There were no feedings in the overnight hours – that is if we don’t include the last feeding of the day on Wednesday, which began at 9:56 PM and went on for at least 45 minutes! It does seem that super early morning feedings may be a thing of the past now that the nestlings are older, stronger and able to handle longer intervals between meals. At 5:00 AM, Astrid came to the box and began feeding out some leftover scraps from the previous night’s meal. It was just a few bites and it hardly constituted breakfast. Fortunately, only ten minutes later, Ares came to the nest box with fresh prey. Astrid grabbed it and handled the feeding, which is always her prerogative. Over the last few days we’ve noticed how the eyesight of the nestlings has been developing. They can now watch their parents from a distance. They watch them as they fly through the canyon and when they dart out after prey. The chicks respond to what they see by bobbing their heads up and down and by vocalizing. The next feeding happened at 8:53 when Ares arrived at the box with prey. At 11:02, he brought more food, but this time the prey was something unusual – a Semipalmated Sandpiper, which is a sparrow-sized migrant shorebird. Although the species is not an uncommon late summer migrant in the region, they are normally hard to come by in spring. Still, somehow Ares manages to find them. The next feeding occurred at 12:42 PM and afterwards the chicks enjoyed a long siesta – although it was occasionally interrupted by bouts of lively wing flapping and loud calling. At 4:45, dinner arrived at the box and Astrid did the feeding. One of the nestlings bit Astrid’s tail a few times while she was plucking the food. Ares brought in another Semipalmated Sandpiper at 6:20 (It’s as if they were on special somewhere?) Astrid took it and this time chick # 4 was the first in line to be fed. A few minutes into the feeding, Ares returned with another meal – this time it was an unrecognizable hunk of meat. Astrid took it and added it to the pot. At one point in the feeding, Astrid gave chick # 4 an entire sandpiper wing. For a while the chick tried to swallow it, but thankfully, gave up and dropped it. While the feeding was going on, chick # 3 was mostly standing in a corner of the box – looking at the wall. With the scant remainder of the meal, Astrid walked over. She managed to get the loner’s attention and fed out the last few bites. As I’m finishing up this update, the parent falcons are perched on the State Building and all four nestlings are crashed out in the nest box. Looking at them while they are sprawled out, I am astounded by the rate of growth of their wing and tail feathers. During the course of the last 24 hours, they appear to have grown nearly an inch. It’s a good reminder just how close we are getting to fledge time. Only about two weeks to go now folks!
