Courtship Under Way In Earnest
Archer & Beauty bowing at the nest box
It looks like Archer and Beauty are getting right down to the business of courtship. Our on-the-ground watchers report seeing courtship behaviors, and a look at the cameras at Times Square confirms that both falcons have been seen at the nest box bowing to each other. Bowing is a typical courtship activity, which is usually accompanied by both birds vocalizing to each other.
Archer brings a food gift
Another sign of courtship is that the male will bring gifts of food to a female (kind of like a man picking up the dinner tab for a date, or bringing chocolates to his valentine!). This demonstrates his ability to provide for a family, not to mention his skill as a hunter. Courtship also allows the Peregrines to renew their pair bond after their winter separaton.
As you can see, Archer has dropped off a nice fat Woodcock at the nest box. Beauty showed up a minute after the delivery (that’s her in the picture– thanks Ashira for the catch!) but she didn’t take the bird, perhaps because she’d already eaten. After she left Archer returned, grabbed the food and took it with him around 10:37. You can follow the action in this time lapse sequence brought to you courtesy of the Rochester Falconcam Archive Viewer (click the image below to watch the movie).
There’s been more courtship observed at the nest box today, so we’re looking forward to Archer and Beauty continuing to re-establish their pair bond. And as posted by Falconcam team member Carol Phillips over at our FalconWatch blog, they’ve already moved to the next step, mating!
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March 22nd, 2010 at 1:06 PM
Outstanding news!
March 22nd, 2010 at 6:03 PM
Isn’t that Beauty in the ‘Archer brings a food gift’ picture? 😮
I also noticed that Archer has a very noticeable white feather sticking out of his white wing right now. Hee hee. It makes identification easier! ^^ Only temporarily, I suppose.
March 23rd, 2010 at 7:51 AM
Ditto Larry – Outstanding news!! 😀
March 24th, 2010 at 1:41 PM
An off the topic question but I haven’t seen much printed about Mariah – is she still in town?
March 25th, 2010 at 6:30 PM
Welcome home, Archer! Let M&K, the new generation begin!
Hope they get it right this time. Not quite sure what to make of how the gravel is arranged. Did Beauty do that? From here the middle appears much higher than the sides so eggs would roll away. . .
Spring has sprung
the grass has rizz
now you know
where the birdies is.
…Ralph Waldo Longfellow
March 26th, 2010 at 7:44 AM
They both appeared in only one frame from yesterday morning, but between the three cameras, more pair bonding was occurring.
March 26th, 2010 at 7:45 AM
March 25, Cam 1, 10:59
March 26th, 2010 at 4:27 PM
What a time for Camera 1 to go out!