Once again the overnight period was cold. With morning came some snow flurries interspersed with breaks of sun. Temperatures climbed into the high twenties by midday and the wind picked up as the day progressed. We saw our first falcon at 6:14 AM. It was Astrid and she was perched on a high ledge on the State Building. Minutes later Ares arrived at the nest box and began giving squeak-type vocalizations. He was inviting his mate over for a ledge display. She wasn’t rushing over to comply. She left her perch at 6:30 but we weren’t sure where she went. At 7:03 we located her. She was on the upper south ledge of the hotel, plucking a freshly caught Pigeon. She fed on it for nearly an hour with no interruptions from Ares. As it happened, he was at the nest box through her entire mealtime. Once she was finished, she flew back into the canyon. He chirped as she flew past him and landed on a window ledge east of the nest. From their perches – five feet away from each other, they conversed. They had another similar conversation at 8:45 but that too wasn’t followed up by a dance or a mating.
At 8:51 AM Astrid was on a steeple perch. Snow was falling in the canyon. She left about a half hour later and, at about the same time, he came back to the nest box. He remained there until about 9:50 and then flew to a perch on a windowsill on the State Building. At 10:14 we heard him giving long calls from somewhere, but we couldn’t find him with our cameras. At 10:26 AM Astrid landed on a ledge east of the box. She was there for only a minute and then flew around the east side of the State Building. Ares was then located on the Hotel, close to where the scant leftovers from Astrid’s recent meal sat. Two Pigeons were also perched on the same ledge as Ares. At 11:16 Ares came to the box. He was giving squeaking calls as if he was watching his mate. He started looking up and around and cocking his head. Was she flying overhead? He soon took flight. At 11:23 one of the falcons was back in view and perched on the State Building. We think it was Ares.
The wind really picked up in the afternoon and once again, the downtown canyon was transformed into a wind tunnel. Luckily the falcons like that kind of thing. At 11:38 the falcon perched on the State Building was gone. Ares made a lightning visit to the nest at 12:41 – he was in and then out before you could say his name. No falcon was in view again until 1:41 when one of them landed on the southeast corner of the State Building roof – the southeast lookout. Fifteen minutes later he came to the box and was highly excited. He was giving lots of chirping calls and we weren’t sure if he was reacting to an intruder or to Astrid. Astrid then landed on the east veranda but was up again in seconds. Right away we heard distant chirping calls and we knew that Astrid was dealing with an intruder – another Peregrine by the sound of it. Since Ares wasn’t getting involved, we could assume it was a female. While she was having her altercation, Ares remained in the box and made a scrape. At 2:16 Astrid returned to a perch on the State Building. Ares announced her arrival with high squeaking calls. He left the box and a few minutes before 3:00. At 4:39 PM we heard Ares’ distinctive screech and that was followed by some distant chirping calls. Ares had brought food up to the very ledge on the State Building where Astrid was perched. He tried to convince her to take it and we don’t think that she did. Afterall, she had just eaten an entire Pigeon a little earlier, so she couldn’t possibly be that hungry. Ares probably stored the food on one of his pantry ledges. He came back to the box and wiped his bill off on the long perch. At 4:52 Ares started calling in the box again. Astrid was up so he may have been reacting to her flying off to her night perch. By 5:20 he was out of view too. Good night all.