Peregrine Breeding Log for June 7 – 8, 2019:
Friday, June 7th had a mild beginning and the day only improved later on. Skies were mostly clear and the temps hit the low 70’s by late morning. Last night Astrid started out on the long perch but moved to the steeple at some point in her nocturnal travels. Some of the time we had no clue where she was. At 2:34 AM, Ares brought a small prey item to the nest. It was grabbed by one of the chicks. At 2:58, he was back with a whole cuckoo. He stayed on the long perch with the food for two hours before he began plucking it. At 5:08, he brought it into the box and just let the chicks take it away. Astrid had been on the hotel feeding on a chunk of something. She brought it to the box and Archie took from her. Twice she tried to get it back but with no success. She gave a cackle alarm call and flew out. Astrid and Ares were perched very close to each other on the State Building after that. At 6:04, Astrid came to the box. She made a couple of attempts to get food scraps off the floor, but she couldn’t manage it with the boisterous nestlings all around. At 7:16, Ares was on the hotel picking at something sizable – probably a Pigeon. It’s a rare day when Ares takes a Pigeon. At 7:32, he flew over to the steeple, leaving the bulk of the meal on the hotel. Why he or Astrid didn’t take it to the nest is unknown. Perhaps they will later on.
At 8:40, Astrid was on a pillar to the west of the nestbox. Ares was on the east face of the Adirondack Bank building. Both falcons were out of view for a while until Astrid landed on the steeple at 11:30. The nestlings watched her come through the canyon and they all screeched to get her attention. She made a couple of visits to the box, but the chicks were too ornery for her to come inside. At 11:41, Astrid left her steeple perch giving an alarm call. Another raptor was passing over the canyon. Both went out of view south behind the State Building. She came back to the steeple two minutes later. At 12:07, Ares showed up in the canyon. He screeched over to the steeple perch adjacent to Astrid’s perch. Five minutes later he was up. At 12:22 he showed up at the box with something not insignificant. Rue immediately grabbed it and brought to the back corner. Astrid came right over, but like Ares, she didn’t attempt to recover the food. Rue took a couple of bites of his prize, but then just abandoned it at the back of the box. Nobody else seemed interested in it either. They were all paying strict attention to what was going on outside the box. Every move their parents made were being punctuated by shrieks and cries. At 12:30, Astrid was back on the steeple and Ares was on the State Building.
At 12:42, Ares brought a cuckoo (what else?) to the east veranda. Astrid flew in to take it. She took it into the box and immediately lost it to Archie. Archie took it to the corner. He dug at it a little and then Grappled onto it and danced around like a crazy man. The wind began picking up in the early afternoon. At 1:45, Astrid made a quick visit to the nest. The chicks rushed at her and when making her get away, she fell through the gap between the crossperch and the lip of the box. We had no reason to believe she got hurt, but we were thankful when we confirmed that and saw her again later in the afternoon. Food was brought in by one of the parents at 2:12 PM. Of course, it was grabbed by the one of the chicks and taken to the back of the box. At 2:46, one of the parents (probably Ares) came into the box and picked up some scrap from the floor. I wasn’t sure if he gave it to one of the nestlings or if he left with it. Astrid did a chick check at 2:58. At 3:12, two of the nestlings were feeding on something at the back of the box. They’ve been doing an increasing amount of self-feeding in recent days. A parent did another chick check at 3:25. Of course, each time a parent come near the box, they nestlings go crackers.
At 4:20, Ares brought prey to the box. Astrid came and grabbed it from him. She took it into the box and Rue stole it from her. She then picked up a scrap of food from the floor and started feeding that out to one of the other nestlings. She then got hold of the main meal and started feeding that out. She left the box at 4:37. Twelve minutes later, she was on the steeple and he was on the State Building. A chick check took place at 5:43. Only one Astrid had been visible for a while and then Ares screeched to the steeple at 7:16. At 8:16, a parent (probably Ares) made a brief stop at the box and then hopped over to the west veranda. Astrid showed up on the east veranda at 9:32 PM. I thought that was where she would stay for the first part of the night, but she had other plans and at 10:09, I located her on the steeple. Maybe that’s where she would spend at least the first part of the night. Goodnight falcons and all.
