Peregrine Breeding Log for April 16 – April 17, 2019:
Tuesday, April 16th had a cold start. Temperatures dipped to the freezing point in the early morning. The day’s high was around 50 degrees, but a constant wind made it seem colder. Astrid had taken over incubation from Ares in mid-afternoon on Monday, and she remained in place all through the night and right up until Ares relieved her at 6:00 Tuesday morning. Upon being sprung from nest duty, Astrid did plenty of soaring in the canyon – mostly around the State Building where she may have been looking for stored food in Ares’ west face pantry. At 7:05, there was suddenly lots of falcon vocalizations (including alarm cackles) being heard in the canyon. A brazen foreign Peregrine was the cause. Ares came off the eggs and both he and Astrid were involved in driving off the intruder. She came back to the nest at 7:06, while Ares took over the police action. At 7:10, she joined in again and Ares was back covering the box one minute later. At 7:12, she came into the box loudly vocalized at Ares. She then flew right back out again. By 7:14, the excitement appeared to be over, still Deb and I were not sure about what exactly happened. Neither of us saw all that transpired during the episode. On my phone, I only heard parts of it as it was happening. A review of PTZ footage (both PTZ cams had been trained on the State Building) show that the intruder had perched on the State Building and then was upped by one of our pair. The intruder came back, landed, and was upped again. We did not have any close-up shots of the stranger, but based on its behavior and the familiarity it showed with the canyon, it is possible it was one of A&A young from a previous year.
The falcons did a quick switch at 7:52. She took over on the eggs and he was back on the State Building. She gave a few alarm calls at 8:19, but neither her or Ares left their posts. At 9:52, Ares was on a window ledge west of the box with prey. We don’t know if he ate the whole thing or if he stored it. At 10:09, she came off the eggs and Ares flew to the box a minute later to take over incubation. At 11:32, Astrid was seen flying around the State Building. Either she was advertising her claim on the territory (to would-be usurpers) or looking for stored food – or possibly both. They did a quick switch at the box a minute later. At 12:33, Astrid was calling on the nest. Ares had been moving around quite a bit, mostly going back and forth between perches on the State Building and the hotel. We missed the next switch, but it was probably another quick one that likely happened at around 1:30 ish. Another changing of the guard took place at 2:20 PM and that time Astrid took over on the eggs. We missed yet another switch at 4:30 ish (Someone should fire us! – No really!). Suddenly I noticed that it was Ares on the eggs. At 4:42, Astrid was feeding on the hotel ledge. It looked like she was eating something small, but then when I checked ten minutes later, she was on a different section of the ledge feeding on something larger. Was she eating her meal in courses now?
At 5:19, Ares appeared to be sleeping on the eggs and Astrid had moved over to the State Building. They switched at 6:08, and Astrid settled onto the eggs. It was the final changeover for the night. Ares was seen on the State Building and then later, the County Building. He went to his night perch at around 7:15. Good night falcons.
Wednesday, April 17th started out cool, but temps rose into the 60’s by midday. The wind kicked in by evening and (once again) made it feel cooler. The day was mostly sunny and it provided generally good flying conditions for raptors. Astrid was on the nest all night long as expected. At 6 AM, she was asking to be relieved, but Ares was nowhere to be seen and evidently not in earshot either. He showed up on the State Building a half hour later, but quickly flew off to the north, without heeding her continuing calls. He finally came to relieve her at 7:10. After leaving, we did see her flying around the west face of the State Building, but we’re not sure how long or extensive her morning tour was. At 7:50, she was on a steeple perch and trying to bring up a pellet. She came to the box to relive Ares at 8:43. She got onto the eggs and he flew over to the State Building. He initially made some forays (probably hunting) from there and afterwards was out of view for a while. He returned to the box at 10:44. He had a conversation with Astrid and then left. They switched nearly an hour later at 11:40.
After leaving the nest Astrid made a few stops including one at the steeple. At 12:12 PM she was seen soaring to the west. Our next view of Astrid was of her plucking a Pigeon on the hotel ledge. Feathers of the mostly white dove were flying like confetti all around Astrid. After a hearty meal she flew to the steeple again and remained there for about 10 minutes. At 1:52, she came to the box to switch. Ares flew over to the State Building and Astrid came onto the eggs, but she was not happy and called loudly from the box. She must’ve seen another raptor, but we couldn’t confirm anything, nor was Ares giving any reaction. She continued calling and at 2 PM, she left the nest and presumably sent the intruder on its way. Ares came to the box a couple of minutes after she left and took over on the eggs. She stopped by for a few seconds and then was out again, apparently content to let Ares take another shift on the eggs. However, she did switch with him about 20 minutes later. The sun was hitting the box with full force in the late afternoon and Astrid transitioned from incubating to shading the eggs.
At 4:32, they did another quick changeover and Ares climbed onto the eggs. Astrid initially took a low perch on the State Building, but we could hear her calling. There was an intruder in the canyon. At 4:51, she barged into the box and had a lively talking session with Ares. She then flew to the State Building and took an obvious perch. At 6 PM, he came off the eggs and was calling. She came right back over from the State Building while he continued to vocalize. She took over on the eggs. Both were still calling like crazy. On the PTZ camera, I watched Ares dealing with a male Peregrine. I was able to track their movements as they went from sparring over the State Building to sparring over Hotel Utica and then back to the State Building. At one point if looked like it was over – Ares had taken a perch on the State Building. Tranquility didn’t last long, and then suddenly the intruder returned. This happened to be the night of our 2nd falcon/canyon watch/tour and Deb was just coming out of the bank building in time to see the second part of the battle. Kristen also arrived at that time and they were able to determine that the stranger was an adult male. Ares sparred with him over the County Building and then they both disappeared in the east. Ares came right back to the State Building and then the intruder came back too! That time Astrid left the nest and joined in. With the odds stacked against it, the stranger flew off to the north, and A&A went to the State Building where they shared some lively vocalizations. Astrid then returned to the nest. She had only been off the eggs for a couple of minutes. At 6:30, Ares went over to the hotel. There he fed on the leftovers from Astrid’ Pigeon meal. When he finished, he perched on the southwest corner of the hotel’s upper ledge and preened for a while.
Just before 7 PM, a drone flew through the canyon from the north. It circled the steeple once and then headed back the way it came. Astrid didn’t seem to notice it from the box. Ares had left the hotel and we weren’t sure if he chased it or not. He probably didn’t. I looked around to see if I could find the operator, but I had no luck. Shortly after the drone incident, an Osprey came right through the canyon a circled a few times. Astrid didn’t make a peep and Ares was still absent. We couldn’t locate Ares before we wrapped up our canyon tour. He may have been on a late hunt or tucked in somewhere. At 10:37 PM, Astrid suddenly started calling and abruptly left the box. She returned a couple of minutes later. We had no idea why she did that. Hopefully, Thursday will be less exciting in the canyon!