Author: Matt Perry

Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Saturday, April 22^nd, 2023

It was cool overnight with some light rain showers. By morning it was sunny and the temperature was in the low 50’s. The temperature peaked in the mid-seventies by midday. A storm front came through in the evening and dropped the temperature back into the fifties. Astrid was on the nest all night long. Ares came at 5:07 AM and they did a quick switch. He got onto the eggs and she bolted out the door. It was dark out but Astrid’s wings caught the ambient light from the city as she floated in front of the west face of the State Building. As she checked out the contents of Ares’ pantry, she resembled a white balloon or a UFO. Perhaps she found something palatable. We saw her next when she landed on a ledge on the north face of the same building. Ares called out when she landed and clued us in. At 10:10 Ares was vocalizing on the nest. We don’t know if that was because of what Astrid was doing or some other reason. Perhaps he wanted to be relieved. She came to the crossperch at 10:32 and then hopped into the box. She crowded up behind Ares and he got off the eggs pronto. She took over incubation as he darted off.

At 1:23 PM Ares was on his pillar perch preening. Five minutes later he dove after something. He must’ve missed it because he came to the box less than a minute later. They did a quick switch; Ares took over incubation and Astrid went to the State Building. The next changeover was at 2:28. That time Astrid took over on the eggs and Ares was out. He was out of view until the next switch at 4:40. By 5:20 Astrid left the State Building where she had been perched and then it was her turn to be out of camera view. At 6:53 PM we noticed that Ares was sleeping while on the nest. At that point it was clear that a storm was coming in from the southwest. Astrid was back on the State Building and was likely to come back to the nest before the storm hit. She came and relieved Ares at 7:13 PM. The rain had started, and Ares was out of view. Goodnight all.

Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Friday, April 21^st, 2023

It was cool overnight with temperatures in the high forties. Come morning the temperature climbed quickly and we hit the mid 70’s by midday and 84 by late afternoon.  Astrid sat on the nest through the night as expected. Ares was on a window ledge just west of the nest area at 4:00 AM. He was busily plucking something we couldn’t see. I suspect it was a Woodcock. He came to the nest at 4:11 without it. We think he stored it on one of his pantry ledges on the State Building. Astrid screeched quite loudly as they switched. It was likely she was expecting a meal. An hour later they switched again, and Astrid came back on the eggs. We don’t know if she had gotten any breakfast or not. At 6:18 Ares came to the long perch with a small prey item. She scrambled over the crossperch to take it. She flew off with it, but we were not sure where to. Meanwhile, he got comfortable on the eggs. She made a visit to the crossperch at 6:30 – just for a check-in? Ares didn’t stir. Clearly, he wasn’t ready to leave so soon. At 7:10 she tried again. She used gentle persuasion – beaking with him and not being pushy. It worked. He got up and flew. At 7:44 Astrid was calling while on the nest. It was possible Ares was dealing with an intruder, but we couldn’t confirm it. It was also possible he was actively hunting in the canyon, and she was just reacting to his efforts. At 8:47 Ares came to the box. He walked around behind her to compel her to leave. In other words, it wasn’t gentle persuasion. Regardless, it worked. Astrid was out and he was in. At 9:30 Astrid landed on the crossperch for another routine check-in. She was out again before Ares reacted. At 9:44 AM Ares left the eggs and the box and flew in pursuit of what was likely a male Peregrine intruder. The two birds darted off to the south. Astrid wasted no time coming to the box and resuming incubation. There were lots of raptors migrating through the region on the favorable winds, so we weren’t surprised the falcons were having issues. A Turkey Vulture floating over the canyon at 10:46 elicited no reaction from the falcons. By that time Ares had returned from his policing and was perched on the steeple.

At 12:15 PM the falcons switched, and Ares came back on house duty. Astrid initially flew to a ledge on the State Building. At 2:15 we heard a cackle-type alarm call from Astrid. Likely she was reacting to a passing non-falcon raptor or vulture. At 4:10 it sounded like another falcon intruder was in the canyon. This time Ares gave a few high chirps and then darted out of the nest. He seemed to be highly agitated. Obviously, he was in pursuit of something. When he left, the eggs were alone, but not for long, as Astrid came out of nowhere to resume their incubation. As for Ares, he was heading north after whoever it was that pissed him off. At 6:28 the falcons changed places. They did it very fast and businesslike. They did their final changeover for the day at 7:38. Astrid came onto the nest and Ares headed for the west face of the State Building. Goodnight all.  

Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Thursday, April 20^th, 2023

It was cold overnight with temperatures in the mid to low 30’s. Clearing skies in the morning led to a warmer midday. It was in the mid-50’s by lunchtime and in the 60’s in the late afternoon. Astrid spent all of last night on the eggs. As referred to in yesterday’s post, she relieved Ares at just before 2 PM on Wednesday and he never came back to relieve her. Essentially, she sat incubating from 2 PM until 5:30 AM when Ares finally showed up. Interestingly, we didn’t notice her calling out for him, nor did she fly out and try to fetch him. We never did locate him with the cameras. Our best guess was that he was out on an extended hunting trip and was, perhaps, filling his pantry ledges on the west face of the State Building. So, Ares finally showed up for a switch at 5:28 AM. He took over incubation and Astrid flew into the canyon. At 5:52 she was flying around the west face of the building and perusing Ares’ pantry ledges. Apparently, she selected something. After perching on the west face for a little while, Astrid brought her meal over to the hotel. She ate it, but wasn’t satisfied. At 6:09 Astrid was on the northeast corner of the building’s upper ledge. She was in hunting mode. She made a couple of fast forays to the east, each time returning to the corner. She was back to the box for a changing of the guard at 7:29. At 9:36 Astrid was vocalizing while sitting on the nest, and she kept calling periodically (about every 5 minutes) to get Ares’s attention. She kept this up for over an hour. Meanwhile Ares didn’t seem phased or compelled to do anything. We think she was asking for him to bring her food.

