A Warm Day in the Canyon – Ares Gets a Chance to Feed

Last night instead of brooding the young, Astrid remained out on the perch until at least 10:00 PM. The first feeding of this morning took place at 1:50 AM. At 3:55, Ares brought food again. Following that feeding, the parents switched and Ares was on duty at the nest box. This was the earliest nest duty he has drawn so far this season.  Astrid returned to the box at 5 o’clock and carried out yet another feeding. During mid-morning, Ares was seen making hunting forays from the steeple and the State Building.  He brought food back to the box at 8:33. For some reason, just after the delivery, he gave a cackle-type alarm call. There didn’t seem to be any raptors in the vicinity, but one would need a falcon’s eyes to make that call. During the feeding it was confirmed that the fourth chick to hatch was holding its own when vying with its siblings for food. Every year, viewers of our camera feeds become concerned that the last chick to hatch isn’t getting enough food or enough attention from the parents. Rest assured, when there is more than a sufficient amount of food coming to the nest, all of the young have no trouble getting their fill. Younger ones or weaker ones may have to wait until the stronger contenders are satiated, but after that, the runts typically get all they need. Apparently our number 4 chick is fairly competitive during feedings, which is good news! At 10 o’clock, the whole family was at the box and Astrid gave some of her trademark “donkey calls”. It was good to hear those again. After that, Ares went out hunting for a while. He came back at 10:35 with food and then, predictably, Astrid took it from him and began feeding. However, only 15 minutes later Ares was in the box doing a feeding. For the most part it seemed like he was doing a competent job. However, when I tuned in to the camera feed on my phone I saw him trying to give the chicks pieces that were obviously too large for them to deal with. When they didn’t except his offerings, he would swallow them himself. It looked to me like he was getting more than the chicks were. Deb made a good observation: she said that invariably, when feeding, Astrid prompts the chicks to open their beaks by periodically making squeaking vocalizations. When Ares was feeding he was silent. Of course, the chicks had only eaten 15 minutes earlier so they one could argue they just weren’t as hungry. Astrid returned to the box at 11 o’clock and gently put an end to Ares’ experiment with feeding. The parents were mostly out of the box in the early afternoon. It was certainly warm enough with temperatures reaching the low 80s. Shading wouldn’t be necessary until late in the afternoon when the sun hits the box with full force. At about 3 o’clock, movement inside the office near the box brought Astrid back to check on the nest a couple of times, but she didn’t seem to be overly riled up. By late afternoon, the parents were taking turns checking in at the box and doing some shading, but never for very long. For the most part, the chicks were able to keep themselves in the shady corners of the box. In early evening, the parents were both away from the box for an extended time. They were in hunting mode. At 6:30, both parents dashed by the box. There were some shill screeching calls. I thought for sure there must’ve been an intruder near the box. But then Astrid piled into the nest with an entire Mourning Dove. She immediately began plucking it right there. Ares landed on the steeple perch around the same time. In the box, the chicks had been spread out around a few feet of floor space. When Astrid started feeding, only one chick was in range, but soon the others mobilized as best they could and waddled their way into a coherent grouping. The feeding lasted over 25 minutes and by the end all four chicks wouldn’t open there beaks anymore and were sporting full crops. When Astrid left the group (with a tiny morel of leftovers) the nestlings were all toppled over in the corner. After perching on the State Building for a few minutes, Astrid flew over and displaced Ares from his perch on the steeple. Of course that was her way of encouraging him to sit in the box for a while. At 7:00 PM, Astrid was on the hotel having a drink from a puddle while Ares stood guard at the box. With longer days, the parents may be up for some more hunting tonight, but I don’t think we’ll see another feeding until tomorrow.