Author: Matt Perry

Ares and Vera continue to behave as if they are preparing for a breeding season, but Vera’s physiology may have other plans. While we hesitate to definitively say that eggs won’t be happening this year, the truth is that we simply don’t know — and for now, there is still a glimmer of hope.

In the meantime, the pair have been faithfully carrying out the rituals of the season, including ledge displays, food giftings, and matings. Vera has engaged in several practice brooding sessions inside the nest box, while Ares has taken his turn shading what we can only call invisible eggs.

Regardless of the outcome, one thing remains clear: their pair bond continues to strengthen with each passing day, even as the chances of a successful breeding season may be quietly slipping away.

While there are still no eggs in the nest box, Ares and Vera have remained quite active, engaging in all the classic breeding behaviors we expect to see during the first part of the breeding season. In recent days, they’ve also resumed nestbox guarding—something we hadn’t seen much of lately—suggesting a renewed sense of investment in the site.

Perhaps the most intriguing development has been the emergence of “practice incubation.” Vera has taken to lying down in the box as if brooding a clutch, and during one such moment, Ares decided it was his turn. He stepped directly on Vera’s tail, prompting her to stand up so he could settle in on the imaginary eggs himself. Will any real eggs appear this season? It’s impossible to say. But for now, they’re rehearsing their roles with convincing dedication.

With the return of warmer weather, activity in the downtown canyon picked up significantly over the past couple of days. All the expected breeding behaviors were on display: ledge displays, food giftings, and multiple matings. At times, Ares could be seen using food quite deliberately to lure Vera into the nestbox—a time-honored tactic. Ares clearly wants eggs, and since he can’t produce them himself, he’s doing everything he can to convince Vera to handle the task.

On Saturday afternoon, Vera appeared to inch closer to that possibility. She settled into a sitting posture inside the box and remained there for about twenty minutes. It looked very much like brooding behavior. A few days earlier, she had done something similar, so this wasn’t entirely new—but it was encouraging to see it happen again, and for a longer stretch. Perhaps she is indeed preparing to lay eggs, even if she’s taking her time getting there. We are now ten days beyond what would have been the egg laying window for Astrid’s first egg. Having said that, Astrid had laid an egg on Easter Sunday at least once before, perhaps Vera will take on that tradition.

After several days of wintry weather that seemed to put a damper on breeding activity, things finally began to thaw—both meteorologically and behaviorally. On Thursday, with clearer skies and milder temperatures, Ares and Vera became more active again. We observed multiple ledge displays, a confirmed mating, and what may have been a food gifting.

Vera also spent a notable amount of time sitting in the nestbox during the late afternoon on Thursday, in a posture that evoked brooding. In fact, it seemed like she was brooding invisible eggs. Could she still lay this season? We haven’t entirely given up on the idea, even though we’re now well past the typical window for a first egg. Of course, as a yearling, Vera may not follow the usual schedule for adult Peregrine females. One thing is certain: Ares would very much appreciate having some eggs to look after.

Ares

On Saturday morning, Ares delivered a prey item to Vera in a way that seemed more like a parent-offspring exchange than a courtship gifting. Rather than using the gift to entice her back to the nestbox, he flew to a place about twenty feet away from where she was perched on the roof of the State Building and made a drop-off. Vera responded by holding out her wings and loping across the roof to collect the food. Her behavior gave off fledgling-like vibes. This dynamic, with Ares acting more like a parent with his offspring than a mate providing a gift, adds an incongruous wrinkle to their pair bond and highlights the gap between the two falcons’ maturity levels.

By mid-afternoon, however, Vera seemed to switch gears. She and Ares shared a string of exuberant ledge displays, punctuated with frequent “beaking”—a term for the mutual bill swiping— sometimes a feature in Peregrine bonding sessions. These interactions suggested deepening conventional pair connection. Most telling was Vera’s extended time in the box after each dance. At one point, she flattened herself on the stones and lay quietly. This was probably just an instance of the raptor sunning herself, but perhaps there was an aspect of practice incubation mixed in.

The next day, Vera continued experimenting with nesting behavior. Following a ledge display around midday, she once again laid down on the gravel inside the box in a posture nearly identical to a brooding falcon. Shortly after, she was seen on a hotel ledge lying low with what appeared to be prey tucked under her wing. These episodes may not signal immediate egg-laying, but perhaps they suggest Vera is mentally rehearsing the process—testing her instincts, mimicking nesting postures, and edging closer to truly breeding.