Egg Laying is Over, Mating Has Ceased & Intruders Continue to Vex Our Pair

Peregrine Breeding Log for April 8 – April 9, 2019:

Monday, April 8^th started out wet and mild, with temperatures in the 50’s. Rainfall began in the early morning hours and was intermittent through early afternoon. Later in the afternoon the skies partially cleared, but the wind also picked up. There were some impressive wind gusts after mid-afternoon, but those alleviated by evening.

If Astrid was to have laid a 5^th egg, she would have done it this morning, but as it happened she passed on the opportunity to break her 5-season long record of only laying four. Also, there was no instance of mating confirmed today. We likely have seen the last of that behavior for the season. Unsurprisingly, Astrid was on the nest all night long. Ares first became visible on the State Building at around 6:10 AM. The pair did a quick switch at the box only five minutes later. Astrid was located perching on a window pillar west of the nest box at 6:45. She came to the box 45 minutes later and gently negotiated with Ares for a few minutes before ousting him and taking over on the eggs. Less than ten minutes later Ares screeched through the canyon, which is often his way of declaring he has prey. However, this time we couldn’t confirm it. At 8:00, he made a lighting fast visit to the box. He vocalized but didn’t have anything in his talons. Deb said that maybe he was stopping by to take Astrid’s order. He was back at 8:40, and again he had no food for her, he just wanted another turn at incubating. When Astrid was intransigent, he used her own ousting technique against her. He got up right behind her and stepped on her tail! It worked, she shifted and left the box and then Ares climbed onto the eggs. At 9 AM, Astrid was on one of the window pillars again. This time she seemed very distracted by something taking place below her. She kept looking down and cocking her head. She did that for quite a while and we never could figure out what she was reacting to. At 10:45, Astrid returned to the box and started negotiating with Ares about doing a switch. She gave her donkey-type calls and engaged in some beak swiping. He obviously wanted to stay, but she pressed her case and the two switched. Every season Astrid seems to get nicer and more respectful in her interactions with Ares.

For the next couple of hours, Astrid remained on the nest and Ares was on and off the State Building. The wind gusts were getting stronger during this period and there were a few impressive downpours. Just before 2 PM, alarm calls rang out in the canyon. There was likely an intruder. We missed it, but the falcons switched at some point. Ares got onto the eggs, but then flew out of the box again. Fortunately, Astrid was back on the eggs a few minutes later so there wasn’t much of a gap in incubation. At 3:00, Ares screeched to the box with a small piece of prey. Astrid took it over to the hotel to eat. He left too, but then was right back on the eggs. At 3:30, one or possibly two intruders were stirring up trouble again. Astrid the enforcer blasted through in pursuit and was back to the box only moments later. She then spent about 6 minutes gently trying to persuade Ares to yield the nest to her. He finally gave in and she was back to incubating. At 5:30, he was back and trying to get another shift on the eggs, but she wasn’t going for it. He gave up and went over to the State Building. He remained there until about 7 PM and then we assume he went to his night perch. As for Astrid, she was in place for her nightly vigil.

Tuesday, April 9^th began with mild temperatures and partly clear skies. The mercury surged well into the 60’s by mid-day. Rain and even a few thunderstorms came through in the early afternoon. As expected, Astrid had the night shift on the eggs. Our first look at Ares was at 6:15. He was on the corner of the County Building. At 6:30, he screeched up to the box and relieved Astrid on the eggs. She was very anxious to leave. At around 6:50, I glimpsed Astrid landing on the only one of the steeple perches we can’t see with our PTZ cameras. I saw the tip of her wing just before she landed. A few minutes after that, Ares abandoned the nest and was heard calling from somewhere in the canyon. The pair were obviously having some kind of interaction, but it was all off camera. She came back to the nest at 6:54, and he met her there with prey. He must have gotten it out of storage, since I don’t think  he could’ve caught something that quickly. Regardless, she took the prey over to the hotel and had her breakfast. By 7:10, she was back on the steeple, except this time on a perch where we could see her.

At 7:50, my connections to the cameras all went down. Our website feed also stopped working and so I lost sound. We didn’t know what was happening for about a half hour. When the cams came back up, Astrid was on the eggs. Obviously, they switched out at some point. At 8:53, Astrid was calling and she came off the nest. There likely was an intruder in the territory. We could hear her vocalizations echoing through the canyon. Three minutes later, she was back on the eggs and Ares was on the State Building. At 9 AM Ares came to the box. He wanted to relieve Astrid, but she didn’t want to leave. He gave up and went over to the east veranda and then out into the canyon. At 9:47, he tried again. This time she was ready to go and yielded the eggs to him promptly. At 10 o’clock, Astrid was up and we didn’t see her again for a few hours. At 11:30, Ares flew out of the box but then came right back and got back on the eggs. Perhaps he left only to confirm where she was. She showed up on the east veranda at 11: 44. She was giving donkey calls and didn’t seem very happy. Apparently, some work was taking place on the State Building roof and now they have cables stretching down the east face of the building. That’s guaranteed to put Astrid’s beak out of joint. The pair switched at 11:50, and Astrid took her place on the eggs. Ares was high on the north face of the State Building. The rain and thunder rolled through at about 12:20. There were some significant gusts of winds associated with the front.

After the rain stopped, at 1:50, Ares came screeching through the canyon with prey in his talons. He brought it to a window ledge west of the box. While he worked on it, he kept it behind a pillar and out of our view. We thought he’d bring it to Astrid once it had been processed, but he flew off with it instead, screeching as he went. When he did come to the box ten minutes later, he didn’t have the food. Astrid left without complaint and Ares took over incubation. At 2:25, intruder alerts were sounded. Our falcons were up, and the eggs were left uncovered. Deb saw 3 falcons flying high above the canyon. Apparently, they decided it was a job for Astrid and so Ares returned to the nest. As it was the eggs were only left alone for 2 minutes.  Maybe Ares saw some sparring action from the box because at one point he gave a cackle call. She came back home to the State Building at 2:35. Ares left the nest at 3:19 and Astrid came in one minute later. She settled down on the eggs and remained there for the rest of the afternoon and into the night. We didn’t see Ares again on camera for some time. Finally, he showed up on the State Building at around 6 PM. We don’t know how long he remained before going to his night perch. Goodnight all.