Ares
On Saturday morning, Ares delivered a prey item to Vera in a way that seemed more like a parent-offspring exchange than a courtship gifting. Rather than using the gift to entice her back to the nestbox, he flew to a place about twenty feet away from where she was perched on the roof of the State Building and made a drop-off. Vera responded by holding out her wings and loping across the roof to collect the food. Her behavior gave off fledgling-like vibes. This dynamic, with Ares acting more like a parent with his offspring than a mate providing a gift, adds an incongruous wrinkle to their pair bond and highlights the gap between the two falcons’ maturity levels.
By mid-afternoon, however, Vera seemed to switch gears. She and Ares shared a string of exuberant ledge displays, punctuated with frequent “beaking”—a term for the mutual bill swiping— sometimes a feature in Peregrine bonding sessions. These interactions suggested deepening conventional pair connection. Most telling was Vera’s extended time in the box after each dance. At one point, she flattened herself on the stones and lay quietly. This was probably just an instance of the raptor sunning herself, but perhaps there was an aspect of practice incubation mixed in.
The next day, Vera continued experimenting with nesting behavior. Following a ledge display around midday, she once again laid down on the gravel inside the box in a posture nearly identical to a brooding falcon. Shortly after, she was seen on a hotel ledge lying low with what appeared to be prey tucked under her wing. These episodes may not signal immediate egg-laying, but perhaps they suggest Vera is mentally rehearsing the process—testing her instincts, mimicking nesting postures, and edging closer to truly breeding.
