Astrid was on the nest through the night. Ares was first seen at about 5:30 AM on the State Building. The first switch of the morning happened at 6 AM sharp. At 6:39 Astrid was seen checking the window ledges on the State Building for stored food. She found some on a north-face ledge and began plucking it. She flew over to the hotel with it and had it for breakfast. The falcons switched again at 8:00. At 10:37 she was still on the eggs and Ares was out of camera view. She was giving chirping-type alarm calls from the nest at 10:45. There was a female Peregrine intruder active in the canyon. She left the nest and the eggs alone to engage the stranger. Ares came to the nest and got onto the eggs a minute after she left. Rick from Grace Church reported that he saw Astrid and a female of similar size speeding after each other through the canyon.
Astrid showed up again on the State Building at 11:24. They switched at 12:30 PM and then Astrid was back on the eggs. At 1:23 she began giving excited alarm calls again and jumped out of the nest. Obviously, the intruder was back and both Astrid and Ares were out of view. Ares then came to the nest at 1:25 and Astrid was on the State Building 10 minutes later. The next switch took place at 2:45. Ares was out of view until 4:50 when he showed up at the nest to take a turn on the eggs. She didn’t want to leave but he insisted and nudged her off the eggs. She was on the steeple for a while after that. She came back to the crossperch at 5:30 and asked to take over but Ares wasn’t willing to go. She was up again and then back to the steeple perch. She then did some hunting from the steeple – darting out periodically and chasing after birds (Pigeons, we assume). She did a fast check at the box at 5:30 but then was back and forth to the steeple again. Hunting from the steeple continued until she finally returned to the box at 7:47 PM – pretty late by recent standards. Ares took Astrid’s steeple perch for a little while after vacating the nest but then was up again and out of view. Astrid settled in on the eggs for the night. Goodnight people and falcons.
