The overnight was chilly again with temperatures in the high forties. There was a significant warm up during the morning and by early afternoon the temperature was 70 degrees. The skies were mostly sunny all day. Astrid spent part of the night tucked in on the west veranda. She was on the crossperch for quite a while after that. She left at one point and then returned with prey at 2:55 AM. She then carried out a long feeding. The meal didn’t end until 3:35 which seemed extraordinarily long. Perhaps she was reprovisioned sometimes while it ensued? At 5:22 Astrid was back in the box and trying to feed out what looked to a be a scrap of mostly feathers. She was finished in a few moments. At 5:33 Ares was up on his lookout post on the roof of the State Building – probably for hunting and not due to an intruder. At 6:44 Astrid came to the box with prey. She probably got it from Ares who also had just landed on the east veranda. She proceeded to conduct a feeding. At 7:26 Ares came to the nestbox and Astrid was on the east veranda perch. Five minutes later she hopped up to the roof of the box and he went over to the west veranda. By 8:09 the parents were perched on either veranda in guard positions. An hour later she was back up to the roof of the nest box. She may have been reacting to people in offices and near office windows. At 9:20 Ares made a food delivery to the nest. Astrid took it and doled it out to the nestlings. At 9:37 both parents were back to guarding from their veranda perches.
At 10:45 AM a feeding was in progress. We didn’t have the details of where the meal came from, but it was Astrid doing the feeding. During the feeding one of the chicks moved from one back corner to the other and then back again. At 11:09 AM Ares was on the long perch giving long calls. At a few minutes before noon, Astrid darted from the east veranda – apparently pursuing something. She was acting highly irritated – probably due to people near office windows close to the nestbox. Astrid flew back and forth to the nest several times in rapid succession. By 12:51 she seemed to be over it and had calmed down. Although she had been upset, she wasn’t giving cackle alarm calls or hazing the windows, so she wasn’t exactly on red alert. Ares brought prey to the west veranda. Astrid took it from him and flew off into the canyon. We expected her to fly right back to the nest, but she didn’t. She must have made that meal her own – either that or she stored it on one of the pantry ledges. At 1:02 Ares was giving warning chirp calls which likely indicated a Peregrine intruder. Astrid was on the State Building at the time, and she stayed in place. Most likely the intruder was a male and therefore Ares’ problem. At 2:31 Astrid came to the east veranda. From there she moved to the crossperch and when she did the nestlings began squealing.
At 2:45 PM Ares returned from his adventures and landed on the crossperch. Like Astrid did before, that got the chicks squealing up a storm. Ten minutes later he was in the box trying to create shade, but the nestlings were being unruly and moving around the box – mostly going from corner to corner. At 3:00 he gave up and left. By 3:18 both chicks were in opposite corners at the back of the box. At 3:30 both parents were in the nest and it seemed like Astrid was doing a feeding, but it was over a minute later, so we don’t know exactly what was happening there. At a few minutes before 4:00 Ares was successfully shading both chicks in the same back corner. However, soon the kids were restless again and vocalizing and one stomped over to the opposite corner. At 4:25 PM Astrid brought food and was feeding the nestlings. Ares left her to it. She mostly concentrated on feeding one chick and then the other. At 4:38 she flew out with the leftovers. At 5:00 Ares screeched to the nest for a quick chick check. He was back again five minutes later and that time he stayed to provide shade. The nestlings were in opposite corners again and they weren’t taking advantage of his offer. By 5:40 Ares was out on the crossperch and Astrid was on the State Building. At 7:19 Astrid came to the nest with food. She started to feed one of the chicks in the back of the box (they were separated). Ares screeched to the nest about a minute into the meal, but he didn’t stay. Inexplicably, she stopped the feeding at 7:22 and dove out of the box with the leftovers. At 7:30 Ares came into the nest with food. He walked over to the corner where both chicks were and started feeding them. He wasn’t there for more than a minute when Astrid showed up and relieved him of the prey and the feeding opportunity. At 7:41, at the end of the meal when Astrid was turning to leave, one of the chicks bit her tail. She didn’t seem to notice. By 8:00 PM Astrid was on the long perch and the nestling were mostly snoozing in the box. Ares was probably tucked in on a State Building ledge by then. Goodnight all.
Little Falls Falcons video: