Astrid stayed on the nest all night and it was yet another cold one – although temps managed to remain above freezing. At 3:52 AM Ares came to the crossperch with prey. Astrid scrambled out to take it from him and then flew over to the hotel with it while Ares settled onto the eggs. It was quite dark and so we couldn’t see her well. As for the switch time, it was early by recent standards. At 6:20 Astrid came to the crossperch and the pair had a lively conversation. He did not want to leave and so she hopped over to the east veranda. At 6:27 she came into the box and relieved him on the eggs. He was ready to go by then. At around 9:10 Astrid was vocalizing a lot. We thought she was calling for Ares to come and relieve her. He screeched over but when he asked to take over on the nest she refused to leave. At 10:11 Ares was back again and asking for a turn, but she would not go. At 11:23 Ares tried yet again, but he was denied for a third time. He went out onto the long perch and then sidestepped over the crossperch to the east veranda. Astrid vocalized to him, but it was clear that she was not vacating the nest. This is the type of behavior we expect from Astrid when the eggs are close to hatching, but we are a week away from the hatch window, so that was not the reason. Ares was back on the crossperch at noon, but Astrid sent him away again. At 12:38, Ares came into the box and that time he finally managed to convince Astrid to let him have a turn. In order to shift her he walked around her and threatened to stomp on her tail. She ceded the nest to him.
At 1:10 Astrid was located on the hotel ledge feeding on something sizable. I it was probably a Pigeon and perhaps it was the remains of one she caught the other day. Ares called as she flew to a State Building perch. At 3:33 Astrid was on a steeple perch and preening. They switched sometime before 4:25 PM and Astrid took her place on the eggs. It turned out that was the last switch of the day. After the switch Ares was seen making hunting forays from his perch on the State Building. By 7:30 he was up and likely off to one of his undisclosed locations. Goodnight all
