A cold night (35 degrees) was followed by a cool morning and a warm afternoon (65 degrees). I guess that means its April. My video feed froze up during the night and so I am not absolutely sure that Astrid spent the whole night on the eggs. I assume that she did. Deb spot checked her during the night and said that Astrid was on the eggs every time she checked. At 5:48 AM Ares arrived at the box and they switched. After getting on the eggs, Ares gave light chirping calls as if he was watching her fly, but we couldn’t see her anywhere with our PTZ cams. At 6:23, Astrid was back to the nest and eager to take over incubation. Ares wanted to stay but vacated after she gave her impatient “tu-tu-tu-tu-tu” call. Twenty minutes later Astrid was calling – possibly due to an intruder. She seemed to get over it quickly and was picking at stones in the box only minutes later. We heard Ares screech from somewhere in the canyon at 7:20 AM. We noticed him on his pillar perch shortly afterwards. An hour later Astrid was calling again. That was likely a reaction to Ares flying by with prey. He was next seen with food on the hotel. He brought it to Astrid at 8:47. She took it from him but did not fly to the hotel. She may have flown to the east face of the Adirondack Bank building. That’s where she’s been bringing some of her meals lately. After brunch she went to the bank’s south face and perched on a pillar.
At 9:55 AM Astrid was perched on the steeple. Fifteen minutes later, movement in an office adjacent to the box brought her over to the crossperch. She remained on guard for a while. Finally, at 10:17, she took over from Ares and he flew over to the State Building. At 10:41 there was an active intruder. Astrid came off the eggs and flew into the canyon. Ares was back on the nest before a minute went by. Astrid returned to the State Building at 10:45. It seemed rather fast for her to have dealt with the intruder. She came into the box at 11:47. The pair did some beaking while she tried to convince Ares to leave. After five minutes he succumbed to her gentle persuasion and flew to the State Building. At 1:30, we heard him screech. He had landed on a west ledge and was plucking prey. When he was done processing it, he stored it somewhere. Following that, he was on the hotel for a little while. The falcons switched again at 2:01 PM. Ares was just in time for the hot shift. At 3:40, Astrid was on the east face of the bank building plucking prey. This was the second day in a row she caught her own Pigeon (her favorite food). By 4:23, the box was getting warm, and Ares was panting on the nest. He called out when Astrid landed on the steeple 5 minutes later. She had obviously eaten well and had a huge crop to show for it. The nest switch happened sometime after 5 PM and then Astrid was on the nest. About an hour later we heard Ares screech as he flew into the canyon with prey. Once again he took it to a west ledge for processing. All indications are that the falcons are stocking the pantry in preparation for next week’s hatchlings. We didn’t see Ares after 6:30. We assume he went off hunting or to his night perch. Astrid was on the eggs for the night. Goodnight all.
