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The overnight was cool with temperatures in the low forties. The day was sunny and breezy with high temperatures in the low 70’s. Astrid was on the long perch for part of the overnight and then she was out of view for quite a while. At 1:36 AM Ares came to the nest with a small item. He started tearing into it while on the lip of the box. When Astrid didn’t show up, he hopped into the nest and tried to interest the chicks in taking it from him. The whole time he seemed overly conscious of the fact that Astrid might come in at any second and take over. He ripped off a piece and fed it to one of the chicks and then he dropped the food and left. At 5:01 Ares brought more prey to the nest. Astrid took it and did a feeding. Initially Kara was the only one eating. Percy held back and waited patiently for his turn. Several minutes into the meal he finally started vying and was able to get a few bites. At 5:23, after the meal was over, the chicks did some wing flapping and lots of moving around in the box. They were flapping so much at one point that their cast-off white down feathers were billowing out of the box. At 7:07 Ares brought a small prey item to the nest. Astrid commandeered it and handled the feeding. This time she started out by only feeding Percy. By 7:14 Astrid was done with the feeding. At 8:08 she was up on the roof of the nestbox. It being Sunday, there shouldn’t be anyone in that office, so we weren’t sure what she was getting upset about. Ares stopped at the nest to do a chick-check at 8:42 – it was a quick in and out. At 10:20 the parent falcons were on their guard positions – Ares on the east veranda and Astrid on the roof of the nest box.

At 12:25 PM Astrid stopped at the nest to do a chick check. A few minutes later both parents were on the State Office Building. She did another quick check on the chicks just before 1:00 PM. At 1:32 Astrid and Ares had been out of view for a while. When one of them flew through and landed back on the State Building, Kara and Percy saw them and began squealing. Astrid then came over to the box to do a chick check and that got the two nestling even more excitedly calling. At 2:51 Astrid arrived at the box with prey. The chicks were very eager to feed. Both were vying and crowding Astrid as she tried to rip off pieces for them. The meal was done in about eight minutes. The next chick check took place at 4:12. We are not sure which parent came over. At 4:44 we heard Ares giving long calls from somewhere in the canyon. Kara and Percy enthusiastically squealed back. At 5:13 PM Astrid had a freshly caught Pigeon on the hotel ledge. She went about plucking it and then took a share off the top. Ares then arrived on the steeple and both nestlings started calling. The kids knew something was up. At 5:25 Astrid arrived at the nest with a chunk of the Pigeon, and she proceeded to conduct a feeding. Kara was first in line to be fed and while she ate, her brother patiently waited his turn in the corner of the box. About five minutes into the feeding Percy came up to have his share. Astrid noticed and began serving him. Interestingly, she started feeding him in fast motion. Honestly, it looked like someone sped up the video! That bird has a startling amount of energy. Once the feeding was done at 5:52 Astrid moved to the long perch and Kara started doing some wing exercising. At 6:11 Ares landed on a west window ledge with prey. He plucked it for a while. Meanwhile Astrid was on the crossperch, occasionally giving low donkey calls. Of course, Ares noticed that she wasn’t coming over to collect his offering. She seemed to be indicating to him that he should store it and perhaps that’s what he did. A little later he was on the lower steeple perch, and Astrid was out of view. At about 7:10 PM Ares arrived at the east veranda with fresh prey. Astrid came out of nowhere to take it. She flew off with it – possibly to store it? She went to the steeple after that, and Ares remained on the veranda. Were the falcons done for the night? Maybe not; Percy was doing some serious wing flapping after 8:00 PM. Goodnight all.

