Astrid spent the night on the eggs. Ares surprised us by making an especially early call at the box (3:20 AM). He asked for a turn incubating, but she denied him that opportunity. He stayed in the box with her for about five minutes before flying out again. At 5:30 Astrid was calling into the canyon. She wanted to be relieved. He came to the box and they switched. We examined the eggs for pips during the changeover but saw none. At 5:50 Astrid was seen darting around the canyon. She appeared to be in hunting mode. At one point we saw her sailing around the State Building’s west face before landing on a north face ledge. At 6:13 she flew to the box and the btwo falcons traded places again. It was a short shift for Ares but he didn’t seem to mind that time.
At 7:00 we located Ares on the hotel feeding on prey (possibly a flicker). He ate most of it and then brought what remined to Astrid at the box. She wasn’t interested in the woodpecker and sent him away with it. He stored the food somewhere. The next switch took place at 8:19 and then Ares was on the eggs. However, she was back on the crossperch asking to have her turn only ten minutes later. As hatching time gets closer Astrid loathes to leave the eggs for long. She came up alongside Ares and beaked with him in an effort to nicely pry him out of the box. As it happened, this time he wasn’t in an obliging mood and she flew out instead. We checked the eggshells again during that switch but still no sign of a pip or a crack. At 8:53 Astrid was found on the hotel with large prey – probably a Pigeon. We have little doubt that she caught it herself. She came to the crossperch at 9:30 and showed off her full crop. She flew around the State Building and then flew south over Genesee Street. At 10:00 she was back on the crossperch. She desired her turn on the eggs and she got it without much coaxing this time.
At 11:36 we noticed that Astrid had begun doing a lot of egg jostling. That movement of the eggs helps the chicks inside crack out of their shells. We hadn’t seen Ares in a little while, but he suddenly started giving screech calls from some unseen location. He came to the box asking for a turn on the eggs but she wasn’t having it. After that Ares was on a pillar above the nest box. At 12:44 he tried again to switch with Astrid. He was pushier about it that time but she still wasn’t leaving. He scrambles from the long perch, across the crossperch and to the east veranda. At 1:36 Astrid was ready to cede the nest to Ares. After that, Astrid went back and forth to the State Building a few times. At 2:57 Ares gave a cackle-type alarm call from the nest. This likely meant a non-falcon raptor was flying through the canyon. She came to the crossperch at 3:19, but Ares was anchored in place. She gave up and soared over to the State Building. She was back in the box at 4:37 PM, but Ares was entrenched. So she left again.
At 5PM she was back and this time they switched. During that switch we were able to examine the eggs shells and one of them – the first one that had been laid back on March 23rd, had been pipped. Soon we were hearing a young chick calling from inside the egg. At 6:07 Astrid started giving some lively calls. We wondered if there was another late day intruder active in the canyon, but we could never confirm that. We kept trying to get better looks at that eggs, but the falcons were not affording us much. The amount of jostling of the eggs Astrid was doing was helping to inspire at least one chick to get on with hatching. At 7:06 PM Astrid came off the eggs for a minute and we got another chance to peruse the eggs for pips. We still had only a poor view of the one pipped egg. Just then Ares stopped to the crossperch for a few seconds before soaring off on the winds. Right through midnight Astrid continued to shift the eggs around – like she was playing a Peregrine version of a shell-game. A young one called from inside the egg just about every time she moved or jostled them. Will that chick hatch overnight? There’s a good chance of it. Stay tuned!
