Overnight there was only a single feeding that took place. At 2:30 AM (ish) Astird brought in a hunk of leftovers (possibly a pigeon from the night before) and fed it to the nestlings. For the most part Astrid stayed in view of our cameras throughout the night, but that was not the case with Ares. Ares brought no meals nor did he visit the nest box at all in the overnight hours. Astrid didn’t call for him either, which either meant that he was present and accounted for on some perch that’s not visible to our PTZ camera, or he was out hunting for more vittles. Regardless, he seemed to be excused from provisioning the family and from chick checks – at least during the night-shift. At 5:10 AM, Ares finally arrived at the box and he had with him an entire Starling. Within seconds Astrid barged in, grabbed the food and started feeding. Although the morning started out cool and a little foggy, the sky cleared quickly and the morning turned warm with temperatures reaching into the 60’s.
Although the chicks still occasionally rest together in a big heap on the west side of the box, they are becoming much more ambulatory. They are preening more and flapping their wings more. They have also been growing in leaps and bounds. This is especially noticeable when they stand in close proximity to a parent. At 7:40 AM, Ares brought prey to the box. He started to feed the chicks and then Astrid came in and took over the job. This same scenario happened again 8:15. Ares clearly wanted to feed the nestlings this morning, but kept being thwarted by his mate. At 8:55, Ares brought another small meal, but Astrid was right there at the box, and so he didn’t even try to begin to feed. As it turned out, that would be the last feeding until 1:29 PM. At 1:52, Ares quietly (and without his characteristic screech) flew into the box and began feeding chick # 4, (which was excellent, since # 4 is almost always the last chick to be fed). Chick # 2 and # 3 soon joined in, but then Astrid blasted into the box and promptly sent Ares out. Ares dashed over to the church steeple where he appeared to be watching for prey, but by 1:56, he was closing his eyes and dozing. When Astrid finished feeding, she left the box and immediately displaced Ares from his perch. Was she telling him to do more hunting? In the late afternoon the sun was drenching the inside of the nest box. At 4:00, Astrid stopped by and made a half-hearted attempt to shade the chicks – well, one of the chicks anyhow. At 4:20, A&A had a rendezvous on the ledge of the hotel. The pair appeared to be doing a ledge display or something like it. This was the first time we had seen anything like this since the incubation period. Five minutes later, Astrid was at the box feeding the nestlings. It was only a short feed though. At 5:40 PM, Ares was back on the hotel and plucking a sizable bird – probably a Mourning Dove. Feathers flew from the ledge like confetti. Ten minutes later Ares dropped off the prey at the nest and Astrid did a long feeding. The three older chicks fed heartily while chick # 4 kept by itself by the east wall of the box. Earlier, Ares had fed that chick, so we aren’t that worried about it. The lot of the runt is to wait until the older, larger chicks get their fill before getting fed. As long as lots of prey continues to come in, we foresee no problem with # 4 getting enough sustenance. At 7:55 PM, once more, after leaving the nest box, Astrid displaced Ares from his perch on the steeple. Get out there and get us some grub, young man!
