The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
FALCON EGGS BEGIN HATCHING
Ares and Astrid: Peregrine falcon pair welcome latest brood
UTICA, N.Y. » The first hatch of Utica’s resident peregrine falcons started early Wednesday morning.
The two falcons, named Astrid and Ares, occupy a nest box located on the 15th floor of the Adirondack Bank building in downtown Utica. The female falcon laid four eggs back in early April; the first hatched at 7:02 a.m. and the second hatched at 10:37 a.m.
Both hatches were monitored via streaming internet cameras. Members of the Utica Peregrine Falcon Project had predicted the hatch day based on when the parent birds began incubating the eggs and said peregrine eggs normally take 29 to 34 days to hatch once incubation begins.
The relatively long hatching process began Tuesday evening when a hole, known as a pip, appeared in one of the eggs. Soon after, begging calls could be heard from the chicks within.
This is the fifth consecutive year that Utica’s falcons have produced young. In 2014, this pair became the first of their species ever known to successfully raise young in Utica or Oneida County. Ten years ago in 2008, Utica had its first pair of nesting peregrine falcons named May and Tor. The pair nested on M&T Bank’s Gold Dome building, but never produced viable eggs.
Peregrine falcons remain listed as an endangered species in New York state. Back in 2013, in an effort to assist in the falcon 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 was formed to safeguard and monitor the birds and their nest site. There are currently over 75 pairs of peregrines known to be nesting in New York State, with half of those nests in cities.
Updates on the falcons as well as streaming from the Utica nest site is available at uticaperegrinefalcons. com or the Utica Peregrine Falcon Project Facebook page Falcon Watch Utica.