Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Tuesday, February 28th, 2023
The winter storm which began Monday evening packed snow and wind and continued intermittently through the day. The temperature hovered around the freezing mark for most of the day. Ares came to the nest box at 4:04 AM. At 4:22 he started calling, which made us think that he had Astrid in view. We didn’t see her anywhere. At 7:34 Astrid joined her mate at the box for a ledge display. There was lots of vocalizing and some beaking, but not much dancing. Lately Astrid has been acting a little distracted by a new camera that we placed in the box. She never likes anything different. After 10 minutes Ares left the box and flew up to his pillar perch. Astrid left the box in favor of the east veranda. Ares returned to the nest at 8:22 and by that time Astrid had tucked in on the veranda. There was snow on the roof of the box and on the verandas and we could clearly see Astrid’s footprints in the snow. Seeing Peregrine footprints is a rare sight in nature. The Falcons held their positions for most of the morning as the snow continued to fall. At 11:34 Ares left the box but then he came right back. At 11:54 Astrid was calling from the veranda. Ares had taken off only a minute before and we thought perhaps he was aiming to catch something for her lunch. He came back empty handed 2 minutes later and joined her briefly on the east veranda.
At 12:34 PM Ares brought food into the nest box. Astrid came in to take it and then dashed off into the canyon. We could not find where she dined. At 12:56 Ares started calling. He was announcing Astrid’s return to an east window ledge. At 1:02 there was an aborted mating attempt on the ledge. At 2:58 PM Astrid was at the crossperch at the box. Snow was coming down heavily. She soon moved over to the West veranda for a little while and then was out of view. At 4:36 Ares came to the box with a small hunk of food. Astrid appeared out of nowhere, hopped inside the box, grabbed the gift, and flew off with it. Ares hung around for a little while after that but then he departed. Most likely both went to their night perches. Goodnight Falcons.