Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Saturday, June 3rd, 2023
It was warm overnight with a low temperature of 60 degrees. There were patches of fog and the moon was full. The high temperature during the day was in the mid 70s and the skies were partly cloudy. Astrid spent most of the night around the vicinity of the box and often on the long perch. Ares brought prey to the nest at 3:26 AM. Astrid took it and did a feeding. After 4:30, we weren’t sure where the parents were. It turned out Astrid was on a window ledge on north face of the State Office Building and Ares was on the west face of the same building. The nestlings continue to evolve. They are getting larger by leaps and bounds. Their tail and wing feathers are extending further each day. Amelia is beginning to get the salt and pepper look that comes as dark contour feathers begin to replace their cottony white down. At 5:07 Amelia picked up a scrap of food from the floor and brought it to the back corner of the box where she proceeded to work on it. This was the first time we had seen this behavior this season. By 5:24 Niles was resting his head on the lip of the box. He was watching for a parent to return with food. Moments later Ares arrived on the crossperch with a Black-billed Cuckoo. Astrid barreled in, took it, and then had a moment of indecision regarding what to do with it. She opted to fly away with it. She went over to the hotel and abandoned it on a ledge. Astrid really doesn’t like cuckoos. Of course, Astrid knew that she had to bring something to the nestlings. She set about hunting from the corner of the upper hotel ledge. At 5:33 Astrid launched after something but came back with empty talons. Five minutes later she made another foray out. This time she was successful and came back to the hotel fully laden with a Pigeon. She proceeded to pluck the bird. Meanwhile Ares was guarding the box and the nestlings. At 6:10 Astrid brought her catch to the box and was met with copious amounts of squealing. Niles was the first one in the chow line. Amelia hung back from the feeding but after about five minutes she joined in. By 6:18 both nestlings were eating. Astrid had a few bites herself and then started feeding Amelia again. At 6:23 Astrid left and then Ares came in. He picked up a scrap from the floor and tried to feed it to the nestlings. Initially they did not seem interested but then Niles started to take some and then Amelia joined in. We noticed that Ares was feeding them very small pieces. It’s as if he thought that they just came out of their eggshells. At 6:25 Astrid was on the steeple. She came to the box at 6:51 and that’s about when Ares left the crossperch. She immediately hopped in and gave one of the nestlings some food scraps. At 7:02 Niles was doing some wing flapping in the box. He followed that up with biting at the egg. While he was doing these things his sister cocked her head and looked at him sideways. After that the two did some beaking. At 7:47 Astrid hopped up onto the roof of the nestbox. Perhaps she did not know it was Saturday after all. At 8:13 Ares was on the steeple. At 9:29 one of the parents made a quick visit to the box for a chick check. Increasingly the nestlings get rambunctious every time a parent comes to the box. Astrid came back with food At 9:30. Niles was at the head of the line. Amelia joined in after the feeding had been underway for at least five minutes. Astrid began plucking the prey like crazy. By that point both nestlings had walked away from the meal. At 10:18 Ares brought prey to the east veranda. Astrid took it, flew away, came back, and started a feeding. That time Amelia got a generous share. At 11:46 Astrid seemed to be getting upset. It seemed like she was reacting to activity and offices on the 15th floor but we couldn’t be sure. She gave cackle alarm calls, possibly did some hazing. Regardless she seemed to calm down relatively quickly.
At 12:46 PM Ares brought more prey to the nest. This time he hopped inside. Astrid came off the roof of the box, hopped into the nest, took the prey, and did the feeding. The meal went on for about 6 minutes. It seemed like both chicks stayed interested through the entire mealtime. After that Astrid was up on the roof of the box again. At 1:15 she did a chick check and then left. At 2:11 Ares was heard giving long calls from somewhere in the canyon. Directly after he came to the nest with prey. Astrid grabbed it and served it to the nestlings. At 2:38 Ares came to the box for a quick check. He was in and then out. A few minutes later we heard him giving long calls from his pillar perch. Astrid was on the State Building. At 3:42 Ares was in the nest making shade for the nestlings. Twenty minutes later he was out and Astrid was in. With the temperature peaking in the mid-70’s, the parents weren’t as determined to be umbrellas today. Astrid was soon out on the crossperch. Ares brought more prey to the nest at 4:34. Astrid handled the feeding. The meal only lasted about six minutes and then Astrid was out. Ares came to the nest at 4:54 and one of the chicks got in his face and begged. He had a scrap of food in his bill and he offered it to the squealer. At 5:15 PM Astrid was back on the crossperch. She left at one point only to come back to the long perch a minute later. At 6:40 emergency vehicles were sounding their sirens as they passed through downtown. The nestlings joined the siren chorus with their own whining squeals. Amelia seemed particularly restless after that. She did some flapping, some calling, and lots of walking around. At 7:06 PM Ares brought prey to the nest. Astrid took it and did a feeding. Astrid left at the meal’s conclusion. Both her and Ares were on the State Building. The chicks – especially Amelia, were active on and off. Goodnight falcons.