Peregrine Breeding Log for June 9 – 10, 2019:
Sunday, June 9th started out warm and it got warmer. By noon the temps were close to 80 degrees. Astrid was on the east veranda at the beginning of the night, but I’m not sure where she was after that. Ares brought a small food item to the box at 3:15 AM. Astrid came out of nowhere to take it. A chick grabbed it away from her and she flew out. A similar thing occurred again about 15 minutes later. At 5:04, we noticed at all four nestlings were picking at food scraps in the box. We also noticed how much darker they looked. White down feathers are shedding from them quickly now. Only Rue still retains a large amount of white on his back. At 5:07, Ares arrived at the box with food. Astrid flew in and took it but was quickly robbed by one of the chicks. Astrid wasn’t happy about it this time. She stood on the crossperch and gave stern cries. She may have also been telling Ares to get more food. At 5:12, Astrid hopped into the box, picked up a food scrap, Rue charged up to her and she flew out. A few minutes later, Archie was standing on the lip of the box peering out into the canyon.
For some reason Penelope has developed a dislike for the whitewash camera. We saw her kick up and grab it with her talons. That was a new one! At 5:53, we relocated Ares. He was on a window ledge well to the east of the nestbox. After visiting the box and getting screeched at, Astrid was up and down from her State Building perch a few times. She was obviously in hunting mode. By 6:20, she was on top a pillar to the west of the nestbox. Meanwhile, Archie grabbed at Rue’s tail with his foot. At 7:35, Astrid brought something sizable (Pigeon most likely) to the nest. After prevailing in a three-way tug-o-war with two of her chicks, Astrid conducted a very standard feeding in which all the nestlings were reasonably well-behaved. It looked like all of them rotated and so all received a good share. At 8 AM, the meal was finished, and she left the box. The parents continued guarding the box through the morning, often taking positions on either side of the nest. Periodically the increasingly cagey young would have a screech-off in the box. At 11:17, I though Astrid had been out of view for a while, but then noticed that she had been tucked in on the east veranda. She left right before noon and Ares took her place on the veranda. He came onto the crossperch for a minute and when he did the kids went wild with sharp squeals and mad bouts of wing flapping. Penelope went crazy on the whitewash camera again, kicking at it repeatedly and then biting at it. I wish she would just rub her feathers against it. That might clean it off enough for us to see through it again.
At 12:13, All four nestlings were standing next to each other and peering out into the canyon. They watched their mother fly up and toward the bank building. All four heads moved in unison as they tracked her passage through the air. At 12:37, Ares was giving cackle-type alarm calls from the east veranda. The nestlings had just been shrieking, but suddenly they all quieted down. Ares flew over to the steeple, gave a few long calls and then came down on the crossperch and gave the kids something to scream about. He was obviously distracted. Perhaps he could see an intruder. He flew off to the west. The chicks called and adjusted their heads as they watched him in the distance. At 12:51, Archie mounted the lip of the box again. He soon jumped back onto the nest floor. At 12:57, Astrid came out of the sky and plunked down on the roof of the nestbox. We weren’t sure what that was all about. She soon slipped over to a perch on the steeple. Ares screeched over to the east veranda at 1:11. He moved onto the crossperch and was rushed by four lunatics. He took off again but came back only two minutes later with a cuckoo. He tried feeding the nestlings from the rim of the box, but the chicks were not in a cooperative mood. One of them grabbed the meal and put an end to dad’s experiment. He flew back into the canyon. At 1:14, Ares returned to the nest with a cuckoo in his talons. He started trying to feed it out from the lip of the box but one of the nestlings grabbed it away and that was that.
At 2:15, Ares was back to check on the chicks. They called wildly and he moved onto the east veranda. Astrid came to the box at 2:26. She tried to pick up a scrap of food from the floor, but the chicks hurried her back to the crossperch. She came in again and picked up the cuckoo that Ares had brought an hour earlier and flew off with it. She went to a window ledge on the State Building and possibly stored it there. At 2:40, Ares landed on the east veranda perch. The chicks went bonkers. He left and then came back with food five minutes later. Astrid flew in and took it. She bought it into the box and started plucking and feeding it out. Rue was the only one getting any and even he didn’t get much. After a couple of minutes she took the food and flew out. She flew around with the food a little, which is something that we expect her to do when she’s enticing young to leave the nest. However, it’s a little to early for that behavior – we hope! At 3:02 PM, Astrid flew from the State Building to a window ledge east of the nestbox. A half-hour later she was on the steeple. The parents were doing a lot of moving around. Ares did a chick check at 3:43 and then hopped out on the east veranda. When they do maneuvers like that, we believe they are showing the young how to get to the verandas. Ten minutes later he came back to the crossperch. That made the nestlings screech like they were possessed. Ares did another chick check at 5 PM. He brought food to the east veranda at 5:37. It was a cuckoo. He came into the box and almost started feeding the nestlings, but then flew out with it instead. He hovered with it for a moment and then flew over by the courthouse. He then banked east and went over the county building. He was playing on the wind – perhaps showing off to the youngsters in the box. Once he landed back on the State Building, Astrid flew over to a window ledge located west of the nestbox. From there she moved to the lower steeple.
