Category: Awesome

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.

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!

 

Utica’s Youngest Peregrine Falcons continue to hone their flying skills as they chase each other all around the downtown area. On Thursday morning I watched Indi and Tres chasing one another and engaging in some sparring. The size difference between these 2 fledglings is the most dramatic in the family – Indi being bigger than even her mother and Tres, undisputedly the smallest of the bunch. Later on Tres and Leda started in. Being more evenly matched in size, their ariel maneuvers were more synchronized and quicker paced. All of these birds are more experienced fliers now, so fortunately we don’t have to hold our breath anymore when they fly upside-down, lock talons or tuck in their wings and plummet toward the Earth. A bit later in the morning Leda was seen high on the steeple of Grace Church standing on one of his parents’ favorite perches. This was the first time we’ve ever seen one of these youngsters use that spot. I was not surprised that Leda was the first to figure out how to land there.

On Friday evening, Dave and Candis Cesari saw some interesting action. Tres flew in proudly carrying a bird in his talons (presumably he got the food from one of his parents). Tres landed on the State Office Building and began feeding, but before long his big sister Indi showed up and stole the food away! Easy come, easy go!

We have decided we can back off on the need for constant watchers. We are so thankful for all the efforts of everyone who took time out to come down and make sure our little fledglings were safe! We could not have done this without everyone’s help – THANK YOU!!!!
Please feel free to come watch them anytime as they are learning and changing every day. We will be here when we can and will probably concentrate on the early morning and evening hours as that seems to be their most active time.
If you do spend time watching please let us know what you have seen – either by text, call or posting here or on Facebook.
Of course if anything seems troublesome or concerning please contact one of us immediately.
Astrid, Ares, Independence, Leda, and Tres all thank you too!!
Matt & Deb