Peregrine log February 20, 2019
Tuesday had a very cold start, but at least it wasn’t snowing. In fact it was quite sunny and Astrid and Ares spent part of the morning basking on the east ledge of the hotel. In the late afternoon, Ares was at the nest box, giving screech calls and trying to encourage Astrid to come for a ledge display. Instead, she caught a Pigeon and polished it off all by herself on the hotel. Today had a warmer start. Astrid and Ares arrived at the box area early. Initially, they perched on the two verandas – her on the west and him on the east. At 6:45 AM, he tried to mate with her, but she was facing out into the canyon at the time and so the attempt was unsuccessful. However, later in the day, two subsequent attempts were successful. Of course, that’s a clear indication that the breeding season has begun. We expected him to secure a food tribute for her, but it didn’t happen. At one point he did catch a Starling, but ended up eating it himself.
Today there was a moment of excitement which possibly involved an intruder. At 7:50, Ares uttered a cackle alarm call and blasted out of the box like a bullet. He sped south as if on a serious mission. Meanwhile, Astrid kept to her perch on the west veranda. Did he see a male Peregrine in the territory and did he escort it out? We don’t know, but ten minutes later he was back at the box. We expect to see more courtship behavior in the coming days and weeks. Stay tuned.