Peregrine Breeding Log for April 28 – April 29, 2019:
Sunday, April 28th was another unseasonably chilly day. Early morning temperatures hovered around the freezing mark and by noon we had edged up to 44 degrees. Astrid was on the nest all night. Our first view of Ares was when he arrived at the box at 5:44 to take his turn at incubation. After leaving the nest Astrid flew around the State Building for a while – perhaps checking to see in there was any food in Ares’ pantry ledges. He chirped as he watched her flying. At 7:42 she came back to the nest and the pair switched. Astrid immediately nestled tightly down on the eggs.
At 8:15 and again at 9:04, Ares was heard screeching. He was probably calling as he flew off on hunting sorties, but that couldn’t be confirmed. Astrid called back each time she heard/saw him. At 9:26 Ares was perched on the hotel ledge – the northeast corner. He flew shortly after we located him. Their next changing of the guard happened at 10:02 and then Astrid was free to stretch her wings. At 11:21 she was on the same corner of the hotel we found Ares earlier. She came back to the box at 12:26 and the pair executed a quick switch. Ares was seen/heard flying at 2 PM and Astrid vocalized in response. He flew to the west face of the State Building and probably withdrew some food from the pantry. He then screeched as he flew through the canyon. He came to the box and offered it to Astrid. She eagerly accepted it and flew off as Ares took over on the eggs. It was only a small meal and she ate it very quickly.
The falcons switched again at 2:54 and Astrid was back on the eggs. Ares seemed to be making hunting forays off the State Building. Astrid called with excitement whenever she saw him take flight. The next switch took place at 6:15 and then Ares got a late turn on the eggs. Astrid took a perch on a window ledge on the State Building. This is something she does only when she’s sure no one is working in the adjacent offices. She doesn’t want to risk seeing people in a window. The windows beneath her ledge showed distorted reflections of the ADK Bank building and other nearby structures. It made it look like she was perched above a collection of modern art paintings. We never knew she was such an art connoisseur! The last changing of the guard took place at 8:00 PM. Astrid quickly settled down on the eggs. It was going to be a cold night. Ares was on the north face of the State Building for only a few minutes and then he was off to some undisclosed location.
Monday, April 29th had a cold start with temps just below freezing. Astrid was very tight on the eggs all night long as expected. At just after 5 AM she started to give her trademark donkey calls. She was anxious to be relieved from nest duty. Ares was on the State Building and wasn’t exactly rushing over. At about 5:15 he finally came and they executed the first switch of the day. The next changeover happened just before 7:00. After leaving the box Ares did a few hunting forays in the canyon, returning to the State Building each time. At 9:00 Ares had made a stop on the hotel ledge and was fanning out his tail feathers to catch some morning sun. Meanwhile the workers had begun cleaning windows on the west face of the State Building. That was likely the reason that Ares was staying on the hotel. Soon after, Ares was up again, but returned to the hotel at 9:26. Twenty-five minutes later he flew up to the nest box, but he was only doing a quick check. He flew right back out into the canyon. Both falcons were heard calling just after that, but we don’t know what prompted the outbursts. A couple of minutes later Ares landed on the steeple. He remained there until about 10:26 and then he was out of view for a while.
At 11:37, Ares came to the box and the pair switched. When Astrid came off the eggs, Deb got to look at them and saw there were no visible pips on any of the eggs. Astrid flew over to the north face of the State Building and remained there for some time. She came back to the box at 12:53 to take her turn, but Ares didn’t want to leave. She stood next to him for quite a while as they both lightly vocalized. She came in close and the pair swiped bills, but Ares still wasn’t budging. As it happened, she didn’t bully him and after 13 minutes of gentle persuasion she left the box instead of him. She was seen on one of the steeple perches a few minutes later. At 3:10, Astrid was back at the box and Ares was still insisting on staying. This time she left after only 2 minutes of conversation. It seemed like Ares was pulling a record-long incubation session (at least for this season).
At 4:20, she was back, and that time Ares yielded his place without complaint. He had been sitting for almost five hours. After leaving the nest he was on the hotel on a couple of different ledges. The last place he was seen was on the southwest corner of the upper ledge. The backdrop for that spot is the Utica Marsh. He left at 7:30 and probably went to a night perch. A few hours earlier when Astrid first came back onto the nest, she spent some time adjusting the stones around the scrape. She even got off the eggs a couple of times as she worked. She was being very fastidious about the nest. Was she expecting visitors? Good night falcons and all.