most of the night. Ares was visible on the State Office Building until at least late evening. There were no overnight feedings. When Astrid left the east veranda at 4:45 AM the nestlings became very active. At 5:18 Ares screeched in with prey. He brought it to the lip of the box and Niles grabbed it at super sonic speed and took it to the corner. When Astrid arrived on the perch, she was quickly resigned to not doing a feeding. The nestlings were screeching and very excited. Amelia had gotten the food away from Niles but was only footing it and not eating it. At 5:31 Astrid was back. She made another try to recover the food and was successful. She then proceeded to do a feeding. She concentrated on feeding Amelia while Niles picked at some scraps in the corner. A couple of minutes later, Astrid was feeding Niles. At 5:56 Astrid was on the office perch (Deb’s perch) located on a window ledge west of the nest area. We think she landed there to show the nestlings a possible future destination. At 5:58 Ares came to the nest with food. Astrid took it and started a feeding. She began by feeding Amelia. At 6:35 Astrid went up to the roof of the nestbox. She was anticipating people being in offices. At 7:39 Astrid made another short visit to the crossperch and got the nestlings squealing. She came back five minutes later. At 8:17 AM Niles was doing a lot of squealing. He could see Ares on the east veranda. At 9:34 Ares brought prey to the east veranda. Astrid took it, flew away, came back, and immediately lost it to Niles who, once again, grabbed it away at light speed. Niles nibbled away at it in the corner. Ares was then heard giving long calls from somewhere. At 10:00 we heard Ares giving long calls once again. The nestlings were screeching in response. At 10:19 Astrid arrived at the nest. Something made her mad and she cackled before flying out again. At 10:29 Ares was on his pillar perch and Astrid was back on the roof of the nestbox. An hour later Astrid visited the east veranda. Predictably, the nestlings went wild and started squealing. At 11:40 Amelia was doing a lot of wing flapping. She has lost a considerable amount of her white down and is looking more like a fledgling every day. Niles also lost a lot of down but is still – developmentally a few days behind Amelia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPILNJ0Bs1o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiyeciNrFqg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlZc1_P1Ua8

At 12:48 PM Ares brought food to the nest. Astrid took it intending to do a feeding but Niles grabbed it and brought it to the corner. Astrid didn’t try to recover it. Niles picked away at it in the corner and then Amelia had a go at it. At 1:20 Astrid came to the nest, picked up scraps and started feeding it out to the nestlings. Ares spent quite a while on his pillar in the afternoon. He was still there at 2:15 PM. At 3:23 he was on the east veranda. At 3:50 Astrid came to the box for a chick check. After that she perched on a light pole on the roof of the bank building. It was the second time in recent days she has perched up there. She appeared to be in hunting mode. At 4:17 Ares brought prey to the nest. Astrid got it before it was stolen this time and began a feeding. Amelia was first up to be fed. After the meal Amelia got some good wing exercising in. At 5:04 Ares was on Deb’s Perch to the west of the nest area. It was the first time we have seen him perch there in quite a while. We think the parents may be showing the nestlings different perching places they can use post fledging. At 6:23 Astrid came to the crossperch and that got the nestlings melting down. They both engaged in a flapping-fest after she left. At 7:50 Ares brought prey to the box. Astrid met him there, took it, hopped into the box, and lost it to Niles. He absconded with it to the corner and Astrid left. By 9:00 PM Astrid was on the east veranda, the nestlings had settled down and Ares was on the State Building. Goodnight falcons.

Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Sunday, June 11^th, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1bTcHdSJj0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JSQSI_2Gv8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWpRYAMY96w

