Not a Great Day For Hunting & The Great Pigeon Rebellion is at Hand

Ares showed up this morning after taking what seemed to be a hiatus from the nest box. He was missing from 4:00 PM on Thursday until  just after 6:00 AM on Friday. Of course he could’ve been in the canyon all along and just out of view of our PTZ camera. He’s very good at hiding from our technology. When he did return he relieved Asrid from a marathon turn at incubation that lasted over 15 hours. Since Ares didn’t have any food tribute waiting for her, she tried hunting the canyon for a while but came up empty. When she tried to oust Ares from the box at 7:15, he didn’t want to leave. It took a while, but she finally succeeded by standing close behind him and looking determined.  Ares then tried hunting Pigeons. He made a play for one and was surprised when it came back after him! Was there a Great Pigeon Rebellion at hand? Were they mad as hell and not going to take it anymore? Could be. A few took up perching in traditional Peregrine spots on the steeple and the State Office Building. What was up with that? Perhaps these Pigeons were new to town and didn’t yet know the rules. Later in the morning, Astrid was trying to catch Pigeons again, but was unsuccessful. She finally opted to partake of some leftovers over on the hotel ledge. Later in the afternoon we thought the falcons were disturbed by an intruder.  Astrid had been on a high perch on the State Building and Ares was on the nest, when suddenly she began darting around the canyon. He came off the eggs to stand out on the nest box perch. It turned out the birds were upset by some people that were walking around and apparently sightseeing on the roof of the State Building. That kind of stuff never goes over well with Astrid. It was bad enough that a crane was active over at the County Building. Ares pulled a long shift on the eggs that lasted most of the afternoon and into the evening. He seemed to be making up for the previous evening when he was a no-show. Astrid finally came in and relived him at 6:00 PM.