Last night Astrid stayed tight on the eggs as temperatures got down to the freezing point. It warmed up into the 50’s by later in the day. We didn’t see Ares until 6:04 AM when he came to the box to take over on the eggs. At that point Astrid was eager to leave. She was seen flying around the west face of the State Building and then around the south side. Was she checking Ares’ pantry or was she trying to scuttle some Pigeons near M&T Bank? Ares gave squeaking calls the entire time Astrid was in the air. The next switch was at 7:08 and then Astrid was on the eggs. He came back at 9:03 but she wasn’t willing to leave so he flew out again. He was next seen on the State Building at 9:42.
The next switch happened at 10:50 and it was particularly fast. Astrid was next spotted on the State Building at 12:25 PM. At 12:39 she came to the box to take another turn on the eggs. They did another lightning-fast switch and then Ares flew over and landed on the same State Building ledge that Astrid had just vacated. At 1:50, Ares was back to the box. He hopped in and demanded to take a turn incubating. He loped around behind her and forced her up. She complied and he took over on the eggs. She appeared to be hunting for a while before settling down on a steeple perch. At 2:30 Ares gave a cackle alarm call from the box, but neither falcon left their positions. The alarm call was likely brought on by a passing raptor. The next switch took place at around 3:50 – we didn’t see it happen, but Astrid was back on the eggs.
Astrid began calling from the nest at 5 PM. It sounded like she wanted Ares in the relieve her on the eggs but he wasn’t in view. When he finally screeched to the box at 5:43 she sent him away. At that point we expected that Astrid would be on the nest for the night, but at 6:13 he was back and insisting on another turn. Again, he walked around behind her and compelled her to get up. She flew over to the State Building and he got onto the eggs. At 6:30 we saw her flying around the west face of the State Building. After that she appeared to be in hunting mode. She was seen darting after something at 6:41. Meanwhile Ares was getting some decent shuteye on the nest. He woke up and began squeaking when she landed on the steeple at 7:05. She came to the box a half our later – stood on the crossperch with her tail pointing out. She was bowing and appeared to be asking to mate! We’ve seen her use this ploy before to get Ares off the nest. It worked, and he left quickly. She then settled down on the eggs. Goodnight falcons and all.
