The overnight was cold and windy with intermittent snow squalls. The temperature got down to around 15 degrees. Snow continued off and on through the first half of the morning. There were also breaks of sun. The temperature creeped up into the mid-twenties by noon and into the 30’s in the afternoon, but the wind continued to a factor. Ares screeched to the nestbox at 5:15 AM. At 6:53 Astrid flew through and landed on a high perch on the State Building. Both falcons were in the air right after that and we were not sure if there had been a mating attempt or not. Just like on Saturday, the sound of the wind inhibits our ability to hear Ares’ mating chatter. At just before 7:00 Ares was back to the box and Astrid was again on the State Building. About ten minutes later there was an aborted mating attempt. Astrid turned around on her ledge and scuttled Ares’ approach. At 8:00 Ares left the box. He flew over and landed on the same windowsill as his mate and the two shared a brief conversation. He then buzzed by her twice in what appeared to be a flight display. He returned to the box afterwards. At 8:07 Ares began giving a loud cackle-type alarm call at the nest. Some non-Peregrine raptors must have been flying through the territory. After a minute of calling, he scrambled into flight. Shortly fallowing that he was perched on the State Building.
At 9:00 AM we heard Ares’ mating chatter from somewhere nearby. As it happened, Astrid had come to the steeple and that’s where they mated. At 9:15 both were at the box for a lightning-fast ledge display. Ares was again calling from the nestbox at 9:23. She joined him there and the pair had a proper-length dance. Astrid spent quite a while alone in the nest box after that. It was almost as if she was incubating eggs. For most of the time she was looking out in the canyon, watching for Ares to come back, and watching for interlopers. Raptor migration has been underway, and each day brings a good chance that hawks will be flying through A&A’s territory. At 11:23 Astrid started calling when she saw Ares sailing into the canyon. He took a perch on the State Building; a high, north-facing ledge where he had a good view of the nest and of the north and west parts of the territory. At 12:15 PM the falcons did a classic switch at the nest. It was just like the changeover they do when seamlessly sharing incubation duties – except for the fact that there are no eggs in the nest yet. Ares made squeaking calls as he watched his made dart around the canyon on the winds. She flew over to the western part of the territory and into West Utica. Likely she was looking to get a Pigeon. Ares seemed to understand that she was hungry. He left the box and then came right back with something from his pantry. He called out for her to come and get it – and that she did. The exchange took place on the crossperch and she took her gift over to the hotel to eat. Moments later he joined her there. It wasn’t a very large meal, and she was done by 12:36 – only ten minutes later.
Between 1:20 PM and 3:15 Ares was back and forth to the box at least four times. We didn’t hear or see any mating attempts during that period, but we could have easily missed one, given the constant wind sound and the fact that Astrid was spending a lot of time on buildings that were fairly distant. At 3:19 Astrid was in the nest, but we weren’t sure when the changeover took place. She proceeded to do some housekeeping activities. The pair mated on the crossperch at 3:26. Five minutes later Ares was in the box and she had flown. Another mating occurred at 4:12. That one happened on the steeple and so did the next. He was up and back several times before 5:00. At 5:00 Astrid had come to the crossperch and the two falcons conversed with each other. They were both back on the State Building after that. As it happened Astrid had taken a windowsill perch – we think the same one she had been on earlier in the day. At 5:45 the pair performed another very quick ledge display. Astrid started giving some Donkey calls which are – more or less, her version of a begging call. Coming right up! Ares sprinted and grabbed a bird he had in storage. The pair did the food transfer on the crossperch and then Astrid flew away with her prize. Ares came back to the box squeaking at 6:25 AM. This time Astrid didn’t show up; instead, she most likely was off to her night perch. Ares remained at the box area until about 6:26 PM. Goodnight all.