The overnight was chilly and wet with temperatures in the high 30’s. Conditions altered little through the morning, with rain continuing into the afternoon. Astrid was tight on the eggs all night. Ares arrived to relieve her at 5:22 AM which was earlier than he had been coming in recent days. At 6:25 we located Astrid on the State Building. She was back to the box for her next turn at 7:00. It was a quick switch. He flew over to the State Building and was there until about 8:12. In the subsequent ninety minutes he was up and down from the State Building a few times and then back to the nest for another changing of the guard. It was Astrid’s turn to sit on the State Building. The next switch occurred at 11:14 and Astrid was back on the eggs. At 12:20 PM Ares had prey on the hotel. It may have been leftovers – it was hard to tell. When he was finished at 12:30 he went back to the hotel.
At 1:23 PM Ares flew to the box and asked for a turn on the eggs. When Astrid didn’t get up right away, he walked behind her and started threatening to oust her. She got up after only a minute and ceded the nest to him. Once out of the nest she seemed to be engaging in the same task he was earlier – hunting from the State Building. It seemed each time we checked on her she was on a different perch – meaning that she was making forays. By 2:50 we hadn’t seen her in a while. It turned out she was on the south facing perch on the steeple. At 3:22 she moved to a different steeple perch. At 3:37 Astrid came to the nest, and they did a fast switch. Ares was on the hotel at 4:04. He appeared to be in hunting mode. At 5:05 (ish) Astrid called from the box. She probably saw Ares flying through the canyon. We heard his screech call at 5:12. Shortly after that he was on the hotel plucking prey. It may have been a flicker. He fed on it for a while before bringing it to Astrid at the box. At 5:39 she took it (what was left of it) and flew over to the hotel. She stayed on the hotel (on three different perches) until 6:26 when she darted off after something. She was back on the State Building a minute later – Ares gave a squeak call when she landed. The rain had stopped by 4:00 and the sun broke out at around 6:30 PM. Still, the temperature barely exceeded 40 degrees. At 6:50 Astrid landed on the crossperch. Ares got off the eggs with little prompting and she took over incubation. He was on the State Building for a little while after leaving the box, but then was out of camera view. We think the pair had settled for the night. Goodnight falcons.