Another Very Active Day in the Canyon

The falcon family got an early start this morning with two feedings between the hours of 3 o’clock and 4 o’clock. Ares brought more prey to the box at 5:30 AM, and then still more an hour later. Following that, Astrid left the chicks alone while she got in some nice flying time. It was relatively warm out and so the chicks could be left alone for longer than usual.  For the most part she seemed to be flying in half-circles around the west face of the State Building and soaring back and forth over Genesee Street. During this time Ares was perched on the north face of the same building. Astrid kept landing on different window ledges in quick succession. It was almost as if she were playing a game. Honestly we weren’t sure what she was up to, but her maneuvers were leisurely and didn’t seem to be indicative of anything amiss. First launching out from the State Building and then from the steeple, she made forays after pigeons but each time returned empty handed. She did seem very intent on getting a Pigeon this morning.  Meanwhile the nestlings in the box had begun calling on and off, but neither parent seemed in a hurry to placate them. Ares finally flew over to the box, but didn’t seem content to remain there. He kept walking over to the perch and then back to the heap of chicks and then back to the perch again. We believe he was distracted by Astrid’s antics. Soon enough Astrid was back at the box and at about 10:10 AM, Ares brought in a small prey item. As usual, Astird conducted the feeding. By noon, neither parent was present at the nest box. Astrid resumed hunting for Pigeons, but again they proved elusive. She had just headed off toward the northwest and the Utica Marsh when a group of five Turkey Vultures entered the airspace above the canyon. She immediately doubled back and warned the intruders off. By 1:30, she had come back to the box and Ares was on watch for prey and intruders. He flew low around the canyon a few times and then landed on a window edge on the Adirondack Bank, just west of the nest box. There he had evidently stored food. He perched there for a little while and plucked the sparrow-sized prey. Afterwards he brought it over to the box. Astrid took it from him on the box’s perch and then went to feed the chicks. And then for some reason, she gave a chatter alarm call. There was nothing we could see in the vicinity and Ares wasn’t acting like there was anything wrong, but perhaps Astrid saw some distant hawk that only a raptor’s eyes could make out. At 4:15, Astrid was giving more “alarm” calls, but these calls were a lighter sort of chatter and instead may have been only an expression of excitement. It turned out that Ares had just caught a Mourning Dove and was busy plucking it on the church steeple. When he was done he flew away with it and presumably stored it. Just then Astrid came to the box with prey, but it wasn’t the dove that Ares had been processing. No, it was an unrecognizable hunk of something. She carried out the feeding and shortly thereafter took leave of the nest for a while. She was seen perched on the State Building while Ares went to spend more quality time with the chicks. It was funny to see him contemplating the writhing heap of cotton that he had been put in charge of. He’s always a little unsure about how to approach the chicks, much less how to get them all tucked beneath him. To be fair, he had never had to deal with four chicks before. Astrid finally did catch her Pigeon and at about 5:45, she was busily plucking it on the high ledge of the hotel. She ended up eating quite a bit of it before returning to the brood and feeding them the sizable chunk that was left. At 7:00 PM, and just when we thought everyone was more than sufficiently stuffed with food and happy, Ares arrived to the nest with the dove that he had cached earlier. Astrid took it and did yet another feeding. If things keep up like this the chicks won’t be able to fit in the box before the week is out!