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Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Saturday, March 4^th, 2023

A winter storm hit last night and this morning, bringing snow and sleet and some gusty winds. The snow and rain continued through most of the day. The temperature was at the freezing point overnight and got into the mid-30s by the afternoon. Ares arrived at the nest box at 6:06 AM. Astrid showed up on an east ledge 10 minutes later. Ares announced her arrival with squeaking calls. At 6:27 she was bowing and asking to mate. At the same time, she was trying to bring up a pellet. It shows that she can multitask! She came to the box at 7:09. At 7:20 Ares screeched to his pillar perch and Astrid called back to him from the box. She also did some work inside the box which included some digging around Ares’ crater of a scrape. At 8:12 Ares came to the box with prey. Astrid took it and flew off. At 8:23 Astrid was on a ledge and was calling. At 9:08 we noticed that Ares had claimed his own east ledge, and he appeared to be snoozing. At 9:52 he had moved to his pillar perch and was snoozing up there.

At 11:30 AM Ares was wide awake and Astrid was asking to mate. The pair mated less than a minute later. At 12:21 PM Ares was back up on his pillar perch. They mated on the East veranda at 12:42. Afterwards Astrid stayed on the veranda tucked in close to the window. At 1:13 Ares was up on the lookout post on the roof of the State Building. At 1:49 Ares brought another round of food to Astrid at the box. They had a tug-o-war over it before Ares let go and allowed her to take it. Astrid was on a steeple perch at 2:06. It was raining by this point. Astrid was up from the steeple at around 2:45. One of the Falcons showed up on the State office building at 3:30. We think it was Ares. He came to the nestbox at 5:20, stayed only briefly and then flew back to the State Building. He was still there at 6:00 PM while I was writing this. Goodnight all.

Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Friday, March 3^rd, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6Vx0T1DH9k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdV9HCuatfE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34msbQ11KHM

It got rather chilly last night with temperatures dipping down to 23°F. It warmed up during the course of the morning and by afternoon the temperature had reached 40°. We had a winter storm warning in effect for evening. Both falcons arrived on the north and west faces of the State Building at 6 AM. At 6:21 Ares came to the nest. A few minutes before 7 o’clock Ares brought a food gift to the nest. Astrid appeared out of nowhere and took it from him. We’re not sure where she went with it, but she didn’t go to the hotel. At 7:15 Ares was back to the box and Astrid was on a Steeple perch. They mated on the steeple a few minutes later. At 8 o’clock we heard some cackle calls. Probably one of the Falcons was reacting to a non-falcon raptor passing over the canyon. Afterwards we noticed that Ares was on a light pole on the roof of the bank. He was very close to one of our PTZ cameras. He did not stay there long. At 9:07 Astrid came to the nest box. A few minutes later, she moved out onto the east Veranda. Ares was up on his lookout post on the roof of the State Office building. We don’t know if he was hunting or looking out for intruders – possibly he was doing both. At 9:41 the pair mated on the east veranda. At 9:49. Astrid was back on the steeple and Ares was in the box adding another scrape to his pit project.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qiRF7VB50U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwqCMFiEH-Y

At 11:23 PM Ares screeched back to the box. At noon he began calling inside the box. Astrid had arrived on a west ledge, but soon moved to the west veranda. Five minutes later, the pair mated on the veranda,. Ares returned to the box right afterwards. At 12:35 they mated again. And once more at 1:19, and again at 1:30. Five minutes later, Astrid had gone to an east ledge, and they mated there at 1:43. At 2:15 Astrid was on the crossperch at the box and was asking to mate. At 2:40 Ares was calling at the box. At 3:05 Astrid was up and Ares moved to the east veranda. We wondered if there was a food transfer that we missed. At 3:29 the pair mated once more, this time on the west veranda. At 3:54 Ares brought food and Astrid took it on the East Veranda and flew off. At 4 o’clock Astrid began hazing the 15th floor. Someone must’ve gotten too close to one of an office window and Astrid was scolding them. Ares was watching his mate from inside the box and issuing chirping calls. At 4:19 the Falcons mated again, this time on the east veranda. At 5:03 Ares was back in the box and Astrid came to an East ledge. He left a few minutes later, but then was back at 5:24. Astrid arrived on an east ledge a minute later. She was up at 5:56 and he left five minutes later – both off to night perches. Goodnight Falcons.

Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Thursday, March 2^nd, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1M0CF602AQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_obDwAez-Q

The overnight temperature remained close to the freezing point. The morning was overcast with high temperatures of 37°. Light rain came in the afternoon. The wind also picked up and was that was especially evident in the downtown canyon. Ares arrived at the box at 5:15 AM. Astrid came to the crossperch a few minutes later but did not stay for long. Ares flew out at 5:37. A half hour later he was on the State Building. At 6:40 Ares returned to the box and seemed to be quite excited. Astrid came to the crossperch 10 minutes later and the two did some conversing. They mated on the west veranda at 6:57. At around 7:15, Ares brought a food gift to the box. Astrid took it and flew off. He was on the long perch for a while after that and then he hopped into the box to work on his super scrape. At 9:09 both Falcons were out of view.  Ten minutes later, both falcons showed up on the State Building. There they remained, and were quite inactive for the next few hours. Just before noon it had started to rain. The wind was also becoming more intense. Once again the canyon transformed into a wind tunnel.  At 11:50 one of the falcons did some high speed aerial acrobatics on the wind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWVoZ043aGc

At 12:32 PM Ares came to the box. He was wiping his bill a lot which meant that either he just ate or he gave Astrid another food gift. Of course, the two actions are not mutually exclusive. At 12:46. He was excitedly calling inside the box. Astrid came to the crossperch a few minutes later. Astrid opened her wings and floated off like a balloon in the wind. She came back less than a minute later. Neither bird stayed at the box for very long and by 1:12 both returned to high perches on the State Building. At 2:30 Ares came to the box. From there he went over to a west ledge, where apparently, he had some prey stored. He processed it for a little while and then brought it to Astrid on the State Building. Talk about service! She ate it on her ledge, while he guarded her from the next ledge over. At 2:47 Ares was back to the nestbox and giving chirping calls. We are not sure what that was about. By 3:15 he had returned to the State Building with Astrid. They were both there together for a while and then Astrid left, perhaps to retire early to her night perch. Ares came over to the box once more. By 4:36 he was up again, and likely off to his own night perch. Goodnight Falcons.

Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Wednesday, March 1^st, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scDmSz2si3Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUHbEgZNt4I

It was another chilly night with temperatures down around 25° F. During the course of the day it warmed up to about 35°. Some rain and snow came in the afternoon. Ares first arrived at the nestbox at 5:50 AM. Five minutes later, Astrid buzzed by him and landed on the ledge close to the nest, but somewhere out of our view. We think she was on a ledge below the box which is highly unusual. The falcons loudly conversed with each other for a while and that culminated with Astrid flying up to the crossperch. At 6:30, before daybreak, the pair performed their first dance of the day. He left two minutes later. At 6:48. We think Ares brought Astrid a gift but we’re not positive about that. Ten minutes later, he hopped into the box from the west veranda just as she landed on the crossperch. From there she darted over to the steeple. At 7:39 Astrid moved again – this time to an east window ledge. Ares returned to the box and to the crossperch at 7:56. At 8:05 the falcons had their second ledge display of the morning. She was standing over Ares’ super scrape for most of the dance. After he departed she made a scrape inside his mega scrape. This was interesting since the last time Ares had a super scrape, Astrid didn’t like it so much and preferred to scratch out her own normal-sized scrape on the opposite side of the box. At 9:39 PM Astrid was out on the crossperch and Ares was inside the box working on his crater project. There may have been a failed mating attempt at 11 o’clock. At 11:07 Astrid flew over to the west face of the State Building. Ares started giving long calls at the box. At 11:52 Ares came back to the nest with prey. Astrid immediately flew over and took it from him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0t9R-IDGEeg

At 12:10 PM. Astrid returned to the canyon after finishing her complimentary meal. When she flew in she zipped around the corner of the bank building, dashed by the box, and landed on the east veranda. Ares became very excited. He responded, predictably, by hopping into the box and giving squeaking calls. At 12:17 the pair mated on the east veranda, but it was very short and probably could not be considered a successful attempt. At 12:20 Astrid flew over to the west office perch (Deb’s Perch). She stayed there for a few minutes before flying off to some unseen place. Ares also was out of view until 2:30 when he showed up on an east window ledge. At 4:00 Astrid was on the east veranda and Ares was out of view again. Eighteen minutes later Ares brought food to the box and Astrid took it from him on the east veranda. She flew away with it but we couldn’t track where she went. At 4:50 Astrid was back from her undisclosed location and perching on the west veranda. At 5:10 Ares was at the box on the crossperch and Astrid was hazing the 15^th floor of the Bank building. At one point she landed at the box near Ares, but she stumbled and fell through the gap between the crossperch and the box! We couldn’t see how far she dropped before she was able to deploy her wings. Regardless, she recovered quickly and did a couple of close passes by the 15^th floor before landing on the crossperch. She then started bowing and apparently asking to mate, but it was atypical how she was asking. She was fanning out her tail feathers and drooping her wings. It looked more like mantling. Indeed, this is how she acts when she tries to hide her Pigeon from Ares – except for the fact she had no food. As it happened Ares wasn’t interested in mating and he flew off – probably to his night perch. Astrid remained at the box until a few minutes before 6:00 PM. Goodnight all.

Utica Peregrine Falcons Update for Tuesday, February 28^th, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxTbSAz_zmA

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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQP-gfZeMBg