Today marks the 14^th anniversary or the first Peregrine Falcon egg known to be laid in Utica and in Oneida County. Back on June 4, 2008, Maya (Utica’s original resident Peregrine female) laid an egg on a fourth-story ledge on M&T Bank’s Gold Dome Building.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88eXp1OdqiE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpQvF6hCiJk

The overnight was a little cool with temperatures in the 50’s. The skies were mostly clear in the morning and the temperature rose to the mid-60’s by noon. By mid-afternoon the temperature was in the 70’s and it was windy. Astrid remained in the vicinity of the nest for much of the overnight. Ares brought prey to the nest at 1:47 AM. Astrid grabbed it and flew off into the dark canyon with it. She either made it an early breakfast for herself or she stored it. Both her and Ares were on the State Building for a while after that.  She then returned to the long perch where she spent another few hours before daybreak. The nestlings roused and became active at 5:00. Ares visited them for a quick chick check at 5:07. He didn’t bring any food with him. Kara and Percy squealed in his face until he left and went back to the State Building. Soon he was up on his lookout post – using it to spot prey. Astrid was in hunting mode as well. Both were periodically taking off on forays and the nestlings would call each time they saw one leave or come back. At 7:05 Ares brought prey to the nest. Astrid grabbed it like she was possessed and hopped into the nest. Kara and Astrid then had a tug-o-war with the food which Astrid won.  Initially she just fed Kara, but Percy finally began vying and both chicks got something. At 7:34 Ares arrived with a second course. Once again Astrid handled the feeding. She concentrated on feeding Percy first this time. The feeding was over at 7:45. Twenty minutes later Ares was back with a third course. Astrid took it and did the feeding. At 9:30 Ares brought a fourth course to the nest. This time Astrid didn’t show up to take over, so Ares tried to serve out the meal himself. The trouble was the nestlings were already full and Ares is not the insistent server that Astrid is. Indeed, he was very easy for them to ignore. Two minutes later Astrid swooped in, grabbed the food from Ares’ clutches and fed it to the chicks. At 10:28 we noticed that Astrid was tucked in on the east veranda – mostly looking at an office window. There shouldn’t be anyone in there today, Astrid. At 11:40 we noticed that Ares was up on the State Office Building. He was tucked tightly into the edge of a window ledge and he was almost invisible. Astrid was up on the State Building by noon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtypWcLl4C4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-L-W603N54

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At 12:48 PM Ares showed up at the nestbox for a chick check. The chicks started squealing and rushing towards him. They had been doing some exercise in the box a little earlier and they were pretty wound up. At 1:45 Ares brought what looked like a swallow into the box. Kara grabbed it away from him and took it to the corner. Ares then picked up an old wing from the floor and went to give it to Percy. Just then Astrid arrived, Ares left, the wing was dropped, and Astrid took back (with some difficulty) the swallow from Kara. She then conducted a short, raucous feeding, during which Kara made off with a hunk of the meal. Mealtime was over at 1:50 and Astrid was out. The chicks then enjoyed a lengthy squealing session.  At 2:28 Astrid floated to the box (it was very windy) with a male Oriole in her talons. Kara immediately stole it and took it to the corner. Astrid followed her and snatched it back. She plucked it and then started another raucous feeding session. Both chicks anxiously vied to be fed. At 2:33 the meal was over, and Astrid sailed back into the canyon. Kara and Percy squealed at a fevered pitch until she was gone. At 3:53 both parents were perched on adjacent ledges on the State Building. At 5:08 Ares came to the nestbox, picked up a food scrap from the floor and handed it to Kara. He then went out to the crossperch where he was buzzed by Astrid. The two adult falcons proceeded to do some impressive kiting and darting around on the wind. When ever one would flyby the nestbox the chicks would squeal. At 5:38 A&A were out of view and probably hunting. At 6:11 Ares brought prey to the east veranda and then floated away with it again. He then came back without it. Four minutes later Astrid arrived at the box with the same food and started a feeding. At 6:23 the mealtime was over, and Astrid did a fancy flyoff. Indeed, all manner of aerial stunts were being employed due to the favorable wind conditions. Meanwhile, at the nest Kara was doing some wing exercising. At 6:38 there was one more flyby of the nest by one of the adults. Astrid was on the steeple for a little while after that. At 8:06 both parents were on the State Building but they didn’t remain there for long. Kara and Percy became activated at that point and did some calling and some more wing exercising. Astrid visited the long perch at 8:38 but was only there for a minute. All was likely to settle down soon. Goodnight all.  

This season’s nestlings have received names. Thanks to all that contributed. In the Utica nest the female is Kara and the male is Percy. The two males in the Little Falls nest are Thunder and Bolt.

