Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Wednesday, June 14th, 2023
It was cool and rainy overnight with temperatures in the 50s. Rain continued through the day. The high temperature was in the low 60’s. Astrid was around the box area for much of the night. She was on the east veranda for a while and then moved to an east ledge, and then she was out of view. Ares was on the State Building late last night but then out of view in the predawn hours. Astrid came to the long perch at 4:42 AM. Predictably, that got the nestlings up and active. Astrid tried to go into the box, most likely to look for food scraps, but the nestlings were too excited to let her pass. At 5:22 Ares brought prey to the nest. Astrid took it but promptly lost it to Niles. Niles took the food to the back corner of the box. Ares went to an east ledge and Astrid was on the crossperch contemplating how to recover the food. At 5:38 Amelia got a turn feeding in the back of the box. At 5:42 she was on the lip of the box eyeing the east veranda. At 5:51 Niles was flapping his wings inside the box. A few minutes later he was up on the lip of the box. He did some flapping while there much to our consternation. At 6:15 Niles had come back onto the floor of the box and was trying to bring up a pellet. At 6:48 Niles got back up onto the lip of the box followed by Amelia. They were both up and down from the lip several times in the subsequent thirty minutes. At 7:18 Amelia went over to the west veranda! Ten minutes later, Niles crossed over to the veranda as well!! Of course, this move wasn’t so surprising with Amelia given her stage of development. Her flight feathers are all in and she has very little downy white plumage left. However, we have never had a nestling that looks like Niles, with all his fluffy white down, go onto a veranda. The two of them seemed to be having a great time, interacting, flapping their wings, exploring, and napping. As it happened they would remain there for the balance of the day. At 8:25 there was a food drop, we did not see it but suddenly Niles had food at the back of the veranda. It didn’t look very large and was probably just scraps. At 10:25 Ares was on his pillar perch to the east of the nest and Astrid was on the State Building. It was still raining. Astrid flew over to the roof of the nestbox at 10:34. Ten minutes later she came to the crossperch. The nestlings became excited, but they did not try to scramble back into the box. At 11:46 Ares brought food to the far edge of the west veranda. Astrid flew over to take it and immediately lost it to Niles. Niles brought the food to the back of the veranda. He then spent some time picking at it. Poor Amelia was missing out once again. At 11:50 Astrid went into the nestbox with leftovers of the white Pigeon she caught the day before. She ate some and then brought what was left to the west veranda. The nestlings were very excited. First, she fed Niles and then Amelia joined in and got a share.
At 12:22 PM Ares was back on his pillar. Astrid was on a pillar as well – one located to the west of the box. The nestlings were quiet and resting in the rain on the west veranda. In light of new evidence, we now think that Amelia is a male falcon. The camera that points at the veranda is not a fisheye and does not distort falcon sizes, and we could clearly see that Amelia (or “Amelio?”) is about the same size as Niles and clearly smaller than Astrid. At 1:47 Amelio was flapping his wings but by 2:18 both nestlings were napping. A minutes later they sprung back into action. At 2:20, probably Ares did a food drop. We missed seeing it but Astrid was feeding Amelio with whatever it was. At 2:32 it was raining again and the nestlings were flapping and horsing around. Being in the rain and the wind has accelerated the loss of Nile’s white down feathers, but he still has more than he should for a veranda bird. At 5:53 Ares was on the steeple and Astrid was on the State Building. The nestlings were active flapping and moving around on the veranda. At 5:55 Astrid came to the long perch. It was raining once again. At 6:32 PM Ares brought prey to the far edge of the west veranda. Astrid flew over and grabbed it but immediately lost it to Amelio. He picked at it for a while and then walked away from it. At 6:40 he went back into the nestbox, seemingly with little trouble – just a few flaps of the wings for balance and he was in. By then the rain was accompanied by some thunder and lightning. Niles was in the middle of the west veranda platform and didn’t seem to be in a hurry to go inside. By 7:00 PM he had moved to the near edge of the veranda platform. He was close to coming into the box but seemed content to stay where he was. By this time Astrid was on the steeple and Ares was on the State Building. An hour later Niles was on the edge of the veranda right near the box. He was facing in and nestled against the base of a pillar. Perhaps he wouldn’t be coming back in tonight. We shall see if he changes his mind later on. Goodnight all.
Fledge watch here we come!