Astrid remained on the eggs throughout the night. The weather was cool with intermittent rain. Ares came to the box at around 3:55 AM. He stood in front of her for quite some time while she decided whether or not to leave. Distant lightning may have been the cause of her indecisiveness. Just before 7:00 the pair mated on the west veranda and then Astrid took over incubation. At 7:30, Ares was on his east pillar perch and remained there until he spotted an intruder at 8:10. While he dealt with the stranger, Astrid became extremely agitated and was calling non-stop. A minute later she was out of the box and joining the conflict. Both were back at the box by 8:13, but Astrid was still upset and calling, even as Ares settled onto the eggs. She returned to the State Building at 8:30. Did she chase the intruder off?
At 8:49, both falcons were up – Ares had come off the eggs. There was an aborted mating attempt on the State Building, after which he returned to the nest and to incubating. At 9:08, Astrid flew to the box and then moved over to the west veranda. Less than an hour later she was on a steeple perch. The two remained in place until 12:30 PM. It looked like Astrid flew after something when she left the steeple, but we couldn’t be sure of that. Right then Ares got antsy and left the box. He flew up to his pantry on the west face of the State Building and took one of his catches. He flew it over to the hotel and partially plucked it before (presumably) giving it to Astrid (she was somewhere out of view). He then returned to the nest. He had been gone for about 8 minutes. On the PTZ cam we could just barely make her out on the west face of the State Building. She was probably feeding. At 12:53 she was perched on the north face of the same building. He started giving squeak calls when she left that perch. After spending some time on the steeple, at 2:12, she came to the box to relieve Ares. The next change took place an hour later. This time Astrid was very vocal while getting up and leaving. She was next seen on the steeple at 3:25.
As the rain continued to fall, both falcons kept their place (him on the eggs and her on the steeple) until 6 PM. At that point they mated and then she got onto the eggs. He brought a woodcock to the long perch at 6:19, but she was not interested and sent him off. Presumably, he stored it and then took a perch on the State Building. Astrid remained on the nest through the evening. We expect a fourth egg to be laid Tuesday morning. Goodnight all.