The early morning was cool with a developing fog. Astrid and Ares remained active pretty much throughout the night. Ares brought the first meal of the day at 12:09 AM and the second only a half hour later. These were small prey items. At 2:07 he brought in what appeared to be a bat. He waited a little while for Astrid to show up and when she didn’t, he handled the feeding. That was only the second time we’ve recorded Ares doing a night time feeding. At 2:53, Ares came to the box with another small offering. This time Astrid arrived in time and took care of the feeding. Additional feedings took place at 4:53, 8:37 10:30 and 11:38. At 12:50, Astrid flew over to the steeple. She was soaked. She had obviously just returned from having a bath (presumably) in one of the puddles on the hotel ledge. She spent the better part of an hour preening, and fanning out her feathers to let the sun and wind dry them. Another part of her drying routine is to make fast flights around the canyon. I’ve been assured that it’s better than a hair drier. Given the morning, it seemed like today was shaping up to be another mega-feed day like the Monday was. However, then there was a long lull in feedings. The parents were apparently out hunting, but not returning with anything. This is how it is with birds of prey or any hunters. Compared to other raptors, Peregrine Falcons enjoy better than average luck securing prey. They are designed for success, but sometimes their prey beats the odds and manages to elude them. No prey came into the box during the whole afternoon. Finally at 6:15 PM, Ares brought in a Goldfinch. Astrid came in to do the feeding, but the food didn’t stretch far. Ares went right back out, presumably trying to turn up something more substantial. Astrid went back to eyeing Pigeons as they flew through the canyon. The afternoon was warm and sunny, but the growing nestlings didn’t require any shading by their parents. They were able to seek out adequate shade in the box all on their own. Incidentally, the chicks finally began to break the huddle they’ve remained in for the past five days. This gave us a chance to get a good look at them. We are now reasonably sure that chick # 1 is a female and the others are most likely all males. This is all based on the size of the foot and the width of the lower leg. As the afternoon transitioned into evening, the nestlings began getting hungry and restless. All four started producing high squealing begging calls. At 7:30 PM, Ares appeared from behind the State Building. He flew around it a few times and then landed at the box’s east veranda. He had prey in his talons. Astrid suddenly came from out of nowhere (evidentally she hadn’t very far away), grabbed the food and took it into the box. The prey was a Dunlin (a species of shorebird that is rarely seen in the spring in Central NY). Astrid fed it to her famished chicks in only a few minutes. It was a very raucous scene, but all managed to get some. After Ares dropped off the food, he flew over to perch on the steeple. When Astrid finished with the feeding she flew over and displaced him from his perch. Again, we believe it was her not so subtle way of telling him to go out and get more Dunlins. Other theories are welcomed
