Overnight was relatively mild with the temperatures in the 50s. The morning was warm, and the afternoon was hot. It felt more like August than May. Temperatures climbed into the 80s. A moderate wind developed in the afternoon. Astrid was on the long perch for much of the night. Ares brought small prey items at 2:38 and 4:07 AM. Astrid did the feedings. He brought more food to the box at around 5:40. Again, Astrid did the feeding. At 6:15 we could see that Astrid had a pigeon on the hotel and she was busy plucking it. At 6:20 she brought it over to the nest and started a feeding. She went to the steeple when the meal was over. At 6:45, Astrid went to the east Veranda. We could tell she was going to be very touchy about what happened in the general vicinity of the nest. She came into the box with leftovers at 7:55 and fed the chicks. After that meal, as predicted, Astrid became highly sensitive to people in office windows. She kept going from the veranda to the roof of the box and then back to the veranda, and then back to the box roof again. Occasionally she would fly back and forth in front of the 15th floor windows. She was in full-on guard mode. She pretty much stayed in that mode through the balance of the afternoon. At 9:55 AM, Ares brought prey to the box. Astrid took the food and fed the young. Following the meal, she returned to her semi frantic guarding activities.
At 11:15 both parents converged on the west veranda. One of them gave a brief cackle alarm call. At 12:20 PM Astrid was back to the roof of the box. The chicks got excited when she stopped at the box and called – they thought it was feeding time. At 1:31 Ares was on the crossperch and nearly got plastered with whitewash. Fortunately, the chick’s aim was a little off. He came in to check on them as if he had plans to chastise the culprit. Five minutes later Astrid was on the crossperch and then the roof of the nestbox again. From there she glared into Deb’s office window. At 2:28 Ares came to the nest with prey. Astrid took it and began a feeding. At 2:54 she was hazing the building again. Meanwhile the nestlings were spread out on the floor of the nestbox trying to deal with the heat. At 3:36 Astrid came to the nest. Three minutes later she was in the box and shading the nestlings. Soon after she was back to switching between guard posts on the veranda and the top of the box. By 5:34 She on the roof of the box again but didn’t seem as agitated anymore. At 6:00 PM she was feeding the chicks. We weren’t sure if Ares brought the food or if she pulled it from a storage ledge somewhere. As it happened that was the last meal of the day. A&A came to the nest at 7:21 and made the chicks squeal but there were no additional feedings for the evening. Astrid shifted over to the west veranda and seemed to be planning on spending the night there. Goodnight all.
