Utica Peregrine Falcon Update for April 16, 2018 –
Very strong winds blew through the night and through most of the morning. Rain began before mid-morning and continued off and on throughout the day. The high winds picked up again in the early afternoon, but were more intermittent as the day progressed. Temperatures in the morning were in the mid-thirties but peaked in the mid-forties by afternoon. Astrid had taken over for Ares on the nest at 6:05 PM on Sunday. She remained for the entire night shift and right until Ares relieved her at 6:03 on Monday morning. When Astrid left, she was seen flying to the north. We didn’t know where she was after that, but that’s not unusual. She was likely perched somewhere in the canyon, but out of view. Deb finally saw her on the west face of the State Building at 7:52. Deb also noticed that at least one of Ares pantry items had been blown off the building by the wind. That’s a problem with high winds, they tend to take a toll on the falcon’s food reserves. At 8:04, Astrid landed on the cross-perch and called to Ares to get off the eggs. It only took a couple of donkey calls and he was out. She didn’t have to resort to stepping on his tail that time. She quickly settled on the eggs. Ares was on the west face of the State Building for a little while and then he was out of camera view. Just after 10 AM, He was there again , which probably meant he was hunting from that perch.
At 10:36, Ares came to the box and the pair executed a quick switch. Astrid flew out toward the east and Ares got onto the eggs. It looked like he had a crop, so he must’ve eaten. At 12:22, Deb saw Astrid on the west face of the State Building. She arrived at the nest box at 1:06. At that time she had a short conversation with Ares. It was clear that he didn’t want to leave yet and so, once again she left him to it Astrid went over to the west side of the State Building once again. The west face of the building was very popular with the falcons today – primarily because the wind was coming from the opposite direction for once. She returned and the pair switched out at 3:02. Astrid then took over on the eggs and, as it turned out, she would remain there for the rest of the day. Ares seemed to be hunting and right before 6:00 PM, he was seen on a few different perches She tried calling to him a few times to get him to take one more shift, but he didn’t come over. By 6 o’clock, rain was falling and, as early as it was, the falcons seemed settled for the night.