Astrid spent most of the night at the nest box. It was a little on the cool side, but temperatures rose quickly after daybreak. Astrid was out on the long perch until around 1:55 AM and then we are not sure where she was, but we believe she was close by. At 2:00 Ares brought a meal to the nest – it was an un-plucked bird. Astrid came out of nowhere, grabbed it and flew off. Ares took over guard duty on the long perch. We located Astrid on the ledge of the hotel, but she didn’t have the prey with her. Did she drop it? Perhaps she stored it somewhere. Ares brought more prey to the box at 5:05. At that time Astrid was on the long perch. She snatched the meal from him and fed the chicks. An hour later we noticed that Astrid had moved over onto the west veranda. She has been expressing increasing interest in the verandas lately – as well as the roof of the nest box. At 6:20 she was up on the box roof. At 8:43 Ares screeched to the box and did a fast chick-check and then he was out. He was back to the nest at 8:45 and Astrid was on the crossperch giving donkey calls. We think she wanted him to fetch food. She left a moment later and returned with prey which she promptly fed out to the chicks.
At 9:11 we heard Ares screech through the canyon. There was probably a food handoff at that point, but we are not sure. All we know is that Astrid was feeding the chicks by 9:26. By 10:15 she was up on the roof of the box again. At 10:48 more cries of Ares’ rang through the canyon. He did a chick-check at the box at 11: 13. He then came back with a fresh goldfinch at 11:38. He looked around when he came into the nest. We think he was expecting Astrid to barge in and grab the food from him, but she was not in sight. This was Ares’ big chance! It was a small meal but he was able to competently feed it out to the chicks with no interruptions. After the meal was done Ares went out onto the long perch and gave some screeching calls. Astrid landed on the steeple moments later and then she relieved him at the box. While inside she did some digging and some other housework around the nest. At 12:32 Ares arrived at the east veranda with prey (seems to be his new thing!) Astrid stormed over to him, took the food, and flew off with it. She brought it back a minute later and fed the nestlings. Both parents did relatively quick chick-checks over the nest couple of hours. At 3:08 Ares was in the box giving a cackle alarm call. There was probably a raptor passing through the canyon. Astrid was back guarding the nest at 3:38. She did some shading of the chicks while she was there.
At 4:10 Ares brought fresh prey to the nest (probably a swallow). Astrid took it from him and handled the feeding. She left the box at 4:19 and then Ares came and perched on the cross perch for a while. He gave some long screech calls which echoed through the canyon. At 5:26 another feeding was happening. We are not sure of all the details but, as expected, Astrid was dishing out the food. By 6 PM the nestlings were sacked out on the floor. Astrid was out of view for a little while but then was seen flying around the west face of the State Building at 6:45. She was checking Ares’ pantry. Ares screeched to the box a minute later and Astrid came in right behind him with food. After the feeding she spent some time on the cross perch. At 7:12 she was doing housekeeping chores inside the box – mostly digging around in the stones. Hey, somebody has to do it! By 8 PM Astrid was back on the cross perch and both chicks were sacked out. We were not sure where Ares was. Goodnight falcons and all.
