News, video, and more about Utica's Peregrine Falcons
Sunday, February 1 – 10:53 Am – Astrid is spotted sitting on a windowsill on the East side of the Adirondack Bank building and Ares is happily perched on the state building.
Wednesday, February 4 – 7:05 AM – Ares comes to the box and stays on the edge for a long visit. Astrid arrives at 7:42 but only stays on the edge for a couple of minutes. She did not join Ares in the box – he hopped into the box just before her arrival and was calling to her.
We are starting to see the beginnings of mating rituals! Here are some brief notes of our Peregrines activities:
Wednesday, January 21 – 11:46 AM – Astrid and Ares both come into the nest box and move around each other while bowing and chirping in what Matt has deemed a “dance”. This is typical mated Peregrine behavior.
Thursday, January 22 – 10:45 AM – Ares arrives at the box. He moves some stones around and “calls” to Astrid. Unfortunately she did not join him this time.
Monday, January 26 – 8:44 AM – Astrid comes to the perch of the nest box. Typical for Astrid, her visit is a short one.
Monday, January 26 – 9:47 AM – Ares comes to the perch but only stays for about 4 minutes. He left with a quick downward dive – presumably going after some prey.
Monday, January 26 – 12:16 PM – Ares comes back to the perch for a bit.
Tuesday, January 27 – 8:35 AM – Ares comes to the edge of the box.
Wednesday, January 28 – 10:32 AM – Ares visits the box for about 2 minutes.
Wednesday, January 28 – 3:36 PM – One of the falcons comes to the box – unidentified.
Astrid and Ares visited the nest box twice on Monday. They spent a few minutes together inside the box in typical behavior that has become known as “a dance” amongst our team.
Astrid actually spent most of the afternoon on the perch. Ares came back for a second visit and I was able to catch this shot of the two of them on the perches. Ares attempted to impress Astrid with his flying skills even though it was still snowing and blowing out side! This is part of their mating ritual and we are happy to see that they are displaying the expected behavior already.
A month after fledgling and our 3 young Peregrine Falcons continue to been seen in their Urban Canyon. A few of our falcon watchers have continued visiting Downtown to witness the aerial feats of these now accomplished fliers. Although a least one of the youngsters has been seen in a practice dive (called a stoop), we have not been able to confirm that any one of the 3 has captured prey for themselves. The way they continue to beg and harass their parents seems to indicate that they still rely on them for food, but no doubt that is soon to change. Meanwhile individuals continue to visit the nestbox at unpredictable intervals. Yesterday Leda made 2 visits. It was evident that she had been eating well lately since her throat was bulging (in other words, she had a full crop).
Three weeks after fledging, the young Utica Peregrine Falcons are all still together and doing fine. Weeks of chasing each other and sparring is preparing them well for their future life of hunting and protecting territory. Certainly their flying abilities have improved markedly – so much so that the falcon watchers need not cringe when one of them comes in for a tricky landing. None of the family including the parents are tied to the nest box anymore, but once in a while one of them will pay a visit to the old homestead. Currently the young are spending the majority of their time in the artificial “canyon” that constitutes the small Downtown area. Their favorite buildings are the State Office Building and Hotel Utica, and the young birds do most of their chasing and other aerial stunts around these places. The parents are becoming more elusive of late. Probably hunting farther afield in order to keep up with the growing appetites of demanding young. In fact the begging screeches of the young falcons have become a common part of the Downtown sound-scape. Soon enough though the younsteers will be expected to hunt up their own grub. I expect that Ares may be counting the days until that comes to pass!
