Astrid was on guard duty on box perches for much of the night. At 2:14 Ares flew to the box with food. Astrid was right there to take it. She then fed the nestlings. Ares brought prey again at 4:10 and then at 4:26 AM. Both times, Astrid handled the feeding. At 5:25 Astrid was feeding the chicks again but that time it may have been only scraps from the floor. At 6:23 Astrid got up onto the roof of the nestbox – her new favorite hangout. Ares arrived at the box with prey at 6:41. Astrid jumped down from the roof, hopped into the box, took the food, and started a feeding. The nestlings had full crops already; they were calm and well-mannered throughout the feeding. At 6:49 Ares came to the east veranda with more food. This time when he brought it into the box, he was able to do the feeding himself. Astrid didn’t come in to take over. At 7:06 cackle-type alarm calls were heard in the canyon. One or both parents were probably reacting to a passing raptor.
At 8:50 AM Astrid was moving around a bit on the roof of the nestbox. She was giving quiet bark-like calls. We don’t know what that was all about. With all the banging around sounds she was making, it sounded like she may have been installing a TV antenna up there. We heard Ares screeching in the canyon at around 10:00. Forty minutes later we heard cackle alarm calls. Perhaps another raptor was passing through. At 10:50 the pair shared a conversation somewhere close to the nestbox. At around 11:10 Astrid brought a Kingbird into the nest. She probably collected it from Ares. She then conducted a feeding. Ares showed up at the box at 11:25 but only stayed for a few minutes. At noon Ares came over to the box from the State Building. He had food in his talons. As he screeched onto the gravel floor, Astrid came down from the box roof, took the prey and carried out a feeding. The prey appeared to be a Brown Thrasher. Over the course of the next hour it was mostly Ares that visited the nest to check on the chicks. At 1:40 the parents were guarding the nest from either side – one on each veranda. They started giving cackle calls. Some raptor was likely traversing the canyon. At 2:00 Astrid did some sunbathing on the west veranda. A half-hour later Ares was in the box doing shading duty. He started by shading the eggs while the nestlings sought shade in the corners of the box.
Our contest to name the nestlings was concluded. There were many good names submitted and from those submissions our committee chose the names Xena and Zeus. Thanks to all who participated in the contest. The chicks have names now! At 6 PM Ares was still creating shade in the box, although Xena and Zeus were not taking advantage of it. As usual they preferred the shady corners at the back of the nestbox. One of the chicks was giving cackle calls in the corner. Ares walked over to it and beaked with it for a few moments. At 6:20 Astrid was guarding the box from the long perch and Ares was on the State Building. Twenty minutes later Ares brought prey to the nest. The nestlings were ravenous and difficult to feed but Astrid managed it. At 6:30 Astrid was hunting from the ledge of the hotel. She made several flights out, returning each time. During that time, Ares returned to the nest and fed the chicks a few scraps from the floor of the box. The parents were out of view from about 7:30 to 8:15 PM, when Astrid landed on the long perch. At 9:00 Xena was doing a lot of wing flapping and walking around. The feathers on her wings and tail seemed to have noticeably grown through the course of the day. At 11:00 Ares screeched to the west veranda with prey. Astrid grabbed the food and did a feeding. Xena and Zeus squealed through nearly the entire meal. Ares brought more food at 11:22. Astrid took it from him on the west veranda and carried out another feeding. At least initially, she seemed to be feeding mostly Xena. Goodnight falcons and all.
