Wednesday, May 25, 2022 – The Nestlings Get Perceptible Feather Growth – Also: More Wing Flapping and Looking out into the Canyon

Overnight temperatures were in the low fifties. The high for the day was in the mid seventies and the sky was partly cloudy right through the afternoon. Astrid spent most of the night around the vicinity of the nestbox. Ares brought prey to the nest at 3:36 AM. Astrid took the food and carried out the feeding. Ares brought another meal at 3:58. Once again Astrid handled the feeding. It was over in less than five minutes, and she was out. One of the chicks spent some time trying to something she found on the floor of the nest. It was the discarded leg of a songbird. After a few minutes of trying, she finally angled it just right and got it down. The chicks then both did some wing flapping (which is quite uncoordinated at this point). At 5:24 Ares landed on a west ledge with prey. Astrid met him over there, took the food, and flew off. We don’t know if she went away to eat it herself or if she stored it. Astrid was back to the east veranda perch at a few minutes before 6:00. At 6:48 Astrid flew out and then returned right away with the food. She then did a feeding in the box. At 7:45 Astrid was on the east veranda. We weren’t sure where Ares was at that point. He showed up on the long perch five minutes later. He was giving long calls and revving the nestlings up into a squealing frenzy. He then moved to the west veranda.

At 8:12 AM Astrid was on the roof of the nestbox, glaring at the office window. At 9:25 Ares screeched into the nest and started handing out food scraps to the chicks. He wasn’t there for long, but then he screeched to the east veranda with prey at 9:36. Astrid took it and flew off. She then doubled back and started a feeding. When the meal was over, she went back onto the roof of the box and back to peering at the office window. Ares made another food delivery at 10:21. Astrid grabbed it and began another feeding. At 11:15 Astrid was on the roof of the box again. At 11:29 Ares screeched to the nest – that time without food. Astrid was on an upper steeple perch at that time. At 12:19 PM she was back to the box roof and back to nest guarding position. At a few minutes before 1:00 she started cackling. She was facing the window at the time. Was she cackling at people in an office? At 1:07 Ares hopped into the box from the east veranda. One of the chicks gave him an over-the-top excited greeting. At 2:04 Ares was giving long squeaking calls and getting a real rise out of the nestlings. Both were crashed out on the floor of the box. One of them managed to give a baby cackle call while still completely sprawled out. At 2:11 Astrid arrived on the crossperch. It was her turn to get the chicks activated. At 2:52 she was on the roof of the nestbox once more. Obviously, Astrid was obsessing over what was happening in the office.

Other than the dark eye masks, the chicks now have feather shafts starting to visibly protrude from the ends of their tails and on the trailing edge of their wings. These are the modest beginnings of flight feathers and a subtle reminder to us that fledgling time isn’t all that far away. At 3:02 PM Ares came to the east veranda with a cuckoo. Astrid grabbed it, flew off, boomeranged back to the box, and did a feeding. At 4:14 Ares was at the nest. It had gotten quite warm by this point and the sun was flooding into the box. Ares started providing shade, but the chicks weren’t interested in taking advantage of it. One chick did a lot of yapping right in Ares’ face. He didn’t seem to mind. The nestlings were then in one corner and Ares was in the other. He moved the eggs and one point and gave them some shade. At 5:37 Astrid arrived on the crossperch, and Ares was out. She got the chicks squealing and then she left. Both parents were on the State Building for a little while and then they were out of view. At 6:07 one of the chicks was resting its bill on the lip of the box and looking out into the canyon. The other chick did some wing flapping. At 6:09 Ares screeched to the box and get the crew excited. More wing flapping followed. At 6:45 Ares brought prey to the west veranda. Astrid was on the box roof at the time. She launched off, grabbed the food from Ares at 100 MPH, darted into the canyon, zoomed back, plunked into the box and started feeding the chicks. The meal lasted about ten minutes. At 8:20 Astrid was on the east veranda perch and Ares was on the State Building. Probably no great amount of action will follow this evening. Goodnight all.