The overnight was wet and cool. The temperature was in the mid-forties but dropped about 10 degrees during the course of the day. The wind was already strong and it picked up as the day progressed. There were no late night or early morning visits to the box by Astrid or Ares, which was likely due to the nasty weather. One of them showed up on the State Building at 5:37 AM, but we weren’t sure who it was. Ares screeched to the box with a Woodcock at 5:44. He immediately began calling for his mate. Astrid arrived moments later on the east veranda. She showed no interest in taking the Woodcock (no surprise) and he flew off to store it after about five minutes. The falcons mated on the east veranda at 5:51. At 6:46 Astrid was on the State Building and Ares was up on his lookout post. He came to the nestbox at 7:20, flew off and returned a few minutes later. He was calling anxiously and trying to get Astrid to come in for a ledge display. She went to the steeple at 7:34. They mated there a minute later and then both came to the nest – her to the east veranda. At 7:43 they mated on the veranda. At 10:04 Astrid was on the steeple and Ares returned to the nest from the State Building. He was very excited and trying once again to get her into the box. She moved to the west veranda instead. At 10:29 the pair did a ledge display in the box. She stayed inside to do chores after he left. At 11:10 Ares was at the nest again and Astrid was on the State Building.
Ares was in and out of the box about a dozen times in the early afternoon. It’s likely we missed some matings during this period since the wind was drowning our audio feed. We thought there was a mating attempt at about 2:22 PM. Ares brought prey to the box at 2:48. Astrid showed up to take it, but we don’t know where she went with it. The pair shared another ledge display at the nest a few minutes before 3:00. Again, Ares was in and out of the box fairly frequently during the late afternoon hours. For part of this time Astrid was on the west veranda. The wind was still an issue (for us) and it was effectively masking their sounds so we couldn’t confirm matings. Whenever they left the box, they would simply open their wings and let the wind carry them off. At 5:10 both falcons converged at the nest, but she didn’t stick around. They were on the State Building at 6:00 PM. Twenty minutes later Ares was back at the nest and calling for his mate. He left and then came back with her a few minutes later and the pair shared a dance. At 7:04 Ares came to the nest with prey but she never arrived to take it. He came back without it five minutes later. He left the nest at 7:28 presumably to go to a night perch. Goodnight falcons.