Astrid spent most of the overnight period in the box. Every time she shifted, we tried to see if she had laid the 2nd egg, but she wasn’t budging. It was too dark in the box to really tell for sure anyhow. Ares brought food to the box at 3:30 AM, but she wasn’t interested in it and she sent him away. At 4:10, she went out onto the crossperch, and we were pretty sure there was no second egg on the scrape. Ares a brought a woodcock to the box at 5:50, but again, she didn’t accept it. At 6:20, Ares relieved her at the nest, and she flew up to the State Building. By this point she had gone 60 hours since laying the first egg and had reached her average interval between eggs. We wondered how far into overtime she was going to go. They mated on the State Building at 6:30 and she was back to the box shortly after that. Fifteen minutes later Ares came into the box and the pair shared a sort of ledge display with the egg between them. They bowed and beaked as they usually do with a standard ledge display. At one point during the “dance” Ares pulled the egg closer to his chest and seemed to be considering sitting on it. Instead he left and took up a guard position on the pillar east of the box.
At 8:05 AM, Ares brought food to the box and Astrid refused it. Minutes later she appeared to be close to laying egg # 2, but then Ares returned with the same food. However, this time she took it and flew off somewhere. She wasn’t gone for long and by 8:30, it seemed clear that the egg was on its way. Sure enough it was and at 8:37, egg number two was on the nest scrape. The interval between the first and second egg was 62.5 hours which, according to our records, is the longest interval ever for Astrid. Directly after she finished laying the egg she began calling very loudly. Ares was dealing with a very persistent intruder. According to our PTZ cams and Rick at Grace Church, Ares was chasing a larger falcon (most probably a female) around the canyon. The visible part of the chase including sparring and it went on for at least 15 minutes (often out of view). At one point Ares was seen striking or coming close to striking the stranger twice in the airspace close to the nest. During this whole time Astrid stayed in place. Ares didn’t come back into view until 9:50, when he stopped at the nest. At this time, they switched, and Ares got to see the new egg for the first time. Fifteen minutes later the pair mated on the west veranda. She took over on the eggs after that and he resumed his guard post on the east pillar.
By 10:45 the intruder was back. Ares shot out after her while Astrid called excitedly from the box. She soon moved out onto the veranda and then flew, presumably after the stranger. Ares assumed a post on the roof of the State Building (the lookout). He came to the box to look after the eggs at 10:55 and she landed on the State Building five minutes later. Before noon the pair mated once at the nest box. After that, Astrid was on nest duty. The falcons enjoyed a more or less normal early afternoon and then the intruder was back at 3:30. Astrid and Ares were both out of view for a while – probably trying to at least escort the stranger out. Ares came to the box with a hunk of food at 4:10, but still seemed agitated as if his mate was still engaging the intruder. He ate most of the meal himself and then began calling loudly. Astrid finally came back to the State Building at 4:15. She avoided going to the box until nearly 7 PM – Ares was guarding on and off before that. The pair mated at the box and on the steeple three times before Astrid returned to the box and climbed onto the eggs. Presumably, Ares was off to his night perch after that. Goodnight to all.
