Saturday, April 3rd – The overnight period was cold once again with lows in the low 20’s. After daybreak temps did rise, but slowly. By afternoon we reached the high 40’s. Partly cloudy skies prevailed much of the day and it was less windy that it has been lately. Astrid stayed tight on her eggs all night, which is hardly surprising giving the low nighttime temps. She left the nest at 6:14 and Ares arrived a minute later. We thought perhaps she had to go and wake him up this morning. While he was making himself comfortable on the eggs, she was over at the hotel getting a drink of water from the ledge puddle. He periodically made squeak calls the entire time she was out of his sight. At 6:30, she was on the State Building. Ares suddenly left the nest and flew over to mate with her. Directly after, Astrid came back to the nest and resumed incubating. At 7:00, we noticed that Ares was making occasional hunting forays from a high perch in the State Building. At 8:10, the falcons switched at the box and then Ares was back on the eggs. Sometime around 8:30, they switched again, and the Astrid back in the nest.
The next changing of the guard took place at 10:00 AM, when Ares took over incubation duties. About 40 minutes later we noticed that Ares was on a lower steeple perch. At 11:08, she was on the hotel, plucking prey. Was it something she caught, or did she extract it from one of Ares’ pantry ledges? It didn’t appear to be a Pigeon, so it was probably one of Ares’. Ten minutes later Astrid was gone from the hotel and Ares was giving long calls at the nest. He left the nest at 11:20, and Astrid came in moments after he was gone. At 11:43, Ares screeched through the canyon. That often means that he has fresh prey, but we didn’t see him with it anywhere. It was probably stored. At 12:12, she was calling on the nest and obviously upset. He was on the State Building at the time. Astrid launched from the nest and within seconds was sparring with a falcon intruder – likely a female Peregrine. Ares came to the box and got onto the eggs while she chased the intruder from the State Building west towards the hotel and then high out of out camera view. She was back to the State Building at 12:33 PM, and Ares gave a squeak call when he saw her return. Just then, an intruder zipped through the canyon and buzzed by Astrid’s perch! A&A were calling back and forth. While Astrid stayed put, Ares blasted out of the nest, probably on an interception course with the intruder (likely a male intruder this time). Ares was almost immediately out of our view. Astrid flew right back to the nest and the eggs. She was calling in the box at 12:53 PM. We think he was still sparring at that time. Astrid left the nest and relieved Ares from his combat. He was on the eggs by 12:55, but then up again and back on. Both were on the State Building for a powwow at 1:05, after which, Ares come to the nest and got on the eggs.
At 1:38, there was more action in falcontown. Ares gave a major alarm cackle call and both falcons scrambled. Astrid doubled back, came to the box, got onto the eggs, but was still not happy and was vocalizing. Ares went to the lookout on the northwest corner of the State Building roof. At 1:49, Astrid gave a major alarm call and exploded out of the nest. Soon both A&A were out of view. She was back at the nest at 1:58. The eggs were unattended for less than ten minutes, which was OK. The falcons did a quick changeover at 3:03 and then Ares was on the eggs. At 3:32, he gave a cackle-type alarm call and dove out into the canyon. At 3:35, Astrid returned to the nest and climbed onto the eggs. She was still upset and still vocalizing. At 3:56, she was even more put out. She flew from the nest once more and then the eggs were unattended once again. Both A&A were out of view. At 4:04, Ares came to the nest and his mate was on the State Building. He gave a cackle alarm call and flew out at 4:11. I know! We’ve seen this picture before! Three minutes later, Astrid arrived at the nest and resumed incubating the eggs. At 5:03, he brought prey to the box. She took it to the hotel to eat. At 6:00PM, Astrid was on her steeple perch. The falcons switched places at some point, because when I checked them at 6:19, he was on the steeple and she was in the box. At 6:22, Ares darted after something. Astrid remained in place and seemed set for the night. Goodnight to all.
Sunday, April 4th, 2021
The overnight period was cold, but not quite as cold as it has been in recent days. Low temps were around the freezing mark. After sunrise things warmed up and temps were in the 50’s by midday. Astrid left the box abruptly at 2:48 AM. She called as she flew out of the nest. We can only think there was an intruder incident which got her upset enough to leave her eggs at night. She didn’t come back to the nest until 3:19 and didn’t settle onto the eggs for a while after that. With a gap of at least 30 minutes, given the cold air temperature, this could be consequential to the development of the eggs. Or maybe not; over the last few years our falcons have had similar incubation gaps on cold days without deleterious effects. We shall see. Ares brought food at 6:03. She took it and he took over incubating the eggs. She went over to the State Building after breakfast. The next switch was at 7:03, and then Astrid was back on the nest. Astrid began calling at 7:13. It could have been her reaction to Ares flying back and landing on his pillar. At 7:30, He was back for a turn on the eggs. He was only slightly pushy about getting her to leave. She stood up, they beaked, and then he bailed out of the nest. She wasn’t ready to go yet.
At 8:46 AM, Ares was on the State Building. At 9:14, he screeched through the canyon with prey and then landed at the box. She took the food and flew to her reserved ledge on the hotel. He quickly settled on the eggs. At 9:41, she was on the steeple. She came to the crossperch at 10:12, and asked to mate. Ares complied and then she took over on the eggs. It was clear that the 4th egg was coming soon. Sure enough, at 10:30, she produced her egg. When she stood up it was clear which one was the new egg. It was wet and appeared redder than the other three. At 11:03, Astrid became upset. She started calling and came off the eggs. Most likely there was an intruder in the canyon once more. She got back on the eggs, but a half hour later, she was calling again. At 12:16, Ares came to the nest to have his turn on the eggs. He came in and nudged her until she was off the nest. The two falcons stood over the clutch together and had a conversation. They were beaking and sort-of doing a ledge display, although without bowing and with a full clutch of eggs between them. This lasted for almost 15 minutes, until Ares took the hint and left the nest. At 1:03, Ares tried once again to take over at the nest. He muscled in on her and tried shifting her. Finally, with some complaints, she got up and left the nest. At 2:37, Astrid was back at the box. The pair did another tame ledge display over the eggs. It again consisted of beaking and some conversation. She was trying to get him to leave, but he wanted to stay (same old story). She ended up ceding the nest to him.
Ares stayed on the nest until Astrid’s next try at relieving him at 5:00 PM. At 5:47, he returned with food for her. She came off the eggs, accepted the food, and had her dinner at the hotel. He seemed content to be on the eggs once more. At 6:27, he decided he had enough of domestic life. He screeched and flew out of the canyon. Astrid arrived a minute later and resumed incubation. Ares was on the State Building for a little while, but then disappeared – probably off hunting or to his night perch. Astrid is tight on her eggs as I’m writing this and it’s likely she will be there until morning. She has a full clutch of four eggs now and all she needs is to keep incubating. If it works out, we will expect first hatchlings to begin emerging from their shells in early May. Goodnight all.\
