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The falcon family got an early start this morning with two feedings between the hours of 3 o’clock and 4 o’clock. Ares brought more prey to the box at 5:30 AM, and then still more an hour later. Following that, Astrid left the chicks alone while she got in some nice flying time. It was relatively warm out and so the chicks could be left alone for longer than usual.  For the most part she seemed to be flying in half-circles around the west face of the State Building and soaring back and forth over Genesee Street. During this time Ares was perched on the north face of the same building. Astrid kept landing on different window ledges in quick succession. It was almost as if she were playing a game. Honestly we weren’t sure what she was up to, but her maneuvers were leisurely and didn’t seem to be indicative of anything amiss. First launching out from the State Building and then from the steeple, she made forays after pigeons but each time returned empty handed. She did seem very intent on getting a Pigeon this morning.  Meanwhile the nestlings in the box had begun calling on and off, but neither parent seemed in a hurry to placate them. Ares finally flew over to the box, but didn’t seem content to remain there. He kept walking over to the perch and then back to the heap of chicks and then back to the perch again. We believe he was distracted by Astrid’s antics. Soon enough Astrid was back at the box and at about 10:10 AM, Ares brought in a small prey item. As usual, Astird conducted the feeding. By noon, neither parent was present at the nest box. Astrid resumed hunting for Pigeons, but again they proved elusive. She had just headed off toward the northwest and the Utica Marsh when a group of five Turkey Vultures entered the airspace above the canyon. She immediately doubled back and warned the intruders off. By 1:30, she had come back to the box and Ares was on watch for prey and intruders. He flew low around the canyon a few times and then landed on a window edge on the Adirondack Bank, just west of the nest box. There he had evidently stored food. He perched there for a little while and plucked the sparrow-sized prey. Afterwards he brought it over to the box. Astrid took it from him on the box’s perch and then went to feed the chicks. And then for some reason, she gave a chatter alarm call. There was nothing we could see in the vicinity and Ares wasn’t acting like there was anything wrong, but perhaps Astrid saw some distant hawk that only a raptor’s eyes could make out. At 4:15, Astrid was giving more “alarm” calls, but these calls were a lighter sort of chatter and instead may have been only an expression of excitement. It turned out that Ares had just caught a Mourning Dove and was busy plucking it on the church steeple. When he was done he flew away with it and presumably stored it. Just then Astrid came to the box with prey, but it wasn’t the dove that Ares had been processing. No, it was an unrecognizable hunk of something. She carried out the feeding and shortly thereafter took leave of the nest for a while. She was seen perched on the State Building while Ares went to spend more quality time with the chicks. It was funny to see him contemplating the writhing heap of cotton that he had been put in charge of. He’s always a little unsure about how to approach the chicks, much less how to get them all tucked beneath him. To be fair, he had never had to deal with four chicks before. Astrid finally did catch her Pigeon and at about 5:45, she was busily plucking it on the high ledge of the hotel. She ended up eating quite a bit of it before returning to the brood and feeding them the sizable chunk that was left. At 7:00 PM, and just when we thought everyone was more than sufficiently stuffed with food and happy, Ares arrived to the nest with the dove that he had cached earlier. Astrid took it and did yet another feeding. If things keep up like this the chicks won’t be able to fit in the box before the week is out!

