Astrid was guarding the nest for most of the night. She was on the crossperch until at some point in the early morning. We noticed no overnight feedings. Astrid appeared at the box at 5:28 AM. Ares arrived but without food fifteen minutes later. As Astrid left the crossperch, Ares came into the box and peered at the nestlings. At 5:49 Astrid returned to the box with food and proceeded to give the chicks their breakfast. The meal lasted about 17 minutes, after which the chicks had some nice sized crops. Astrid left the box following the meal. At 6:28 Ares came to the nest to do a chick-check. Astrid did a quick check at 8:37. Ares brought prey to the nestbox at around 9:40. Astrid took the food and did the feeding. We heard Ares screeching from somewhere in the canyon at 10:00 and then he did it again about a half-hour later. Shortly after that we noticed that Astrid was on the east veranda and he was on the west veranda. The parents were in and out of the nest area after that for the rest of the morning. Just before noon, Astrid jumped up onto the roof of the nestbox. That was something she had started doing the day before – we think in reaction to people being active in nearby offices.
At 12:19 the chicks watched Astrid approach the box and land on the crossperch. Obviously, their vision was improving rapidly. Their plumage and body-shape was evolving as well. They were beginning to stand up and their dark eye masks were coming in. At 12:26 we heard Ares screech through the canyon. Astrid flew out to meet him and somewhere (out of camera view) they did a food exchange. Astrid came to the box with the food and served it to the nestlings. At just before 1 PM Astrid was on the east veranda – doing guard duty. We noticed that the parents were staying closer to the nest site. Most likely because the weekend was over, and Astrid was seeing and hearing people in offices not far from the nestbox. Ares did a fast chick-check at 1:13. At 2:10 Astrid became very irritated and gave some cackle alarm calls. She hazed the office windows a few times and gave cackle-calls. At 3:10 Ares arrived at the crossperch and gave some of his long screech calls. He left after that only to return at 4:08. The nestlings were growing hungry at that point in the day and since Ares was the parent on duty, they squealed at him. At 5:19 we noticed that the box camera we call “overkill” had taken a squirt of “whitewash” from one of the chicks. The camera view was partially obscured but it would probably remain serviceable minus any additional plastering.
At 5:44 Astrid came to the box with food. Ares moved over to the east veranda as she handled the feeding. At 6:12 Astrid was on the east veranda. Ares came to the box with food and attempted to feed a couple of very disinterested falcon chicks. Despite her close proximity to the nest, Astrid wasn’t intervening. Ares chirped at the nestlings to get them interested in feeding. This is something Astrid does all the time, but we hadn’t seen Ares do it before. It took a while, but Ares gave both chicks their supper. At one point one of the chicks scored a direct hit of whitewash on Ares’ wing. He went out onto the crossperch after that but then came back in to serve out what was left of the meal. At 6:30 he went onto the west veranda. Astrid was still on the east veranda. At 7:17 PM Ares was up and giving chirp-type alarm calls. There was a falcon intruder in the canyon. He pursued the stranger south and out of view. Astrid called out as if she saw him return at around 8:00, but we didn’t see him again for the balance of the evening. Astrid remained on guard on the long perch until late. Goodnight falcons.
Gods creation