The overnight was quite cool with temperatures down in the mid 40’s. During the course of the morning, temps rose, and by noon it was close to 60 degrees. Skies were generally clear, and conditions were windy – which translates into good, free flying weather for falcons. Astrid was on the chicks all night. she left the box at 2:00 AM only to come back a minute later and resume brooding. At 2:25 Ares arrived at the nest with prey in his talons. He hopped right in and gave it to Astrid inside the box. She then conducted a feeding. At 3:23 he was back with more food. That time Astrid took it but flew out of the nest and into the canyon with it – probably to store it. She then returned moments later and went back to brooding. At 5:23 Ares brought in more prey. Once again, Astrid accepted it but then flew off into the canyon with it. perhaps that time she had it for her own breakfast. Ares came in to sit with the chicks while she was gone. Brooding the nestlings properly is getting increasingly difficult for Ares to manage. He tries to cover them but doesn’t come close to fitting their whole bodies beneath them. Astrid was back minutes later and quickly took over brooding and, as usual, she did a much better job covering the chicks. She is larger than him after all. At 8:27 Astrid left the box and Ares hopped in from the east veranda. We hadn’t even noticed he was there. By 8:46 Astrid was back and brooding again. It was still quite cool and windy.
At 8:43 AM Astrid was out of the box. She came back to resume brooding two minutes later. At 10:55 Ares brought prey to the nestbox. Astrid took it from him on the crossperch and conducted a feeding. She left when it was over. Ares gave a few long calls and then came into the box via the west veranda. At 11:16 Astrid brought a partially processed cuckoo to the nest and fed it to the chicks. It was the first cuckoo we have confirmed coming in this season. It was interesting that Astrid brought it in given her well known attitude towards cuckoos. Of course, she wasn’t eating it. After the meal she resumed brooding. At 11:21 Ares was on the south facing steeple perch. He launched after something at 11:40 AM. Five minutes later Astrid moved out onto the crossperch. She was up in a moment and Ares seamlessly came in to watch the chicks. At 12:27 PM when Astrid landed on the State Building Ares made some squeaking calls and let us know about it. At 12:42 Astrid came into the nest and took over brooding the nestlings. Ares remained in the nest for a while with Astrid there. It was almost like he was studying her brooding technique. The two adults were face to face with the chicks between them – both nestlings squirming and squealing. At 12:44 he was out. Hopefully he had taken some notes to study. His next stop was the south side steeple perch. Ares visited the box at 1:09 and asked to have a turn with the nestlings. Once again, he observed Astrid and she tried to keep the chicks huddled beneath her. He seemed fascinated. He was out several minutes later.
At about 1:50 PM Astrid was feeding the chicks again. We weren’t sure how the food came, or which parent brought it. At 2:51 Ares was having an extended visit with the nestlings. Astrid was on the steeple at that time. At 3:43 Ares had fetched a small chuck of prey and brought it into the nest. Astrid came in right away, grabbed it, and began serving it out. After the meal Astrid flew out and Ares came to the crossperch. Fifteen minutes later he had taken off and she was on the steeple. The chicks then had some alone time inside the nest. They seemed to make the most of it. One of them wandered around the west side of the box. That one did some minor wing flapping exercise (first we’ve seen) while the other one bit at some feathers and other material that was stuck to one of the unhatched eggs. They did some grooming – mostly of themselves but also some mutual grooming and some beaking. At 4:48 Ares came to the box with a mostly processed Mourning Dove. Astrid blew in seconds later, grabbed the food and began giving it out to the chicks. We noticed that Astrid was once again tearing off awfully small sized pieces of meat to feed the nestlings. She must realize how big these guys are right now – right? Regardless, both chicks were vying and feeding especially well. At two minutes before 5:00 PM Astrid flew out with the leftovers and presumably stored them. After she left, Ares was in and trying to brood. As expected, the chicks still didn’t fit beneath him. The falcons switched at 6:00 and Astrid took over most likely for the night. By 7:00 she was out on the crossperch – guarding the nest but also doing some preening. By 8:30 she had come back to brood, but she would be going onto the crossperch a few more times during the night. Goodnight all.