Monday, May 24, 2021 – Chick Wing Flapping and Feather Development

Temperatures got down into the 40’s overnight but then a quick warm up occurred after daybreak. Temps were in the 70’s by midday. Astrid spent most of the night on guard on the long perch. She left for a brief period done time (4:30 ish) in the early morning. There were no overnight feedings. Ares brought food at 5:06 AM and Astrid did the feeding. At 5:20 Ares gave some long calls from a steeple perch. He then did a chick-check at the box. At 7:30 Ares brought more prey. Astrid took it and handled the feeding. The meal lasted only 5 minutes. At 7:48 he brought another course. Again, Astrid served it to the nestlings. By the end of that meal Astrid had become obsessed with the goings on inside the bank building. After the meal Astrid went to the east veranda. From there she went jumped onto the roof of the box. By 10:51 Astrid was still on the box roof and Ares was on the State Building. At 10:53 Ares screeched up to the long perch. Astrid started giving donkey calls and then hopped onto the west veranda. A moment later she came down on the east veranda. From there, where else? – to the roof of the box.

At 11:13 AM Ares came to the nest with prey. Astrid snatched it from him and started feeding the chicks. At first only two were interested, but after a few minutes the other one joined the chow line. Upon completion of the meal Astrid went to the east veranda and the to the box roof. At 12:36 she made a dramatic departure from the roof; it was fast and purposeful as if she were chasing prey. Ares screeched to the box at 12:41. He hopped into the nest and had a face to face meeting with the squealing nestlings. After a minute he had enough and went out onto the crossperch. At 1:01 both parents were on steeple perches. Fifteen minutes later Ares was in the nest having another face to face with the chicks. Astrid was calling to him from the veranda. He picked up some leftover tidbit from the floor and fed it out to two of the chicks. Astrid seemed none-too-pleased with her mate. Shouldn’t he be out hunting? She came into the box and told him to go. He complied. At 1:21 both falcons returned to the box in tandem – first him and then her. She was there for only a few seconds before launching after something, probably a Pigeon. Meanwhile in the nest, one of the large chicks flapped her wings. Their wing feathers and tail feathers are becoming more visible each day. Their masks are also becoming darker. Their walking skills are much better as is their sight – their eyes now follow their parents as they fly.

At 1:54 PM Ares was giving alarm chirps, which usually means a falcon intruder is in the canyon. He took off – briefly landed on the State Building and then flew out of view. Astrid wasn’t all that interested in the intruder but saved her ire for the office windows around the nest site. She was going from the crossperch to the box roof and then back again. There was a fire alarm going off in the downtown area and that seemed to add to her displeasure. The chicks seemed agitated by it as well, at least judging by their vocalizations. At 2:03 Astrid was on her steeple perch, but then flew to the box like a holy terror. Apparently, someone had made a move in an office. Meanwhile Ares returned from his adventure and took a perch on the State Building. At 2:50 Ares brought food to the nest. Astrid handled the feeding. After the meal she went to the east veranda to stare at the office window and Ares went to the steeple. Both did periodic chick-checks over the next two hours. The temperature in the afternoon was warm (mid-70’s), but not so hot that the parents needed to shade the nestlings. The next feeding took place at 4:47. The usual thing happened – he brought food, she served it out. Same again at 6:00 PM. The latter meal was short and Astrid was out of the box in only four minutes. At 6:30 Ares brought more prey to the nest. Astrid took the food and doled it out to the three chicks. Ares stayed on the long perch for a short while following the handoff. At one point he gave a call that was half long call and half cackle call. We weren’t sure what the significance was of that vocalization. At 7:30 Astrid landed on a hotel ledge with a hunk of food. She fed on it for a little while and then brought what was left to the nest. It was the last feeding for the night. Goodnight all