Saturday, June 8th was another mild day. The skies were mostly clear, and temps hit the 70’s by mid-morning and well into the 80’s by mid to late afternoon. Astrid spent the first part of last night on the steeple. I’m not quite sure what happened in and around the nest in the very early morning hours since my overnight recordings failed. Ares brought food to the box at 2:18 AM. The chicks took it and he was out. Astrid made a visit to the box at 4:07. A half-hour later she was plucking a Pigeon on the hotel ledge. At 5:03, she brought the food to the box and started up an old-fashioned feeding. Although one nestling tried to grab the food at the onset of the feeding, they all quickly fell in line and let Astrid perform her feeding task. At 5:08, Ares arrived with food as well. He began feeding Rue from the lip of the box, while Astrid had the other three gathered around her. Once again, Ares did a very good job. Before he finished, Kaisha (I think) had come over to get a few helpings from him. When he did leave at 5:20, he brought the scraps with him. Astrid brought her scraps out as well when she left five minutes later.
By 6:24, the parents had been on the State Building for a while and the nestlings, apparently satiated, were staying quiet. Astrid and Ares were into guarding the nest today, both spent most of the morning either sides of the nestbox. At 7:35, Astrid made a quick stop at the box and that sent the four chicks into a mad screaming session. That was what it was like for the rest of the morning. No food came in. One or the other parent was on the bank building. At 10:49, loud fire engine sirens made all the chicks start calling like crazy. There was some squabbling among the chicks in the late morning. There was also some wing flapping. One of them – Archie, I think, had backed onto the lip of the box and did some wild flapping. It’s too early for that kind of thing! Ares had been out of view for a while, but at noon, he screeched through the canyon and over to the east veranda. Astrid took that opportunity to go to the State Building. Twenty minutes later he landed on the crossperch and made the chicks all scream and stretch. He then joined Astrid on the State Building. At 1:12, he landed on the east veranda and, again, majorly excited the peanut gallery. At 1:30, one of the chicks was doing a lot of wing flapping. Its siblings knew to lay low during the barrage of wing feathers. A few minutes later, another chick attacked the whitewash camera. At 1:52, the nestlings all joined together in a cackle call chorus. Astrid did a chick check at 2:15. Following that, the parents were out of view for a while.
They both reappeared in the canyon at 2:49. Ares landed on the west veranda, causing an uproar in the box from the hungry nestlings. Astrid made a quick stop at the nest five minutes later and got a similar reaction. At 3:22, Ares brought prey. Astrid took it on the crossperch. Archie and one of the female chicks grabbed it away from Astrid and went into the corner of the box. Astrid made one failed attempt to retrieve it and then left. Parents were again out of view for a while after that. At 4:45, the nestlings were having a tug-o-war with a scrap of food. Astrid did a chick check at 5:04. She entered the box to look for scraps, but she was rushed by one of the nestlings. She left but came directly back with a small food item. One of the nestlings snatched it from her and she flew out. At 5:27, Ares came in with something more substantial. Astrid flew in, danced over the cross perch to take it from him. She entered the nest and immediately lost the food to one of the chicks. At 5:44, Ares came back with more food, Astrid took it and this time managed to hang onto it. She fed Rue for a few minutes and then she was out. The temps were in the low 80’s by this point and the nestlings were obviously feeling the heat.
By 7:30 PM Archie was doing plenty of wing flapping. He backed onto the lip of the nest box and flapped away – pushing off into the box again. After that he decided he liked the lip of the box. He stood with one foot on it and one foot on the nest box floor. By 8 PM, Archie was all the way onto the lip of the box facing out into the canyon. Ares was on the steeple at that point and Astrid on the East Veranda – they were both on guard. At 8:38, Archie was back inside the box, but his wing was draped over and hanging out like a rug left out to dry. It seemed clear at that point that there was going to be no more feeding that night. Goodnight falcons.
