Astrid was on guard duty at or near the nestbox for most of the overnight period. At 3:36 Ares brought a cuckoo to the box. Astrid was there to take it. She was aiming to feed the nestlings, but one overanxious chick (hard to tell which one in the dark) grabbed the food away from her and took it to the corner. Astrid gave up quickly and flew back into the canyon. At 5:44 AM Astrid came back into the box only to be chased out by two monsters. At 7 AM we located Ares. We thought he was out on an extended hunting trip, but he was on the far side of the east veranda and just out of camera view. We happened to notice the tip of his wing come into the camera frame a few times when he stretched. At 7:30 Astrid jumped onto the roof of the nestbox. Was she mad about something already?
At 8:08 Ares brought a cuckoo to the east veranda. Astrid scrambled to grab it, and then hopped onto the cross perch. Both babies were at the edge of the box screaming at her. She attempted to hop to the edge of the box but while doing so, lost her balance and fell through the gap between the crossperch and the lip of the box. Ares darted off but came right back and perched on the long perch. Astrid came back right away and had the cuckoo in her talons. She hopped into the box and fed the nestlings. At 8:32 one of the nestlings was heard practicing its cackle call. That is one call they are apt to know well this season. At 10:12 Ares brought prey to the east veranda. Astrid took it and carried it into the nest. Xena snatched it away and took it into the corner where she started picking at it. At 10:28 Ares came into the box, tried to retrieve the meal and was promptly chased out by a crazed chick. Zeus then picked at the stolen food for a little while. Ares made another attempt at retrieving the food. This time he was too fast for them; he locked his talons into the meal and flew into the canyon. He came right back with it and landed on the east veranda. Astrid flew over, grabbed the offering, and flew off giving a cackle call. She returned quickly and then conducted a feeding.
Both parents made periodic visits to the nest in the afternoon – these were mostly chick-checks. Most of the visits made the nestlings very excited since they expect to be fed whenever they see a parent. At 3:23 Ares brought prey to the nest. Astrid took it and handled the feeding. At 5:25 Astrid was freaking about something. She was giving cackle calls and swooping in front of the upper floor windows of the bank building. After a break from her anxiety, at 5:56 she was doing it again. She went onto both verandas and scowled at the adjacent office windows. She was up on the roof of the box again at 6 PM. Just earlier we noticed that Zeus was biting at the Whitewash cam and Xena was grabbing it with her foot! At 6:17 Ares dropped prey off at the nest. He didn’t even try to wait for Astrid that time. Xena had taken the food over to the corner where she was picking at it. Astrid was back to cackling a few minutes later. At 6:36 Ares was trying to get into the box to retrieve the food, but the nestlings were preventing him. Finally, he rushed them, got the food out of the corner, and flew away with it. A little while later Astrid was in the box feeding Zeus some scraps of food. We weren’t sure whether it was something she brought or if it was in the box already. By 7 PM Astrid was not happy again. She was cackle-calling and going from the veranda to the box roof and to the veranda again. By 9:00 she had settled down and was on the longperch guarding the nest. Ares was last seen on the steeple about an hour earlier. Goodnight falcons.
