Peregrine log February 28, 2019
It was a very cold morning on Wednesday the 27th with temps starting out in the low single digits. Ares made a dramatic screeching entrance at the nest box at 6:20. His subsequent squeaking calls indicated that Astrid was somewhere close by. About 20 minutes later she landed on a window ledge just west of the box. Soon after, there was a failed mating attempt. It seemed Astrid turned sideways on the ledge just as Ares was coming in to land on her. In mid-morning both falcons spent time on the hotel ledge. At one-point Astrid was feeding on something. It wasn’t clear if it was leftovers or even if it was a gift from her mate. By noon, Ares was back at the box and Astrid was on the west window ledge again. He encouraged her to come over for a ledge display, but she wouldn’t comply. In the afternoon, snowfall became more intense, but Astrid caught a Pigeon despite the poor visibility and bad flying conditions. She brought her prize over to the hotel. During her meal, Ares made about four attempts to get a share. We weren’t clear if he was successful since the PTZ camera was not zoomed in on the action. After she had eaten for about a half hour, he tried to snatch the leftovers but she didn’t let go. Instead, the pair flew off the ledge together, both still grappling onto the food. They were soon out of the camera shot so we don’t know who ended up with the food or even if they lost it.
On Thursday the 28th, neither falcon was seen until nearly 9 AM when one showed up on a sun drenched ledge of the hotel. It was a full 2 hours later that we confirmed both in the downtown canyon. At just before noon, Ares came to the nest and Astrid landed on the ledge west of the box. They did some vocalizing, but there was no ledge display nor was there a mating attempt. As if to make up for the nearly falcon-less morning, Ares spend a few hours at the box in the afternoon. At 2 PM he issued a serious cackle-type alarm call, but didn’t leave the rim of the nest box. At the time Astrid also kept her perch on the hotel. Apparently, whatever it was Ares saw wasn’t worthy of a chase. About an hour later both falcons were out of sight. One soon showed up on the lookout post on the northwest corner of the State Building roof. The lookout is used for the purpose of hunting as well as for watching for intruders. At 3:45, Ares was at the box and chirping as if he saw Astrid, but we couldn’t find her with the cameras. A little while later, both falcons were out of view and not relocated.