It was yet another chilly night, but the day was relatively mild if rainy. Astrid spent the night on the nest with no interruptions as far as we know. Astrid called out at around 6:00 AM. That was when Ares arrived on the State Building. They finally switched at 6:47 and then Ares had a turn on the nest. The next changing of the guard happened at 7:58. Astrid went over to the State Building after the switch. An hour later, Ares was spotted on the hotel with fresh prey. It looked fairly large, but we couldn’t tell wat it was. We kept expecting him to bring it to Astrid, but it never happened. He came to the box to take his second turn at 9:34. Astrid was back on the State Building after that.
At 11:00 AM, Astrid was on a steeple perch. She flew to the crossperch to have a conversation with Ares and then went right back to the steeple. She repeated the behavior at 11:50. This was all due to someone being in the office near the nestbox. At 12:19 PM, the falcons changed places. Ares went to the State Building (the same ledge she was on earlier) as she took over incubation. He changed perches a few minutes later and she narrated his move. At 12:57, he went to his lookout post. An hour later Astrid announced it when he moved from the lookout to the north face. The next switchover took place at 2:36 when Ares took another turn on the nest. Astrid flew around the canyon and then appeared to fly north. She was on the State Building after that – although she made periodic sorties out – probably out hunting or patrolling. It was windy and good flying weather for Peregrines. At 3:32 she was back to the nest and took over on the eggs. Ares flew to the State Building. They changed again at about 6:15 PM, which was fairly late in the day by recent standards. At 7:12, Ares was giving alarm calls and he came off the eggs. We don’t know what kind of intruder they were dealing with but A&A were both flying too high for us to see with the cams. After a couple of minutes, Astrid returned to the nest and climbed onto the eggs. She appeared to be in for the night.
We are now one week away from the start of the hatch window. The average length of incubation for peregrines is 32 to 35 days. Goodnight all.
Thank you for the detailed and interesting narrative!
We are glad you are enjoying them!