The overnight period was calm and chilly. Temperatures rose a little after sunrise but not out of the 40’s. The wind kicked in by late morning. There were some passing showers in the afternoon and even a few snow flurries, but those seemed to miss the downtown area. Astrid spent the night on her chicks. We no longer expect the last egg to hatch and so the number of chicks in the nest is fixed at three. Ares brought prey to the box at 3:27 AM. Astrid accepted it and did a feeding. At 4:01 he brought more. Again, Astrid handled the feeding. At 7:17 she pulled out some food she had been brooding with the chicks and did a feeding. That surprised us; we didn’t know she had something stowed underneath her. At 7:28 Ares came to the box with a Spotted Sandpiper. It’s possible he has caught one or two of this species in the past, but it’s not common fare for him. Astrid took it and began a feeding. At 9:25 Ares brought still more food to the box. Astrid accepted it and fed the chicks. At 10:33 in Ares came with another round of food. Astrid took it and, after taking her share off the top, she fed the already well-fed nestlings.
At noon Ares relieved Astrid on the nest and took a turn brooding the clutch. Five minutes later he began giving a cackle-type alarm call from the nest. He then launched out after some unseen transgressor. He was back on the State Building soon after and Astrid was coming into the nest with a Starling. We don’t know if Ares handed the prey off to her or if she took it from one of his pantry ledges. It’s also possible that she caught it herself, but it would be unusual for her to catch anything other than a Pigeon. She proceeded to feed the young chicks. The meal was finished at 12:09 PM and she then left to store the leftovers. She came right back to brooding minutes later. At 1:48 Astrid called out when she saw Ares return to the canyon. He came to the box with prey a minute later. She took it and began feeding the chicks. Although I think that chick one (the first to hatch) got more food than the other two, the others appeared to hold their own during that meal. At 2:31 Ares brought more prey to the nest. It was something small. She took it and fed it to the chicks.
At 3:42 PM Ares came in to relieve Astrid. She actually took him up on it this time. He brooded them for ten minutes and then some non-falcon intruder came through the canyon and he zoomed out of the box cackle-calling. She came into the nest moments late and took over on the chicks. At 4:24 we heard Ares screech from somewhere in the canyon. He had just returned from hunting. He then brought the prey to the box. She took it and began feeding the nestlings. The smallest chick got served first this time. In fact, we think he got served the most from this particular meal. One of the big nestlings stayed flopped over for the first half of the session. The other one just wasn’t trying very hard to vie for a share. At 6:37 Ares came to the long perch with prey. Astrid scrambled over to take it from him, but then they dropped it during the transfer. They both sped down after it – quickly flying out of our view. I pointed the PTZ down at the road below and saw nothing. Sure enough, Ares managed to recover it somehow – probably by catching it before it hit the street or sidewalk. Both came back to the box where they pulled off a successful transfer this time. A feeding time followed. At 7:05 Ares was seen sailing around the canyon on the high winds. At one point he darted off to the east – probably on a hunting run. At 7:12 he came to the long perch with prey. Astrid grabbed it from him and conducted a feeding. The meal continued for more than ten minutes which is pretty amazing considering the nestlings had been fed so recently. Ares was visible on the State Building until about 8:00 PM. Astrid remained brooding and seemed set for the night. Goodnight falcons.
