Astrid spent Sunday Night on the nest. The weather was cold and wet. At 3:47 AM Astrid vocalized when Ares arrived on the State Building. At 4:20 he came to the box to relieve Astrid. That was quite early for a switch. At 6:15 Astrid was feeding on something on the hotel. Ares chirped when she landed on the steeple at 6:26. At 7:49 Astrid landed on the crossperch and stayed there for a while. Fifteen minutes later she was in the box and they did a quick switch. At 8:20 Astrid announced Ares’ arrival on a steeple perch. By 8:30 he was on the hotel feeding on prey. After that he took a perch on the State Building. At 11:30 Astrid was looking around a lot while sitting on the eggs. We wondered what she was looking at. She wasn’t vocalizing so it was unlikely an intruder.
At 12:44 Ares screeched to the box. The pair had a long conversation. He wanted a turn on the eggs, but she wasn’t willing to leave. He went out onto the long perch and then hopped across to the east veranda. From there he probably went to one of the east ledges. We heard him screech a few more times but couldn’t see him. At 1:22 he screeched by the box and then came right back and asked for a turn on the eggs. This time she relented and they did a quick switch. She was on the State Building for a while after that. At 2:18 he was having a snooze on the eggs. The next switch happened at 2:44 PM. He was out of camera view for a while after that. The next switch happened at about 4:50. Ares was back on the eggs and Astrid was on the State Building. Ten minutes later she went to the steeple. At 5:12 she darted off – possibly after prey. At 5:21 she came to the box and checked in on Ares. He didn’t want to leave so she granted him some more time and returned to the steeple. At 6 PM both falcons were up and engaging an intruder. One (probably Ares) went to the lookout on the State Building roof. Astrid flew back to the nest and got onto the eggs but she was obviously very upset and giving warning chirps. Ares flew quickly around the State Building repeatedly – diving down at something on or near the east face of the building. He would take breaks on the lookout, but then start diving again. There was likely a peregrine intruder on one of the east face window ledges. She was upset and vocalizing off and on until finally settling down after 7:30 PM. Ares remained on the lookout and was still there as darkness came to the canyon at around 7:50 PM. Assuming our assessment of the situation was correct, will the intruder try to sneak out during the night? We don’t know, but Astrid and Ares are very aware of its presence and will likely react to whatever that falcon does whenever he or she makes their move.
As of Monday we have reached 30 days of continuous incubation. That means we have entered the hatch window and must begin inspecting the eggs for pips or cracks. Typically, for Astrid and Ares, their eggs don’t start to hatch until at least 33 days of incubation. The watch is on folks.
