It was cool overnight with temperatures as low as the low forties. Through the morning it warmed up quickly and became somewhat windy. The temperature peaked at 70 degrees at midday. Astrid was on the nest all night. By 6 AM, she was obviously alert and looking around. She was waiting for Ares to arrive to relive her. At 6:29, Ares came screeching to the long perch with prey. Astrid took it from him and flew east into the canyon. Meanwhile, Ares hopped into the nest and took over incubating the eggs. We expected Astrid to go to the hotel to have her meal, but she didn’t show up there – at least not on one of the ledges we could see with our PTZ cam. Perhaps she went to one of her secret feeding locations. The other possibility is that she dropped the food or stored it. At 6:41, she showed up on her steeple perch. She looked to have a slight crop, so perhaps she did eat some breakfast. At 7:17, the falcons switched again, and Astrid was back on the nest. Ares went to the State Building for a little while. At 7:46, he screeched as he flew by the nest on route to the steeple. The two then shared a brief long-distance conversation. Periodically, she talked to him over the next hour. Perhaps she wanted him to bring her a replacement meal for the one she may have lost or didn’t like.
At 8:51 AM, the falcons changed places once again. This time Ares took over on the eggs. At 9:43, Astrid was on the south facing steeple perch. She flew from there to the crossperch. Perhaps someone in one of the offices adjacent to the nestbox got too close to their window. That always provokes Astrid to come to the nest. She soon jumped into the box and tried to displace Ares. He left without much complaint and flew to the State Building. At 9:55, Astrid gave a cackle-type warning call from the box. There was probably a non-falcon raptor passing over – in other words, something of no threat to the Peregrines. Meanwhile, Ares was on the steeple acting almost too casual. He was up five minutes later and then back again. The Peregrines really like the steeple today! At 12:08, a Rock Pigeon, in its infinite wisdom, landed on the long perch at the falcon nestbox. Astrid was sitting at the time. She put her full attention on the strange, diluted bird, but didn’t make a move against it. The Pigeon flew off after a minute. It’s visit to the Lion’s Den was a peaceful one. At 12:36, the falcons executed a rapid switch and then Ares was on duty.
Movement in an office near the box caused Astrid to dart back to the crossperch to check the nest. While she was there, she hopped into the box and attempted to get a turn on the eggs. Ares didn’t want to leave and she didn’t try very hard to get her way. She flew out and landed on her steeple perch. By 2:38, Astrid was out of view. At 3:14, she showed up on the crossperch. The falcons switched places a minute later. At 4:56, Ares brought food to the box. Astrid took it from him on the corssperch and took it to the hotel. Ares came back onto the eggs. By 5:12, Astrid was done with her meal and on her steeple perch. A half-hour later Ares was shading the eggs. He didn’t do it for long and went back to sitting on them only minutes later. Astrid took off from the steeple at 6:23, but then landed on a different steeple perch 8 minutes later. At 6:33, she was at the nest box and switching places with Ares. It was the last changeover for the day. Goodnight falcons.
