Category: Awesome

The Peregrine chicks are feathering out in a big way. They currently have the “salt & pepper” look as they molt into juvenile plumage. All are now showing color on their faces and even a moustachial stripe. The chicks are not all at the same stage of molt – the first hatched chick is more advanced than the other two. His behavior is also slightly more advanced. He’s the one most likely to be standing close to the box opening and watching out for a parent flying in with food. All the chicks have been contending for food fairly evenly these days, although occasionally the first and third hatched chicks seem to sit out a meal. The second hatched chick, which we believe is a female, is the most aggressive. This morning she snatched a small meal from her father and proceeded to finish it all by herself. No one including Ares complained.

 

 

The typical dynamic at the nest box has been for Ares to bring in prey and for Astrid to take it and proceed to feed the nestlings. There are variations on that theme. For instance, sometimes Astrid comes back with her own prey and doesn’t need to grab it away from Ares at all. The rare thing has been for Ares to get a chance to feed the chicks himself. Usually when he tries, Astrid appears out of nowhere, swipes the food and gets on with the feeding. Ares is then sent on his way with a stern look and a loud screech in his ear. Yesterday something new happened – Astrid came back with a pigeon that she presumably caught, and after a long plucking process (which the chicks impatiently witnessed), Ares came into the box with his own contribution. Both parents then went on to simultaneously feed the nestlings – something we can’t recall happening before. We have the video for it. It’s 32 minutes long, but it’s really pretty good. Please check it out, and do note how aggressive the chicks are getting now.

Recently it seems that the Peregrine adults go most of the afternoon without feeding the nestlings. However, the young are not being deprived. They are simply being fed more in the morning – and sometimes the very early morning. In fact, today at 1:30 AM, Ares brought food to the nest. Two hours later another meal was brought in, and two hours after that, yet another. The old saying “the early bird gets the worm” seems apt for the falcons. Although it’s possible that Astrid and Ares are drawing on stored food in order to conduct these feedings, more likely they are hunting at these hours. The light pollution of the city has allowed and encouraged Peregrines to become efficient nocturnal hunters. This is one advantage they have over their cliff nesting counterparts,

The plumage of the nestlings continues its quick evolution. We see now the ends of feather shafts opening up into brand new feathers. Dark masks over the eyes of the nestlings have also become distinct. It’s getting easier to believe that in just 2 weeks these birds will be on the verge of fledging.

 

 

 

It appears as though our camera # 1 has been hit with” whitewash” and now the entire right hand field of view is obscured. Before nesting began we had mounted that camera higher in the box in the hope that it would be out of range of squirting chicks, but evidently one got in a lucky shot. It’s possible that like last year, camera 1 will get cleaned by driving rain or by a nestlings rubbing against it, but there’s no guarantee of that. Meanwhile we still have cams 2 & 3 and they are both working fine. Cam 3 in particular offers a great view of the entire nest site. Before next season’s nesting we hope to mount new cameras on either side of the box (both will be high above the whitewash line). These cameras will have wider fields of view and so we’ll be sure not to miss any of the action.

Besides the nestlings growing like weeds and starting to put out the very beginnings of wing and tail feathers, other changes have been taking place at the nest site. From the beginning of the season to now, there’s been a notable lack in diversity of prey species coming into the box – that is compared to what was cataloged last season. However, in the past few days, we’ve seen a large uptick in prey diversity. Yesterday, Ares brought back his first cuckoo for the season. He also managed what might be his most obscure catch yet – a Dunlin (in breeding plumage, no less). Eastern Kingbird, Tree Swallow and Chimney Swift have also been on the menu recently. As you might imagine, the Chimney Swift wasn’t greeted by Astrid as a legitimate meal, and Ares was forced to leave with it. For the most part Astrid is handling the feedings, but once and a while, Ares is allowed to do one.

 

 

Yesterday (5/20), Ares went missing for about 4 hours and we began to fear that he met with an accident. Astrid’s uncharacteristically anxious behavior seemed also to indicate that something wasn’t right. Last evening Deb Saltis and I went Downtown to see if we could make sense of the situation on the ground. Once we were there Astrid’s behavior did nothing to allay our concerns. She continued to be anxious and notably she seemed to be taking on all parental roles herself, including chasing off a Turkey Vulture and going out to retrieve prey.  To make a long story short, Ares finally returned looking fine and with prey in his talons. Taking long hunting trips are what we expect to start happening as the chicks get closer to fledging, but it seems that Ares may have shifted gears a bit prematurely. Brooding the 3 growing nestlings has been difficult for him to manage just lately and so perhaps making longer hunting trips is his response. One thing is for sure, Astrid doesn’t seem to happy about the new arrangement – if that’s what it is. She prefers Ares to be on hand to relieve her once in a while. Today Ares did spend over an hour in the box with the nestlings. Doing Penance?