Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Sunday, February 26th, 2023
The morning started out cold with temperatures in the high teens. It became more windy as the day went on and the temperature rose to 30° by noon. Ares arrived at the nest box at 6 o’clock sharp. Astrid showed up on an east ledge 45 minutes later, and her arrival was announced by her mate. She did not stay for more than a minute, and we didn’t see her again until she returned to the same ledge at 8 o’clock. Upon her return, Ares excitedly moved from the veranda to the box. He was hoping for a dance, but it didn’t happen. We noticed he had a large crop, so he must have eaten recently. Astrid abruptly flew from her ledge and was out of view until she returned to the very same place at 10 o’clock. Forty minutes later, she was up once again. For this entire time, Ares remained in the box, sometime snoozing, sometimes contemplating his huge scrape, and sometimes just guarding. He left the nest at 11:23. At 11:40 Ares came back and resumed his guard duty. Astrid arrived at the east veranda five minutes later.
At 12:33 PM Ares launched from the box and zoomed off to the west. The wind had become strong and steady by that point and it made the Peregrines’ flights more dramatic than usual. At just before 1:00 both Falcons were on the State Building. At 1:43 they both came to the box. Ares came inside, and Astrid only partially entered; for some reason she stayed in the in the front part, and just beyond the box lip. She stood there frozen for a minute and then backed out and sailed off into the wind. It wasn’t a dance. I’m not sure how to classify it. Regardless, Ares looked disappointed, and he soon spread his wings and soared off into the canyon. At 2:10 Astrid was on a ledge on the hotel. We noticed there were some leftovers near her on the same ledge. After a few minutes, she walked closer to them and began feeding. By 3 o’clock both Falcons were on the State building. They were up and down from their perches on that building several times for the better part of two hours. At 4:48 when Astrid darted off to the northeast, Ares came to the box. He called a few times before flying off again. It seemed like they went to their night perches early tonight – before 5:00 PM. Perhaps there were some matings and food exchanges today, but if there were we missed them all. Mostly what the falcons were seen doing today was guarding the box. Obviously a necessary and important task. Goodnight all.