Tuesday, March 1, 2022 – Breeding Behavior Ramps up Again & The Falcons Get Back to Nest Guarding

Ares snoozing on his pillar perch

The overnight was cold but not as cold as it had been in recent evenings. The temperature was close to 20 degrees in the early morning but rose to the low 30s by noon. Strong wind marked the morning but died down my midday. At 5:16 AM Ares arrived at the nest. He made squeaking calls after arriving, but we don’t believe Astrid was in view. At 6:26 he began calling more seriously which meant he did see her. Minutes later Astrid showed up on a window ledge to the east of the box. Almost immediately, she started calling and asking to mate. He dove from the box, boomeranged back, and came close to landing on her. But at the last minute, she tucked in on the ledge, causing him to abort his mission and to veer off. It was another “Lucy and the football” moment. In other words, it was an aborted mating attempt. Ares came right back to the box and began calling again and she was quick to call back. At 7:37 we noticed that Ares was having a snooze in the box. He was awake a little later and the pair had a back-and-forth conversation that continued on and off for ninety minutes. During that time, she moved over to the east veranda. At 8:40 the pair successfully mated. Afterwards, Ares flew up to his favorite pillar top perch on the Bank Building. Within 20 minutes he was snoozing again. She tucked in on the east veranda but as far as we could tell, she stayed awake. At 10:00 she moved out onto the veranda perch. From there she flew into the canyon, but then came directly back to the box. By that time Ares had left his pillar. As he called from some unknown location, she hopped into the box. She stayed there for about twenty minutes and then left. He arrived on the west veranda shortly after she left. They seemed to be taking turns guarding the box.

At 12:15 PM both falcons piled into the box for a lively ledge display. The first half of their dance was characterized by lots of beaking. The second half was more of a standoff. Ares left after about 6 minutes and Astrid stayed on to do some housework. Her chores included digging in the back corner of the nest and biting the wooden lip of the box. In between she made a scrape in the gravel. At 12:27 she moved onto the box’s crossperch. From a high ledge on the State Building, Ares made repeated forays into the canyon. It was clear that he was hunting. At 1:44 he brought prey to Astrid at the box. She accepted it and took it over to the hotel to eat. Ares spend a minute wiping his bill on the long perch and then he hopped over to the west veranda. At 1:53 Astrid had finished her meal and flew back to an east ledge. Ares called as she took her place and he moved back into the nestbox. Within minutes of her return, she was calling to Ares and signaling her desire to mate. He dove out of the box, circled, and flew over to her. Their mating was a little on the short side, but it seemed otherwise to be successful. Following the mating, Ares flew up to his pillar perch and became involved preening his feathers.

At 2:00 PM Astrid moved over to the east veranda and the pair mated there 20 minutes later. Afterwards Ares returned to his pillar perch. At 2:32 they mated again. Interestingly, the pair were staying very close to the box today – essentially, guarding it. At 3:00 he had come to the box and was calling. The next mating happened at around 3:15. Following that she moved to a ledge just west of the veranda and Ares went back to his pillar. The weather had deteriorated by this time. It had started snowing and then the snow turned to rain. The temperature had reached the low 40s and now was dropping back down. At 4:30 A&A mated once more, although this one was very short, and we probably shouldn’t count it. At 5:15 PM we thought Astrid had left her ledge since we couldn’t see her with the PTZ camera. As it happened, she was still there, just tucked in. Her location was confirmed when we heard her voice coming from somewhere very close to the box. She was calling to Ares who was still on his pillar perch. At 5:30 Astrid left her ledge, possibly chasing after something. Ares got very excited. He came to the box and started calling. In less than a minute she flew back and landed on a ledge to the east of the box. She stayed there only for a few seconds and then darted out again. Ares stayed at the box until about 6:00 PM and then he retired to his night perch. Goodnight.

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