Ares came screeching up to the nest box at 5:29 AM, but Astrid wasn’t prepared to leave at that time. He then flew directly over to the State Building and screeched a few times in protest. Twenty minutes later Astrid was ready to relinquish the nest to him and he eagerly took over incubating. It was chilly with some rain today and the falcons made all of their switches fast ones throughout the day. Twice in the afternoon, Ares tried to relieve Astrid at the nest, but she wouldn’t budge. Both times he walked all the way around her and then stood behind her to pressure her to go. The second time he also seemed to be trying to peek beneath her. It was as if he thought the eggs had hatched and she was just holding out on him. At 3:34 Ares was seen taking a bath in a large puddle on the ledge of the hotel. When he was done he dramatically sprung out of the water and shook his feather off. Astrid finally let Ares have a turn incubating at 6:32 PM, which meant that she had pulled a seven hour shift on the eggs – essentially the entire afternoon. It was rainier, windier and no warmer in the afternoon, which could explain why she stayed so long, but it also may be that she senses hatch time approaching and she finds it difficult to leave. We will be entering the earliest part of the hatch window on Thursday, but since our birds usually go a full 32 – 33 days of incubation before a hatch, the most likely time for a hatch will be early next week. Stay tuned!
