Author: Matt Perry

Astrid came to the nest box on Wednesday evening and appeared ready to lay her first egg for the 2017 season. However, looks can be deceiving and she left the box around 1:00 AM with no egg on the scrape. Ares came to the box before dawn with a Woodcock and tried to interest Astrid in coming over and taking it, but she declined the invitation. He tried to tempt her to the box again a little later – that time with some unrecognizable hunk of prey. Evidently, she liked the look of it (Apparently she wants her meat to be processed first) and took it over to the Hotel ledge to devour. In the late morning Astrid (sporting a very full crop) spent a lot of time at the nest box. She and Ares performed four ledge displays in the course of 90 minutes, which might be a new record. Even though Astrid was obviously full, Ares tried to stuff more food into her. He brought over a bat and when she wouldn’t take it, he stood in the box next to her and tried to feed it to her a little piece at a time. That was different! By early afternoon Astrid was out of view of our cameras. We figured that she was still in the canyon due to her mate’s behavior. He kept trying to get her back to the box all afternoon – sometimes with food and sometimes with only his shrill pleading screeches. At 4:40 PM, Astrid finally came back into view on the State Building. At 5:30 they mated at the nest box and a half hour late, mated again on the County Building. Perhaps this is the night that Astrid will lay her first egg of the season. I don’t blame anyone if they refuse to put money on it.

Astrid spent most of last night in the nest box, but again she didn’t lay an egg. The morning was extremely exciting in the canyon. First a Turkey Vulture flew low through the canyon and elicited a warning call from Astrid. After that a male American Kestrel came through, landed on the State Building and then flew right by the pair as they perched on the same building. Shortly after that a first-year Peregrine Falcon came onto the scene with prey in its talons. The intruder landed on the east face of the State Building and brazenly began plucking and eating its meal on a window ledge. Both Astrid and Ares went into full hazing mode. They repeatedly dove at the young bird for the better part of an hour and a half. All the while the un-banded stranger remained out of reach and tucked into a deep window ledge. Astrid and Ares took a few breaks from their hazing efforts to come to the nest box and perform two ledge displays and also two matings. Finally, following another ten minutes of hazing, the intruder flew out of its safe place and started to fly southeast. Our resident falcons went after it and were seen sparring with it until all three disappeared from view. Astrid and Ares came back about a half hour later. And still the excitement was not over: In the afternoon, a pair of Red-tailed Hawks flew low over the canyon and were escorted to the clouds by Ares. The kestrel was also seen zipping through a few more times. As far as we know there was a total of five or six matings today, one or two food exchanges and at least five ledge displays. Astrid was very low profile in the late afternoon. She had expended a lot of energy during the morning and took advantage of the relative quiet period to get some rest. Ares tried hard to entice her back to the box in the afternoon and through early evening, but she wouldn’t come. Thanks to all the watchers that contributed details on what turned out to be a very active day in the canyon

 

Astrid spent nearly all of last night on the nest box perch – 11:00 pm through 4:20 AM. Not unlike when they switch out during incubation, Ares came into the box and relieved Astrid at the end of her vigil. Just to be clear – there is still no egg on the nest scrape. There were at least nine matings today – four of which took place on the steeple. Astrid was quite sedentary again today, that is except for when she had to deal with an intruder. Presumably this was the same adult Peregrine that came through the canyon yesterday. We think that Astrid escorted the stranger out of the territory, or at least that’s what it looked like. Upon Astrid’s return, the pair shared a long ledge display at the nest box. That was one of two ledge displays that took place today. In the early morning Astrid was seen feeding on something on the Hotel ledge, but no one reported seeing more than one food transfer today. Judging by her behavior, we remain confident that the first egg of the season will be laid sometime in the next couple of days, but of course, that’s up to Astrid.

We will be down one of our main observers for the next few days. If anyone out there is able to view the video feed and report what they see, it would be greatly appreciated.

Astrid was much more sedentary today even though she largely shunned the nest box. We recognize this behavior from previous seasons and we believe she is getting closer to laying her first egg.  On the other hand, Ares visited the box dozens of times today and at the same time he managed to keep close track of his mate. Today he gave her at least two food tributes – one was a starling and the other a bat. (Where the bat came from on this chilly March day is anyone’s guess). Astrid ended up having a big dinner on the ledge of the hotel. She was feeding on a Woodcock – possibly the one that had been caught and stored yesterday. Although we didn’t manage to get a video of the event apparently Ares did some beak to beak interacting with his reflection in one of the nest cameras. He’s done that before, but not in a while. The pair mated at least 7 times today – about half of those took place at the nest box. We expect to make an announcement within the next couple of days regarding the first Peregrine egg laid this season, so stay tuned!