Peregrine log February 24, 2019
On the morning of the 23rd (Saturday), Astrid and Ares mated at the box twice. There was also one failed mating attempt that took place in the afternoon. Around mid-morning Astrid caught a Pigeon and took it over to the hotel. As is typical, Ares perched next to her through much of the meal and tried to take a share. In response, she mantled and even moved the prey a few times. Ultimately, he did manage to steal a few chunks. After her meal Astrid perched on the State Building, while Ares mostly remained on guard at the nest box.
On Sunday morning, the falcons showed up in the canyon a little later than usual. Ares finally screeched over to the box at 7:10 AM (that was really sleeping in!) Ten minutes later Astrid showed up on a window ledge west of the nest box and the pair mated. At just before 8 o’clock, Ares brought a small piece of food to the box. Astrid jumped over from the west veranda to accept it, but then Ares flew off with it. This time however, he came right back and handed the food tribute off to her right inside the nest box. It was the first verified food gifting of the season. At 11:00, there may have been an issue with an intruder. Alarm calls were given by two falcons and two were seen speeding out of the canyon. Ares had come right back to the box, but Astrid remained out of view for a couple of hours. Did she escort another Peregrine out of the canyon? We don’t know and all our sound/video evidence was inconclusive. The falcons remained on guard for the balance of the afternoon. Ares was mostly at the box and Astrid remained perched on the west face of the State Building.