At 6:22, Astrid flew north with purpose, as if she were in pursuit of something, which I suppose was a possibility. The parents were out of view for a while after that. Meanwhile at the nest, Archie was getting interested in the lip of the box again. He started by keeping one food up there, but soon enough, he had both in place. At 7 PM, he was on the rim and flapping. Parents were back and on the State Building. Astrid arrived at the box with prey (Black-billed Cuckoo). She didn’t even try to feed it out, she just heaved the prey into the box and got out of there. At 7:15, Archie and Penelope were both at the edge of the box. Archie got back up on the lip and remained there for some while. He would come down for a minute and then hop right back up At one point he came down to eat a scrap of food and then went right back onto the lip. Meanwhile, Rue was eating whatever Astrid brought earlier. At 8:46, Astrid left the State Building and landed on the long perch. This made Archie come back fully into the box. The chicks got a little wild at that point. Penelope stomped on Keisha at one point. Right before 9 PM, Astrid went to the east veranda. Archie hopped back on the lip of the box but didn’t stay there long. Ares was still visible on the north face of the State Building. I think all were in their night positions, at least for a little while. Goodnight all.
Monday, June 10th began on a mild and remained so through early afternoon. Temps hit the 70’s by noon. Steady rain came in the afternoon and temps cooled. Astrid started out the night on the east veranda. We’re not sure where she was after that. My recordings had stopped for much of the night. Ares brought a small prey item to the box at 3:15 AM, but Astrid didn’t come to take it, neither did he give it to the chicks. He left with it. An hour later Astrid visited the box, but there was no feeding. At 5:06, Ares brought a cuckoo to the box. Astrid flew in to take it. She brought it into the box and a nestling promptly relieved her of it. Both parents left while the food was deposited at the back of the box. The parents gave it another try only two minutes later and brought (of all things) a Least Bittern to the nest. That drew more interest from the chicks, but it eventually ended up on the floor as occupied themselves with begging for more food. Archie was going up and down from the lip of the box with increasing frequency. At 5:24, Ares was heard giving long calls. Ten minutes later, we saw that he had prey on the hotel. At 5:42, he brought the food over to the box, Astrid took it but then fell through the gap between the lip of the box and the crossperch. She was seen a few minutes later, on the hotel but without the prey. At 5:48, the parents tried it again and with what looked like the same prey, this time Astrid got it into the box only to lose it in a tugging contest with one of the feisty chicks. Astrid looked not at all pleased that she lost it.
At 5:49, the nestlings were doing some self-feeding. Keisha and Rue were holding down food with their feet and picking at it. Penelope replaced Rue a few minutes later. Meanwhile Archie was feeding on his own. At one point a short tug-o-war took place between Archie and Rue. Later on, Keisha and Archie were tugging at the same chunk. It seemed like a free-for-all most of the time. At 6:05, Astrid landed on a window ledge west of the box. She had prey and was plucking it. Archie went back up onto the lip of the box. At 6:20, Astrid came to the nest with most of a Pigeon. She started trying to do a proper feeding and it worked. Archie sat out the beginning of the meal. It looked like he had a fair crop anyhow. The feeding was over at 6:51 and Astrid was out. At 7:30, both parents were east of the east veranda. All was relatively calm and things were status quo for a couple of hours. At 9:47, the nestlings were getting more restless. By 10 AM they were starting to screech. Ares came and did a chick check at 10:10. Another chick check by a parent took place only a minute later. Archie was back to the lip of the box at 11:37. Astrid gave a cackle call from the eat veranda. I may have been a warning for Archie to get back into the box, which he did. Work had resumed on the State Building’s north face and Astrid was monitoring it closely.
At 11:48, Ares screeched through the canyon. He came to a window ledge west of the box. Astrid met him there, took the food and flew. At noon, she brought the food to the box. Penelope grabbed it from her and Astrid flew out again. At 12:10, a three-way tug-o-war was taking place in the box. Kiesha almost got the whole thing. Meanwhile, Archie was out on the lip of the box again. He was spending increasing amounts of time there. At 12:49, Keisha was doing a lot of wing flapping. Loose feathers were swirling around the box and streaming out into the canyon. At 2:42, maintenance workers were descending the north face of the State Building in suspended scaffolding. They worked despite the rain which had begun falling steadily. Astrid and Ares remained on the Adirondack Bank building monitoring the ensuing work and the nest. At 4:10, one of the nestlings was giving a cackle call. There seemed to be no reason for it. Both parents were in place and by that time work had stopped on the State Building. At 4:48, a massive amount of wing flapping in the box sent another cloud of feathers drifting out into the canyon. Archie climbed back onto the lip of the box at 5:23.
At 5:25, Astrid was plucking a Pigeon on the hotel ledge. She brought the food to the box at 5:35. Keisha tried to steal it, but Astrid prevailed and carried out another excellent feeding. All four nestlings behaved themselves (more or less) and fed in turn. The meal was over at 6:06, after which, Astrid was up and flew over to a pillar perch west of the box. Ares did a chick check and went over to the west veranda. At 6:16, Archie was back on the lip of the box. He couldn’t get enough of it. He was up there again an hour later and peering over at the west veranda where Ares was. At 7:22, he began making us nervous. He was spreading his wings and bobbing his head. It seemed for a long moment that he was considering skipping a few steps of prep and fledging! Penelope biting at his tail and stomping on his wing distracted him. At 7:42, he came back into the box and seemed content to be a nestling again. Ares was on the State Building at that point. Soon after, Astrid moved from a pillar to the east veranda. Despite occasional bouts of restlessness form one or the other chicks in the nest, he birds seemed to be in place for the night. Or so I thought! At 8:14, Ares screeched to the box with food. Astrid flew over, scrambled along the crossperch to take it and them went into the box where she lost it to Archie. Archie pulled it to the back of the box, but soon abandoned it. Rue ended up feeding on it while Archie got onto the lip of the box again. Astrid and Ares took pillar perches on either side of the box. By 9:00, Ares was up and all seemed settled again. Night all.