Another day of off and on rain didn’t hamper the falcons very much. All four fledglings were very mobile in the canyon. Hotel Utica remains the happening new place to them and they all spend a substantial amount of the day there – playing, loafing and sleeping. In mid-morning, Astrid caught a pigeon and flew back toward the hotel with it. That was her first mistake. Two of the juveniles came after her and tried to get it. Intentional mid-air food exchanges have occuring over the past few days, but that’s not what this was. Spirit took the prey before Astrid was ready to give it up. While Spirit fed on her large ill-gotten breakfast and the other fledglings stood by, Astrid issued some full-throated alarm calls and swooped back and forth in front of the hotel ledge. This lasted for about five minutes and then Astrid returned to her perch near Ares on the west face of the ADK Bank. There she continued to give intermittent alarm calls for the next 45 minutes. Meanwhile Spirit polished off most of the pigeon with only a little help from one of her brothers. Another food exchange was witnessed at about 7:45 PM. This time Ares brought in a starling, and again, Spirit grabbed the prey and this time flew over to the ADK Bank building where only Luna managed to push in and get a few bites out of it.
Astrid and Ares preformed a ledge display today. They actually tried to do it twice, but their first attempt was scuttled by one of the youngsters. The kid piled into the box and chased the parents out just as they were getting their display started. A little later they managed it with no interference from the fledgling gallery. This “dance” would constitute the first time they did this since the incubation period. Rain returning in the early evening put a halt to our falcon watch. All six falcons seemed settled for the night.
