The First Egg of the Season Could Be Only Days Away

Astrid is getting closer to laying her first egg of the season
Astrid is getting closer to laying her first egg of the season

Temperatures were in the single digits in the early morning. Thankfully, things moderated a bit later on and the mercury surged into the low twenties. Ares first showed up at the nest box at 6:15 this morning. Astrid wasn’t seen until 7:30, when she landed on the State Building. The pair mated twice before 8 PM. Shortly after that, both appeared together at the box, but there was no display; Astrid left right away and flew over to the Hotel ledge. There she remained until 10:20. At some point Ares may have dropped off a tidbit for her. She was seen picking at something small, but it could have been something already on the ledge.

ledge display
ledge display

Right before 10:30, the pair shared a ledge display at the nest box. It was shortand Ares left first. Ten minutes later, he was at the box again and she was gone. They had switched out; it was almost as if they’d been sharing incubation duties. All indications are that such a thing is not far off. Astrid appears to be laden – as if egg development is well underway. It’s quite conceivable that egg number one will make an appearance in the coming few days. If it does it would constitute a record early egg-date for this pair and this location.

Ares brings back a starling
Ares brings back a starling
Ares looks out into the canyon
Ares looks out into the canyon
Ares having a wing stretch
Ares having a wing stretch
Astrid in the box
Astrid in the box

At just before 11 o’clock, there was a failed mating attempt. At 1 PM, Ares issued an alarm call, but it was probably just a warning to some transient raptor flying over the canyon. Ares didn’t give chase. As a matter of fact, he flew over and mated with Astrid right after the non-incident. Twenty minutes later, Ares came to the box with a starling. He plucked it on the State Building and then flew around the canyon with it a few times.  Ultimately he stored it on a ledge. Astrid remained sedentary for most of the afternoon. Meanwhile Ares was out of camera view for several hours. Was he out hunting? At 3:30, Astrid grabbed the starling that Ares had stored earlier, picked at it for a while and then took it over to Hotel ledge and made a meal of it. At 3:50, Astrid and Ares had a “dance” at the nest box. The display was seven minutes long. At 7 PM, Ares flew in with prey, landed on the same ledge as Astrid, and possibly gave her the food. He had a pretty big crop at that time, so he must have been feeding himself. The falcons did some more moving around right before sunset. Ares spent a little time on his “top of the world” perch on the State Building roof, while Astrid soared around to the south side of the building. By 7:10, we were convinced the birds had gone to their might perches.

Ares
Ares

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