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Ares came in to relieve Astrid at just before 6:00 this morning. Ares didn’t bring her a tribute and so she flew over to the hotel for a breakfast of leftovers. During her second furlough from the box, Astrid caught a Pigeon and turned that into her early lunch. Following a very vocal switch at 10:15, Astrid was back on the eggs and Ares was able to do some nice sailing around the canyon. With the increasing west winds came a steady rain and by early afternoon the falcons were rendered quite inactive.  Ares relieved Astrid at the box at 3:00 and there he remained for the rest of the afternoon. Astrid spend most of this time on a pillar over a window just west of the nest box. When the rain relented, at 6:00 she flew over to the State Building. At 6:00 Ares called for her to take over incubation, but she sat and preened for another 45 minutes before she complying. At 7:15 PM Ares headed off to his night perch and Astrid settled down on the eggs for the night. It looks like its going to be a rainy one.

Like all female Peregrine Falcons, Astrid pulls every night shift on the eggs and the nest is where she can be found each early morning.  Ares’ appearances are always a bit more mysterious. At 6:00 AM we got our first look at Ares as he perched on the roof of the State Building. This is normally a lookout perch for him and one he resorts to only when intruders are in the area. This time we think he may have just been using it to spot prey. Without providing a gift to his mate, Ares took over incubation at 6:15. After leaving the box, Astrid hunted (apparently unsuccessfully) for just over an hour before returning to relieve Ares. At 9:40 Ares was seen feeding on something over at the hotel. It appeared to be something freshly caught, but there didn’t seem to be much of it and he didn’t save any for Astrid. During one of Ares’ turns at the box, just before 1:00 PM, Astrid landed on the perch and assumed what appeared to posture she uses when requesting mating. We thought maybe she was re-purposing the gesture to request a food tribute.  But if that was her intention it didn’t elicit the desired effect. The biggest drama for the day happened at 2:45 when Astrid (she had been incubating) looked up, abruptly screeched and darted off the eggs. We don’t know what she saw, but whatever it was it made both falcons dash off to the north. Before a minute was up, Ares came back to the box and took over on the eggs. A minute later Astrid was back on the box perch. She barked at Ares and then flew over to perch on the steeple. We joked that this was all a clever ruse employed by Astrid to compel her mate to take over at the box during the hottest part of the afternoon. Ruse or not, that was the effect. Soon after this, Astrid was enjoying a Pigeon meal on the hotel ledge. For the record she wasn’t sipping a pina colada. She was back incubating at 4:36 PM and that is where she will remain for the night. Ares stayed on the State Building for a long time and was last seen after 7:00 PM zipping out on hunting forays from the roof of the County Building. Good night falcons!

It was yet another windy day today in the downtown canyon. The morning was chilly, but afternoon temperatures soared into the 60s. Astrid called Ares over to the box to relieve her at 6:00 AM. A half hour later she was seen feeding on leftovers on the hotel ledge. While she fed, of all things, a real live pigeon stood no less than 3 feet away from her on the same ledge. The brave (or foolish) bird initially stood very still and it was almost as it was playing the part of a waiter, standing by Astrid’s table in case she needed anything else with her meal. Later on the pigeon got even closer, but then abruptly flew off. All the while Astrid showed no reaction and a little while later when the same bird swooped right by her, she still seemed oblivious. We believe that the pigeon was acting this way because it had a nest somewhere nearby. By 8:00, Astrid was on the eggs again, but then Ares showed up with a food tribute. She took it and presumably went off to eat it. “A second breakfast! Don’t mind if I do.” At 12:55 Astrid had been incubating for a couple of hours when she suddenly tore out of the box screeching. No intruder was seen at the time, but likely she was reacting to the presence of some kind of raptor passing through the territory. At 2:00 PM it was Ares’ turn to blast out of the box while giving staccato alarm calls. An intruder may have been glimpsed this time but we’re not sure what it was or even if it was another falcon. Neither falcon left the canyon in pursuit of anything and Astrid took up incubating without missing more than a couple of beats. By late afternoon, Ares was in the box again and Astrid was seen going on some short hunting forays. The pairs’ last switch at the box took place at just before 6:00 PM. Following that, Ares did some fancy flying around the canyon.

 

 

Of course it’s all about the eggs with our falcons – whether it’s Easter or not. The first changing of the guard occurred at 5:50 AM – and that’s when Ares took over incubation from Astrid. There was no prey exchanged at that time. A little later Astrid was seen having a drink of water at the hotel ledge. Apparently her water drinking isn’t limited to egg laying time. Astrid returned to the nest to take over incubation, but Ares balked at leaving. This time, instead of pressing her point like she usually does, she left and let Ares had another half shift on the eggs. Just when you think you know what to expect from these birds they surprise you! At close to 11:30, while Astrid was on the nest, Ares got upset about a group of 3 Turkey Vultures that passed low through the canyon. He gave some alarm calls and then escorted the large scavengers out and to the north. Incidentally, vultures represent no threat to the falcons other than perhaps providing some competition for nest ledges in real canyons and in mountainous terrain. Shortly after Ares’ run-in with the vultures, Astrid began calling to to her mate to have him relieve her at the nest.  By that point he had come back and was perching on the State Building, but he wouldn’t budge. He may have been monitoring the movement of other migrating raptors to the north. When he finally came to the box at 11:40, Astrid got off the eggs and shrieked right in his face. He spent the bulk of the afternoon on the nest. It was quite warm out (up into the high 70’s) but the strong winds made it more bearable and Ares never even had to shade the eggs. Some rain showers hit in the late afternoon. Throughout the rain Astrid stayed on the State Building and Ares remained on the nest.  When the rain had passed Astrid went out and caught a pigeon which she proceeded to devour on the hotel. After taking some time to digest, at 5:40 PM she came back to the box and relieved Ares. Freed from his responsibilities for the day, he did some fancy flying around the canyon and then presumably went off to his night perch at some undisclosed location.

The falcons started out the day at 5:50 AM with a hand-off of prey at the nest box. It was too dark to make out exactly what Ares brought, but it was likely a hunk of a Woodcock. The morning was windy and mostly sunny and that’s always a good combination for falcons. It means free flying and they took full advantage of it. There were several changeovers during the morning. Ares usually announces his arrival at the box with a characteristic shriek, but at 11:20 he arrived quietly and visibly startled Astrid. Judging by her reaction, he probably won’t be doing that again any time soon. Astrid spent part of midday hunting and was out of camera view for a while. At one point Ares came off of the eggs and didn’t return for 13 minutes. Fortunately, it was a warm day and the eggs should have been able to handle that gap in the incubation process. We think that Ares went to help Astrid stir up the downtown pigeon flock. Outside of the breeding season, he has been seen driving Pigeons into her clutches on a few occasions. That could be what happened today, since not long after his return to the box she was on the hotel feeding on a pigeon. Once she had her fill she shoved the leftovers to the back of the ledge and went over to the church steeple. Later on when she relieved Ares at the box, the first thing he did was to go over to the hotel and polish off the leftovers. It’s a bit of a mystery to us just how he knew the food was there. From his perspective at the box, he wasn’t able to see Astrid eating. Did she give a special call while she was there to alert him to the food? We don’t know. Rain by mid-afternoon kept the falcons sedentary for a few hours. Astrid took over at the box at around 3:00 PM and seemed to be settled in for the night. During the rain Ares tucked up so tightly into a window ledge on the State Building that we could barely see him. He was active later on and was last seen hunting from the steeple at 5:45 PM. After that we presume that he went to his night perch.