The overnight was mild with temperatures in the low 60’s. During the day the skies were overcast, and the temperature was in the 70’s. Rain came in the afternoon and along with it a slight cool down. Astrid was near the box for part of the night, which is typical these days. At 3:25 AM Ares brought prey to the nest. Astrid seemingly came out of nowhere, took the food, and handled the feeding. The nestlings became active at around 5:40; that’s when they started stretching and rummaging. At 5:45 Astrid came to the long perch and got them excited. We noticed how much darker the chicks looked this morning – especially Percy who lost lots of white down overnight. At 5:50 Ares made a short visit to the long perch – just for a chick check. Astrid was on the west veranda but when Ares left the perch, she hopped onto it. At 6:12 Astrid was on the steeple. Twenty minutes later she was back to the west veranda. At 6:44 Ares brought a small hunk of food to the nest. Astrid took it and then immediately lost it to one of the nestlings. It took her a few tries, but she got it back and then proceeded with a feeding. Percy was first in line to be fed this time. Despite how small the food item was Astrid took out leftovers when she left only a minute later. At 7:50 she was back to the crossperch for a chick check. It was quick. At 8:15 both parents were out of camera view. Astrid was back to check on the nestlings at 9:34. Afterwards she hopped up onto the roof of the box to monitor office activities. At 10:40 we heard one of the nestlings cackling inside the nest. Astrid was still on the roof of the box at that time, so the young birds were well defended. At 11:28 the nestlings were squealing up a storm. They were probably getting hungry by that point. At 11:42 we could hear cackle alarm calls from one of the parents coming from somewhere in the canyon. A few minutes later both were on their guard posts on pillars above the box. At 11:53 Ares left and then Astrid buzzed by the box. This elicited an excited reaction from the chicks. They were calling and soon they were both flapping their wings. It was very windy, and the inside of the box seemed like a wind tunnel with cast off down and prey feathers blowing around and billowing out into the canyon.
At 12:10 PM Ares came to the crossperch. The hungry nestlings went mad with excitement. He brought food and Percy grabbed it away. Kara and Percy then had a tug-o-war over it, but Ares plunged between them and recovered it. He then went about doing a competent feeding. He fed both chicks and, despite their hunger, they were well behaved. Interestingly, the chicks weren’t losing patients with him even as he ripped off and offering up the tiniest pieces of food. At 12:20 Astrid arrived on the State Building. For a little while it looked like she was going to let him finish, but two minutes later, she barged in and took what was left of the meal away from him. She then served it out, mostly to Kara. By 12:30 both adults were on the State Building. At 2:39 Astrid was back to the roof of the box and ready for trouble. Light rain started falling in downtown and the nestlings got some snooze time. They were up and calling again by 3:30. Percy backed up onto the lip of the box and spread his wings. He hopped back into the nest. Ares came to the crossperch a minute later for a chick check. At 4:05 Astrid arrived at the box with food. She started out by feeding Kara while Percy hung back. Five minutes later he moved up to get a share. He then backed off and let his sister pig out. At 4:41 Ares had prey on the hotel. He brought it to the east veranda where Astrid took it from him. She then flew off and didn’t come back to the box. We think she stored it. By 5:15 it was raining a little harder. Ares was on his pillar perch and Astrid was on the west veranda – both in guarding positions. At 6:07 PM Ares flew over to the State Building, Astrid tucked in on the veranda and the nestlings did some squealing. At 6:50 the nestlings were doing a lot of wing flapping. Kara then found some food scrap on the floor and spent some time picking at it. Astrid came to check on the chicks at 8:00 PM. As expected, the nestlings got excited. She remained on the long perch after that. Goodnight falcons.