Astrid and Ares sure like to keep to a pretty steady timeline. Today was their first mating of the 2019 season. Last year the first mating took place on February 19th and in 2017 the first mating took place on February 18th.
Astrid did some housekeeping after the mating. She picked at some stones and bit the edge of the box – all pretty typical actions for her. She then flew over to land just two window ledges away from Ares on the state office building. Ares flew out and back a couple of times but didn’t do any flight displays in the morning.
We did receive a report that Astrid and Ares were seen flying around the state office building in the early afternoon. They seemed to be sharing some playful interactions.
As I left the canyon area late this afternoon, Astrid was tucked into a windowsill on the east side of the state office building and Ares was on the corner of the county building where he could watch over his mate and their territory.