Tuesday, March 31 – We Now Have a Full Clutch – Egg Number 4 was Laid at 10:25 AM

Last night was cool and a little damp. Astrid was on the eggs until Ares came to relieve her at 4:30 AM. We noticed that she was perched on the State Building at 5:45. She flew to the box at 7:25 but quickly moved over to the east veranda and allowed Ares to stay on the eggs. At 8 AM she was giving donkey calls on the crossperch. It seemed like a call to mate but Ares wasn’t taking the hint. She relieved him instead and got onto the eggs. He returned to the box with food at 8:23. It was a bat – not her favorite dish. She accepted it and made a meal of it on the hotel ledge. Meanwhile, he took over on the eggs. She reappeared on the State Building at 9:20 and twenty minutes later she was on the crossperch. They mated there at 9:50. A half hour later Astrid called a few times and we knew she was close to laying egg # 4. Deb watched her as she had contractions and at 10:25 she laid her egg. We saw it when she shifted. It looked wet and its shell was a richer brown than the others.
At 10:45 Ares was at the box. He crowded Astrid and tried to get her to move off the eggs, but she wouldn’t budge. He got right up behind her, but she wasn’t leaving. Soon he gave up and went to his pillar perch. Just before 11 AM Astrid began calling like she saw an intruder, but neither falcon left their stations. The next switchover took place at 11:32. Astrid was out, and Ares came onto the eggs only one minute later. Around noon he was getting very chirpy in the box. He was looking up a lot too as if he saw a raptor flying through. She stopped at the box right then and the pair shared a very loud conversation. She moved to her steeple perch afterwards but was back to the box only 15 minutes later. They had another loud conversation while she remained on the crossperch (and him on the eggs). At 12:32 she left and we could see her on the PTZ cam flapping a lot and gaining altitude. She was heading to the north. Ares didn’t seem all that concerned so she may have been hunting. At just before 1 PM she was back to the crossperch and asking to mate. Ares complied and then she took over on the eggs.
At 3:20 we heard Ares screech through the canyon. A little while later he was located on the steeple perch. According to Rick at Grace Church, a Bald Eagle passed to the north of the ADK Bank building and that got Ares calling. The falcons next switch at the box took place at 3:43. It was then Ares turn to incubate. After a while Astrid showed up on the State Building. She flew off at 5:30 and that got Ares chirping again. At 5:38, Astrid was flying around the west face of the State Building. Perhaps she was checking Ares’ pantry for fresh catches (of the non-woodcock variety). At 5:50 she was seen flying northeast over the bank building. At some point, Ares slipped out, but was seen slipping back onto the eggs at 5:54. We don’t think he had been gone for long. She came to the crossperch only five minutes later. She was bowing to Ares with her tail pointing out into the canyon – she was asking to mate, but Ares was content on the eggs and ignored her request. She asked him on and off for the next half hour. Finally, he took her up on her offer. He did his cowabunga dive out of the box, but instead of waiting for him to boomerang back, Astrid jumped into the nest and climbed onto the eggs. She faked him out?! Well, maybe. At 6:30, it seemed Astrid was in place for the night and Ares had gone off to his night perch. Goodnight all.