First chick hatches

UTICA>> The city’s peregrine falcons have welcomed their first chick of the season.

Around 7:18 p.m. Tuesday, the first of four chicks hatched in the Downtown Utica nest kept by Astrid and Ares, Utica’s resident pair of breeding peregrines.

This is the third consecutive year that Astrid and Ares have produced young. In 2014, this pair became the first of their species ever known to successfully raise young in Utica or Oneida County.

Peregrine falcons remain listed as an Endangered Species in New York state. Back in 2013, in an effort to assist in the falcons’ recovery, a specially designed nest box was installed on the 15th floor of the Adirondack Bank Building in Downtown Utica. The Utica Peregrine Falcon Project (UPFP) was formed to safeguard and monitor the birds and their nest site.

There are currently just over 70 pairs of peregrines known to be nesting in New York state. About half of those nests are in cities.

The Utica Peregrine Falcon Project, which monitors the progress of the nest via web cameras, predicted Tuesday’s hatch based on when the parent birds began incubating the eggs on April 1. A further indication that May 3 would be the hatch day came early Tuesday morning when a hole appeared in one of the eggs. By noon, begging calls began to be heard from the chick inside the egg.