Peregrine Breeding Log for April 24 – April 25, 2019:
Wednesday, April 24th had a cold and windy start. Relatively strong winds developed early, as did a misty rain. Although the rain stopped by 7:00, the temperature never got out of the 40’s. Astrid was on the eggs all night as expected. Ares first screeched through the canyon at 5:37 AM. He landed on the State Building. Five minutes later, Astrid was giving low donkey calls in the box (as only she can). It was clear she was ready to be relieved. She kept calling on and off until he came to the box at 5:49. At that point Astrid gave a loud call right in his face as she vacated the nest. At 6:00, he was chirping in the box. He obviously was reacting to her flying, but we didn’t see anything on the cams. She ended up on a top window ledge on the State Building. At 8:23, she was over on the hotel, digging into a fresh pigeon. She ate most of it and then flew over to the steeple. They switched at 8:52, and she was back on the eggs. From the perspective of the fisheye camera, looking down on her, her bulbous crop made it look like she had white chicks nestled in her chest feathers. But that was all crop!
At 9:19, Ares gave a screech call as he flew through the canyon. Sometimes that’s an indication he has prey, and that was the case this time. He brought it to the hotel ledge and had breakfast. His arrival back on the State Building at 9:42 was announced by Astrid at the nest. Ares came to the box at 10:45. He hopped inside but Astrid refused to get up and he didn’t argue and left instead. The same exact thing happed at 12:12 PM. Astrid was full from her recent meal and had little incentive to leave nest. At 1:35 Ares was back at the nest once more and this time Astrid was ready to go. She flew directly over to the State Building. Less than an hour later, at 2:22, the falcons traded places again. That meant that Astrid was back on the eggs. It seemed the falcons were suddenly into doing only short shifts on the nest. Ares was back to change again at 3:50. She took him up on it and flew over to the State Building. The last switch of the day took place at 6:10. After that Ares was visible on the State Building for only a couple of minutes before he flew off somewhere our cameras couldn’t go. Goodnight all.
Thursday, April 25th started out a little on the chilly side, but by noon the mercury surged to 70 degrees. Skies were mostly clear. Astrid was on the eggs all night long. Our first view of Ares was at the nest at 5:45 AM, when he showed up for the first changing of the guard. An hour later Astrid was located on the hotel ledge. She was just finishing up what was probably a meal of leftovers. She was on the steeple by 7:00. They switched at 7:18 and then Astrid was back incubating the eggs. At around that time, workers cleaning the State Building were descending on scaffolding from the top northeast corner of the roof. Ares wasn’t happy about that. He screeched through the canyon and landed on the very top of the radio tower above the roof of the hotel. At 8:43, he flew through the canyon again (just checking on things) and went right back to the top of the tower.
At 10:39, Ares was up again. He made a couple of circles around the State Building and then soared high above it. It’s important to remember, the State Building isn’t merely a perching place, its also the prime location where the falcons store their food – sometimes referred to as Ares’ pantry. In other words, they have a keen interest in what goes on there. After his flight he landed back on the top of the radio tower. At one point he seemed to go after prey, but then came back with nothing in his talons. At 10:56 he was taking in some sunshine on one of the hotel ledges. His tail feathers were spread like a hand of cards. He was back on top of the tower by 11:09. He finally came to relieve Astrid at 11:25, but she didn’t want to leave and she sent him out. He gave a cackle alarm call shortly after departing. We believe this was in response to the men on the scaffolding.
The falcons switched at around 11:40 and they managed to do it without either Deb or I noticing (that’s hard to imagine!). At 12:18, Astrid was heard vocalizing in the canyon. Possibly, she was reacting to the workers, but we couldn’t locate her. Twenty minutes later she was perched on the north face of the State Building. Ares gave a couple of volleys of cackle-type alarm calls at 11:25. Since neither he nor Astrid left their posts, it was likely in reaction to a migrant raptor flying over. Sometimes a feisty call is all it takes to hurry an intruder along. The next changing of the guard took place at 2:38. Astrid was back on the eggs and just in time for the afternoon sun flooding into the box. In the old days she used to give Ares the honor of sitting in the hot box. At 3:13 the workers were highly visible on the west face of the State Building and that sent Ares back to the top of the radio tower. He came to the box for a quick switch at 3:50. After leaving Astrid took a relatively low perch on the north face of the State Building. The workers and their scaffolding were no longer visible. The next switch and the last of the day took place at 6 PM. At this point Astrid was on the nest for the night and Ares was presumably off to his night perch. Good night all.