Peregrine Breeding Log for June 1 – 2, 2019:
Saturday, June 1st started out with rain and cool temperatures. By late morning the skies had mostly cleared and temps were in the 70’s. Astrid was at the box last evening, but then was in and out of the nest area during the night. At around 1:50 AM, Ares brought food to the box, Astrid appeared out of the darkness and did the feeding. At 3:48, Ares brought a cuckoo to the box. A chick absconded with it and Ares left. Astrid was on the hotel ledge at that time – in hunting mode. At 4:20, Astrid was inside the box feeding. She either brought something new or was feeding out something she had found on the floor. Meanwhile, Ares showed up on the crossperch with a whole cuckoo. It never made it into the box; I think he left with it. After that Astrid went back to the hotel and Ares to the State Building. At 5:39 Astrid was on the west veranda and Ares was not in view. The nestling were becoming restless. One was “footing” a cuckoo on the floor of the box. Chicks # 1 and # 2 have a more salt & pepper look today as their dark contour feathers come in on their backs. Astrid was in again at 6:06. She was feeding out a hunk of something. She was finished and out 5 minutes later. Following that she was on the east veranda and she stayed there for some time guarding the box.
At 8:19, Astrid came into the box to do a chick check. She picked up a food scrap on the floor and attempted to feed it out but one of the nestlings grabbed it away before she could tear it up. She went over to the hotel after that. At 8:25, Ares finally came into view. He was coming to do guard duty on the east veranda. From there he went to the long perch. Minutes later he dove after something and then came right back with prey. Astrid grabbed it from him and began a feeding. Chick # 4 bit at Astrid’s tail while she fed two of his siblings. Astrid left with some scant leftovers at 8:42. She was then right back with the same scraps and tried to dole them out. She was out two minutes later. At 8:53, Ares screeched to the box with empty talons. Astrid was on the steeple at the time. Rain was falling pretty hard by 9 AM, but it didn’t last long. Chick # 4 woke up and began screeching at 10:00. A half hour later, Astrid came to the box with a Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Did she get it from Ares’ pantry? She proceeded to feed it to the chicks. It was an interesting feeding. This is how Deb described what happened: “Chick 3 stayed laying down then eventually got up and tried to steal the food – usually it’s chick 1 that doesn’t rally right away. Chicks 1, 2, & 4 were all lined up to eat but chick 4 changed his mind and moved over by whitewash cam – He is typically more aggressive. Astrid fed them a lot of feathers with the meat – more so than usual.”
At 10:55, Ares brought a little black and white puff ball (that’s what it looked like) to the box. Astrid took it and started a new round of feeding. A minute later, Ares was back with a bat. Astrid took it and primarily fed chicks # 2 and # 3. Chicks # 1 and # 4 showed no interest in the novel fare. Astrid was out of the box at 11:03. At 11:15, Astrid hazed an office window when she saw a person move. At 11:19, Ares screeched to a window ledge west of the box. He had fresh prey and was plucking it. Astrid flew over to his ledge and relieved him of the food. She brought it directly to the box. At 11:27, while Astrid was feeding the crew, Ares was on the perch at Deb’s office window. Lucky her! The meal was done 5 minutes later, and she took a perch on the State Building. At 11:51, alarm calls were sounded, and both adults were up. Astrid headed out to the north with purpose. At 12:42, both were on steeple perches. At 1:05, Astrid sounded an alarm again. This time she flew up. Ares flew a few seconds later. We couldn’t see anything, but it was probably a raptor or vulture passing through. Four minutes later she was back to the steeple. She had some feathers in her bill. Maybe it was one of her own? Ares showed up on the east veranda a few minutes later.
At 1:05, Astrid gave another alarm call and darted off. She was being very dramatic this day. Ares launched as well. I assume they were pursuing another errant raptor. Astrid’s return to the steeple was announced by one of the nestlings. Ares was back on the east veranda by 1:15. Ares did a chick check at 1:56. He then went out onto the west veranda. He seemed to be on guard duty. At 2:33, he jumped onto the crossperch. The nestlings were greatly excited and began screeching and squealing. Either chick # 1 or # 2 gives low goose-like grunts that sound not unlike Astrid’s similar calls. At 2:47, Ares was on the steeple. He screeched a few times and at least two of the nestlings screeched back. As for Astrid, she had been out of view for well over an hour. At 3:13, we located her on the hotel. She was plucking large prey. Five minutes later she had it in the box and was feeding the young. For a little while, during the feeding, all four chicks were surrounding Astrid. Three of them bit at her tail while one was getting service. The meal was over at 3:40 and Astrid was out. Initially she was on the State Building and he was on the steeple, but at 4 PM, She had assumed his steeple perch. Maybe she had upped him.
