The overnight period was overcast, warm, and slightly rainy. The steady wind of the day before partially subsided. Temps in the 70’s was a welcome change from recent days. Rain resumed in the afternoon but it was light. Astrid didn’t spend the entire night at the box although she did spend some time there on guard duty. As far as we know there were no overnight feedings. Astrid started calling for Ares at around 5:00 AM. He arrived with prey shortly after that. Astrid took the food and served the chicks their breakfast. At 5:28 Astrid was on the southwest corner of the hotel’s upper ledge. Behind her was a view of the Utica Marsh. She appeared to be in hunting mode. Ares flew up to the lookout spot on the northwest corner of the State Building roof. He flew there using rapid wingbeats. The falcons often fly like that in reaction to an intruder, but we saw no evidence of one nor did we hear any alarm calls. At 6:18 we realized that the whitewash camera had been splattered with (what else?) whitewash. It happens each year when the chicks are about this old and when they are still spaying their stuff in all directions. Soon they will be directing most of their flow out the door. Luckily, we still have other cameras in the box.
At 6:20 AM we noticed that Astrid was plucking a Pigeon on the hotel. She has been upping the amount of time she spends hunting in recent days and is now beginning to get a Pigeon a day. At one point Ares landed next to her on the ledge. We wondered if he was going to try and steal some as he does during the winter months, but he didn’t. Instead, he flew over to the steeple and called a few times. Two minutes later Astrid came to the nest with her prey. She plunked it down onto the floor of the nest and began to feed the chicks. It was a long feeding session – almost a half-hour. By 7:00 both adult falcons were on the State Building. At 7:36 Ares came to the box with food. Astrid came in and took it from him. She began to feed but then abruptly stopped when she sensed a lack of interest. This was no surprise since the nestling just had a huge meal. She took out the prey and presumably stored it. At 8:08 the chicks were snoozing, and Astrid was on the steeple perch. At 10:08 Ares came to the box with more prey. This time Astrid took it and served it out to the chicks. At 11:17 Astrid landed on the long perch. The windspeed had picked up once again. Two minutes later she was with Ares on the State Building. At 11:27 Astrid was on the east veranda. She took off but then came back to the same place minutes later. Ares brought another meal at 12:20 and Astrid fed it to the nestlings. At 12:44 Ares was back with more prey. Astrid took it and attempted a feeding but the chicks weren’t interested and so she flew away with it.
At 12:51 Ares came to the box with food. Astrid wasn’t forthcoming and so he hopped into the box and began trying to feed the babies himself. He did get the attention of one chick; he had only just started tearing bits off when Astrid jumped into the box, snatched the food away and conducted a feeding. At 1:32 Ares tried again. He brought a swallow to the nest, plucked it on the lip of the box and then hopped onto the nest floor and started trying to feed one of the chicks. It worked. The chick was interested, and Ares even gave some call notes while serving in order to prompt feeding (Astrid does this everytime). For every three bites of food he ripped off, one was given to a nestling, but a least he was feeding competently and Astrid wasn’t taking over. In fact, he finished doling out the meal without any interruptions from his mate. At 1:53 both parents were on the State Building. At 2:27 Astrid was on the east veranda. After a while she tucked in and we couldn’t see her with the PTZ cam. At 5:07 Ares brought dinner to the box. Astrid took it and started a feeding. When the meal was over, she went back to the east veranda.
At 6:39 PM Astrid gave a cackle alarm call but we don’t know what she was upset about. At 7:34 she came back to the long perch. Ten minutes later she was on the south facing ledge on the steeple. She was very alert and appeared to be in hunting mode. At 8:06 Ares was feeding on prey on the upper ledge at the hotel. Astrid flew over, landed near him, and then ran towards him. He took off with his dinner. He landed on a different ledge on the hotel to finish it. At 8:16 Astrid came to the nest with food. Did she get it from him? She proceeded to do a feeding. At 9:00 PM she arrived at her guard post on the long perch. She was probably there for the night. Goodnight falcons.