Overnight was cool again with temperatures sticking close to the freezing point. It got warmer fast as morning progressed and was in the mid 60’s by noon. Astrid arrived at the nest box at 12:05 AM. She flew out and then came back only seconds later. Ares followed her in. He was laden with a fresh Woodcock. She issued some very loud vocalizations, pretty much right in his face. His reaction to the rebuke was to turn around and fly out. She remained in the box and was there when he returned at 2:22. He had the Woodcock again, accept this time, she jumped onto the crossperch and took it from him. We weren’t sure where she flew with it. Did she eat it or store it? At 5:29, Ares was back to the box – this time with a smaller food item. The pair conducted a ledge display at the nest at 6:14. At 6:40 AM she moved out onto the west veranda. They mated there less than ten minutes later. Both flew off after the mating, but then both came back to their original positions. There was another mating at 8:05, and then another at 7:39 PM. At 7:53, Ares was plucking a large bird (probably another Woodcock). At about that time, Deb noticed that Astrid had a large crop – that meant she had a large meal recently. Did she actually eat the Woodcock Ares gave her? At 7:56, Ares arrived at the box with the prey he had been processing. When Astrid refused to take it, he stored it on a west ledge. He then headed back to the hotel. He was back at the box at 8:00 AM, and Astrid was asking to mate. He dove out, but we don’t think they mated. He went to his pillar perch instead.
At 9:09, Ares came to the nest just as she flew out. It was like a changeover, but with no eggs to incubate. He pulled prey from one of his pantry ledges and brought it to her at the box. She took it to the hotel and made it a meal. At 9:41, she was on her steeple perch. The pair mated on the crossperch at around 10:15. They had some sort of interaction at 11:00, but we didn’t see it, we only heard their lively conversation. She returned to the steeple after that. He spent some time in the box. He made a scrape and then stood on the crossperch and gave long calls. They mated on the steeple at 12:41 PM. Both came to the box directly afterwards. At around 1:00, there was lots of comings and goings at the nestbox – they were hard to keep up with. At 1:15, they had a very lively and loud conversation at the box. What was that all about? They performed a ledge display directly after that. There was more beaking and close interacting than we’ve seen in recent dances. He left after 5 minutes. Astrid then spent some time doing housework – digging in the box’s corners and biting at the lip of the box. At 1:51, Ares returned to the nest with prey in his talons. They both stood on the crossperch chirping at each other, but she didn’t get close enough to take it. He flew off with the prey. Astrid then flew to a perch on the lower part of the steeple. Ares met her there. He still had the prey and he began giving her little tastes of it – beak to beak. Despite the appetizer, she didn’t want the meal and he flew away with it. He went to the box after storing the food.
At 2:14, Astrid left her perch and was out of view for a while. Meanwhile, Ares spent some time in the nest, puttering around and occasionally giving some long calls. Astrid showed up again at 3:05. She was perched high on the State Building. Ares got some egg-shading practice in the box. I’m sure that will come in handy once there are eggs to shade. At 3:47, Ares brought food to the box and Astrid accepted it right away. She flew over to the hotel to eat it. At 5:53, Ares came to the box and was wiping his bill. That likely meant he had recently caught something. Whether he made a meal out of it or stored it, we don’t know. Astrid came to the crossperch at 6:34 and the pair shared another ledge display. He bolted three minutes later and went to the State Building. Meanwhile, Astrid made a scrape in the stones. Ares returned to the box at 6:45 and Astrid hopped over to the west veranda. She bend her head down and vocalized. She was asking to mate. He complied about three minutes later. Afterwards, Ares went back to the State Building and was there until 7:05, when he probably went to his night perch. Astrid remained at the nest area until 7:30. Goodnight all.