Peregrine Breeding Log for April 20 – April 21, 2019:
Saturday, April 20th started out wet and fairly warm with morning temps in the 50’s. There was a heavy fog in Downtown in the very early morning hours. Temps surged well into the 60’s by mid-day. It remained overcast with some light rain now and again. As expected, Astrid incubated through the night. Our first sighting of Ares was at 6:25 AM. He was perched on the County Building. He came to take his turn on the eggs about 15 minutes later. Post leaving the box, Astrid remained out of our view until 8:30 when she was spotted on the hotel. She was on the northeast corner of the upper ledge and appeared to be in hunting mode. Most likely she was watching for pigeons. By 9:08, she had moved to the steeple. There she did a lot of preening. Unless we missed something, they didn’t switch again until 10:56. We heard Ares call at 11:30. She began calling from the box shortly after that. He was located on the south face of the State Building at 12:19. Five minutes after that, Astrid was off the eggs, but still in the box doing housework. She was moving stones around and digging. Meanwhile Ares was next seen on the hotel and then on the State Building in rapid succession.
At 2:17, Ares stopped at the box. Perhaps he wanted to switch, but quickly determined that Astrid wasn’t in a switching mood. He tried again at 2:45, and that time Astrid was ready to stretch her wings. The sun was beginning to flood the interior of the box anyway (not her favorite conditions). He watched her fly off before settling down onto the eggs. Astrid proceeded to do some fancy flying, mostly around the south and west sides of the State Building. It had gotten quite windy and she was using the free-to-fly pass to do some hunting. At 3:44, we spotted Astrid on the hotel plucking a Pigeon. She then went on to eat the entire thing (minus most of the feathers and perhaps one foot). It struck me that we had gone a while without seeing either of them feeding. At 4:30, she flew back to the State Building. They did their last switch of the day at 5:00 PM, after which, we didn’t see Ares again. Presumably he went to his night perch early or he went off to do some hunting before dark.
Sunday, April 21st began on the chilly side (40’s), but temps came up quickly. By noon the temperature was 56 degrees. Some light rain fell in the late afternoon. Astrid spent the night tight on the eggs. I heard Ares screech through the canyon at 5:43 AM. Astrid left the box and Ares arrived a few seconds later. He immediately settled on the eggs. After soaring around for a while, she put down on the steeple. At 6:30, she made a quick visit to the box. She was only checking on things and then she was off to the steeple again. At 7:15, they switched, and Astrid was on the nest. Again, at 8:00, Ares screeched through the canyon. He brought a small prey item to the hotel and quickly ate it. Directly following that he made a short stop at the box. Astrid wasn’t ready to leave yet.
At 8:37, Ares returned to the box for a changing of the guard. She went over to the State Building. At 10:08, she began calling and we thought there might be an intruder. Ares came off the eggs, started calling back, and dove out of the box. He went over the State Building and perched on an adjacent ledge to hers. After a minute, she went to the nest and resumed incubation. We weren’t sure what that was all about. Perhaps Astrid saw a migrating raptor. Ares was out of view for a while after that. He returned to the State Building at noon, She chirped when she saw him arrive. The next switch was very fast. Ares came and Astrid went. She was out of view until 2:52, when she was spotted on a window ledge on the State Building. Interestingly, Astrid almost only perches on window ledges on weekends, when no one is in the adjacent offices. That bird knows what day of the week it is! She took over incubation from Ares at 3:34 and she remained there through the night. Ares was seen on the State Building a few times, but not after 6:40. Good night falcons and all.