It was quite cold in the falcon’s canyon this morning. Temperatures were in the low 40’s. At 5:27 AM when Ares came to take over incubation, Astrid sent him on his way. Usually she’s eager to stretch her wings after a night of sitting, but this morning she seemed resolved to stay on the eggs. Fifteen minutes later she was ready to go and Ares took a shift. As is often her habit, the first thing Astrid does after leaving the box in the morning is to fly around the State Building a few times. It’s possible she’s checking its many ledges for stored prey. At 8:18, she came back to the box, but Ares didn’t want to leave. She managed to persuade him with her subtle charm and/or with threats. Ares was out of view for about two hours after that. We thought he may have been hunting. Later in the afternoon, following another switch at the box, it was Astrid’s turn to be missing for a while. Finally she was located on the hotel ledge, plucking away at some prey. It looked to be a recently caught pigeon. When she came back to the nest box at 6:04 PM, she had a very full crop. Ares was reluctant to leave, but ultimately did defer to his mate. At this point Astrid was in for the night. The skies were partly clear and the winds were steady. Ares was last seen flying over the State Building, possibly he was in hunting mode.
