The overnight period was cool, rainy, and windy. Temps were in the 50’s in the morning but dropped into the forties by midafternoon. The wind only became stronger as the day progressed. Astrid was tight on the nest all night. Ares arrived on the north face of the State Building at 5:48 AM and she called to him when he landed. She wanted to be relieved, but he wasn’t in any hurry to do it. She vocalized periodically as he made forays out from his State Building perch. At 7:34 he finally came to the box to relieve her. We saw no pips in the eggs as she came off them and before Ares settled onto the nest. At 8:48 he gave light chirping calls when she landed on the State Building. They switched again at 10:10 and then Astrid was back on the eggs. He was on the State Building until about noon when he began resuming hunting forays. She called out whenever he dashed off. At 12:15, a couple of Turkey Vultures flew low through the canyon. Sometimes this really ticks off the falcons, but no so much this time. The large scavengers could pass through without penalty.
At 1:05 PM Ares came to the long perch with a prey item. He hopped into the box to give it to Astrid. She flew off with it but didn’t take it to the hotel. Maybe she had her meal on the east face of the bank. At 1:15 she was already finished with lunch and we saw her flying at tremendous speed near the State Building. The wind had gotten so strong at this point, the falcons didn’t need to flap their wings to get anywhere. It was a free fly day for these masters of the flight. She was perched on the State Building by 1:42 PM. At around 2:50 the falcons switched again, and Astrid came onto the eggs. The falcons were sedentary for quite some time after that – her on the nest and him on the State Building. At 5:50 Ares had brought prey to the hotel and was working on it. The wind-caused camera shudder was intense and it made it hard to see detail. Ares was up shortly after that. Sure enough, only a few minutes later he was back on the State Building. He probably had stored the prey on a pantry ledge. There were no more switches for the day or the evening. Poor Astrid set herself up for a long sitting. Goodnight all.
