The overnight period was seasonably cool with temperatures getting down into the low 40’s. Partly cloudy skies in the morning led to a moderate warm up. Temps got up into the mid-fifties by midafternoon. Astrid was on the nest all night. There were no overnight feedings as far as we know. She began calling for Ares to bring food at 5:10 AM. Ten minutes later he arrived at the box with prey in his talons. Astrid took it and began serving out breakfast. The two older chicks loomed large in the chow line. The little one had to wait until the siblings had their fill before it got any attention. At 5:34 we noticed a spot on the remaining egg and wondered if it could be a pip. We then decided it was more likely a stain from a recent meal. At 5:41 Ares was back to the nest with more food. It was too soon for Astrid. She signaled to him to go and store it somewhere.
At 6:30, he was seen making forays from a high perch on the State Building. At 8:05 he brought in the next meal. She took it and began a feeding. Once again, the youngest chick got some food after the other two were satiated.
Ares brought more prey to the box at 8:35 AM. As she flew away with it, he came into the box to sit with the chicks. He wasn’t there for a minute before Astrid returned and sent him on his way. At 9:22 Ares brought a small prey item to the nest. Astrid took it and did another feeding. At 10:38 Ares was heard giving cackle-type alarm calls from the steeple perch. She started cackling from the nest a couple of minutes later. Soon he was alternately giving long calls and cackle calls. It was probably a reaction to non-falcon raptors passing over the canyon. Neither falcon tried to intercept the strangers.
At 12:04 PM Ares arrived at the nest with an entire Blue Jay. Astrid took it from him and flew over to the hotel. There she began plucking it. Meanwhile, Ares remained out on the long perch at the box. At 12:08 he came into the nest and approached the stack of chicks. He rolled the egg once and then hopped onto the crossperch. A minute later he was back in the box and sitting in front of the chicks – not quite brooding. At 12:10 Astrid was back to the box with the now properly processed jay. She began feeding the chicks their lunch. The meal was finished at 12:10 and she took off with leftovers to store. Both falcons were heard cackling in the canyon a minute later. One of them was seen dashing north over the bank building. Ares came to the nest and sat guard over the chicks while Astrid, presumably, taught some transgressor a lesson. She was back to the State Building by 12:22 and then taking over from Ares at the box.
At 12:51 PM Astrid had come off the nest and was doing some excavation work near the front of the box. She was biting at small stones mostly. We weren’t sure if she was ingesting any or not. More cackle calls at 12:53 emanated from Ares on the State Building. At 1:20 Astrid became interested in housework. She had stopped brooding and was biting at stones and digging in a few places in the nest. At 1:42 she abruptly exited the box. Ares arrived three minutes later but then he hurried out as well. Something was going on in the canyon, although we didn’t hear the falcons giving the typical alarm calls or vocalizing at all. We did see one of the dive at a Turkey Vulture that was flying east oof the County Building. At 1:49 Astrid came back into the nest and went back to brooding her clutch. At 2:08 we noticed that Ares was up on his lookout perch. The next feeding took place at around 4:05 PM. We missed it when it started but we assume that Ares brought the food, she took it, and now she was doing the feeding. At 4:19 Ares gave a long call – we weren’t sure from where; this was while Astrid flew out with the leftovers. She came back to at 4:27. At 5:37 PM Ares brought more food to his mate. She left with it while he moved closer to the chicks. Of course, she came back and ousted him. It seemed like the falcons were settling down for the night. Goodnight falcons.
