Peregrine Log March 8, 2019
Thursday, March 7th was another cold day. In the early morning the temperatures were marooned in the single digits. By noon, we hit 20 degrees, but the wind kicked in with a vengeance and negated any benefit. Ares arrived on the State Building at a few minutes before 6 AM. An hour later he came to the box and simultaneously Astrid landed on the State Building. Ares responded to seeing his mate with a great amount of excited chirping, but then, fifteen minutes later, he was dozing. At 6:30, she flew to the west veranda perch. That woke him up and brought him back to the pinnacle of excitement. Soon after they shared a lively ledge display that lasted nearly ten minutes. After the dance, he dove out of the box and she did a small amount of housekeeping, but she stopped short of making a scrape.
Following about an hour long absence from our view, Ares came back to the nest and Astrid returned to her favorite window ledge located west of the nestbox. There was some spirited communication between the two, but they didn’t dance again, nor did they mate. Astrid left the box at 9:30, but then returned less than ten minutes later, and this time she perched on a ledge east of the nest. Again, Ares produced excited chirp-calls, but she wasn’t budging. The falcons kept these positions until around 11:15, and then Astrid flew out of view. Ares left too, but returned in the early afternoon. Astrid played on the wind before him and elicited some excited chirping. In mid-afternoon, they were coming in and out of view of our cams at irregular intervals. Ares made a couple of visits to the box. At 4:10, Astrid swooped over to the hotel with prey in her talons. She came in remarkably fast on the gusty winds. Ares flew in right with her but didn’t put down on the hotel. Instead, he took a high perch on the State Building while she fed. This time Ares didn’t bother Astrid during her meal. In fact, he allowed her to finish without any interference. At 4:54 PM, Ares was chirping again, but this time it was an intruder and not Astrid that warranted his calls. Soon it was clear that we had three falcons in the canyon. Ares soared around with the unknown Peregrine for a while and then perched on the roof of the State Building. At 5 PM, Astrid was done with her meal, she launched from the hotel ledge and pursued the intruder. Both contenders rose high and then disappeared from our camera view. Ares went over to the hotel and polished off Astrid’s leftovers. When finished, he tore off to the east. And that was the last either were seen that day.
Friday, March 8th, began cold, but the sun was on duty and temps rose quickly into the high twenties. We got our first falcon view at 6 AM. It was probably Ares, but within five minutes both were at the nest area. He was in the box and she was on a window ledge to the east. Between them there was lots of lively vocalizing. As usual, he was trying to interest her in coming in for a dance. To those ends he walked in circles and made a few pseudo scrapes. It was almost as if he was performing a ledge display all by himself. As for Astrid, she had other ideas. Her stance and calls indicated she was asking to mate. So at 7:00 and then again at 7:20, that’s just what they did.
By 7:30, Astrid was on the hotel feeding. It was probably something she procured for herself, but we couldn’t be positive of that. Interestingly, just like the previous day, Ares didn’t pester her while she fed. Perhaps those days are over? We didn’t see where Ares was at all during the time she was feeding. Once she was finished, she took a perch on the State Building. He suddenly reappeared, flew back to the nest and began emitting long, shrill calls. He seemed to be filled with angst, but it’s not at all unusual for him to behave that way at the start of the breeding season. He won’t be satisfied until there are eggs in the box! While Astrid remained on the State Building for the balance of the morning and for part of the afternoon, Ares was in and out of the box frequently. At 2:30, Ares was on a window ledge west of the nestbox. He was plucking and then feeding on something – probably a starling. He may have eventually gifted it to Astrid, since she was seen feeding on something like it a little later on. Fifteen minutes later both were at the box again. They were vocalizing up a storm. Astrid was giving some of her strange donkey-like calls, but again, she wouldn’t come into the box. The pair mated, and then did it again only 20 minutes later. Their fifth (known) mating of the day happened at 4:30 PM. The falcons remained active for the rest of the afternoon, Alternately visiting the nest and the hotel. At just before 5, Ares was seen feeding on the hotel. It appeared to be a bat and, if so, it would be the first one of the season. At the end of the day, the falcons were still highly active and sometimes vocal, and we were beginning to think that an intruder was the cause. However, we could confirm no intruder. Both resident falcons spent some time on the lookout perch, but never was a third falcon picked out by our cameras. As Deb was leaving the canyon (5:45), She spotted Ares tucked well into a window ledge on the State Building’s east side. Astrid was manning the lookout post. Good night falcons!