Ares screeches to the nest box to take his turn at incubating
The hatch window commences on Friday, April 26th; however, it’s improbable that any hatching will occur on that day. The eggs are anticipated to hatch somewhere between the 33rd and 35th day of incubation. Wednesday, May 2nd, stands out as the most probable date for our first hatch. But, keep in mind, we’re dealing with Astrid and Ares here—birds known to challenge our expectations. Meanwhile, the falcon pair continues their usual routine of tending to the eggs and vigilantly scanning the skies for intruders.
Astrid vacates the nest – Ares waits until she leaves before he takes over on the clutch
We don’t enter the hatch window until this Friday, however, we believe we heard faint, rhythmic sounds coming from one of the eggs early in the morning. This happened soon after Ares took over incubation from Astrid. It’s likely that we mistook other noises, such as distant machinery or perhaps even some dawn calls from a distant Robin, for the sounds of hatchling. The microphone on our latest camera isn’t optimal, causing significant distortion, especially with distant sounds. Moreover, Astrid likely wouldn’t have left the eggs so readily if one were close to hatching. When she returned to resume incubation from her mate, he was reluctant to leave. In fact it took her a full 31 minutes to persuade him to finally depart. She remained patient for the most part, only becoming assertive towards the end of the changeover process.
Was there a chick calling from inside one of these eggs today? Probably notAstrid spending a great amount of time trying to get Ares to leave the eggs
Today was intruder day in the canyon. Ares was brought off the eggs twice today by them. Both times the eggs didn’t suffer since Astrid quickly came in to resume incubating. Ares gave his chirping type alarm calls before leaving the nest, which is always indicative of a Peregrine intruder. Most probably the intruder(s) were males since Ares handled the situations on his own without bringing in Astrid for support. We never saw the intruder(s), but at one point in the afternoon, we saw Ares flying with the wind at what seemed to be at least 100 miles an hour. He was heading to the north. We don’t know if he was going for prey or for an intruder. My guess is the former.
Astrid Ares asking for his turn on the eggsAstrid back to ask for her turn on the nest
The Utica falcons’ hatch window is set to commence on Friday, April 26th, marking 28 days of continuous incubation. However, it’s unlikely that the first hatch will occur on the 26th. Typically, the first hatch(es) won’t happen before a full 33 days of incubation, which would bring us to May 1st. Stay tuned for updates!
Since Astrid and Ares spent the day sharing incubation duties without much else to report, we figured it’s a fitting time to address a perennial question about our Utica pair: How can we distinguish Astrid from Ares based on their plumage?
AstridAres
Astrid sports a broader malar or mustache mark compared to Ares. Her blue-gray malar blends softly into her white cheek patch, creating a somewhat blurred transition. In contrast, Ares’ malar is notably thinner than Astrid’s (and thinner than most Peregrine Falcons), with a sharper boundary between the malar mark and his white cheek patch.
While Astrid has vertical dash-like streaking on her breast (light but noticeable), Ares’ breast appears predominantly whiter, adorned with fewer and less distinct chest streaks. On Ares’ belly, the dark spots are small and round, resembling dots made with a fine-tipped marker, while Astrid’s belly spots are larger and resemble chevrons drawn by someone using a broader-tipped marker with a shaky hand.
Finally, Ares shows some faint light areas in the plumage atop his head, whereas Astrid’s head plumage is uniformly blue-gray.
