The overnight period was relatively warm with temps dropping into the mid-forties. After sunrise, the conditions improved; we reached the 60’s before midday and by late afternoon it was 70 degrees. Astrid again spent the entire night on the eggs without interruption. We noticed that Ares was on the State Building at 6:00 AM. Perhaps he was there earlier but our PTZ cam was pointed somewhere else. At 6:18, he came to the box to relieve Astrid. She seemed OK to leave and flew over to perch on the State Building. She stayed there until about 7:00. At 7:28, Ares was calling. His vocalizations alerted us to the fact that Astrid had arrived on her steeple perch. When Astrid saw some movement in an office adjacent to the nest, she dashed over and landed on the crossperch. As it happened, she wasn’t mad for long; in fact, she briefly asked Ares to mate. He was into incubating at the time and didn’t seem to notice. Nor did he notice when she asked again a few minutes later. At 8:06, they switched, and Astrid was back on the eggs. Ares left without complaint and landed on the State Building. At 8:54, he moved to the steeple, then to the hotel, and then back to the State Building. He was probably hunting. They did another quick switch at 9:40, and then Ares was back on the eggs.
At 11:30 AM, Ares abruptly exited the box after giving chirping type alarm calls. He was acting like there was a Peregrine intruder, but his mate didn’t seem upset. The eggs were alone for only a few seconds before Astrid left her steeple perch and came to the nest. She wasted no time in getting on the eggs. At 12:19, we heard Ares’s distinctive screech as he landed on the State Building. At 1:05, he brought a small prey item to the box. Astrid hopped up to take it and then flew to the hotel while Ares got onto the eggs. She finished her meal quickly and flew to a perch on the State Building. At 2:10, Astrid came to the box to ask for a turn on the eggs. He didn’t want to leave, and she didn’t press him. She went to her steeple perch instead. As the sun hit the box with full strength (temps now above 70 degrees) Ares switched from incubating to shading the eggs. At 4:13, Astrid was back to the box once more and asking to take over. He still wasn’t willing to leave so she hopped into the box and stood behind him. She was there for quite a while, mostly just standing, but occasionally biting at the whitewash camera. We could see and hear them panting in the hot box. That time she was using only gentle persuasion tactics to get him to leave. I think he appreciated that, but he showed no sign of leaving for nearly the entire 15 minutes they spent tougher in the box. Finally, at 4:29, he yielded. He got off the eggs and jumped into the canyon. Once inside the box, Astrid started immediately shading the clutch. At 6:44 PM, Ares returned to the nest and the pair did a fairy quick switch. At 7:21 Astrid was on the steeple perch. At 7:36, she decided it was time to call it a night. She flew to the nest and relieved Ares one last time, Goodnight falcons.