The overnight was seasonably warm with temperatures in the low 60’s. By day the temp rose to about 70 degrees. It was windy and partly cloudy for most of the day. Astrid was at the nest area for part of the night. There were no overnight feedings. Ares came to the east veranda at 4:10 AM. Astrid probably thought he brought prey. But when she came up to him, he floated back into the canyon. At about 4:40 Astrid was rummaging around in the box for scraps she could feed out, but she couldn’t find anything. She then moved out onto the crossperch. Ares was on the State Building at that time. At 5:40 Ares arrived on the east veranda with a Yellow-billed Cuckoo in his talons. Astrid scrambled over to take it. She flew in a wide circle around the canyon before coming into the box with it. For about three minutes, Astrid fed it out to the chicks and then abruptly left taking what remained of the meal away with her. It’s a fact that she doesn’t like to feed cuckoos to the nestlings. She will give them some but usually holds off on serving out the entire thing. Why is this? We speculate that it has to do with the cuckoo’s diet which is largely made up of tent caterpillars. The caterpillars have poisonous hairs on their bodies which dissuades most birds from eating them. As it happens, cuckoos have a taste for them, and have a tolerance of the caterpillar’s toxins.  We think that the toxic caterpillars have the effect of flavoring the cuckoo’s meat and that’s why Astrid objects to them. At 5:56 Astrid was on the steeple and Ares on the State Building. Every time one of the parents moved the chicks would squeal in response. At 7:09 Ares came to the box. He hopped inside and tried to interest the chicks in taking some food scraps from him. They weren’t interested. At 8:10 Astrid was up on the roof of the nestbox. At 8:17 Ares screeched through the canyon. Ten minutes later Ares brought prey to the east veranda. When Astrid tried to take it they dropped it and both parents dove down after it. Astrid returned to the crossperch, and Ares brought the recovered food to the west veranda. That time they exchanged it successfully and Astrid went into the box to do the feeding. The feeding lasted about ten minutes. At 9:27 Ares brought another meal to the nest. Astrid grabbed it and handled the feeding.

At 10:24 PM Astrid was giving cackle-type alarm calls; the warnings were in reaction to some non-falcon raptor or vulture traversing the canyon. At 10:34 Ares screeched over to the nestbox. The Percy and Kara rushed over to him squealing in his face. He retreated to the crossperch and then left. At 11:02 we noticed that Astrid had been tucked in on the east veranda. At 12:04 PM Astrid moved to the east veranda from the State Building. At 12:22 Percy was picking at some round scrap of prey on the floor of the box. We couldn’t be sure what it was exactly. At 12:23 Ares brought a Black-billed Cuckoo to the nest area. Astrid took it and began a feeding session. Just like the last time, at only five minutes into the feeling, Astrid abruptly picked up the leftovers and flew out of the nest. Again, we believe this is cuckoo related. As we’ve related in this blog before, Astrid loathes cuckoo flesh, and doesn’t want to give much of it to her chicks. At 1:22 Kara and Percy were both laying up against the lip of the box and peering out into the canyon. Both adults came to the nest at 2:22, but then Astrid left immediately. Likely she thought Ares had prey. He left seconds later. At 3:45 one of the chicks was squealing and doing a lot of wing flapping. A parent stopped over for a chick check at 4:10. At 4:51 Astrid came to the box with prey – we think it was a Mourning Dove, already processed. Kara was in line to be fed first. At a few minutes in, Percy tried taking a bite of the meal on his own. Percy then got in line and Astrid started feeding him. Kara wandered over to the opposite corner. A minute later Astrid followed her over and fed her at her new location. Astrid was out by 5:06. She then came back to do a chick check only five minutes later. Ares came in next. He looked around on the floor of the nest for scraps of food he could feed to the chicks, but he couldn’t come up with anything – at least not before Kara chased him out. At 5:16 Astrid was perched on a light pole on the roof of the Adirondack Bank. That was unusual for her. She then spent the next couple of hours being annoyed about people in the office adjacent to the nestbox. She did some hazing and lots of glaring into windows from the roof of the box. At 7:12 Ares came to the east veranda with food, but Astrid was so occupied with staring at the office that she didn’t come to take it. Ares flew off with the meal and presumably stored it. Ares was on the steeple a few minutes later, but he wasn’t there for long. A little later he was on the State Building. Astrid continued to glare at the office window until long after all the office workers had gone home. Before 9:00 PM The chicks had a spurt of activity. Both did some wing flapping; Kara tried to bring up a pellet. Meanwhile Ares was on the State Building and Astrid was still monitoring the office window. Goodnight falcons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5ZdDjpgaVA

