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Astrid spent nearly all of last night on the nest box perch – 11:00 pm through 4:20 AM. Not unlike when they switch out during incubation, Ares came into the box and relieved Astrid at the end of her vigil. Just to be clear – there is still no egg on the nest scrape. There were at least nine matings today – four of which took place on the steeple. Astrid was quite sedentary again today, that is except for when she had to deal with an intruder. Presumably this was the same adult Peregrine that came through the canyon yesterday. We think that Astrid escorted the stranger out of the territory, or at least that’s what it looked like. Upon Astrid’s return, the pair shared a long ledge display at the nest box. That was one of two ledge displays that took place today. In the early morning Astrid was seen feeding on something on the Hotel ledge, but no one reported seeing more than one food transfer today. Judging by her behavior, we remain confident that the first egg of the season will be laid sometime in the next couple of days, but of course, that’s up to Astrid.

We will be down one of our main observers for the next few days. If anyone out there is able to view the video feed and report what they see, it would be greatly appreciated.

Astrid was much more sedentary today even though she largely shunned the nest box. We recognize this behavior from previous seasons and we believe she is getting closer to laying her first egg.  On the other hand, Ares visited the box dozens of times today and at the same time he managed to keep close track of his mate. Today he gave her at least two food tributes – one was a starling and the other a bat. (Where the bat came from on this chilly March day is anyone’s guess). Astrid ended up having a big dinner on the ledge of the hotel. She was feeding on a Woodcock – possibly the one that had been caught and stored yesterday. Although we didn’t manage to get a video of the event apparently Ares did some beak to beak interacting with his reflection in one of the nest cameras. He’s done that before, but not in a while. The pair mated at least 7 times today – about half of those took place at the nest box. We expect to make an announcement within the next couple of days regarding the first Peregrine egg laid this season, so stay tuned!

The Saint Patrick’s Day Parade took place in Utica this morning and the Peregrines had box seats – well, at east Astrid did. She stayed out on the perch and put up with the rain for the entire parade, which started at around 10 o’clock and lasted close to 90 minutes. Astrid did seem to give the event her full attention. She may have liked the bagpipes. Ares joined her at the box during the last half hour. They mated on the nest box perch when the parade was just about finished. The pair mated at least two other times today. As far as we know the pair took part in two ledge displays – one in the pre-dawn hour and one in the early evening. Ares brought food to Astrid at least once – the prey was an American Woodcock and she refused to take it. Although Astrid moved from perch to perch several times today, she seems to be lingering at each stop for long periods. We believe that she may be getting close to her egg laying time.

Despite today’s strong winds, sleet, snow and rain, the Utica falcons were surprisingly active. They mated no less than eleven times, not including two aborted attempts. There were no ledge displays seen today but Ares brought food tributes to Astrid at least two times. She fed heartily on one of the meals and ended up with a very full crop. The falcons became upset over what may have been an unidentified raptor flying over the canyon. They called, swooped around a few times and then continued with their normal activities. Again today the falcon pair took turns sitting in the nest box. The coverage they provided was near complete. We are getting very close to the traditional egg-laying time for these birds. In fact we may only be days away from our first of the season falcon egg!