Four Matings, One Scary Mishap, Two Food Transfers and at Least One Flight Display

Astrid finds a perch on a window ledge west of the nest box
Astrid finds a perch on a window ledge west of the nest box

It snowed lightly through just about the entire day today. Temperatures again stayed in the 30’s. The poor weather did at times seem to inhibit the falcons’ activities. However, things started out on an intense note. Ares arrived at the box at 4:34 AM and was extremely vocal. At five o’clock one of his screeching long calls seamlessly transitioned into an alarm call.  That was weird! He was flying in and out of the box quite a bit at that time. At 6 AM, we got our first glimpse of Astrid as she was landing on the west face of the State Building. Meanwhile Ares had gone over to a window ledge located west of the nest box. Evidently he had stored prey there; suddenly feathers were being cast into the air. He was plucking something sizable. It was a Woodcock. He hastily brought it over to the nest box, gave a few calls, but then dashed off again with it. We could hear his screeching calls as he flew by Astrid’s perch on the State Building. In a minute he was back at the box. She followed him over and piled into the nest. She grabbed the food and within a minute she was back at the State Building. An hour later, she joined him at the box again. We noticed her crop wasn’t very full and that meant she didn’t eat much of the Woodcock. Obviously, it’s not her favorite food. She probably stored it in one of Ares’ ledge pantries.

Astrid accepts a Woodcock from Ares
Astrid accepts a Woodcock from Ares
Astrid requests a mating - Ares just wants to dance
Astrid requests a mating – Ares just wants to dance
Mating at the nest box
Mating at the nest box

At 7:10, the pair mated at the nest box and, a half hour later, Ares gifted a partially plucked Red-winged Blackbird to Astrid. As far as we were aware, the pair was fairly inactive for the next couple of hours and then at 10:45, Astrid did some quick flybys for her mate who was inside the nest box. Following that display, she landed on the box’s cross-perch. She was bowing and requesting mating. We’ve seen this behavior a lot lately: she wants to mate and he wants her to come into the nest box for a dance. Fifteen minutes later, she got her wish, but the mating was a little more raucous than usual. We’re not sure why that was, but it’s possible that one of his talons dug into her back when he landed on her. Normally, he curls his talons over to the side when on her back. Regardless, she gave some shrill calls and seemed to throw him off her back with more force than usual. He ended up dropping between the lip of the box and the cross-perch. She was calling very loudly afterwards and it made us wonder if he was OK. We looked around with the PTZ cams, but couldn’t find him. He finally reappeared at the nest box a half-hour later. He looked fine and had not a feather out of place.

Ares out on the long perch
Ares out on the long perch
Ares shows up at the box with a full crop
Ares shows up at the box with a full crop

At 11:30, Astrid flew back and forth in front of the box. We thought it was another flight display for Ares’ benefit (he was in the box at the time), but it probably was her way of protesting the movement of people in the office adjacent to the box.  A half-hour later, Ares gave some loud cackle type alarm calls, but he didn’t leave the nest. The calls were probably his reaction to the sounds of furniture being moved around in the office behind the box. At 12:44 PM, the characteristic chatter call that Ares gives during mating was heard. That meant the pair had mated again, even though we weren’t sure where either of them was. An hour later both falcons were at the nest box. He was inside and she was out on the perch facing in. That’s right, she was asking to mate again, and within ten minutes that’s what happened. Afterwards she took a perch on a window ledge located west of the nest box and then from there moved over to her steeple perch. Ares returned to the nest box at 3:10, and it looked like he had a full crop. Maybe he had some of the Woodcock Astrid had stored earlier. We weren’t sure when she got there, but at 4 PM, Astrid was perched on top of a pillar on the south face of the ADK Bank. She was there for quite some time after that. The pair mated there at least once that we know of.  She remained on that perch until it started to get dark at 6:00. Ares had been in the box but left only five minutes after she did. Until tomorrow, falcons!

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