Still no Egg, but Much Excitement in the Canyon

Astrid spent most of last night in the nest box, but again she didn’t lay an egg. The morning was extremely exciting in the canyon. First a Turkey Vulture flew low through the canyon and elicited a warning call from Astrid. After that a male American Kestrel came through, landed on the State Building and then flew right by the pair as they perched on the same building. Shortly after that a first-year Peregrine Falcon came onto the scene with prey in its talons. The intruder landed on the east face of the State Building and brazenly began plucking and eating its meal on a window ledge. Both Astrid and Ares went into full hazing mode. They repeatedly dove at the young bird for the better part of an hour and a half. All the while the un-banded stranger remained out of reach and tucked into a deep window ledge. Astrid and Ares took a few breaks from their hazing efforts to come to the nest box and perform two ledge displays and also two matings. Finally, following another ten minutes of hazing, the intruder flew out of its safe place and started to fly southeast. Our resident falcons went after it and were seen sparring with it until all three disappeared from view. Astrid and Ares came back about a half hour later. And still the excitement was not over: In the afternoon, a pair of Red-tailed Hawks flew low over the canyon and were escorted to the clouds by Ares. The kestrel was also seen zipping through a few more times. As far as we know there was a total of five or six matings today, one or two food exchanges and at least five ledge displays. Astrid was very low profile in the late afternoon. She had expended a lot of energy during the morning and took advantage of the relative quiet period to get some rest. Ares tried hard to entice her back to the box in the afternoon and through early evening, but she wouldn’t come. Thanks to all the watchers that contributed details on what turned out to be a very active day in the canyon