There were no feedings during the very early morning hours on Saturday. During that time Astrid seemed like she was watching for Ares to appear with food at any minute, but he didn’t come. It’s important to know just how unusual it is for raptors that are not owls to bring in prey during what is essentially the middle of the night. Of course raptors that live in urban areas take advantage of the ambient light created by all the buildings and streetlights. The fact is “true” night doesn’t ever seem to come to downtown and so the falcons are able to exploit that extra time to feed their young. This undoubtedly is one of the reasons urban falcons enjoy greater reproductive success than their wild-nesting counterparts. What we don’t know is how much of the prey that Ares comes up with in the overnight hours represent birds that were caught during the day. Almost certainly the Woodcocks that he is so fond of procuring are captured post sundown. It’s reasonable to conclude that if Ares can be active at night, than so to can be some of his prey species. It was overcast in the early morning  today and it was also a bit warmer than it’s been in recent mornings. Ares finally showed up at the nest box with food at 5:15 AM. Astrid took the food and managed the feeding. She hadn’t even finished giving the chicks their breakfast when Ares showed up again at 5:30 with a second course! During the next 5 minutes Ares came back two more times, presumably with the same prey, but Astrid wouldn’t take it. It was as if he was trying to make up for being a no-show during the early morning hours. Astrid did take the food at 6:20 and fed the nestlings. She conducted yet another feeding about an hour after that one. The latter feeding was interesting since Astrid started to feed, abruptly stopped, left the box and then cane back a minute later and began to feed again. She repeated this three times and we are not sure why. She sometimes behaves this way when loud work is taking place in or around the host building, but that was not the case today. Today we did notice the care that Astrid takes when she walks on or near the chicks. She curls her toes and talons over to the side in a manner not dissimilar to the way Ares takes care to hold his feet during mating – that’s so he doesn’t dig into Astrid’s back. Yet another feeding took place at 9:10. It was almost as if the parents knew the balance of the day was going to be extremely wet and rainy and so they packed as many feedings as possible into the morning. At 11 o’clock Ares arrived at the box, we thought his plan was to take over brooding. However Astrid wasn’t going anywhere. The fact that she tolerated Ares standing in the box next to her for nearly ten minutes was interesting. A little after 12:00, Ares got a chance to be with the brood, but then Astrid came back and relieved him after only ten minutes. At 1:30 PM Ares came in with prey, landed at the box’s outer perch, which is pretty typical. Astrid leaned out from the lip of the box to take the food but somehow they dropped it. Ares immediately dove down after it while Astrid peered straight down toward the sidewalk with her wings completely extended out to the sides. We weren’t sure what happened exactly. Did Ares catch the food while it was still falling or did he scoop it up from the sidewalk or street? These are troubling notions indeed. At any rate, about five minutes after the incident, Ares returned to the box with what we believe was the same food. Astrid took it with no problem this time and conducted a feeding. Rainfall became steadier in the mid-afternoon and Ares was nowhere to be found, at least by our remote camera.  We assumed he was somewhere tucked in and seeking shelter from the rain. At 4:30 Astrid left the box and had been gone for about four minutes when Ares returned to take over brooding. Fifteen minutes later she entered the box with a huge plucked Pigeon. Presumably she caught it and plucked it over on the hotel ledge before hauling it home. All the chicks enjoyed a good long feeding session. After Ares took another short turn in the box during the early evening, Astrid came to the box with the Pigeon leftovers and fed the chicks again. The feeding lasted all of 15 minutes. At 7:15, Ares brought in another meal. Astrid took it and flew away with it while Ares minded the brood. We thought she was just going to store it, but five minutes later she was back and trying to feed the babies again! As it turned out they only took a few bites and toppled over. After that she stowed the food somewhere and came directly back. We expect that there won’t be any more action tonight, but we’ll keep watch just in case.

 

 

Pretty much right after I finished yesterday’s post, our 4^th hatch occurred. The time was 7:38 PM. Astrid had been very tight on the clutch at the time. She lifted up slightly and revealed a broken eggshell and a pink new chick. This was an historic event since in the four years that Astrid and Ares have bred in Utica, they’ve never had more than three chicks hatch. The new chick got its first feeding (along with its siblings) Friday morning at about 2:40. As usual, Ares delivered prey up to the box and Astrid conducted the feeding.  Only an hour later, they repeated the process. The latter feeding session was long and ended at around 4:00 AM. Ares brought more food to the box at 5:00, but that time no one including Astrid even lifted up their heads. Apparently everyone was too full.  He repeated this at 5:36 and received a similar reaction. A half-hour later Ares came yet again, but without food. We think he just wanted to brood the chicks, but Astrid screeched and send him packing. Feedings took place again at 7:07, and at 9:14. Both were carried out by Astrid. During the feedings all four chicks, including the most recent hatchling, appeared to be vying nicely. At about 9:45, Astrid gave an alarm call which scrambled Ares into action. A Bald Eagle soaring high over downtown and heading northwest was probably the cause of Astrid’s anxiety. The stranger continued on its course and there was no incident. At 1:00 PM, Ares was seen on the ledge of the hotel. He was laid out on his belly with his wings spread completely out. Yes, he was sunbathing and possibly trying to burn off some of his mites. Ares got his first turn brooding the four chicks in the early afternoon. It was quite amusing to see him perceive what looked like a heap of cotton wadding in the center of the box. Of course those were the chicks. Fortunately for him the nestlings were well satiated and didn’t beg to him to be fed. For the most part Ares enjoyed only short stays in the box. Another feeding took place at 2:00 – that one lasted 12 minutes. At 2:15 Astrid was giving alarm calls again. This time it was Turkey Vultures that had her riled up. It would seem that the vulture flybys are getting to be a daily occurrence. We expect that Astrid will mellow out about them soon. By 5:00, Astrid was leaving the nest duties to Ares more and getting in some flying and probably some hunting. During this time she mostly stayed in the canyon and within the view of our PTZ camera. At 5:30, she fed the chicks again, but soon after she was out flying around the canyon again. For the most part she was going from the hotel to the State Building and to the Steeple. She finally came back to the box at 7:30 PM and seemed to be in for the night.

