Astrid was not seen around the nest vicinity very much during the overnight period. Ares came to the box with prey at 3:30 AM. All three nestlings screeched and squealed and one of them, I think Freya, stole the food and took it to the corner of the box. Astrid came to the long perch at 4:30 and the chicks exploded with excitement. She left but then came back fifteen minutes later and received a similar response. At 5:08, Ares was on the steeple and Gary was scrounging around for food (or toys) in the nest. He found a scrap of food, grasped it with his talons and hopped around with it. At 5:14 Kendra was seen doing some wing flapping while Gary renewed his interest in the lip of the nest box. He was more steady on it today than he was yesterday. Meanwhile Kendra picked up a cuckoo wing from the floor of the nestbox and tried to eat it. At 5:20 Astrid came to the nest with food. She conducted a pretty conventional feeding, with Kendra and Gary being served first. Gary was busy taking little bites off of a chunk of food she found in the back corner of the box. At 5:25 Astrid was through with the feeding, and she moved back to the box’s crossperch. From there she sailed over to the hotel to get some hunting done. At 6:17 Astrid was back to the nest for a quick chick-check and then out again. At 6:48 she was on the east veranda. At 7:17 Gary hopped onto the lip of the box again. Astrid was cackle-calling at 7:34. Gary responded by jumping back inside the box. Ten minutes later Astrid landed on the roof of the nestbox. It was Monday and the office monkeys were back from the weekend and, apparently, they needed monitoring. At 9:00 AM Ares brought prey to the nest. Astrid collected it from him and then, before she could rip into it, Gary interjected himself, grabbed the meal and took it the back of the box. There he fed on it by himself. His sisters seemed willing to wait for him to have his fill. Freya eventually took a turn feeding. At 9:31 we didn’t see Gary anywhere. He had been on lip of the box – seemingly contemplating making his way over to the east veranda. After a few minutes we located him on the west veranda. The recording showed that he made his way there with little difficulty. At 9:41 Gary was doing a lit of wing exercise on the veranda. He now had a taste for adventure was primed to have more.
Astrid came to the box to do a chick-check at 9:43 AM. She seemed not at all surprised to find Gary on the veranda. Of course, she seen this all before many times. At 10:30 Ares brought prey to the box. Astrid took it and fed the Freya and Kendra. Gary was peeking over at them as they fed – seemingly mustering the courage to hop over the perch and get back into the box. He found the courage and came back into the box in time to get his share of the meal. When the meal was over Gary went right back to the west veranda. It was like he had been doing it all his life. At 11:14 he was asleep on the veranda. Astrid was on the steeple at that time, but she soon moved over to a window ledge east of the nestbox. At 12:51 PM Ares screeched to the nest. That served to wake everyone up and get all the nestlings calling. Gary began flapping his wings. At 1:15 he seemed intent on getting back into the nestbox. A minute later he was in there visiting his sleeping sister – first one and then the other. Astrid did a chick-check at 1:18 PM. Both parents were upset and cackle-calling about something at 2:13. It could have ben office monkeys or, more likely, a flyover by a raptor. Gary was back on the west veranda at 3:17 PM, but then he made the move onto the crossperch. It seemed too soon in the game for a nestling to make such a move, but there he was. Ares came to the box with a cuckoo at 3:25. Astrid came out of nowhere to take it. She hopped into the box and seemed poised to do a feeding when suddenly she left the nest again and with the prey in tow. Most likely it was a case of Astrid being a member in good standing of the Peregrines Against Eating Cuckoos Society. She really doesn’t like cuckoos and she was making it as clear as she could to her family. At 2:30 Gary was slowly making his way closer to the nest. At one point he nearly tripped, but he held it together and managed to get back to the box. Minutes later all three were reclined around the nest. One of the parents showed up on the long perch and all three nestlings screeched but without getting up from their positions. It was very hot in the canyon with the temperature around 90 degrees. At around 4:20 PM Astrid was on the roof of the box. It’s likely she was monitoring activity taking place in the offices around the nest.
At 4:52 PM Ares came to the nest with food. Astrid took it and hopped into the box only to have it taken away by Gary. He fed on his meal by himself in the corner of the nest. For a while there was a storm threatening, but it never quite arrived. The wind picked up and the canyon darkened but there was never any more than a sprinkle of rain and a few claps of thunder. At 5:15 Astrid came to the box. She picked up the prey that Gary stole from her earlier and started a feeding. The nestlings were relatively well-behaved during the meal. At 5:42 Ares was on the long perch and Gary was on the lip of the box again. Ares brought food at 7:30. Astrid took it and tried to do a feeding but, once again, Gary stole the meal away from her and took it to the corner. By 10:00 PM Astrid was on the east veranda at her guard post. Freya and Kendra were sitting up in the box watching the canyon and Gary was zonked out on the floor of the nest. Goodnight falcons and all.