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

The overnight was relatively mild with rain and thunderstorms ending in the late evening. Astrid remained on the long perch through much of it and became drenched. The daytime saw partly cloudy skies and temps topping out in the mid-70’s. It remained breezy all day. There were no overnight feedings. She left the crossperch at 2:00 AM and was on the State Building along with Ares before 5:00.  At 5:00 she left her windowsill perch and came to the nestbox. She checked around the floor of the box for scraps but found nothing. The female nestling crowded her and made it difficult for her to navigate in the box. She finally chased her mother out. Astrid was on the steeple for a while and then she flew over to the hotel. She appeared to be in hunting mode. At 6:14 Ares was plucking a Mourning Dove on the hotel. Astrid was standing by waiting for him to bring it to the nest. Meanwhile one of the chicks was trying to bring up a pellet. At 6:19 Ares brought over the meal. Astrid took it and started a feeding session. It lasted about nine minutes which was pretty good considering how ravenous the chicks were. After the meal both chicks did some impressive wing flapping and tearing around in the box. Both parents were on the State Building at that point. At 8:27 Astrid brought prey to the nest and carried out a feeding. It went on for at least ten minutes. After the meal Astrid spent some time on the roof of the box guarding the family against threats from office windows. At 10:46 we heard the parents giving cackle-type alarm calls. Both were on the State Building shortly after, and so they probably didn’t need to chase after anything. When Astrid left the State Building both chicks squealed. They pay very close attention to their parents’ movements in the canyon. They react to their parents flying by and by them leaving and arriving at perches. At 10:55 Ares brought a cuckoo to the east veranda. Astrid barged over to take it, and flew away with it. After about 30 seconds she came into the box with it. She started feeding it out but then only a couple of minutes into the meal she abruptly grabbed the prey and flew out with it. At about 11:05 Ares was on a light pole perch on the roof of the bank and Astrid soon showed up on the steeple. At 11:39 Astrid buzzed by Ares and then flew to the box. He made a quick visit to the box only a minute later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhTmWvl-B6c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0Ucy_HxheY

At 11:41 AM Astrid brought prey to the nest and conducted a feeding. It lasted about eight minutes. At noon the male nestling backed up onto the lip of the box to eliminate. Astrid was on the steeple at 12:17 PM and Ares was on the State Building. She came onto the box roof at 12:34. At 1:22 PM Astrid brought prey to the nest and did a feeding. At 1:49 Astrid was giving cackle-type alarm calls. She left her perch and likely scrambled to chase something out of the territory. At 2:37 Ares stopped at the box for a chick check. He screeched into the box for another one at 3:42. Five minutes later he started giving chirping-type alarm calls. He launched into the canyon but then was seen along with Astrid on the State Building a short time later. If an intruder Peregrine was the cause of the alarm, A&A certainly weren’t bothered by it for very long. At 4:04 Astrid came to the roof of the nestbox. Ares was in the box offering shade to the nestlings at 4:20. The pair didn’t seem interested in utilizing his shade. He came back to shade a few more times in the subsequent couple of hours. At 6:43 Astrid came to the box with prey. She probably got it from Ares’ pantry of from the man himself. At 7:30 PM Ares brought prey to the east veranda. Astrid came over to take it and then she fed the chicks. It was likely their last meal for the night. Astrid spent some time on the steeple after that. She finally came to the box at close to 9:00 PM. Goodnight all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCaCi4Rd4AQ

