The overnight period was relatively warm with temperatures in the low seventies. They dipped down into the fifties after midnight and then significantly rebounding during the day. In the mid-afternoon the temperature reached into the mid-80’s. Astrid spent the night brooding and/or standing guard over the nestlings. Ares brought prey to the nest at 1:34 AM and Astrid accepted it. She spent some time plucking it and had a share for herself. It was 1:41 before she began to dole out the rest to the chicks. He brought another meal at 3:00. Astrid took it and started feeding that one out right away. Ares went over onto the west veranda and was there until just after 5:00. At 5:34 Ares returned to the box with more food. He brought the prey inside the box, making it much easier for Astrid to take it from him. She immediately started a feeding and it lasted for ten minutes. At 5:56 she went back to brooding while Ares hung out on the west veranda perch. At 7:22 Ares was up again. At 7:53 Astrid went out onto the crossperch, but was soon back inside and brooding her clutch. At 8:05 and at 8:27 Ares was at the nest with more food. Both times, she took the food and did the feeding. At 10:15 Astrid came off the clutch and went out onto the crossperch. An hour later she was back to brooding. It was the longest period since the chicks hatched that they were left alone in the nestbox.
At 12:04 PM Ares was on the east veranda, but then both adult Peregrines were up at 12:15. We didn’t know what took them away from the nest area. We didn’t hear any alarm calls. Once again, the chicks were alone, but the temperature was already past 70 degrees and the box wasn’t being flooded by the sun yet, so all was well. At 12:36 Astrid was back with the chicks in the nest – more standing guard than brooding. At 1:10 PM she went over to the west veranda for a little while. She was back on sentry duty in the box at 1:21. At 1:27 she gave a cackle-type alarm call from the nest but didn’t leave her station. At 2:00 Ares was in the box shading alongside Astrid. If he had brought food, it was fed out very quickly. She left after only a couple of minutes. She then came right back with food from one of Ares’ pantry ledges. Ares didn’t stay for the feeding but flew over to the State Building. She left at 2:22 when the feeding was finished. Ares then came in to babysit. At 2:48 we saw that Astrid was on the State Building. A few minutes later Ares was giving a cackle-type warning call from the box. Probably, another migrant raptor or Turkey Vulture was flying over the canyon. At 3:18 the pair switched again, and Astrid came in to shade. The temperature by this point was in the mid 80’s.
At 4:26 PM we heard Ares screech from somewhere in the canyon. At 4:56 Astrid was calling in the box and she moved away from the chicks. She was likely reacting to Ares landing on the State Building. At 5:27 Ares screeched to the nestbox. He hopped inside and asked to have a turn shading the chicks. Astrid left without any fanfare, and he went about brooding/shading. At 6:28 Astrid flew from the State Building back to the box and the pair switched. Thirty minutes later he had prey on the State Building. He brought it to the nest, and she conducted a feeding. When she was done, she sat out on the crossperch for a while. At 7:47 Astrid became slightly upset after seeing people in an office adjacent to the nest box. She did a little bit of hazing of the 15th floor of the bank building. Ares then came over to the box and squeaked while she got it out of her system. At 8:15 she was on the crossperch and he was on the State Building. They were both still in place at 9:00 PM. It was 75 degrees, and it wasn’t necessary to brood the chicks. Goodnight falcons.