We thought there was a good chance that Astid was going to lay her first egg in the early morning hours. She was in position in the nest box at 1:30 AM and remained there for a few hours. She left when Ares brought in food (a Woodcock) at 4:45 AM. today the falcons mated at least 8 times and there was at least one other failed mating attempt. Ares brought food tributes to Astrid 2 more times during the day – one of the meals was a bat. In past years Astrid hadn’t been interested in taking bats, but she did take this one and proceeded to eat it on the State Building. An intruder caused a great stir today and put A&A in full defense mode. The offending bird was an adult Peregrine Falcon – banded, but we are not sure of the sex. We couldn’t get details off the band either. It was first seen flying through the canyon and drawing both of our resident birds into a chase. Later in the afternoon the audacious stranger flew up to the nest box while A&A were both inside! Again the pair were in hot pursuit. We didn’t see Atrid for a while after this, but Ares stationed himself on the top of the State Building for a while. That is his traditional intruder watch position. Astrid finally showed up back in the canyon and seemed to be fine. Will she lay her first egg of the season tonight? We don’t know, but we’ll be sure to let everyone know if it happens.
