Category: Awesome

The high winds that blew through the Downtown canyon on Monday were exploited to the fullest by the falcon family. Astrid and Ares put on an amazing show for the benefit of their young pupils. They dove, swooped, rolled, hovered and executed some maneuvers that words can’t do justice to. A few times they flew in with prey and tried to entice the fledglings to follow them, which admittedly didn’t work too well. Both Comet and Skye seemed to prefer the days when their meals were given to them with no expectations of work. Despite that both fledglings did quite a bit of flying today and they made some great strides. They performed a variety of flight maneuvers and, importantly, got in a lot of practice using their landing gear. Twice, Skye followed his mother as she ascended to high altitudes. Comet circumnavigated the greater downtown canyon, soared back and pulled off a perfect landing on a narrow window ledge of the State Office Building. The fledglings also soared together and did some mid-air sparring. Skye displaced Ares from his perch at least 3 times and Astrid at least once. That was his not-to-subtle way of saying that he was hungry. Today we noticed that the parents have a well stocked pantry. There were 4 birds being stored on high window ledges of the State Building. Interestingly, all of this prey was stored in an identical way – tail out.

Since they rediscovered each other a few days ago, Skye and Comet have been keeping close company – often sharing the same ledge perch. Their sister, Orion is set to return to the canyon at the end of the week. In captivity she has been able to practice flying and landing in a large flight cage; this means she shouldn’t be too far behind the others in acquiring skills. We have every expectation that she will be readily accepted back into the family, just as Tres was last year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday was a busy day for the Utica Peregrines. Fledge Watch volunteers were treated to many flights including some awesome demonstration flights by both parents. Skye was particularly active and made many forays into the air – always returning to the State Office Building in the end. That building has become the falcons’ base. After one of Skye’s flights, we couldn’t locate her. At the time her brother was on a high window ledge on the west side of the building. It turned out that Skye had joined her brother on that same ledge. This was the first time the two had been together since Comet left the nest box nearly a week before. On Sunday, Comet only made one small flight. That was between a high window ledge and the roof of the State Building. There he finally had enough room to exercise his wings. In fact more than once he walked (or hopped) across an entire side of the building all the while flapping away. Skye joined him up there several times and the two fledglings spent much time on the northwest corner. Astrid and Ares put on an impressive airshow for the youngsters. They seamlessly alternated between slow cruising and quick diving. Some of the swooping dives were reminiscent of the birds’ courtship displays.

Toward evening, both parents came to the Adirondack Bank building and appeared to be looking for Orion. They perched uncharacteristically low on the building and made extremely low flights over the east parking lot. This was right where Orion had come down earlier in the week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After plenty of coaxing by both parents, Comet, who hadn’t left the east face of the Adirondack Bank Building since Tuesday, finally flew on Saturday morning. His flight was relatively strong and direct. It led him across the canyon and to the west face of the State Office Building where he put down on a high window ledge. It was a great relief to see him flying so well. We were beginning to think that he may have sustained an injury when he “crash landed” against a window screen five days before, but in flight he appeared to be fine. However, once he had his nook on the State Building, he was committed to remain there and didn’t move again for the rest of the day, and that’s despite some tireless coaxing from both parents. Skye, on the other hand, needed no coaxing. She (Or he! – the relatively small size of Skye’s wingspan is now forcing us to reconsider the bird’s gender) made at least ten flights today – all between the State Office Building and the Adirondack Bank. She is starting to become adept at landing on the window ledges of the State Building, which is no mean feat.

The parents surprised us today by returning to the empty nest box more than once and performing their in-box courtship dance. This entailed lots of bowing and calling and culminated with Astrid making a few nest scrapes! Don’t worry though, these two are not going to nest again this season.

Folks, just because the box is usually empty now doesn’t mean that the fledglings are out of danger. They are still in need of flight experience and for at least the next 2 weeks, they will be practicing their skills in the Downtown canyon. We still need fledge Watch volunteers to step up and help us safeguard these birds. If you’re able to assist, please sign up for a time on the Fledge Watch page or contact us directly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of stuff happened on Friday. Just after 3:00 PM, Skye fledged! Unlike her siblings she was well prepared. She spent much of the day flying between the nestbox’s perches and the roof of the box – testing her wings and landing gear. Her first flight was reported to be strong. She sailed high over to Grace Church’s steeple, where she attempted a landing on its peak. She aborted that landing and glided over to the State Office Building where she aborted yet another landing. She finally touched down on the roof of the County Building. Later in the day she flew over to the roof of the Adirondack Bank, and after that she settled on the very top of the State Office Building. Meanwhile, Orion, who fell out of the nest on Thursday, was taken to be treated at Kindred Kingdom Wildlife Center in Pennellville. While there she was temporarily placed in a cage right next to one that held the Binghampton Peregrine nestling that was injured on the same day after a fall from its nest. If all goes as planned, Orion should be able to be released back at the nest site in one week. Comet remains on the east side of the Adirondack Bank Building where he’s been since Tuesday. His parents have been visiting him and dropping off food for him, but he shows little inclination to try to fly again. He shows no obvious signs of injuries. He continues to travel around on that narrow ledge and he occasionally flaps his wings, but our worry is that he is not able to get enough exercise there.