Conditions were chilly overnight with temps getting down into the 30’s. Winds increased after daybreak and rain began by midmorning. Temps rose into the 40’s by noon and the rain stopped, but the sun was nowhere to be seen. Astrid spent the entire night on her egg. Even though we knew she laid it on Saturday Evening, we didn’t get a look at it until 5:43 AM. That is when Ares arrived with food and she finally came off. She flew off with her meal while Ares stayed on the crossperch. He was looking out into the canyon and didn’t even seem to notice the egg in the nest. At 6:47, Ares finally got around to checking out the egg. He moved it slightly and briefly tried brooding it. Astrid came to the nest just for a check in – she was out a minute later. She seemed completely content to leave Ares in charge. As it happened, Ares flew out after her, but then came right back to guard the nest and the new egg. At 7:09, Astrid returned and the pair did a ledge display right over the egg. It lasted about 8 minutes and then Ares was out. He was back at 7:33, and the falcons switched places. Astrid was free again and Ares was back on guard duty. At 7:46, we heard Ares give his mating chatter, but we didn’t know where Astrid was. He boomeranged back to the box right afterward. At 8:32, The pair were together in the box for another dance. He was the first to leave that time and once he was gone she started brooding the egg. At 8:42, she came off the nest, hopped onto the crossperch, and started calling. Was there an intruder? At 9:11 AM, Ares was on duty at the box again and Astrid was nowhere visible to the cameras. We finally found her perched on top a pillar west of the nestbox. Ares made a few forays out from the box and back – perhaps these represented mating attempts, but we were not sure. There was a successful mating at a few minutes before noon.
At 1:06, A&A were having another ledge display at the box, she was the first one out at the conclusion of the dance. At 1:10, Astrid was visiting a puddle on one of the hotel ledges. Obviously, she was quenching her thirst. At 1:22, Ares brought food to the east veranda. Astrid came and took it from him but then flew to some unknown place to feed. He sailed off after her but returned to the nest only moments later. At 1:35, Astrid landed on a high State Building perch. At 2:25, Astrid came to the east veranda. Ares had been out on the crossperch but jumped into the box when Astrid showed up. He wanted to dance, and she was asking to mate – the age-old dilemma for these two. Two minutes later the pair mated on the east veranda. At 2:34, Ares was back at the box and Astrid was requesting another mating. He seemed like he was onboard for it. He bailed out of the nest but instead of coming back to her, he zoomed by the nest heading west. At 2:50, when he was back in the box, Astrid was still keen to mate. He flew out but didn’t return. At 3:32, Ares brought food to the east veranda. She scrambled over and accepted it. She then took it to the hotel. At 4:00 PM, both falcons were out of view. Thirteen minutes later both reappeared – him on the west veranda and her on the east. A rainstorm with strong winds came through and both falcons were up again. Astrid soon showed up in the box; there she brooded the egg. At 5:05, Astrid came off the egg and was giving alarm calls. She moved onto the west veranda and was obviously very anxious. She took off after an intruder that was flying around the State Building. She repeatedly dove at the unknown Peregrine as it flew back and forth over Genesee Street. Ares returned to the nest box and was very wet. He was there for only a minute before diving out again. At 5:26, A&A were on the State Building on adjacent ledges. They remained in place, guarding the canyon, for over an hour. At 6:53, they mated on the State Building. Ares screeched to the box at 6:58, but wasn’t there for long. He made another quick visit to the nest at 7:30 after which, we think he was off to his night perch. Astrid flew over a minute later, climbed onto the egg and settled down. She was likely there for the night. Goodnight falcons.