The overnight period was dry and relatively cool. Temps were in the forties. After sunup, it became slightly warmer, and the sky became partly cloudy. Temps were in the 50’s by early afternoon. Astrid brooded all night long. Ares arrived at the box with prey at 3:36 AM. Astrid took the food and fed it out to the chicks. The feeding lasted over ten minutes. Ares was back with a small prey item at 4:35 AM, but that time she sent him away. He returned with what appeared to be the same prey at 5:09. This time she took it and conducted a feeding. It looked as though only one of the two nestlings was vying for food, but it was hard to be sure. Ares made two stops by the nest during the meal. She finished the feeding at 5:16 – partaking of the last bites herself. At 8:10 Ares arrived at the box with prey (it looked to be a rail this time). He hopped into the box to give it to her. She took it, but instead of feeding it to the chicks she flew into the canyon with it. Ares left too. Astrid returned in less than a minute and began brooding the young. Meanwhile, we scrutinized pictures of the eggs but could not confirm any new pips. At 8:15 Astrid was jostling the remaining eggs. Perhaps she could hear or feel movement inside them and was trying to aid their hatching.
At 9:35 AM Ares brought more food to the box. Astrid took it from him but then left. Why wasn’t she feeding the chicks? Ares came in a minute later and took over brooding. His shift lasted only two minutes. Astrid was back on the nest and he was out. At 11:39 Ares was back to the box again. This time without food and Astrid sent him away. We heard him give a cackle alarm call from somewhere in the canyon. We weren’t sure what that was about, but Astrid didn’t seem overly upset. The falcons did a quick switch at 12:09 PM and then Ares had another short shift. She was in to relieve him ten minutes later. He left without argument, which is typical once there are chicks in the nest. Ares was seen making forays out from a perch on the State Building. Most probably he was hunting. At 1:39 he screeched to a west ledge. He had prey in his talons. He bought it to the nest five minutes later and Astrid accepted it. She then fed the chicks their lunch. It had been about 9 hours since their last feeding. It was a large meal and both chicks were fed fairly equally as far as we could tell. At 1:52 she flew off with the leftovers. She was back and brooding a couple of minutes later.
At 2:55 PM Astrid gave a cackle call from the nest. We didn’t know what she upset about. At the same time, Ares was giving long calls from a steeple perch. He came into the box at 3:05. He circled Astrid in an attempt to oust her from the nest. However, she was resolved to stay and he didn’t push his luck. He left instead. At 4:44 Astrid was shuffling the eggs. We still couldn’t verify a new pip. One of the eggs looked pipped but we believed it to a stain on the egg’s surface – a mixture of whitewash and a dark downy feather. The falcons switched at 4:57, at which point Ares did a little bit of shading. He got off the eggs a few minutes later and did some picking at the pea gravel at the other side of the box. The two chicks squealed while they were uncovered. At 5:03 Astrid was back inside the box and Ares was out. A half-hour later, he screeched in with prey. Astrid took it and began a feeding. Both chicks ate and when the food was gone Astrid went back to brooding. At 7:05 PM Astrid left the box for about a minute. The chicks squealed while she was gone. She left again at 7:25, but that time came back with food. She then conducted what would be the last feeding of the night. It lasted about five minutes and then she flew away to store the leftovers. At 7:36 Ares screeched by the box. It looked like he landed on a west ledge, but we couldn’t see him with the PTZ camera. He then buzzed by the nest and by the PTZ camera. We weren’t sure what he was up to. At 7:46 he was on the State Building, but then he was out of view only a minute later. As darkness fell, Astrid settled down in the nest with the chicks and eggs. Goodnight all.
