The winter storm hit the region during the overnight hours continued well into the afternoon. The snow fell sideways in the strong winds and temperatures lingered just below the freezing point. Ares flew through the snow, wind, and darkness, screeching to the box at 4:15 AM. Astrid wasn’t visible anywhere at the time and our PTZ two camera was obscured by ice (it remained that way for the remained of the day). Ares vocalized a few times but mostly appeared to be snoozing inside the box. That changed when Astrid arrived at 6:32. The two shared a brief dance in which Astrid paused for a moment to ingest some stones. At 6:34 she had already flown to a high perch on the State Building. At 7:24 their was a food exchange at the box. We don’t have details regarding the transfer, nor do we know if Astrid took the prey over to the hotel. At 9:00 AM A&A were both in the box for another ledge display. This one lasted seven minutes and featured some beaking but little fancy footwork. Ares dove out at the end and Astrid stayed to do house chores. At 9:22 we noticed that Astrid seemed to be watching for Ares. Perhaps she was hoping for another gifted meal. Meanwhile, sound from a parade on Genesee Street was distracting Astrid. The annual Saint Patrick’s Day Parade was happening, despite the winter storm. The event seemed to be lightly attended and there were only a few marching bands. We did hear a lot of shouting which made us think the crowd was trying to make up in decibels what it lacked in number.
At 10:42 Astrid was calling in the box. Ares came over ten minutes later, and the pair did a classic incubation switch; he came into the box, got behind her, she flew out, and he took her place. Indeed, it was smooth, the only problem being is that there are no eggs in the nest. Was this a practice run for incubation switching? At 11:13 Ares vocalized when Astrid landed on the State Building. Both were out of view for a little while and then Astrid landed back on the State Building. He was seen flying away from her perch a little while later. Perhaps that was a mating attempt? For the next ninety minutes he was mostly at the nest but would made repeated quick forays into the canyon, returning to the box each time. Were these mating attempts? Possibly, but we couldn’t hear his mating chatter over the sound of the unrelenting wind. At 12:54 PM both falcons were at the box. They shared a very brief dance and then Astrid went out onto the crossperch, opened her wings, and sailed away on the wind. By 1:30 PM the snow began to let up. Ares left the box and then came right back with a blackbird. He called for less than a minute and then flew out into the canyon again. Presumably he flew by Astrid’s perch with it (not that we knew where she was perched). He came right back and still had the bird, lingered for ten seconds, and then sailed out again. Perhaps he gave it to Astrid that time, but we couldn’t know for sure.
At 1:50 PM Ares was back at the box and squeaking. At 2:13 Astrid joined him at the nest for a third ledge display. There was a lot of beaking involved and he was out after a couple of minutes. After that he was perched on the State Building. During the afternoon the temperature dropped into the low 20’s and the wind made it seem colder. At 3:45 the falcons were partaking of yet another ledge display. He was out about five minutes later. We weren’t sure when Astrid left. As for Ares, he was in and out of the box several times before 5:30. After that we assume they both were off to their night perches.