Lots of Displays, Lots of Food Tributes, Lots and Lots of Matings, and Don’t Even Ask Us About Eggs

The day started out on a slightly warmer note with temperatures in the twenties, but later on in the day temps rose into the thirties. While another fierce nor’easter was battering the east coast, for once we weren’t receiving any fall out from it. Astrid and Ares got a very early start today. They came to the nest box together at 3:27 AM. Astrid didn’t remain, but Ares did. In fact he spent so much time on his scrape, you would think he was the one preparing to lay an egg. It turned out that Astrid hadn’t gone far. She was on a window ledge west of the box. Both reconvened at the box at 4:52, and this time it was Astrid that remained following their rendezvous. From there she moved on to the box’s east veranda where she remained until 6:48. We lost track of her after that. However, Ares then materialized on the roof of the State Building. But soon he was back at the box and working on his masterwork of a nest scrape. It’s almost perfect now. At 7:45, he flew out, but was back with food only five minutes later. The prey was a Woodcock. Most likely, he caught the Woodcock last evening and had it stored somewhere close by. He waited at the box for Astrid to show up and when she didn’t he flew out and put the meal back into storage. When he returned at 9:10, he didn’t have prey with him, but he was extremely excited. Obviously Astrid was nearby. Suddenly she appeared on the box’s cross perch. They shared a short ledge display. Upon its abrupt ending, Astrid ate a stone or two and then she left. Fifteen minutes later she was perched on the steeple and Ares was at the box with prey. He enticingly flew by her with it and, much to his delight, she took off after him. A minute later, he was at the box, wiping his bill and she was on the ledge of the Hotel, ripping into the meal. This wasn’t the Woodcock he had caught earlier; it appeared to be a Pigeon, and Astrid seemed set on eating the whole thing in one sitting. It’s said that a Peregrine Falcon can consume a whopping 25 % of their weight in a single feeding. It seemed like Astrid was out to prove that stat. As it turned out, she did leave a little hunk. After wiping down her bill she returned to her perch on the steeple. There pair mated there at 10:16. Astrid remained on the steeple for most of the morning, while Ares was in and out of the nest box. When she flew at 11:40, Ares was right behind her. However, he came back after only a few minutes. At the lip of the box, he was craning his neck around and looking up. Is was like he was watching her display, but we couldn’t see anything on the cams.

At 12:40, it was Ares who was perched on the steeple. We still weren’t sure where Astrid was. He returned to the box and was acting very excited at 1:10. This was a god indication he had his mate in view. Fifteen minutes later, both met at the box and shared a lively ledge display. As has been the pattern lately, this one consisted of a lot of bowing, beaking, and very few dance steps. He was the first out of the box and within ten minutes he had returned with a food offering. She didn’t take it and he went off to store it instead. Astrid was on her steeple perch for quite a while after that. At approximately 1:30, the pair was heard mating and they mated again at 2 PM. It must be the warmer afternoon temperatures! Another mating at 3:45! Well it’s not that warm out, so it must be the diffuse lighting! Another attempted mating at 4:23 was too much for Astrid. She began to fly away from her perch just as Ares was setting down on her back. They both tumbled but recovered quickly. Perhaps only to prove he doesn’t hold a grudge, Ares was at the box with a food offering only a few minutes after the mating mishap. When she didn’t come to accept the gift, Ares launched out of the box and flew around screeching and trying to drive up her interest. She still wasn’t biting. He returned to the box at 4:40, without the food. By that time Astrid was on the northeast corner of the Hotel ledge. That’s often a hunting perch for the falcons. Was she watching for prey? Meanwhile, at the box, Ares was seen making a scrape on the opposite side of the floor from his super-duper scrape. We wondered (not really) if this was his way of providing Astrid with a choice of places to lay her eggs. Would she like her eggs one inch down or two feet down?

At 5:07 the pair met at the box again and engaging in another ledge display. This one was quite short and when it was finished, Astrid blasted out of there as quick as can be. The next thing we knew she was up on the roof of the State Building. She spent about an hour up there and during that time, Ares flew up as if he was going to mate with her three times, but he never did. He would hover for a second and start to give his chatter call, but then would veer off and come back to the box. At 6:15, Astrid left and that was the last we saw of her this evening. Ares began acting like he saw her at 7:13 PM. He started vocalizing and darting around the box, but she didn’t come over, nor did we see her on the PTZ cams. He left a few minutes later and we believe that’s when the two retired for the night.