It was yet another chilly night in the downtown canyon. Astrid spent the night brooding the two chicks and the eggs. Ares brought a small prey item to the box at 2:40 AM. Astrid took it and conducted a feeding. At 3:10 Ares was back with another course. Astrid didn’t seem interested and remained in place on the nest. As it happened, Ares wasn’t taking no for an answer and he jumped into the box with it. Astrid then changed her mind and took the food. The nestlings were receptive to feeding even though they had eaten just a short time before. At 7:55 Ares brought more prey to the nest. Astrid accepted it and carried out another feeding. Our PTZ 2 camera stopped working again at around that time. We just can’t keep that thing operating!
Ares brought in the next meal at 9:20. This time Astrid took it and flew away with it. He had been with the chicks for only a minute and then she was back in the box. She had stored the food and now wanted to get back to brooding. Ares went to the steeple after that. At 10:23 Ares screeched to the nest with what appeared to be a goldfinch. Astrid grabbed it and quickly fed it out to the chicks. Astrid abruptly left the nest at 12:33 PM. She flew over to the State Building and perched on a ledge not far from where Ares was perched. A minute later they both took off. Ares went out of view and Astrid returned to the nest. At 2:03 PM Ares came to the box to relieve Astrid. She was gone for about five minutes and then she replaced her mate on the nest. She was out of the box again at 2:48. Ares brought a freshly caught Starling to the box. He plucked it on the crossperch for a few minutes. She came right over, took the prey and brought it into the box. She plucked it some more before feeding it to the chicks.
At 5:20 Ares came to the box and asked for a turn babysitting. She let him have at it. After staring at the writhing nestlings for a few minutes he settled down to brooding. Astrid was on the State Building for a little while and then she was seen soaring all around the building – probably checking the various pantry ledges. She found some food and brought it back to the nest. She then conducted a feeding. At 6:24 PM Ares came to the nest with little more than the wings of a Pigeon. She scrambled over the crossperch and leaned way over the gap between it and the long perch. That’s where Ares was dangling the meal. She managed to grab it and then flew over to the hotel with it. There she ate her order of wings. After feeding she went over to a steeple perch for a while. She was back in the box at 6:35. Ares ceded the nest to her and flew over to the State Building. Astrid settled onto her eggs and young and hunkered down for another cold night. Goodnight all.
