Saturday, May 16 – Ares Brings in a Bittern & Will Ares Ever Be Allowed to do a Feeding?

Astrid was in the box through the night on Friday. Temps were mild. There was some late night rain and early morning fog. Ares came to the box with prey at 3:38 AM. Astrid fed the nestlings. Ares was in the box babysitting at 5:52 while Astrid was on her steeple perch. Both parents were briefly at the box together at 6:10 and then Ares flew. Astrid then did some brooding. At 6:43 Ares screeched over to the east veranda with food. Astrid lunged over to take it. The exchange was out of our camera view, but it was successful. Astrid took the prey to the hotel ledge where she processed it slightly. She was at the nest feeding it to the chicks a couple of minutes later. Following the meal, she took out the leftovers and presumably stored them. Both parents were on the State Building after that and the chicks were left alone in the box. She did a quick chick-check at 6:57 and then went to her steeple perch.
At 7:43 one or both adults were giving cackle-type alarm calls. Astrid came to the nest afterwards and brooded the nestlings for a while. At 8:35 we heard chirping-type alarm calls in the canyon. That usually indicates the presence of a falcon intruder. Astrid went to deal with it while Ares came into the box to guard the chicks. At 8:40 the nestlings were squealing for attention and Ares was screeching – possibly he was conveying to Astrid that they were hungry. She returned to the box moments later and served them a meal. At 9:08 both parents were out of camera view and the chicks were alone again. Astrid returned to the crossperch at 10:35 AM but didn’t stay for long. At 10:57 Ares came to the nest with a fresh goldfinch. Astrid met him there, took the prey and fed it to the nestlings. She didn’t stay long after the meal was done.
At 11:54 Astrid came to the box with prey and did another feeding. At 12:10 PM Astrid went to the steeple and Ares flew over to be with the chicks. He screeched as Astrid flew out. At 12:21 he was bending back his head and looking up while giving light chirping calls. Astrid was likely circling over the canyon at that time. Ares was gone a few minutes later. Astrid came to the crossperch at 12:27 and from there promptly jumped up onto the roof of the nestbox. We weren’t sure what that was all about. At 2 PM Ares was on the crossperch and stayed there guarding the nest for about a half-hour. He was back with food at 2:48 (It was a Least Bittern!). Astrid met him in the box, relieved him of the prey and then served it to the nestlings. Ares stayed on the crossperch for most of the feeding. During the meal he produced a few screechy-cackle calls – we thought this was odd. Perhaps he was expressing a desire to feed the babies before they go away to college. Seriously, Astrid has not yet allowed him to feed the nestlings once this season. At 2:53 he flew out into the canyon cackling. There was probably some Turkey Vultures passing through – in other words, it was nothing serious. Astrid left when the meal was over, and Ares returned to do a chick-check at 3:04. The parents were both out of camera view again for at least twenty minutes after that. They both showed up at the box together at 4:03. He jumped inside and then Astrid jumped out again. While Ares was in the nest the bigger chick walked up to him and gave begging calls right up in his face. Following that Ares spent the balance of his guard duty out on the crossperch.
Astrid came to the long perch at 5:55. She jumped into the box a half-hour later; Ares arrived with a tiny meal seconds after that. Astrid took it (such as it was) and fed it to the nestlings. Unsurprisingly, the meal was over quickly. She left the box, pulled something out of storage and brought it to the hotel ledge. There she plucked it. After having some bites off the top, she returned to the nest and fed the chicks what was left. When the meal was finished, she flew back to her steeple perch. At 7:12 Ares came to the box and spent some time babysitting. The parents switched at 7:40 and then Astrid was on guard duty. She darted off (after prey we think) at one point only to return twenty minutes later. She took a guard position on the long perch and remained there for much of the night. Ares was on the north face of the State Building for part of the evening and then moved to a perch on the west face of the same building. Goodnight all.