Author: Matt Perry

Update for Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Astrid and Ares were back on track with the breeding season today. No doubt, the warmer weather had a lot to do with it. Neither falcon spend all night at the nestbox but Ares did arrive at 3:30 AM with prey, which is still impressively early. Astrid did not come to take it. Of course, it was a Woodcock. The pair was confirmed mating several times, and they performed two ledge displays at the nestbox. Otherwise, Ares was in and out of the nest like a Jack-in-the-Box today – he was mostly obsessed with trying to get Astrid to come over for a dance or to lay an egg. Late in the day, at around 5:30 PM, Ares brought more prey to the box and Astrid did take it. He stood guard over her while she fed on the hotel ledge. They mated once more after dinner and then we think they went to their night perches.  

Update for Monday, March 11, 2024

There is not all that much to report for Monday. It was cold and extremely windy, albeit sunny. Astrid spent much of the day on the north face of the State Building and Ares bounced back and forth between being near her and being at the nestbox. He definitely tried hard to get her to come over, but she resisted until late afternoon. Then they had two ledge displays within a ninety-minute period. During the second dance Ares was trying to bring up a pellet. For Astrid it was like dancing with someone with a bad case of hiccups.

Update for Sunday, March 10, 2024

The weather gave us a reality check today – reminding us that it’s early March and not early May. Ares guarded the box through the night once again, and much of their behavior during midday led us to believe they were dealing with an intruder. At around noon, Astrid was so distracted by something going on in the canyon that she wouldn’t commit to coming all the way inside the nest for a ledge display. Ares came to the nest with prey a couple of times – neither time did Astrid accept his gift. Of course, the first time involved a Woodcock, and Astrid doesn’t care for those. In the mid-aftenoon the pair shared a rather conventional ledge display at the box. For the balance of the day, Astrid remained on the north face of the State Building. Ares bounced back and forth between there and the nestbox. At the end of the day, both appeared to retire to perches on the east face of the State Building. It was the first time we had seen that behavior in several days.  

Update for Saturday, March 9, 2024

At least Ares stayed up all night, perhaps trying to curry favor with his mate of 12 years after his short fling with a highly attractive intruder. All kidding aside, Ares brought prey to the nest box 3 times before 6:30 this morning. Ares provided several food gifts to Astrid, some which she took from him directly, others which she drew from his pantry ledges on the State Building. The falcons conducted two ledge displays at the box and they mated about ten times. They continue to guard the box almost constantly, which we believe is a reflection of the recent intruder pressure. Speaking of intruders, yesterday’s banded adult female has been identified. Her name is “Lilac” and she had been banded as a chick in the Rochester nest back in 2016. Her parents were Rochester’s “Beauty” and “Dot.ca”. Lilac is now 8 years old. Thank you to Carol and Dana from the Rochester Peregrine Falcon group for this great information. Also thank you to Pat Carey for sending us a couple of pictures of Lilac from 2016. We appreciate it.

Update for Friday, March 8, 2024

On Friday there were three food exchanges, a few matings and two ledge displays between Astrid & Ares. There was also a major intruder incident. A particularly brazen adult female Peregrine came into the nest and danced with Ares. It was a rather stilted and highly vocal dance and Ares seemed a bit more menacing than usual. We weren’t sure where Astrid was when all this was happening. After the stranger left, Astrid came to the nest and had a look around the place. Someone had been in her bed!! She did some frantic vocalizing and then went out onto the long perch. Ares arrived and tried to give her a food gift, but she didn’t want it and flew away instead.  Later in the day, Astrid & Ares preformed another ledge display at the box and she did finally accept another food gift from him. I guess all was forgiven!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmWufdjMLQs