Astrid spent the night at the nest. Temperatures went below the freezing point last night. Ares screeched to the box with prey at 2:12 AM (bright and early!) Astrid took the food and fed the chicks. Another feeding was underway at 4:10. For that one we think Astrid utilized leftovers that were already in the box. At 6:38 Astrid left the box and landed on a high ledge on the State Building. Ares was already there on an adjacent ledge. Less than a minute later she was back at the box. She likely had a conversation with Ares while she near him; perhaps she asked him to fetch some food. At 7:41, he did just that. The food exchange happened on the east veranda and then Astrid brought it into the nest to conduct the feeding. When the meal was over, she went back to brooding the young and eggs.
At 8:55 Astrid called out to Ares from the box and he screeched back at her from somewhere in the canyon. At 9:10 she was giving more animated calls. At first, we thought there might be an intruder, but she was only reacting to Ares’ movements. At 10:30 Ares brought food to the crossperch. Astrid took it and fed the two nestlings. Ares came to the box at noon and Astrid let him have a turn brooding – a little over a half-hour as it turned out. At 2:26 Ares was back at the box. At the time we weren’t sure when they had switched, but they switched places again only ten minutes after that. Astrid left the box again at 3:36, leaving the chicks and eggs alone and unattended. She spent some time preening on a steeple perch while the chicks called and squealed in the box. At 3:38 Ares came to the box with prey. Astrid met him there, but their exchange was awkward. We thought that maybe she had dropped the food during the transfer. Regardless, she came directly back into the box and started feeding the nestlings.
At 4:37 PM Astrid was calling in the box. We could hear Ares give a cackle call, but we don’t know where he was at that time. He came into the box at 4:45 and asked to take a turn sitting but Astrid said no. He flew over to the State Building and took a high perch on the north face. At 6:20, John went up on the bank roof to finish reinstalling our PTZ 2 camera. He was in Ares’ view the whole time he worked. We expected to hear alarm calls, but it didn’t happen. We expected Astrid to haze John (like she did with Steve the day before), but that didn’t occur either. Somehow John finished the job without upsetting the birds at all. Thanks John! At 8:04 Astrid left the nest, but then came right back. She was in for the night at that point. Ares was also visible on the State Building until late in the evening. By now we think it’s safe to say that we can expect no more hatches to occur. Only two eggs hatched in 2016 as well. Goodnight all.
This is so interesting! Never saw the videos before. Thanks to all involved in watching Mother Nature at her best!