The overnight was cold and damp with temperatures dipping below the freezing point. It warmed up to 50 degrees by midmorning, but a steady wind made it seem colder. For the most part the day was sunny. Ares arrived at the nest with a Woodcock at 4:20 AM. He then called for his mate to come over. While he waited on the crossperch, he plucked his quarry. At 547 Astrid showed up on an east ledge. As usual, she showed no interest in the Woodcock. At 6:11 she moved to the east veranda. Ares was standing on the lip of the box with his gift clenched between the talons of one foot. A few minutes later he brought it to the east veranda and tried to get Astrid to take it, but she still was not interested. She preened her feathers, asked to mate, and looked at the scenery; she did anything and everything to not pay attention to the guy with the Woodcock. He kept moving closer to her but it didn’t make any difference. Finally, she flew off and he chased after her with it. Most likely he stored it on the State Building. Astrid ended up on the hotel where she likely was contemplating catching something more palatable – probably a Pigeon. At 7:02 both Falcons came to the nestbox. The pair mated at 7:06 and then again 5 minutes later. At 7:48 Ares was on the County Building and Astrid had returned to the east veranda. He came to the box at 8:10 and she started a conversation with him. At 8:55 he was giving high pitched chirp-type alarm calls which likely indicated the presence of a falcon intruder in the canyon. Since Astrid wasn’t getting involved, we assume it was a male Peregrine. At 9:10 AM Astrid was on the steeple. She left to join Ares at the box for a dance. He dove out of the box about 5 minutes later.
At 9:30 AM Astrid was tucked in on the west veranda and Ares was on the State Building. When he left at 10:18 she became animated and started calling on her veranda perch. At 10:35 we heard Ares screech from somewhere in the canyon. Astrid jumped out of the box and sailed on the wind in a circle. Both of them then converged at the box but she didn’t stay. She dove out and then buzzed by the 15th floor. It’s likely that something upset her, but it wasn’t too serious because she only did one pass and was not giving alarm calls. She went to the State Building after that. By 11:15 both falcons were perched on the State Building on adjacent legends. At 12:14 PM the pair conducted a ledge display at the nest. Fifteen minute later Ares then brought food to his mate. Astrid hopped into the nest to accept the gift and then flew over to the hotel. Ares did a slow pass in front of our PTZ camera on route to the hotel where he took a perch only a few feet away from Astrid. At 12:39 Astrid had finished her meal and was back at the State Building and Ares was back in the nest. Both were on the State Building again at 1:00. Astrid took off at one point but then landed back on the same building. For the subsequent three hours Ares came to the box several times. He called very excitedly whenever Astrid flew or changed perches.
At 4:22 PM Ares left the box giving a cackle alarm call. There must have been a non-falcon intruder in the canyon, but we didn’t find it with our cameras. Presumably Ares warned it off or escorted it out of the territory. He was back to the box only a minute later. Astrid soon joined him there for another ledge display. Once he was out, she stayed to do housework in the box which included the all-important task of digging in the corner. At 5:48 Astrid was back in the box and calling. She was up again moments later. At 6:00 PM Ares did the same thing – excited calling in the box and then jumping into the wind. After 7:30 PM both falcons were out of view. We expect that Tuesday will be another active day in the canyon. On Wednesday we enter the beginning of Astrid’s egg-laying-window. Goodnight and stay tuned.