At 10:42 AM the pair switched again, and Ares was back on the nest. At 11:23 Astrid was back on the hotel corner and, once again, she was hunting. She moved to the State Building at 12:47 PM. At 1:30 it was Ares’ turn to vocalize. He starting making chirping calls – the kind he gives when there is an intruder in the canyon.  He flew over to the State Building and landed near Astrid. She flew to the box and resumed incubation. She was still calling out to him after the switch. We believe that she wanted him to bring her some palatable prey – you know, for a change. At 3:28 Ares returned to the nest and the two falcons did a fast changeover. Astrid was on the State Building for a while but then she was out of view. At 4:34 PM we noticed that she was feeding on something on the hotel. She had either caught something herself (presumably a Pigeon) or she found something good in Ares’ cupboard. There wasn’t enough left of it for us to identify it at such a distance. At 4:44 she was on the steeple perch and her crop was pretty big so she had eaten well. Meanwhile, it was getting warm in the nest box and Ares was panting. The temperature was in the low 60’s but the sun was flooding the box. Ares was switching between shading and incubating. At 5:00 PM Astrid came to the crossperch. She sat there for about five minutes before coming into the box and relieving Ares on the eggs. This would be the last switch of the day. Ares was on the State Building for a little while after that and then up on the lookout. He flew from there at 7:15 PM. Goodnight falcons.

Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Wednesday, April 19^th, 2023

The overnight was cold with intermittent mixed precipitation. The low was 35 degrees and the high for the day was only 41 degrees, although it felt colder due to a persistent wind. Rain and snow fell periodically through the day. Astrid was on the eggs all night long. Ares first showed up on the State Office Building just before 6:00 AM. The falcons did a quick switch at 6:06 and Ares took over incubation. The next changing of the guard was also quick and took place at 7:44. Astrid then took over on the clutch. At 9:21 Ares was seen flying high over the southwest part of the canyon. Likely he was hunting. Astrid called out when he returned and landed on the State Building. At 12:04 PM Astrid vocalized again when Ares was floating around the west face of the State Building. At one point he darted off towards the east at high speed. At 12:23, another quick switch occurred and Ares had a turn on the eggs. At 1:55 Astrid was back and another switch was at hand. Astrid quickly settled down on the eggs as Ares floated off on the gusty wind. At 5:07 Astrid was still on the eggs and Ares was nowhere in sight. We wondered if he was going to get one more shift in before nighttime. As it happened, we didn’t see Ares for the rest of the day. That meant that Astrid was going to have a marathon sit on the eggs – lasting the balance of the afternoon, and all night. Indeed, she couldn’t be too happy about that. Goodnight all.

Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Tuesday, April 18^th, 2023

It was cool and rainy overnight. The temperature was in the high 30s. Conditions did not change much during the day. The high temperature was only 43 degrees and there were intermittent rain showers. Astrid spent the night on the eggs. Ares showed up on the State Building just before 6 AM. He moved from a ledge to his lookout post at one point. At around 6:10 he came to the box and the pair did a quick switch. She went over to the State Building while he worked to cover all four eggs. At 6:46 Astrid was on the steeple. She wasn’t there for long and soon went somewhere invisible to our cameras. At 7:24 she was back to the State Building. Ten minutes later she landed on the crossperch at the nestbox. She quickly discerned that Ares was not ready to go and she flew off once more. At 9:11 Astrid was back, and this time Ares did allow her to take over on the nest. When he left he headed to the exact same ledge on the State Building that Astrid had been on. At 9:30 Astrid began calling from the box. Ares was dealing with an intruder. Both Falcons headed off towards the north with Ares in pursuit. Ares returned only a minute later and landed on the lookout post. He moved to a window ledge after a couple of minutes. At 10:30 Astrid was calling again. We don’t know what brought that on. Perhaps the intruder had returned. At 11:37 Ares was on the State Building again. Ten minutes later he came into the box to try to have a turn incubating. Astrid did not want to leave. There was a lot of conversation, but she opted to stay and flew out. He floated back over to the State Building. The next changeover happened at 12:58 PM. It was a quick switch. Ares took over on the eggs and Astrid was out.  At 2:34 There was another changing of the guard. This time Astrid took a turn. By this time, it had gotten colder and we were getting intermittent mixed precipitation. We didn’t see Ares for a while, but at 5:10 Astrid started calling like she saw him. Sure enough he showed up on the State Building right after that. Just when we were starting to wonder if he was ever going to relieve her on the nest he showed up on the west veranda with food. Astrid got off the eggs, danced across the crossperch, and took the food from him. She flew over to the hotel to eat it. After she finished it she pulled over some hunk of leftovers that had been sitting on the same ledge and started picking at it. She didn’t seem to like it and, after a minute she flew over to the State Building. At 7:21 the falcons did their last switch of the day. Ares flew over to the State Building and Astrid settled onto the eggs. He was off to his night perch fifteen minutes later. Goodnight all.