It was another cool day in the canyon. Astrid spend last night tight on her eggs. We first noticed Ares on the west face of the State Building at 5:58 AM. He came into the box to take over incubation at precisely 6:00. After leaving the box Astrid flew around the State Building checking Ares’ pantry ledges. She must have found something because at 6:21, she was feeding on the hotel. It was raining by that point and the wind was making the PTZ camera shudder. She went to the State Building after finishing breakfast. At 7:14, she came back to the box and the pair did a quick switch on the eggs. The next changeover took place at 8:41, and then Ares had another turn. As it happened it was a short shift; Astrid returned at 9:27 and reclaimed the nest. Ares didn’t seem upset about it. At 11:04, he came to the nest with prey. Astrid noisily took it from him but we don’t know where she went to eat it. It looked like she was flying to the hotel, but she wasn’t visible to the PTZ cam.
At 11:30 AM, Astrid was back to the nest and taking over incubation duty from Ares. At 1:30, another switch happened, and Ares was back on the eggs. At 1:55, she was back and asking to take over. The two vocalized a lot but Astrid wasn’t pushy. In fact, she refrained from stepping on him. Gentle persuasion worked and he was out. He was out of view until 2:56, when he landed on the State Building. She was calling to him as he came in. They switched at 3:39; she flew to the State Building as Ares took over on the eggs. At 5:24, Ares began giving chirping alarm calls from the nest. Seconds later he had flown into the canyon – in pursuit of something – an intruder we presume. She came to the nest only two minutes after he left and quickly covered the eggs. At 5:54, she was calling. Ares had returned from his chase and landed on the State Building. He stayed there until about 7:00 PM. By that point, Astrid was on the nest for the night. Goodnight all.
