As it happened the falcons were not yet done for the day when I published the blog post last evening at 11:00 PM. Astrid piled into the box at 11:10, and Ares followed right behind her. He had a Woodcock dangling from his talons – probably one freshly pulled from the nearby Mohawk River floodplain. Astrid wasted no time in taking it from him but where she went with it, I wasn’t sure. I had no luck locating her with the PTZ cams. Ares lingered at the box for only a short time and then he too disappeared into the darkness. At 3:20 PM, the pair showed up at the box together. They did a lot of vocalizing but there was no courtship dance. Ares made his exit and Astrid remained to hold the fort. Ares came back at 5:15 and relieved her at the box. It was almost as if they had eggs in the nest, the way the were being so diligent about maintaining a presence. The first thing Astrid did after leaving was to fly back and forth in front of the west face of the State Building. Of course, this is where Ares’ main pantry ledges are. She had taken the woodcock from him earlier, but probably didn’t eat it. It never has been a favored food of hers. In fact, she only dislikes bats and cuckoos more. At 5:17 Astrid flew back to the nest. Two minutes later she was inside the box and the pair was partaking of a ledge display, albeit a subdued one. In fact, the pair barely made any moves. It was so dark in the box that Ares was almost invisible. We could tell that he was holding a posture similar to the one they adopt when incubating eggs. The pair spent a total of 45 minutes together in the box – that’s a long non-dance!
Ares left just before 6 AM, but then came back ten minutes later with a Robin. He plucked it on a window ledge west of the nestbox. Two minutes later he gifted it to Astrid at the nest. She took it to the hotel and made breakfast out of it. Ares spent some time at the box – occasionally giving long calls. Astrid joined him at 8:50, and the two had a lively conversation. A mating followed; and there were for more matings at the box during the subsequent ninety minutes! At 10:30 AM, Astrid left the box and perched on the steeple, but she was back to the nest only 15 minutes later. At 11:30 she began giving anxious chirping calls – the type falcons give when a Peregrine intruder is spotted. She flew into the canyon but was gone for merely ten minutes. She landed on a window ledge west of the nest. At the time Ares was at the box and he announced her return with some squeak calls. There was a failed mating attempt shortly after that. At 12:18 PM, Ares arrived on the west veranda with some unrecognizable ball of prey. He hopped over to the west edge of the platform and tried to give it to Astrid on her ledge. She came as far over as she could, stretched her head out to take it, but wasn’t able to get a grip on it. Ares held it out for a minute longer and then gave up and flew back into the canyon with it. He probably stored the it on one of his pantry ledges. Ten minutes later Ares was perched on his favorite pillar above the nest box. The pair mated again at 1:10. At 2 PM, both falcons were at the box performing a ledge display. This one was quite different that the last one. Both birds actually moved around! There was much bill swiping, bowing, and vocalizing. He bailed out of the box after four intense minutes of dancing. After he left, Astrid remained to do some housework – mainly digging around in the stones.
At about 4 PM, we thought there was an intruder in the canyon, but then decided it was only Astrid giving a swooping flight display for Ares. After that she flew around the State Building. Moments later she had prey and was on the hotel feeding on it. Whether she took it from Ares’ pantry or if Ares gave it to her, we weren’t sure. It may have even been the Woodcock he gifted to her the night before and she retrieved it from her own pantry. At 5:30, Ares joined Astrid on the same high ledge on the State Building. Perhaps they did a ledge display up there. He was back to the box a few minutes later. Astrid came to the crossperch and started chirping and looking up as if she saw an intruder. She dashed off, but not to chase anything. She only went to a perch on the State Building. Ares left the box at 6:15 and Astrid left her perch moments later. We presume both were off to night perches. Goodnight all.