Astrid with her two eggs
The overnight was chilly with intermittent rain showers and wind. The temperatures hovered around the high thirties and low forties. Not much changed after daybreak, but conditions deteriorated later in the day as it became colder, windier, and wetter. Ares came to the nest at 3:02 AM to relieve Astrid. She seemed disappointed as if she was expecting a food delivery. However, it is possible that he gave her something small. It was too dark in the box for us to tell for sure. She flew to the hotel, but once again, it was too dark to discern what she was doing over there. At one point it looked like she was picking at something. She was gone a few minutes later and Ares was gone from the nest as well. One of them was perched on the State Building at 3:18, but the egg was alone in the box. At one point we saw a something whitish fly across the State Building – it looked like a meteor minus a fiery tail. It was the second falcon, its white front feathers had caught some ambient light. Astrid returned to the box quietly at 4:52 and got back on the egg. Fifteen minutes later Ares brought a Woodcock to the box. He then hopped over to the east veranda with it. She followed him onto the platform but showed no interest in taking the gift. A minute later she flew and headed to the hotel. She landed on a ledge and perhaps wanted to get a sip of water from one of the puddles, but it was still to dark for us to see what she was up to. She flew right back and landed on the long perch and from there she got back onto the nest.
At 6:21 AM in looked like Astrid was ready to lay her second egg. She seemed to be in the right position, and it looked like she had a contraction, but no egg was forthcoming, and she settled back down on egg number one. Five minutes later Ares arrived, and they did a quick switch. After she left, he flew too, but then came right back. He got onto the egg but moments later he moved out onto the crossperch. Ten minutes after that both falcons were up again, but then he returned to the nest. She landed on the steeple at 6:54. They mated there a few minutes later. At 7:27 they were doing a ledge display at the box. He soon left and she got onto the egg. At 8:00 she became very agitated and started calling loudly. She moved out onto the west veranda and was peering at something in the canyon. Obviously, there was an intruder and perhaps Ares was already engaging it. A few minutes later both falcons were out of view. Ares returned at 8:21 and Astrid blasted into the box right after him. They performed a rapid ledge display and then she was out again. Both were then out of view for a few minutes. At 8:37 they were dancing in the box again. At this point it had been 61 hours since Astrid had laid the first egg, egg number two had to be imminent. At 9:50 she finally seemed to be getting down to business. Three minutes later at 9:53 AM she had laid egg number two! Ares was in her face while she was laying it. He beaked with her and squeaked at her the whole time.
At 10:17 AM Ares seemed to be dealing with an intruder. A few minutes later the eggs were left alone. Ares was back at 10:41. At 10:56 he was giving cackle-type alarm calls which meant that a non-falcon raptor was passing through the canyon. They didn’t give chase, so it wasn’t a big deal. The pair converged at the box for a ledge display at just before 11:00 AM. Following that she was on the eggs, and he was on the State Building. It was raining by then and the wind was picking up. They switched at 12:20 PM And then Ares took a turn on the eggs. He seemed conscientious about staying on the eggs now and not getting up every few minutes to check on Astrid’s location. As it happened, she was close by – on a relatively low perch on the north face of the State Building. An hour later Ares came off the eggs and was calling across the canyon to his mate. They mated on the State Building and then he boomeranged back to the nest. At 1:39 The pair was performing a ledge display. A minute later, he left, and she got onto the eggs. At 2:04 Ares brought a Woodcock to the long perch. It was probably the same one he brought earlier and had stored. Astrid scrambled over the crossperch and took it from him. It was an awkward transfer, but successful. She took it over to the hotel and actually ate some of it. Meanwhile, Ares was incubating in the nest. By 2:32 Astrid was on the State Building and she would remain there into the early evening. Wind, rain, and snow continued off and on, and the temperature dipped into the mid-thirties. At 3:28 Ares came off the eggs and started giving long calls. The pair mated on the State Building only moments later. He was then back and forth to the nest a couple of times and didn’t resume incubating until 4:10 PM. There was another interruption at 4:40 when he came off the eggs again, but then he was back on them five minutes later. At 6:20 he left the box, did some fancy flying through the canyon and around the steeple and then mated with Astrid on the State Building. Two minutes later Astrid returned to the nest and got right onto the eggs. Likely she was in for the night, but we never know for sure. The next egg should come sometimes late Sunday night. Goodnight falcons and congratulations.