It was relatively warm overnight with temperatures in the 50’s. The day was warm with highs in the low 80’s. Astrid spent the night on the east veranda. Ares was on the State Building in the evening but left sometime in the predawn hours. There were no overnight feedings. At 5:15 AM Astrid came to the box and the nestlings became highly excited and vocal. Ares appeared on the steeple at around the same time. Astrid had prey on the hotel moments later. At 5:22 she brought it to the box. Amelia was first in line to be fed. Six minutes later Amelia moved off and Niles got a turn. At 5:31 both nestlings stopped eating and so Astrid started polishing off what was left. After Astrid left, Niles did some serious wing flapping. Meanwhile Ares was on the hotel looking for food scraps left over from Astrid’s prey processing. At 5:50 Astrid was on the east veranda. At 6:16 Ares brought prey to the box. Astrid took it and mostly fed Niles. A few minutes later she left with the food. At 6:49 Astrid was on the east veranda and Ares was on his favorite pillar perch. At 7:18 Ares gave some long calls and Astrid, some interactive calls, but they were still on their perches. At 7:28 Astrid flew up to the roof of the nestbox. She had moved over to the State Building at 8:50. At 9:24 Astrid flew back to the east veranda and the nestlings went wild. Amelia was picking at food scraps in the back corner of the nestbox. Astrid then hopped up to the top of the box. Amelia started flapping her wings and Niles looked at her sideways and upside down. Amelia then let out a loud cackle call. The nestlings did some beaking after that. At 9:38 we heard the parents giving chirping type alarm calls. That meant a Peregrine intruder was in the canyon. Both parents were out of view for about fifteen minutes. Presumably they were dealing with the intruder. At 10:00 the nestling began squealing which likely meant they could see one or both of the parents returning. At 10:09 we saw there was one on the State Building. At 10:37 Astrid plunked back down on the roof of the nestbox. We heard Ares screech to a landing on the State Building at 10:45. Ten minutes later he was plucking prey on a window ledge west of the nest. At 10:57 Ares brought prey to the nest. Astrid met him there but was too late to take it. Niles grabbed it from Ares and took it to the back of the box. Both nestlings tried to feed from it for a while. At 11:09 Ares was back on his pillar and Astrid was on the State Building. At 11:21 Astrid came to the nest, plunged to the back of the box and recovered the stolen food and then proceeded to serve it out to Amelia. At 11:33 the meal was over and Astrid left the nest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Asw8kAsBZiQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp8p22A9z-8

At 11:55 AM Ares arrived at the nest with food. Amelia rushed him. Ares held onto the food this time and started plucking it against the lip of the box. Neither nestling got in line to be fed – they just stood and screeched. Ares started giving little call notes. He moved to the center of the box and Niles pushed past Amelia to get served. Ares then proceeded to do a feeding. First Niles was getting every bite, but then Ares positioned himself between the nestlings and then Amelia got a few bites too. Interestingly Astrid was on the State Building during the entire meal and didn’t not feel compelled to fly in and take over. At 12:03 PM Ares went out onto the crossperch. The meal was over and he had done a very good job. At 12:07 Amelia was putting on a one nestling flap-fest. Niles watched her with great interest, cockling his head one way and then the other like a perplexed dog. We noticed that the nestlings’ plumage, with is blotchy salt & pepper appearance – a study in browns, whites, tans, and grays, is a near perfect match for the feather strewn floor of the nestbox. The afternoon was fairly hot in the box and the nestlings looked uncomfortable some of the time. Long gone were the days of shading. At 2:00 Ares made an appearance on the east veranda and the nestlings became highly excited. It was possible that Ares brought food and they stole it from him, but we couldn’t confirm it. It does seem like they always have something squirreled away in the back corner of the box these days. Both parents were out of camera view between 3:10 and 3:40. Astrid finally visited the nestbox at 5:00 PM. She kept trying to recover some food from the back corner of the box but the nestlings were blocking her. Fifteen minutes later, she managed it and started a feeding. She fed Amelia first and then Niles. Astrid turned her body to block Niles so she could feed Amelia. At 6:07 Ares showed up on his pillar perch. It was the first time we had him in view for about four hours. At 6:44 Ares was up on his lookout post – in hunting mode. At 6:56 Astrid was at the nest. She plucked some prey from the back of the box and started a feeding. The meal was over after six minutes and Astrid was out. At 7:10 the nestlings were engaging in some intense wing flapping. At 7:41 Ares brought prey to the nest. Amelia tugged it away from him and took it to the back corner of the box. Astrid showed up and, after a few valiant attempts at recovery, she managed to grab the food and start a feeding. The nestlings were fairly well behaved during the feeding session. This was probably the last feeding of the night, Goodnight all.

Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Saturday, June 10^th, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLQcuMsRV0Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3v8MINGiK8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmixzte3Ofo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSxIS2SEu_A

