Monday, March 15th, 2021 – Two Intruder Day & No Matings

Overnight was very cold and somewhat windy. Temps got as low as 13 degrees. The morning was mostly sunny but still cold and with a biting wind. Temps got close to the freezing point in the afternoon, but the wind was unrelenting. There were no overnight visits to the box by the falcons. Ares arrived at the nest at 6 AM. He came in silently which is not typical for him. Astrid came to the crossperch 40 minutes later, but didn’t stay for more than a few seconds. She probably wanted her breakfast. Ten minutes later Ares screeched off into the canyon. He made a couple additional visits to the box in the subsequent fifteen minutes but then was out of view for a while. Astrid made a few rapid in and out visits to the nest just after 9 AM. The cold and wind seemed to suppress falcon activity, particularly in the morning. A few times we heard what sounded like distant calls from Ares, but we didn’t know where he was. We later found that he had spent some time out of the wind on the sunny east face of the Adirondack Bank. He showed up at the nestbox at 11:27. Astrid appeared on the State Building at about the same time. A few minutes later Ares tucked his face into his shoulder and fell asleep in the nest. He woke up and started giving long calls after she flew from her perch at 11:52.

At 1 PM, Ares was in the nestbox and calling like he had his mate in view. He flew off screeching towards the County Building. He then flew south, dropped altitude, and went west behind the State Building. It’s possible he was trying to scare up the Pigeon flock for Astrid. She made a few plays for Pigeons before taking a perch on the east face of the State Building. At 1:47, Ares gave a major cackle alarm call and blasted out of the nestbox. The Pigeon flock had been stirred up and were dashing through the canyon. The culprit was a Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk and both falcons were driving at it – swooping up high and then diving down on him but not striking. The Red-tailed lost altitude as it went behind the State Building, over Genesee State and then south, with both falcons hazing him the whole way. We think they took exception to the Hawk trying to poach their Pigeons. At 2:20, the falcons were engaging a different intruder. This one was a female Peregrine. Apparently, they escorted it out of the territory without much trouble since both were at the box again only a few minutes later. Astrid hopped into the box to dance with Ares but then quickly changed her mind and dove back into the canyon. At 4:06, there was a food transfer at the nest. The pair had a bit of a tug-o-war with the prey before Ares let his mate take her gift. While she was eating her meal on the hotel, Ares wiped his bill, screeched, and flew out of the nest. He was back only a few minutes after.
The falcons kept a low profile for the balance of the afternoon. At 6:22, they both converged at the nest box one more time. They did a lively ledge display that consisted primarily of vocalizations. Ares flew off into the canyon 5 minutes later. At 7:22, he was back at the nest. Astrid landed on a window ledge west of the box, and the two birds did some conversing, but there was no ledge display and no mating. In fact, there were no confirmed matings all day. The wind and cold temps were no doubt responsible for the wet blanket thrown on the falcon’s agenda. A&A remained on their respective perches for only a little while. Both were gone by 7:30 PM. Good Night Falcons. Hopefully, Tuesday will be milder.