At 4:05. Astrid had moved again. She was on the roof of the nestbox. She came into the box for a quick chick check at 4:30. At 5:00, Ares brought some small prey item to the nest. One of the nestlings grabbed it from him and took it to the back of the box. Astrid arrived expecting to collect food from her mate, but everything was out of kilter. Both parents soon left. Astrid was back to the box at 5:26. She had a scrap of food from the floor that she seemed eager to feed to somebody. For a moment it looked like she was eating it herself. Finally, she gave a piece to a nestling; the nestling dropped it. She gave it back to him. Hey, this was one of Ares routines! She was out at 5:28. At 7:30, Astrid was on a lower steeple perch and Ares was on the State Building. An hour later, she had come to the long perch and he was up from his ledge on the State Building. At 10:30, lighting was being seen in the distance. Soon the storm was upon downtown. After jumped into the box and took over with the nestlings. She was alert in the back of the box. One of the chicks bit at her bill a few times, but they mostly let her alone. When the storm was over at 11:00, she went back out onto the long perch. Goodnight falcons.
Sunday, June 2nd began overcast and mild. Rain started during the mid-morning. Temps were around 60 degrees. Astrid was in the vicinity ot eh nest for the first part of the overnight hours. At 3:15 AM, Ares brought a small prey item to the box. One of the nestlings grabbed it from his bill and took it to the corner of the box where it was abandoned. At the time, Astrid was on the hotel ledge apparently hunting. At 3:20, Ares came back to the nest with something larger. He plucked it from the lip of the box and fed out a few bites to two eager chicks. The whole time he kept looking around like he was expecting Astrid to jump in at any moment and snatch the food away. He stopped trying to feed at 3:27, but left the food there, or maybe a chick grabbed it. At the time, Astrid was still hunting from the hotel. At 4:46, She came to the box. I don’t think she had anything new, but only fed out the various pieces of prey that were already in the box. She continued to feed until about 5:27.
At 6:33, Astrid was back at the box. She looked around for scraps to feed out and then left. A few minutes later one nestlings was seen doing a decent job feeding itself from some scraps. At 7:04, Ares screeched over to the box. He screeched a few more times from the long perch and really got all the chicks whipped up and hollering. A minute later he came back with food. Astrid took it and managed a six-minute feeding. At 8:30, Ares brought another small meal. Astrid met him to take it, but as soon as she entered the box, one of the chicks grabbed it away and took it to the corner. The chick appeared to be feeding on it, but we don’t know for sure. Astrid came back with more food a minute later only for precisely the same thing to happen, except this time it involved another thieving chick. At 8:47, Astrid was on the hotel, apparently lying in wait for a Pigeon. Ares screeched to the box at 8:41. It was just a check-in. He came back with a Great Crested Flycatcher only a minutes later – it must’ve been in storage. Astrid came over from the hotel, took the prey and did a normal feeding. At 9:05, she was back to the hotel, lying in wait for her favorite quarry.
At 10 AM, Astrid was on the east veranda and Ares was on the State Building. It was raining by this point and they seemed to switch to guard mode. At 11:41, Ares brought a small chunk of food to the box. A nestling snatched it and took it to the corner. Astrid was on the west veranda at this point and was calling to Ares for him to bring something else (That’s our interpretation anyway). He did leave, but only went as far as the steeple. At 12:37, Ares checked on the chicks. He picked up a large feather from the floor and handed it to one of the chicks. He went to the east veranda after that. At 2:02, one of the parents (Astrid, most likely) was giving an alarm call. Ares went to the box to check on the young. The hungry chicks began to close in on him so he hopped back out in a hurry. He brought food less that a minute later. Astrid grabbed it and did the feeding. The meal was over eight minutes later. Ares went out of view at 2:15 and wasn’t seen in the canyon again for a few hours. Rain was intermittent through the afternoon. The parents were very low profile. At 4:22 PM, Astrid was located on the hotel plucking a Pigeon. She brought it to the box at 4:37 and a major feeding ensued. The meal ended at 5:05. At 5:50, Ares landed on a window ledge west of the veranda. He had a Mourning Dove and he was plucking it. Astrid sailed in, took the prey, flew west and then banked to the south. She swooped to the box and plunked onto the nest floor. The chicks screamed and tugged at the prey. Astrid held it and then conducted a fairly disciplined feeding. The meal was done at 6:09 PM, after which she joined Ares on the State Building.
At 6:40, Ares was up again. Moments later he was on the hotel plucking what looked like another Mourning Dove. At 6:57, Ares soared back towards the nest, putting down on a window ledge to the west of the box. Astrid met him there, took the food, flew west, banked, and made a wide circle. She then swooped into the box. Astrid fed the nestlings for only a few minutes before leaving with the leftovers. She probably went to store them. Afterwards Astrid was on the steeple and Ares on the State Building. He flew off at around 8 PM. She left sometime after 9:00 and showed up on the east veranda at 9:52. Goodnight all.