 

The action starts early in this town. Ares came screeching up to the box with prey at 3:08 AM. Temperatures were again in the low thirties, so Astrid had her brood huddled up in the back west corner of the box and that’s where she fed them. In the early morning we couldn’t tell if egg # 4 was pipped or not due to its remaining cupped by the half-shell of egg # 3. Utilizing leftovers from the prior feeding, Astird conducted another feeding at 5:36, and this time it was light enough so we could see what was happening. All three of the chicks appeared to be getting fed. The mid-morning was quiet in the canyon, but then Astrid sounded an alarm at 10:40. As far as we could tell, there were just a few Turkey Vultures sailing over and so the emergency was short-lived. At 12:29 PM, Ares brought more food to the box. Astrid took it, looked like she was going to start feeding and then abruptly dove out of the box with the food. Meanwhile one of the chicks became separated from the others (by only about 10 inches). When Astrid returned, for some reason she seemed to concentrate on feeding only that one. Finally, after leaving and coming back yet again, she stretched over and started feeding the other hungry customers. However, they still seemed hungry when she again departed with the leftovers. When she came back, she seemed at a loss on how to gather all the chicks (and the egg) together in one easy to manage brood. After some awkward attempts, she finally managed it, but it wasn’t pretty! Ares finally got a relatively long shift with the brood in the early afternoon. It was warm and sunny for a change, and he spent most of the time shading. Astrid was back in the box at 2:17, and she spent most of her shift shading, looking uncomfortable and regularly jostling the brood. The jostling actually served to free egg # 4 from the cast-off half shell it had been stuck in since Wednesday. That was good news. Ares was with the brood when the old shell fell off and he was seen munching on it. After that we waited for an opportunity to get a look at egg # 4 to see if it was truly pipped. At 5:30 we finally confirmed that the fourth egg really did have a hole in it and we could even detect movement of the chick inside. This means that there will very likely be an unprecedented fourth chick in the nest at some point very soon.  I say unprecedented because we’ve never had more than 3 nestlings in a Utica nest before. By 5:56 PM, the pip had become much bigger and the chick inside seemed to be determined to get out ASAP. As of this writing (7:30 PM), egg # 4 still hadn’t hatched, but we expect it at any time. Ares brought prey to the box at 6:37 and Astrid did another feeding; this time she fed all of the chicks until they were completely satiated and toppled over in a heap of white fluff. As usual, we ask you all to stay tuned!

 

It was another big day for the Utica Peregrine Falcons. The day was off to a cold start with temperatures in the low thirties. Astrid stayed very tight on the two nestlings and remaining eggs all night. Ares brought food to the nest box at 4:00 AM. We couldn’t be sure what species the prey was since it was so dark out, but we think it was a Starling. Astrid took it and began feeding the two chicks. After the chicks had their fill, she took the leftovers out of the box and presumably stored them. At 4:27, Ares brought prey to the box again. We weren’t sure if it was the same food as before, but whatever it was, Astrid took it and attempted another feeding. However the chicks were still satiated from their earlier meal and wouldn’t even put their heads up. During a changing of the guard at around 7:00 we determined that there was a pip on egg # 3.  Twenty minutes later Astrid was back and feeding the chicks again. Meanwhile Ares spent quite a while perching on a sunny spot on the upper ledge of the hotel. Another feeding took place at 10:38. After that it was clear that the two chicks had full crops. At 11:49, the “pipped” egg looked more like it had been sawed in two. Obviously a hatch was imminent. At 12:21 PM, Astrid shifted just enough for us to see that the third egg had hatched. A pinkish new chick was just visible and Astrid was eating some of the eggshell.  At 1:58, After Astrid left the box to escort some Turkey Vultures out of the territory, we got a look at egg # 4 and we were fairly confident it showed a pip. A little later on the small hole seemed to develop into a large crack and the egg looked like it was about to burst open at any minute. Later on, better views of egg # 4 revealed that it had in fact become cupped inside the half-shell of egg # 3. This meant that were not about to experience another hatch in short order. It’s still possible that egg # 4 is pipped, but so far we haven’t gotten a good enough look to tell for sure, at least not yet. At 5:30 PM Ares brought more food to the box, Astrid took it and then quickly flew off with it. Ares brooded the clutch until Astrid returned a few minutes later to do a feeding. This time all three young were fed. As I finish this update, Astrid is in the nest with the young and the remaining egg. Ares is standing guard on the State Building. It’s clear that after yesterday’s rather rough start, A & A are very much back in the swing of things and they are once again ready for prime time. If there are any more interesting developments this evening I will be sure to write a quick update.