Author: Matt Perry

This morning the first changing of the guard happened at 5:43 AM. At that time Ares relieved Astrid but brought her no food tribute. Lately it has been like a treasure hunt for Astrid; when she leaves the box she flies around the state building looking at all the ledges where Ares may have stored  prey. At least that’s what we think she’s doing. There’s always room for interpretation when considering motivations for wildlife behavior. As a rule the changeovers were very quick today and the eggs were seldom unattended for more than a few seconds. At 11:40, Ares was seen sunning himself on the ledge of the hotel, but not for long. By 11:51 he was taking over incubation duties at the nest box. After that it was Astrid’s time to fly and she really took advantage of the opportunity. She soared in high circles around the canyon, drifting south until Deb couldn’t see her anymore out the window and I couldn’t see her with the PTZ camera. It was quite warm today and so throughout the afternoon the falcons needed to shade the eggs nearly as much as they incubated. During Astrid’s turn in the box in the late afternoon, Ares did almost exactly the same thing she had done earlier. He circled high and tacked to the south until he disappeared from view. We figured that he was in hunting mode. They switched again at 5:37, and then it was Astrid’s turn to go hunting. Evidently she was successful because she came back with a very full crop. The final changing of the guard took place at 7:45 PM. Astrid was on the eggs for the night shift and Ares went off to wherever it is he goes off to. That’s still a mystery we have yet to solve.

Astrid began calling for Ares to relieve her at the nest box at 4:30 AM. He finally got around to it at 5:45. There was no food exchange at that time, but when Astrid returned to the box at 6:44, she had a full crop. It’s possible that she raided one of Ares food cache sites. It wasn’t the one that we can see on the north face of the State Building. That one seems to have a woodcock stored in it – one likely caught the previous night. Storing food is one thing the falcons do more of as it gets closer to hatch time. Just before 8:00, Ares may have been dealing with an intruder, even though no alarm calls were heard and no other falcon was seen for sure. Ares took over on the eggs about two hours later. At 11:14, Ares left the eggs uncovered when he presumably went after the elusive (at least to us) intruder. Astrid came to the box about two minutes later. Just after noon, the falcons began giving alarm calls and Ares seemed to be diving at something, but we were never sure what or who they were dealing with. Our best clue was that both falcons were acting like they do when a strange Peregrine shows up in the canyon; but once again the presence of a third falcon couldn’t be confirmed with the PTZ camera. Ares seemed to be more in hazing mode than in attack mode and that meant that the intruder was probably a young adult. Adults have much more patience with young upstarts than they do with full adults searching for a territory. At 4:00, Astrid took over at the box just in time for the hottest part of the day. She looked pretty uncomfortable in there and she soon switched from incubating the eggs to shading them.  A food exchange finally happened at 6:15 PM. Ares brought a small hunk of prey in and Astrid grabbed it and flew over to the hotel to eat it. When she was finished with her meal, she did some fancy flying around the State Bulding. At 7:45 PM Astrid returned to the box to relieve Ares. At that point the birds seemed settled for the night.

It was chilly and overcast in the early morning, but became mostly clear and much warmer by midday. The first changing of the guard took place at 5:45 AM. Ares brought no food tribute at that time. Quick switch-outs were again the rule through the morning. Astrid pulled the bulk of the hot shift in the box this afternoon. She had taken over from Ares shortly after noon and remained in place until 4:00 PM. For a while during that period we weren’t sure where Ares was – we couldn’t locate him with our PTZ camera. Finally at around 2:45 Deb saw a bit of him on one of the perch cameras. Apparently for an unknown amount of time, he had been perched on the eastern edge of the east veranda. He called a couple of times and then flew over to the State Building. Fortunately Astrid didn’t seem all that stressed by being in the sun so long.  About an hour after the birds switched some person in an office adjacent to the nest box moved too close to a window and that compelled Astrid to swoop by the box. She didn’t seem too mad, but she did keep a close watch on the nest site from the church steeple for quite some time after that. By 6:45, she seemed to be having fun, soaring around the State Building and playing on the wind. At that point, Ares began shading the eggs as much as he was incubating. As of this writing (7:00 PM) Astrid was still not quite ready to come back to the box; in fact she just made a dive after prey! I expect that she will return to the box within the next half-hour, but don’t quote me on it.

 

Quick changeovers were the rule on this cold and rainy day. The first changing of the guard took place at 5:39 AM and several more would follow as the morning progressed. At 10:18 Ares came screeching to the box and startled Astrid who apparently had been napping. She let out a squawk which sent him leaping out of the box again and back over to the State Building. A half hour later, she called for him to come back and he dutifully took over incubating the eggs. At 11:30, Astrid came back to the box to switch, but Ares didn’t want to leave. She conversed with him for 10 minutes; he gave little squeaks and she gave her low donkey calls. When he wouldn’t leave she invaded his space, beaked with him a few times and then resorted to stepping on his wing feathers. That move got his attention and he got up off the eggs pretty quick. At 6:00 PM Ares brought part of a woodcock up to the east veranda and Astrid hopped over to take it from him (leaving the eggs uncovered for a few moments). She flew over to eat it on the hotel, while he took over incubating the eggs. At 7:00 Astrid returned to the box with a full crop. She was set to take over on the eggs, but Ares didn’t want to go. She left and came back 5 minutes later and he still didn’t want to leave. Finally at 7:50 she came back a third time, and by then Ares was ready to leave. She took over on the nest and he flew – presumably off to his night perch.

The falcons had an early start this morning. Ares arrived at the nest box at 5:11 AM. This time he had a tribute for his mate. It was still very dark out but we identified the prey as a Brown Thrasher. Astrid took it with her when she left and Ares took over incubating the eggs. A few switches later, while Ares was at the nest, a pigeon perched on one of the falcon’s favorite places on the steeple. We weren’t sure where Astrid was at that point, but regardless, the pigeon survived its stint in the danger zone. The afternoon was very warm in the box and by 1:30 Astrid was anxious to have Ares take over. He came to the box with a dramatic screech and the pair changed places. By 3:30 Ares was shading the eggs and not incubating.  Ten minutes later Astrid was back in the box. Over the course of the next hour or so, she was looking increasingly uncomfortable. She was panting with her beak wide open. When Ares relieved her at 6:05, she immediately went over to the hotel and drank water from a puddle for at least 5 minutes. Ares spent much of his last shift in the box shading the eggs. At 6:56, while Astrid monitored the situation from her perch on the steeple, he called and then hopped out onto the nest box perch. After that he flew over to the State Building. Astrid took the hint and came back to the box. At this point she was settled in for the night. Ares at on the County Building for a while and then presumably went off to his night perch.