Peregrine log March 4, 2019
On Sunday, March 3rd, Ares showed up on the State Building at around 6 AM. A half hour later he came to the box and began chirping up a storm. He was watching Astrid fly through the canyon and up to her perching place on the State Building. She was on one of the corner perches we call lookouts. At 6:40, he gave a long screech call, darted out of the box, and mated with her right there on the roof. We don’t often see that! A little while later, both were manning corner lookout positions. Astrid was in hunting mode and she made a few forays – each time returning to the lookout. Ares came back to the box but didn’t stay long. By 7:30, both falcons were out of view and remained so for almost two hours. At that point the pair were relocated on the hotel where Astrid was digging into what appeared to be leftovers. At 11:30, Ares came to the box and unleashed a torrent of chirping calls. That meant Astrid was most likely in his sight. Ten minutes later Ares gave a few cackle alarm calls. He seemed serious that time and indeed, there was another Peregrine in the canyon. The stranger flew in from the southeast and headed north. Both Astrid and Ares pursued the bird but all three quickly went out of our camera view. Surprisingly, Ares was back at the nestbox only a minute later and Astrid, a few minutes after that. She took a perch high on the State Building. Just before noon both resident falcons were up again, and we didn’t see either for an hour. Ares was first to return to the fold. He had caught a Starling and proceeded to eat it on the hotel. Could he have gifted it to Astrid? Sure, but he didn’t. When he was finished, he returned to the box and stayed on guard until around 3:30. Astrid spent much of that time just sitting on the ledge at the hotel. After 3:30, the falcons began doing a lot of coming and going from the lookout positions on the State Building. One or the other would shoot out on a hunting foray and then come right back. For a while they were like bookends – one on the northeast corner and one on the northwest. By 5:30, they were both out of view and we presumed they retired to their night perches.
On Monday March 4th at 5 AM, we already had one of the falcons in view on the State Building. It was probably Ares, but we couldn’t be sure given the distance and the lack of light. Before dawn, crows were silently flying through the downtown canyon. They weren’t upsetting the falcons and the falcons weren’t upsetting them. By 6:30 Ares had prey (A Starling) and he ate it on the ledge of the hotel. A half hour later, he was gone and Astrid was on the lower ledge of the same building eating prey, something she probably caught herself. After that, the falcons were very low profile. Occasionally Ares would show up on the State Building, but neither seemed interested in coming to the box, doing displays or mating. Snow flurries became more numerous by late morning and the falcons hunkered down. At 2:25 PM, Deb was informed about a dead raptor found near the back entrance of the Adirondack Bank Building. It was an adult Cooper’s Hawk and evidently it impacted against something and had broken its neck. We don’t know if the Peregrines had chased it or not. There were no signs of damage on its body or plumage that might implicate them. Still, the hawk was working the falcons’ territory and that couldn’t have been appreciated. It was also a very windy afternoon and its not hard to understand how a bird inexperienced with the canyon could make a miscalculation. The incident happened sometime between 1 PM and 2:25. At 4: 30, one of the falcons made a brief visit to the nest box – Astrid, I think. It was the first time one of them had visited the box that day. Ares came screeching to the nest 15 minutes later, but he too lingered for only a few minutes. By 5 PM, crows were flying freely through the canyon again. The falcons had likely retired to night perches by then.