Thursday started out chilly with light snow falling. The wind had already kicked in and the temperature remained at or close to the freezing point. By the afternoon the sun was out, but it stayed chilly and the winds never ebbed. Astrid and Ares arrived together at the nest box at 4:48 AM and performed a long ledge display. Like other recent dances, this one was characterized by a comparatively slight amount of movement by both participants. Also, as has been the trend, beaking took place toward the end. Astrid remained at the box after Ares left. She did some calling and at least a couple of scrapes. One scrape was on the opposite side of the box from Ares’ mega scrape. At around 6:50, they had switched; Ares was at the box and Astrid was on the State Building. At 7:50, Astrid had just left the Hotel and landed on the roof of the State Building. Ares joined her there and the two preformed a short ledge display up there. Although we had previously seen the pair perform ledge displays in other locations, that was the first time we had seen them do one up there on top of the world. Forty minutes later, Ares brought prey to the box and Astrid came and grabbed it. She took it over to the snowy ledge of the hotel to eat. It was hard to tell what she was feeding on since it was hidden by the snow. Both were on the State Building for a while after that. At 11:07, it was Ares turn to be feed on the hotel. He was gripping the food right up against a snow drift, so we could see a little of it. It didn’t appear to be the same thing Astrid had been feeding on earlier. At 11:50, the pair mated on the State Building.
Early afternoon was fairly active. Ares did some screeching in the box. At 1:30, the pair mated again on the State Building. Fifteen minutes later, Ares became upset by something. His cackle alarm calls were heard, but no one saw what the cause was. Was there an intruder? Could it have been another Peregrine? For about 15 minutes the pair was unaccounted for, but soon enough things were back to the status quo, with Ares at the nest box alternating between giving his long screeching calls and working on his scrape. The next notable action occurred at 4:30, when Ares arrived at the box with fresh prey. Astrid was across the canyon on the State Building, but would not come over to take the tribute. Ares tried to entice her over by flying by her perch with the prey in his talons, but Astrid still wasn’t biting. Soon Ares was back at the box, but without the food. Presumably he had stored it. At 5:15, Ares did some nice flybys of the State Building. He was kiting and soaring on the strong winds. It probably was for Astrid’s benefit, but it didn’t seem like a conventional flight display. Ares spend a lot of time at the nest box after that and Astrid remained on her perch on the State Building. As early as it is in the season, it’s possible that she’s gearing up to lay her first egg. We hope she holds off for a while, but that’s not something no one can control, not even Astrid. At 5:45, both falcons left their perches and sailed into the canyon. We thought that that would be the last we saw of them for the day, but then at 6:30, Astrid was spotted on the hotel ledge eating a Pigeon. Later on she went over to a ledge on the north face of the State Building. Ares landed on the roof of the same building at about 7:10 and then he made one last visit to the box 15 minutes later. This was around the times the crows were passing by the canyon and retiring to their own night roosts. That turned out to be the final falcon sighting of the day.
