Astrid was on the eggs all night as expected. Rain and wind were abundantly present again on Monday, although today it was considerably warmer. Astrid began calling like she wanted to be relieved at 6 AM. Ares showed up six minutes later and the pair switched. She was seen flying around the west face of the State Building a few times before going out of camera view. At 7:40 we located her on a pillar perch above the box. They did a quick switch at 7:45. Following the changeover, Ares was on the State Building for a while. At 8:54 they switched again, and Ares took a turn on the eggs. She was back to the box only 20 minutes later. She requested a switch, but Ares wasn’t willing to leave and she didn’t press him. She went over to the steeple perch instead.
At 9:45 Astrid flew to the east veranda. Ten minutes later she hopped into the box and they switched. Ares was next located on the west face of the State Building at 10:45. At 12:20 he flew to the box and tried to force Astrid to leave, but she wasn’t budging. He gave up and jumped to the east veranda instead. From there he moved to a window ledge east of the veranda. At 12:41 he began giving chirping-type alarm calls; the type the falcons give when another falcon is in the territory. Ares flew from his perch a few seconds later – presumably he was in pursuit of the intruder. We didn’t see him again on camera until he returned to the box at 1:23. They did a very fast switch. Ares was on the eggs and Astrid flew over to the State Building. She was on the steeple at 2:15 PM.
At 3:00 Ares gave a cackle-type alarm call. That likely indicated only a passing raptor. In other words, not a big threat and so no chase was required. She came to the box at 3:30 but Ares wasn’t ready to leave. She gave some low donkey calls and stood alongside him but didn’t press the matter. She let him stay on the nest a while longer. At 5:53 he was giving squeaking calls like he wanted Astrid to came and relieve him. Two minutes later she came out of nowhere and hopped into the box. That time she beaked with him to get him off the eggs and it worked. He flew over to a perch on the State Building while she made herself comfortable on the eggs. That was the last change-over of the day. We saw Ares on the State Building for a little while after that, but then he flew to somewhere invisible to our cameras. Astrid stayed put throughout the evening. Goodnight falcons and all.
