Five and 1/2 Matings today and a Dizzying Amount of Other Action

It was rainy and dark in the pre-dawn hours. Temperatures were hovering at around 40 degrees. At 5:45, Astrid arrived at the nest box. She made a few “chirrup” calls but there was no sign of Ares. Perhaps he was sleeping in? I doubt it. It’s more likely he was attempting to hunt. He arrived at the nest box at 6:30 and the pair performed a ledge display. Unlike their last “dance” in which Ares seemed unsure of the rules (we think this was a consequence of his surprise ledge display with the intruder), this “dance” was much closer to the classic Astrid & Ares type. It featured their patented footwork, inimitable dosedo, and their gentle manner of beaking. The only noticeable difference with this display was that, at its conclusion, Astrid left the box first. An hour later when Ares vacated the box, he gave a volley of long screeches. We could hear his calls echoing through the canyon, but we couldn’t locate him.

At just before 9 AM, both falcons were at the box again. Well, sort-of. She was actually on the west veranda. Ares jumped out of the box and flew in a boomerang pattern. He came back chattering and mated with Astrid right there on the perch of the veranda. Directly after he made a short flight and managed to return with a small gift within two minutes. We think this may have been the fastest gifting after a mating we had ever observed. Astrid took the modest offering and (we think) ate it on the ADK Bank. Again today Ares was spending a lot of time at the nest box and often on one of the verandas. He was coming and going so much. He just seemed the very embodiment of energy and vitality. Just watching him was tiring us out. At 12:15 PM, Ares returned to the nest box and Astrid put down on a window ledge located west of the west veranda. Five minutes later they had mated again. Fifteen minutes after that another mating attempt happened, but that one failed . At 1 PM, the pair was back at the box and then they mated yet again, but this time they mixed it up some and did it on the east veranda. In mid-afternoon, the falcons were relatively low key. For a while, she was on the ADK Bank Building – located on a perch well west of the west veranda. At close to three o’clock, Astrid was back at the box. Ares came in and they mated one more time.

The rest of the afternoon was characterized by one or the other falcon at the box reacting to their partner’s flying antics. They would move their heads this way and that way as they followed the flight path of their partner. They would also vocalize as their counterpart dashed by. At one point while Ares was holding the fort, Astird zoomed by (probably after prey). Ares joined the chase, but we don’t think they managed to get anything. Indeed, he came right back to the box without prey in his talons. At 4:45, he screeched out of the box again and we could hear him continuing to screech in the canyon somewhere, but our technology wasn’t able to find him. Within 15 minutes, she was at the box; he boomeranged in and they mated yet again. That made a total of five full matings (at least) and one failed mating attempt for the day! That’s a quite an impressive number for this early in the season. The last falcon we saw this evening was Astrid. She was perched on the roof of the County Building and was possibly hunting. Either that or she was just watching the crows filter into the city from their rural and suburban homes.