The nightshift was relatively unremarkable (for once). Astrid did spent most of the night at the nest box. Ares brought in prey at 1:00 AM and then nothing else in until the relatively civilized hour of 5 o’clock. The latter meal was a large one and it took Astrid ½ hour to dole out. All four chicks remained in a tight huddle in the back right corner of the box. This is essentially the same position they’ve been in for the last three days! Our recent spate of chilly weather is largely to blame for this. It has certainly made it hard to see the feedings in detail or to get a good view of the rapidly growing chicks. At 6:54, Ares brought in a small meal. Astrid snatched it from him and quickly served it out to the nestlings. Following that, for about an hour, both parents took guard-like perches on either sides of the box. It was a little unusual, seeing as though it was a calm Sunday morning, with little traffic or pesky people that work in offices and walk too close to windows. The main thing was, they didn’t seem upset. In fact, they took turns grooming and nodding off. The pair remained at the box together until 9:00 AM, when Astrid flew off. The next feeding took place at 11:40. This time Ares brought in a flycatcher (Great crested) and handed it off quickly to Astrid. She did the feeding. Five minutes later, Ares returned to the box with more prey. It was something small this time. As he flew up to the box he gave a cackle call similar to what the Peregrines use as their alarm call. The call got Astrid’s attention and she looked up from the feeding in progress. Ares leaned into the box and handed the prey to her. She took it and put it next to flycatcher she was in the process of disassembling. It was windy and relatively cool today, and it was also highly conducive to the Peregrines’ style of hunting. They did quite a bit of that in the afternoon – frequently launching themselves from their high perches at unseen (by our cameras anyhow) prey. The next feeding of the nestlings took place at 1:40 PM. At 3:48, with Astrid out of view, Ares brought a hunk of food into the nest box and began to feed the chicks himself. Normally what happens next is that Astrid would swoop in, grab the prey and take over the feeding, but this time she was otherwise occupied. As it turned out he was making an expert job of it and the chicks were taking every tiny bit he tore off for them. Meanwhile we located Astrid on the PTZ camera. She was busy plucking and then feeding on a pigeon over at the hotel, and that’s why she hadn’t come over. Ares had finished feeding the chicks by the time she flew over with a large hunk of leftovers. Ares actually remained at the box while she stuffed the nestlings until they turned away from her. Although the pair weren’t seen to do any brooding of the chicks today, they did a lot of guarding the box. One or the other parent was there through most of the day. At 5:43, Astrid went back to the hotel ledge and took a long drink from a puddle. When she came back to the box, she fed the two chicks that weren’t yet full to bursting. Astrid stayed on the perch well into the evening. Ares was nowhere to be seen until around 7:45 when he joined Astrid on the box’s perch.
