Monday April 26, 2021 – Late Morning Intruder – a Known Bird?

It was another chilly and windy day. The sun was out for much of the afternoon, but it didn’t rid the chill from the air. Astrid was on the nest all night as expected. She got off the eggs and dove into the canyon at around 5:10 AM. Ares arrived less than a minute later and climbed onto the eggs. At 5:40, he gave light chirping calls as she flew around the State Building checking his pantry ledges for food. At 7:27, Deb saw Astrid on an east ledge on the Adirondack Bank Building. She was feeding on a Pigeon. Most likely she caught this one herself and didn’t find it in Ares’ cache. She flew around the canyon with the leftovers before storing them. She did some more sailing before landing on the State Building. She was back to the nest for a switch at 7:41 AM. At 8:54 Astrid was giving a cackle-type alarm call from the nest. Most probably she was reacting to a non-falcon raptor passing through the canyon.

At 10:27 AM Astrid was calling from the nest. Ares was out of camera view at the time, so we weren’t sure what she was reacting to. At 11:10, he was seen flying with an intruder. It was a near-adult Peregrine. It wasn’t an aggressive encounter and more resembled the type of flying a pair does during courtship. Astrid was not pleased and continually gave anxious warning calls, but she wasn’t leaving the eggs. It’s clear that the intruder was a known commodity to them – perhaps offspring from a previous year. Ares landed on the State Building roof at 11:26 and the other falcon flew around for a few more minutes before disappearing. It had gotten increasingly windy as the day progressed and when Ares came to the box at 1:03 PM, he appeared to just float to it. Astrid left immediately upon his return and floated off. At 2:13 she returned to the box and asked for a turn. It was a gentle request involving lots of beaking. From the fisheye camera it looked almost like they were performing a ledge display. He didn’t want to leave the nest and she let him stay. She was out of view until about 3:50 PM. He made some squeaking calls when she arrived back to the State Building. The next switch happened at 4:15. That time, Ares had no qualms about leaving. At 7:19 PM Astrid was calling from the nest and seemed to be upset. A falcon, presumably Ares, had landed on the lookout. She gave anxious calls for about ten minutes before settling down. Ares left the lookout post at close to 7:30. Goodnight falcons.