Utica Peregrine Falcon Update for April 4, 2018
Ares
The weather gave us a roller coaster ride for sure today. It was overcast, rainy, and relatively cool in the early morning, followed by a break in the clouds and a gentle warm up by noon. Temperatures in the afternoon peaked in the fifties, but extremely high winds, dropping temperatures, and a variety of precipitation types occurred in quick succession during the afternoon. Astrid came into the nest box at 7:15 Tuesday evening. At the time we thought she was close to laying her second egg, but we didn’t know exactly how close. Through the evening as we watched her on the monitor, there were a couple of times we thought she was getting close to producing an egg, but it didn’t happen. It wasn’t until after midnight that she truly looked ready. At 12:54 AM, she produced the second egg of her clutch, although we couldn’t be sure at the time, since Astrid didn’t afford good looks at more than one egg at a time. That is, until she shifted at 1:19. We confidently pinned the egg laying time to 12:54. That means the interval between the laying of the first and second eggs in the clutch is 63 hours, which is about average for Astrid, although it could be considered on the long side for Peregrines Falcons.
Ares brought a Woodcock to the box at 2:55. Astrid accepted the gift and took it over to the Hotel ledge. Ares waited out on the cross-perch and resisted the temptation to investigate the new egg. In fact he didn’t really check it out until Astrid returned at 4 AM. At that time they did a minor face to face display over the egg, but then Ares left the box. Astrid hunkered down on the eggs after that. At 6:00, we were hearing Ares giving some long calls from somewhere not too far away. We weren’t sure what he was trying to convey. Astrid lifted her head and looked around during the first volley of calls, but didn’t for the second. Perhaps he was asking if she wanted to switch without physically coming to the box. At 6:20, they did switch out and Ares took a turn in the box. Astrid didn’t go far. She was on one of the pillars located west of the nest box. At 6:50, they mated on the pillar – and then they mated there again a half-hour later. Astrid came to the box after that, but before she was even settlde in, Ares arrived with food. Awkwardly loping onto the cross-perch, she leaned in and pulled the prey from Ares’ beak and then flew over to the Hotel with it. There she proceeded to eat it on a ledge. She was back on the same pillar by 7:45. A few minutes later, the pair mated again. Following that, Ares came back to the box and adeptily tucked the eggs beneath him. He is an old pro now isn’t he.
The pair mated on the pillar again at 8:43 and then Ares retrieved a gift for Astrid. At 8:50, Ares screeched out of the box. He took a perch on a ledge close to Astrid’s pillar. We don’t know if she took the gift, but he came right back to the box, so she may have. At 9:11, they switched out and she took a turn guarding the eggs. At 9:50, they switched again. At that point what they were engaged in was guard duty and not technically incubation. At 10:42, while Ares was in the midst of his shift he began incubating. Astrid came to the box at 11:04, and when Ares showed a reluctance to leave, she muscled up right behind him and compelled him get off the eggs and leave the nest. After a few minutes, she too was incubating. If this continues without interruption, in 33 days we can expect our first hatch. At 12:30, Astrid called when she saw Ares fly through the canyon. He made a stop at the Hotel and picked up some leftover meal, but he didn’t bring it to the box. Astrid left at 12:52 and Ares arrived only a minute later and resumed incubation. Astrid spent a short time on a pillar west of the box and then she was out of view for a while. When she left at 1:45, Ares screeched off after her and left the eggs unattended, but within five minutes he had resumed sitting on them. At 2:05, Astrid was in view again on the State Building and Ares went to join her. This time the eggs were uncovered for about 45 minutes, which means they full incubation couldn’t have started yet. Of course, the sun was flooding into the box by this time and the outdoor temperature had reached into the mid- fifties. So the interruption in incubation at this early stage likely wouldn’t be detrimental to the eggs’ development. At 2:45, Astrid was on the eggs again and Ares was on the State Building. By this point in the afternoon, the winds were becoming very intense. There were 35 MPH sustained winds and gusts of up to 60 MPH. Fortunately, the falcons can usually deal with high winds, being a species that normally breeds in some of the windiest environments in the world. The falcons switched at 4:00, and Ares was now in the box. He covered the eggs for about five minutes and then both falcons were flying in the canyon again. Both falcons returned at 4:30 – Ares to the box and Astrid to the State Building. We saw Ares come in, and he literally flew into the box sideways. No flapping at all, just riding the air escalator.
At 5:25, Ares left the box just after Astrid vacated her perch. One of them darted by our camera at breakneck speed. Fifteen minutes later, Ares flew in low toward the State Building and then swooped straight up to land on a top floor ledge. After that he used the wind to slide right back to the box. At just before 6, Astrid appeared on the State Building and Ares joined her over there. Five minutes later, Astrid floated over to the nest box and huddled on top of her two eggs. Ares did some more flying and then came right back to a high perch on the State Building. He stayed there until 7:35, when he likely flew to his night perch.