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

The overnight was warm again with temperatures in the mid 60’s. After sunup the temp was in the 70’s, That held until later in the morning when a thunderstorm passed through and cooled things down. Astrid was on the long perch at the box for most of the night and there were no nocturnal feedings for the first time in a while. The chicks did a lot of moving about during the night, but not usually at the same time – one would be active for a while and then the other. Astrid left the perch just before 5:00 AM. At that same time, we noticed that Ares was on the lookout post on the roof of the State Building. Most probably he was hunting and not on watch for intruders. At 5:21 Astrid came to the west veranda and Ares landed on a west ledge. We initially thought he had prey, but his talons were empty. At 5:35 Ares came to the crossperch. Astrid arrived too – assuming that he had food, but she was disappointed. The chicks were roused by the arrival of their parents, but there was no breakfast for them yet. Astrid then dove after something – probably a local Pigeon. Ares went back up to the lookout post to continue his hunt. At 5:45 the male nestling was having some fun flapping his wings and playing with one of the eggs. At 5:51 he backed up to and onto the lip of the box to defecate. They have that behavior down now. A few minutes later Astrid was on the hotel. She too was in hunting mode. At 6:10 both chicks were squealing and looking into the canyon like they saw something interesting. Most likely they saw Ares hunting. Astrid came right back to the box to see what was up. A few minutes later Ares arrived on the east veranda with prey. Astrid took it, flew into the canyon, and came back into the box to do a feeding. As soon as she entered the nest one of the chicks snatched the prey from her and took it to the corner. Astrid seemed momentarily unsure about what to do and she retreated onto the crossperch. She then garnered some resolve; she pushed her way into the corner and recovered the meal. She then proceeded to feed the chicks. Both were more than eager to feed. By 6:31 the meal was over, and Astrid was out. Meanwhile, Ares was on the hotel processing prey. He brought it to the east veranda and Astrid took it from him. She then served it to the nestlings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SrAsksxgAw

At 7:42 AM Astrid was up on the box roof staring menacingly at the office window blind. Perhaps someone was in there plotting to take Astrid’s chicks and put leg bands on them. Relax, Astrid, that’s not happening. At 8:48 Ares brought another prey item to the nest area (we think the west veranda). Astrid took it and handled the feeding. The meal was done by 9:04. Less than five minutes after that, Ares was back to the nest with another meal. This time Astrid wasn’t coming over and so he thought he would try to do the feeding himself. He gave squeaking calls; he ripped off little pieces of food; he tried to get the chicks interested in what he had for them, but it wasn’t working. They were full and he didn’t have Astrid’s magic touch. At 9:11 he gave up. He took the food out and probably stored it. At 9:25 Astrid was back on the roof of the nestbox. Both parents were on the crossperch at 10:05 – about the time that the rain began falling. As the rain devolved into a thunderstorm, both parents stayed to guard the box – Astrid on the box roof and Ares on the box lip. They remained in place for the next few hours. For the most part the nestlings were calm through the storm. At 1:41 Ares brought prey to the east veranda. Astrid grabbed it and flew into the box to do a feeding. When she came in the female chick tried to take the whole thing, but Astrid clung onto it. She then proceeded to serve it out to both nestlings.  At 2:07 PM Astrid was on a steeple perch and Ares was on a window ledge east of the nestbox. Rain and thunder continued intermittently through the afternoon and into the evening. The temperatures dropped into the mid 60’s. At 3:02 Astrid took up her guard position on the roof of the box and Ares assumed his guard post on the lip of the box. At 4:18 Astrid was up, and Ares had moved onto the long perch. At 4:50 he was on the steeple and Astrid was on the box roof. At 6:30 the chicks were getting a little cagey and no doubt a little hungry. They were moving around more and squealing more often. With a new round of rain and thunder, Astrid was stationed on the box roof again and Ares was on his pillar perch. By the end of the day the chicks were looking a bit different. More dark feathers were beginning to protrude from the white down covering their bodies. Their dark wing and tail feathers are also continuing to grow out. No doubt on Thursday they will have a more salt & pepper look about them. By 7:10 the chicks were doing more wing flapping and more squealing. They were asking to be fed. Ares was on the south facing steeple perch at that time and didn’t seem to be actively hunting. At 7:39 Ares brought prey to the nest. Astrid took it and conducted a very raucous feeding session. Goodnight all.