It was cool again overnight. It was also foggy, so foggy that we could not see the state office building with our PTZ cameras. The day was partly cloudy with a high temperature of 73 degrees. It was quite breezy. Astrid spent the night close to the nestbox on the east veranda. There were no overnight feedings At 7:19 we heard Ares screech by the box. That got the nestlings up and vocalizing. Five minutes later Astrid was up. Ares had landed on top of a pillar to the west of the nest box. When Astrid came to the crossperch at 5:39 the nestlings went completely bonkers. They were obviously quite hungry. She left a few minutes later and then Ares came for a chick check. When Astrid came to the crossperch Ares flew out. Astrid then hopped into the box and rummaged around for lost food. When she found something, she began feeding it out to Niles. Amelia came over and tried to get some, but the meal didn’t last and Astrid headed out onto the crossperch. We speculated on how well Ares’ pantry was being stocked this year. Without visually inspecting it we couldn’t know for sure but we suspect that it was not overflowing. At 6:20 we heard Ares screech from someplace close. Astrid came to the crossperch briefly and then flew over to the steeple. At 6:32 Astrid came to the nest with food. Niles grabbed it and took it to the corner. Astrid then had a tugging match with Amelia. Astrid prevailed and she proceeded to do a feeding. Both nestlings fed ravenously. At 6:39 Ares was up on the lookout post. It was still very foggy in the canyon. At 6:49 Niles was working on some food scraps in the corner of the box. Both of them did some wing flapping. At 7:07 Ares brought prey to the crossperch. Astrid took it and did a feeding. Niles was first in line to be fed but Amelia did get some. At 8:40 Astrid did a quick stop at the box. Ares had screeched by moments before and she may have thought that he had brought food to the box. He hadn’t. At 9:24 both nestlings were squealing. They were likely reacting to something they saw a parent doing. At 9:37 we noticed that Ares was on the bank roof perched on a light pole near PTZ two. Astrid was up on the roof of the nestbox. She was eyeing the office window. It’s Saturday, Astrid, Nobody is going to be in there. At 11:10 Astrid left her perch on the steeple and darted over towards the hotel. Ares had been on the State Building, but he followed after her. Astrid banked and headed south – flying relatively low. We think she was trying to stir up the local Pigeons. After that the pair circled high over the canyon – Ares circling above Astrid; both drifting eastward. Five minutes later Astrid dove back and landed on the State Building. At 11:49 she flew over to the crossperch and got the nestlings screaming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkXoJkNU5VM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJfGolWhwDw

At 12:03 PM Ares did a dramatic dive after some unseen prey. He soon came back with nothing in his talons and landed on the steeple. Astrid circled the Adirondack Bank building, once again, trying to up some Pigeons. A minute later she went to a window ledge on the State Building, picked up some stored prey and brought it to the nestbox. A feeding session followed. Ten minutes later the meal was done and Astrid was out. At 12:59 Ares visted the nest for a quick chick check. The nestlings squealed and then did some wing flapping. A few minutes later they seemed to be feeding on something in the back corner of the box. At 1:21 Ares brought a Starling to the nest. Astrid took it and started a feeding. Niles was first up to be fed. At 3:40 Ares brought food to the box. This time Amelia was the one that grabbed it away and took it to the corner. At 3:50 Ares was back to check on the nestlings. They responded by squealing in his face. They both took turns flapping their wings after he left. Ten minutes later Niles was trying to feed on the stolen meal in corner of the box. Five minutes later Amelia was the one working on the scraps in the corner and Niles was laying down with his bill resting on the lip of the box. He was looking out into the canyon. At 5:50 Astrid came to the box. She obviously knew there was food in one of the corners and was trying to get to it but was being blocked by the nestlings. She finally grabbed it and immediately lost it to Niles. She then found another scrap on the floor and started feeding that to Amelia. That didn’t last long, and she started to leave. Niles had moved away from his stolen food and Astrid Took the opportunity to hop over and grab it. She then started to feed Niles. She left at 5:55. Amelia didn’t get any of that meal. At 6:01 Amelia backed up to and then stepped up on the lip of the box to defecate. We’ve seen nestlings do this before over the years and it always makes us nervous. At 6:24 Astrid arrived at the box with food – we think a Pigeon. She then proceeded with a feeding. Amelia was at the front of the line this time. The feeding went on for eighteen minutes. Both nestlings certainly had their fill. Ares arrived on the east veranda during that meal. He had prey in his talons, but realized it wasn’t needed and flew off presumably to store it.  At 7:08 the nestlings were sacked out on the floor of the nest. The parents were out of our view for a while. At 7:48 Ares brought prey to the nest. Astrid appeared out of nowhere, grabbed the food and started a feeding. Amelia was first up this time. The meal was over at 7:54. Astrid left the nest and nestling became restless. Amelia did some serious wing flapping. At 8:12 Astrid was on a light pole on the roof of the bank building – an uncommon place for her to perch. She moved to the east veranda at 8:40 PM. Ares was on the State Building and the nestlings were sacked out in the box. The action was likely over for the night. Goodnight all.