Astrid was on the eggs all night long as expected. At around 5 AM Ares screeched to the box to relieve her. She flew into the extremely foggy canyon and became invisible to our cameras. She came to the crossperch at 7:06 for a brief check in and then flew over to the steeple. At 7:32 she did exactly the same thing – a check in at the box and then back to the steeple. At 8:14 she did an encore performance of the same act, although there was more vocalizations that time. Finally, at 8:40 they switched and then Astrid took a turn incubating. We tried our best to get close looks at the eggs during each of the day’s switches, but saw no pips or cracks in the shells. At 9:10 Astrid spent a few minutes digging in the stones in the corner of the box and that gave us another opportunity to check out the eggs, but still no sign of an imminent hatch.
At 11:06 Astrid began calling in the box. It sounded like she wanted Ares to come and relieve her, but he wasn’t coming. He had been out of camera view for at least a half hour. At noon she decided she had waited enough and simply flew out of the box – leaving the eggs alone. We believe her mission was to get Ares to come take his turn at the box. He arrived at the box at 12:05 and took over incubation. She came to the box, checked on him (making sure he was doing his duty) and then went over to the steeple. At 1PM Ares began giving a chirping alarm call. An intruder was in the canyon. Astrid darted off on a westerly heading. Ares got off the eggs and followed. She returned to the nest and got onto the eggs. They had been uncovered for only three minutes. Ares returned at 1:24, flew around the State Building (claiming it) and then landed on its north face. Astrid called out when he came into view.
Temps rose quickly through the day and by the afternoon they have surpassed 60 degrees. Ares screeched to the box at 2:47. He conversed with his mate some, but it was clear she wasn’t going to leave the nest. He walked around her and then hopped out of the box and onto the east veranda. In previous years Astrid preferred to let Ares handle the hottest part of the afternoon in the box, but not for the last couple of years. During the afternoon she did some egg shuffling and stone picking. The falcons switched at 5:12 and Ares began a late shift. Astrid was out of view for a while but then at 7:02 she arrived on the State Building. Ares gave his screech call as she landed. After 7:30 PM he was calling to her off and on to come to relive him, but she wasn’t doing it. She just sat on a narrow window ledge and preened her feathers. At 8:03 she came over and the falcons did their final switch of the day.
At 8:12 Astrid was giving chirping alarm calls in the box, There must have been an intruder in the canyon, but we didn’t see it. A few minutes later Ares assumed his lookout post on the roof of the State Building. He stayed there until 8:20 and then he probably went to a night perch. We never did see the intruder but only inferred its presence based on the behavior of A&A. Regardless, Astrid calmed down after that and settled in for the night. Goodnight all.
