The overnight period was milder than it had been recently and the morning was certainly milder. It appears as though winter 2.0 has come to an end. Astrid abruptly left the nest twice after 10:30 Friday evening. She wasn’t extremely agitated, nor did she vocalize. She was gone for only two minutes the first time and less than a minute the second time. We have no explanation for it. This morning, Ares showed up on his lookout post at 5:48 – although it’s possible he arrived there over an hour earlier. It was just too dark to be certain. The falcons did their first switch of the day at 5:55 AM. Astrid flew around the State Building at least once before landing on the north face. She was up again at 6:00 and he called as she flew. The next switch occurred at around 6:40. At that point Astrid took over on the eggs. At 7:27, Ares brought a food tribute to Astrid. She took it to the hotel. It was a small meal and she was on the steeple only eight minutes later. At 7:56 they switched, and Astrid took over on the nest. An hour later we noted that Ares was on the State Building. The next changeover occurred at 10:02 and Ares was on the eggs. She was to the State Building and then to the steeple.
At 12:40 PM Ares became very upset at the nest. Astrid was still on the State Building at that point. He was giving full-blown emergency chirping calls. Seconds later he dove from the nest and was in pursuit mode. It’s possible he was reacting to a falcon perched where we couldn’t see it on the State Building roof. As for Astrid, she didn’t seem all that upset. She flew over to the box and took over incubation. She didn’t vocalize at all. In all likelihood the intruder was a male and therefore it was Ares’ problem. At 1:09, he returned to the State Building. Astrid vocalized when he arrived. She was calling again over hour later. We think she was reacting to him returning from another trip. At 3:22, she was calling and highly agitated. A falcon dashed through and landed on the roof of the State Building. We weren’t sure who it was at the time but now we know it was Ares. There was another unseen intruder that she was upset about and it was most probably a female based on her reaction. She bolted off the eggs and darted into the canyon and was immediately out of view. Ares then left the roof of the State Building and took over on the eggs. At 3:39 PM she returned to the State Building and Ares called when he saw her land. Meanwhile, he was getting warm and had begun panting in the box, although he wasn’t resorting to shading the eggs. At 4:45 we noticed that Astrid had left her ledge on the State Building. A pair of vultures flew through the south part of the canyon, seemingly without notice. She came back to the fold at about 5:10. Ares gave a few squeak calls to acknowledge her return. The last changeover of the day occurred at 5:54 and then Astrid was on the eggs for the night. Goodnight all.
