Astrid spent much of last night on the long perch guarding the nest. Ares was on the State Building for part of the night. Ares brought prey to the box at 1:13 AM. Astrid took it from him and then flew off with it into the night. He took over guard duty. We expected a feeding, but she didn’t come back with the meal. At one point, Ares screeched and flew toward one of the steeple perches. Astrid flew up at the same time. Perhaps he displaced her from her perch? It was too dark to tell precisely what had occurred. Ares returned to the long perch and resumed guard duty. At 4:32 Ares brought something relatively small to the nest. Astrid grabbed it and flew out of the box again. She came right back but then aborted her landing on the crossperch. She circled back and then successfully landed in the box. She then fed the squealing nestlings. At 6:32 Ares brought more food to the nest. Astrid handled the feeding
At 7:06 Ares landed on the east veranda with prey. Astrid scrambled over to get it. She then conducted another feeding. The next course (also brought by Ares) was a bat which he brought to the nest only a few minutes after they finished the prior meal. At 7:44 we heard some chirping in the canyon. We think that Ares caught something and transferred it to Astrid somewhere away from the nest. She came into the box with the food and carried out the meal. By 8:00 it seemed the nestlings had enough and retired into the corner. Astrid started finishing it off herself. Before she was done the chicks rallied and she served out what remained to them. Cackle calls were heard at 9:13 which meant there was likely an intruder in the canyon – although it probably wasn’t another Peregrine. Astrid got onto the roof of the nestbox and Ares was out of view. Following that, both parents were out of camera view until 10:42 when Astrid returned to the nest to do a chick-check. At 11:27 we finally spotted Ares again. He was on the hotel where he did some sunbathing. Astrid made an abrupt flight out after something at 11:35. She was on the steeple after that. She spent a short time sunning herself on the hotel and then she was on the State Building for a while. Ares went to the steeple at noon. He was quite wet and obviously he had enjoyed a bath somewhere. He came to the crossperch at 12:18 and gave some long calls. The nestlings began to squeal in response. Their begging calls have been getting progressively louder as they have gotten larger. Dark wing feathers now make a dark fringe around their white downy wings and tail. Their masks have also become darker. After screeching on the crossperch, Ares came inside the box a couple of times and really stirred up the chicks. It was a real squealing fest.
By 2:15 PM the box was getting very warm in the afternoon sun. The temperature was in the mid-80s. Ares was in the box creating shade for a little while and then Astrid took over. At 3:18 Ares was heard screeching through the canyon. He brought food up to the east veranda. Astrid took it and flew off into the canyon. She didn’t come back to the nest with it. Ares took over shading duty in the box. The nestlings both crowded into one shady corner of the box while Ares created shade in the center of the box. He hadn’t bothered with the eggs until about 3:30, when evidently, he had moved both into his shadow. The parents switched at 4:38 and then it was Astrid’s turn to create shade. She also wasn’t shading the kids much – and mostly concentrated on the eggs (and we thought they were both over that!) Ares was on the State Building at 5:30 PM but then took off, presumably to go hunting. Astrid was still in the box shading at 7:00 and then left shortly after that. By that point we hadn’t seen Ares for a while, but then his distinctive screech was heard and we saw him sailing around the State Building. He picked some prey item out of storage and brought it to the nest. The larger chick snatched the entire thing from him and took it to the corner. The other chick joined in and tried to take bites. Ares left as Astrid arrived. She assessed the situation, stuck her head into the fray and extracted the meal from the ravenous nestlings. She then conducted a fairly unruly feeding session. She left the box when the meal was over at 7:15. Ares screeched into the nest box about five minutes later then he and the two kids shared a screeching session. By 8:20 both parents were out of camera view. Astrid was back to her guard position on the long perch at 8:30. Ares was visible on the State Building for part of the night. Goodnight falcons.
