Astrid spent most of the night in the nest vicinity. Ares brought a small prey item to the box at 3:47 AM. Astrid took it inside but then immediately lost it to one of the babies. It was too dark in the box to determine if any of them were actually trying to eat it. Both parents were out of view after that. Astrid was observed on the steeple at 5:38. At 6:39 the male nestling backed up onto the lip of the box to relieve himself. We will be seeing more and more of this behavior in the coming days. At 7:25 Astrid flew to the roof of the nestbox which meant she was expecting people to arrive in their offices at any time. At 7:36 both falcon parents converged on the crossperch. A few minutes later they were both on steeple perches. Astrid upped Ares from his steeple perch ten minutes later. This was her way of sending him out to get groceries. It worked and he came back with prey at 7:53. Astrid flew over, snatched it from him and then one of the chicks stole it from her. The other nestlings got involved. It became a tug-o-war free-for-all. In the end all three were picking at the meal in the corner. At 9:11 AM Astrid brought an entire Pigeon into the box. One chick got a hunk of it and the other two got in line to be fed.
At 11:12 AM Astrid started feeding out something that was already on the floor of the nest. Ares went after a large bird that passed through the canyon – probably a Turkey Vulture. At 11:50 Astrid was on the steeple and Ares screeched over to the west veranda. Astrid made a few visits to the veranda and to the roof of the box during the subsequent 2 hours. Meanwhile the chicks alternated between being highly active and napping. At 3:00 the male nestling was looking out into the canyon and bobbing his head. It’s not much of a stretch to predict that he will be the first one to fledge. His body plumage becomes darker by the day and his flight feathers are looking more and more complete. Ares brought prey to the longperch. Astrid took it and tried to begin a feeding but the second hatched female nestling stole the food. At 3:07 Astrid was seen on the hotel drinking water from a puddle on a ledge. It has been a while since we have seen that behavior. The temperature was in the high seventies by this point, but none of the falcons – chicks or parents seemed overly concerned about it. At 5:35 Astrid flew from her steeple perch. The chicks were squealing and cackling. Five minutes later she brought food and was feeding them. It was a raucous session. Meanwhile Ares landed on one of the lightpoles on the roof of the bank. It was an unusual perching location for him. Since Ares was cleaning his bill, we conjectured that he had caught the last meal that Astrid had been dishing out. The next meal was brought in by Astrid, but it’s likely that came from Ares as well. One of the nestlings stole the food away from Astrid, but then she grabbed it right back. By 7:08 she had finished the feeding and was out. Ares had been on the west veranda and he flew out at about the same time. Astrid spent some time on the steeple after that. She appeared to be in hunting mode. She was on the longperch at around 8:40 and was settling in on her guard post. The nestlings did some impressive wing flapping before settling down themselves. Goodnight falcons.
