Sunday was a warm and sunny day in the canyon and that came as a welcomed change. Astrid spent Saturday night on her clutch. Ares arrived at the box at 5:32 Am and took over incubating/brooding. Astrid came back a few minutes later with food from Ares’ pantry. She began tearing off pieces of the carcass while Ares was still in place on the nest. For a few minutes it looked like she was going to feed him instead of the chick beneath him! He legitimately looked confused – and so were we all! Finally, he flew out and Astrid fed the chick. At 8:56 AM we noticed that one of the eggs (egg #3) was pipped. We had begun to wonder if we were going to have more than one chick in the nest this year. Suddenly it seemed like were. Ares brought a goldfinch to the nest at 9:21. He came right into the box that time to hand the food off to her and she conducted a feeding.
At 10:31 Astrid gave an alarm cackle call from the box. It was probably a reaction to a passing raptor (not a Peregrine). Neither her nor Ares left their perches. At 10:42 Astrid was jostling the eggs. She was doing an increasing amount of this behavior. It is a way to help chicks break out of their eggshells and apparently, she had one attempting to do just that. She continued jostling the eggs off and on through late morning. Astrid left the nest at 11:40 and before Ares arrived to relieve her. He showed up only one minute later. Astrid returned to the box at 11:44 and she sent Ares on his way. At 1:13 PM the second chick of the season hatched. We were first clued into the fact something happened when a large piece of eggshell appeared right in front of Astrid. Sure enough, a new chick had only just broken out of its shell. It was still wet and pink and sitting in front of Astrid’s chest. After eating a little bit of the cast-off eggshell, Astrid tucked the new chick beneath her and continued to brood.
At 1:44 Ares was heard giving long calls from a distance. Astrid responded with some chirps. Ten minutes later both parent falcons were giving their cackle alarm call which usually means that a non-Peregrine intruder is near the canyon. Astrid left the box with purpose and Ares screeched over a few minutes later. He entered the box and was greeted by the sight of two eggs and two nestlings – one chick nearly twice the size of the other. The new nestling’s feathers had dried off and it appeared cottony-white like its sibling. At 1:58 Astrid was back at the box with food. She conducted a feeding of the older chick. The newly hatched nestling was still to uncoordinated to be in the chow lineup. At one point it toppled onto its back and was unable to right itself for several minutes. While watching the feeding session we noticed that egg # 4 possibly had a pip in it. At 2:28 Astrid gave another cackle alarm call but didn’t exit the box. Ares came to relieve her at 3:14. As the sun flooded the box and temps rose into the 70’s, Ares began shading the chicks and the eggs. He kept that up until Astrid relieved him at 3:54 and then it was her turn to do some shading.
At 5:00 PM both adult falcons gave cackle alarm calls. She dove from the nest and took a high perch on the north face of the State Building. Ares flew to the nest and took over guard/shading duty. Only a few minutes later she was back and re-assuming nest duty. The peace and tranquility didn’t last long and at 5:13, a majorly perturbed Astrid uttered a very loud and intense cackle call and then she was out of the box. Ares arrived a few minutes later and took over nest duty. We were starting to wonder what was going on in Downtown with all the intruder alerts. Likely it was a big day for migrant raptors sailing through the region. She was back to the nest at 5:23 and Ares was out again. At 5:56 Astrid left the box but then she came right back with food from Ares’ cupboard. She then conducted a feeding in which both nestlings participated. Astrid was being very deliberate in her feeding style and she made sure the tiny chick got an adequate amount during its first feeding of the year. At 7 PM Astrid and Ares were again giving cackle calls. As she dashed out to deal with the strangers, Ares flew over to guard the box. He picked up a chunk of leftovers on the floor and ate it on the crossperch. Astrid was back in less a minute.
At 7:18 Ares was seen flying around the west face of the State Building. Was he stocking his pantry? Astrid left the box at 7:33 and Ares swooped in to take over. Astrid came to the box at 7:45. She did a feeding, mostly of the older chick, but she made sure the younger one got a share. She left to store the leftovers at 7:51. Ares yo-yoed back to the box to take over, but Astrid arrived only a minute after she departed. After that Astrid was on the nest for the night. Ares was seen for a while on the north face of the State Building. The last sighting of him there was around 11:30 PM. Was the pip we saw in egg # 4 a real thing or was it a blemish on the shell? We hope to find out sometime tomorrow. Until then, goodnight all.
