It was relatively warm overnight with temperatures in the 50’s. The day heated up more slowly than it had in recent days and temps topped out in the 60’s. There was some light rain in the late afternoon. Astrid was incubating straight through the night as expected. Ares’ gave his characteristic screech call as he landed on a windowsill on the State Building at 5:00 AM. An hour later Astrid was calling from the box for him to come take and over. She baled from the nest shortly after vocalizing and Ares came in to take his first shift of the day. Astrid did quite a bit of flying around the State Building (primarily the west face). She was zipping back and forth as she checked Ares’ pantry ledges for stored food. She didn’t seem to be able to find anything to her liking. At 6:24, she brought one of Ares’ catches to the hotel. It looked to be part of a Woodcock. She took a few bites and then abandoned it. She flew around the State Building several more times after that – checking the rest of the larder, but didn’t seem to come up with anything. At 7:41, she landed on the crossperch. They switched places a few minutes later and then Astrid was back on the eggs. Ares landed on his pillar perch at 7:56, and then went to the State Building at 8:50. Astrid had been conversing with him just before that.
At 8:55 AM, Astrid was calling from the nest. Ares came over from the State Building at 9:10, and the pair switched. After leaving the box Astrid was out of camera view until 9:54, when she landed on the State Building. From there she came right over to the crossperch. She was probably reacting to movements of people in offices close to the nest box. We noticed that Astrid had a full crop, so she must have eaten something recently. She was indicating her willingness to mate while standing on the crossperch. The pair mated less than a minute later. It’s uncommon to see Peregrines mate this long after the last egg in their clutch is laid. After mating, Astrid was back on the eggs. A half hour later Ares was giving loud chirping alarm calls. At 10:44, Astrid also became irritated by something and began calling from the box. As it happened, Ares was sparring with an adult (probably male) Peregrine. They soon flew too high for our PTZ cams to capture the action. Astrid came off the eggs and darted into the canyon. She was in hot pursuit of the intruder and soon both disappeared into the west. Meanwhile, Ares came back to the nest and got onto the eggs. She was back a minute later, buzzed by the 15th floor windows of the Adirondack Bank, landed for a quick conversation with Ares, and then she flew to the steeple. She was there for only a moment before going to the State Building. At 10:58, Astrid was back on the crossperch and appeared to be asking to mate again, but this time there was no follow-through. At 11:15, she jumped into the box and asked Ares to switch. It took about five minutes of gentle persuasion to get him to go, but he did go and then she got her turn on the eggs.
At 12:02 PM, Astrid called as Ares landed on his pillar perch. Twenty minutes later he was on the steeple and from there he dashed out after some prey. At 12:48 he was back to the State Building. At 1:08, Ares screeched to the west veranda. He may have been chasing Pigeons right before that. He hopped into the box and booted Astrid off the eggs. It was his turn! She reappeared on the State Building at 1:26 PM. The next switch took place at 3:20. At 5:35, the falcons switched again and twenty-five minutes later, She was on the hotel. Ares dove out of the box at 7:20 and, for a moment, both were on the State Building together. Two minutes later, Astrid flew over to the nest and took over incubating the eggs. Goodnight Falcons.
