Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Friday, February 24th, 2023
It was a true winter weather day today with relentless wind & intermittent snowfall. The temperature was in freefall during the early morning. Before dawn, the temperature was 30°. At noon it was only 20°. Astrid landed on a high ledge on the north face of the State Building at 4 AM. Ares showed up at the nest box at 6:12. At 6:30 the pair enjoyed a long and active ledge display inside the box. There was a lot of beaking, but only Astrid partook of fancy footwork. Ares stuck to the center of his mega scrape as if he was incubating something. He left at 6:37. Astrid then lingered in the box for quite some time. Ares returned at 8:14 and, much to our surprise, they had another dance. This one was short and Ares was out after only two minutes. He was back at 9:05 and they did a classic switch. It seemed to be a practice incubation switch; she was out and he was in. When she left her perch on the State Building at 9:22, Ares began chirping in the box. Ten minutes later, he screeched and flew out into the canyon. Possibly there was an intruder. At 9:45 he came back to the box and was chirping again. Likely he saw Astrid somewhere, but we couldn’t find her with the cameras. At 9:50 we noticed that she was on the ledge of the hotel with prey. It looked to be a Pigeon that she caught herself. Ares darted from the nest at 10:42. We weren’t sure where he was off to, but he was back only ten minutes later and working on his mega scrape project.
At noon Ares once again screeched out of the box. We had no idea where he was going, but probably he was going to buzz by Astrid. She had long since finished her meal on the hotel and was likely sitting fat and happy on a perch out of the snow and wind. Sometime before 1:00, he snuck back into the box without us knowing. He had a large crop which meant he had recently eaten. At 1:46 he started calling like he saw her. Once again, we did not see her. He flew out into the wind and made a quick dash to the west. Astrid showed up a minute later at the box, but did not stay, and soon sailed off into the wind herself. At 1:49 Ares came back to the box. He stayed there on guard duty until about 3:45, and then he was out again. He returned at 4:30. He really seemed committed to watching the box today. However, it was safe to assume that Astrid had given up coming to the nest area for the day. She was content to leave the nest guarding to Ares. He stayed until 5:00 PM and then presumably when to his night perch. Goodnight Falcons.