The day began cool and dry. Astrid had spent the whole overnight on the eggs. Ares came to the box at 4:50 AM and they switched out. She came back to the crossperch at 5:23 and the pair had a loud conversation; after which, she hopped into the box and asked to take over on the eggs. First, she tried beaking with him and when that didn’t work, she went around behind him and stomped on his tail and primaries. That worked; she had forced him out and she took over incubating. At 6:17, Ares brought prey over to the hotel ledge. Astrid called when she saw him fly by with it. The next switch took place at 7:41 AM and then Ares had another turn on the eggs.
Our next sighting of Astrid was at 9:10. She was on the steeple perch. At 10:45 we noticed that she was trying to bring up a pellet. She came back to the box at 11:30 to take over on the eggs. As far as we know, Ares didn’t protest too much about leaving that time. It was sunny and a little bit windy in the early afternoon and we think Ares was taking advantage of the favorable conditions to do some hunting. He was back and forth from perches on the State Building a few times. Astrid called when he landed on the steeple at 1:45. He was heard screeching to the steeple again almost an hour later. At 2:55, Astrid was off the eggs for a few minutes – we were unsure as to the cause of her departure. As far as we knew, there was no intruder active in the canyon.
The next switch took place at around 4 PM – we weren’t sure of the exact time. She was on the State Building after that, but she did some moving around to different perches. She was being about as active as Ares had been earlier due to the favorable weather. Every time she moved, he gave some squeaking calls. At around 6:10 the falcons switched again on the nest. This time Astrid took over on the eggs. She would stay there for the duration of the evening. Ares was last seen on the north face of the State Building at 6:20 PM. Goodnight all.
