Last night was another cold one with temperatures in the low thirties. By afternoon, clear skies helped the temperature rise to near 60 degrees. As expected, Astrid was on the eggs all night long. Ares arrived on the State Building at 5:20 AM. Astrid gave a few light calls when he landed. Five minutes later he was at the box and the pair carried out their first switch of the day. She flew around the canyon after leaving the box. Ares gave squeaking vocalizations when she landed on the State Building at 5:38. The next changeover happened at 7:05. Astrid took over on the eggs and Ares went to the State Building. He was up again ten minutes later. She vocalized as if she saw him at 10:10 but we couldn’t locate him with our cams. At 10:52 Ares came to the box, hopped inside, got behind Astrid and started trying to oust her. He stepped on her tail and then bent it over to the side. He really wanted his turn! She ceded the nest to him without much complaint. At 12:28 PM he was vocalizing as if he saw her in the canyon, but we couldn’t locate her until 12:47 when she appeared on the north face of the State Building. The next changeover took place at 1:37 and it was uncontested. At a few minutes before 4:00 Ares was back for another quick switch. At 4:26 he called out from the nest a few times as if she was watching Astrid doing something, but we saw nothing. Sure enough, she showed up on the State Building a minute later. At 4:36 he gave out a loud cackle-type warning call. He must have been reacting to a non-falcon raptor or vulture flying through the canyon. Neither he nor Astrid gave chase. She came to the box five minutes later and tried to take over on the eggs. but Ares didn’t want to leave. After about a minute of fruitless negotiation, she gave up and let him stay a while longer. She then flew back to the State Building. At 6:10 PM she was back to the nest and the pair switched for the last time. As of today we are on the 27th day since continuous incubation began. We will begin looking for pipped eggs in three days. Goodnight falcons.
Little Falls Falcon Update: Today there were multiple feedings that took place at the Little Falls nest. The ones seen were at 5:55 AM, 7:40, 9:40, 12:26 PM, and 5:58. As of 7:35 PM the last of the three eggs had a very large pip in it and it seemed a hatch was imminent.