The overnight was chilly and windy with temperature staying close to the freezing point. Mostly sunny skies in the morning aided a very modest warmup. The temperature stayed under forty until noon. Astrid was on the eggs until Ares relieved her at 3:20 AM. He left abruptly at 3:44 and Astrid returned two minutes later. At 5:17 Ares was back to the nest and the pair did another quick switch. He is not diligent about incubation yet and was off the eggs only moments after getting on. He stood on the lip of the box until 5:24, when he settled back onto the eggs. At 5:31 they did another changing of the guard – this time Astrid came onto the nest. At 6:28 he was up on his lookout post – probably hunting. Astrid was getting hungry and was giving her trademark pterodactyl screech call to let Ares know. She left the box a couple of minutes later and flew to a windowsill on the State Building. Perhaps there was food there at some point. Ares then took flight and went over by the hotel, landing high up on the radio tower on the hotel roof. She returned to the box and got onto the eggs but was still calling to her partner. Only a minute later Ares landed on a light pole on the bank roof. He had a freshly caught starling in his talons. He landed on a west ledge and Astrid screeched over to meet him. She took the food over to the hotel and made breakfast out of it.
At 6:40 AM Ares had taken over on the eggs, but like before, he wasn’t serious about incubating. He was soon sitting over the eggs and not on them. He just can’t be comfortable when Astrid is out of view at least during this part of the breeding cycle. At 6:47 both falcons were flying again. Ares again returned to the nest but wasn’t settling on the eggs. He was gone again a few minutes later. Astrid came to the box at 7:02 and she was mostly on the eggs for the next hour. She left at 8:02 and he came in a minute later, but he didn’t incubate. Astrid took another turn at 8:28 and remained there for nearly ninety minutes. Ares took over at a few minutes before 10:00 but was mostly standing over the eggs. Of course, this inconsistent incubation is not a problem at this juncture. We expect continuous incubation to be the rule in a day or two since it typically begins between the laying of the second and third eggs. The falcons mated on the State Building at 10:31 and after that both falcons were out of view. He returned to the box at 10:48 and he did some vocalizing. His calls were in reaction to seeing her land back on the State Building. He got onto the eggs, but stayed on them for only about 12 minutes. She was out of view and so he had to go and find where she went. At 11:15 Astrid returned to the nest and after a few minutes she climbed back onto the eggs. She called out when she saw him land on the State Building at 11:34, but she did not leave her clutch.
At 12:51 PM Ares came to the box for the changing of the guard. They are doing fast changes now and not the quasi ledge displays they had been doing almost every time. She left and Ares took over – kind of. He didn’t settle on the eggs but opted to stand on the lip of the box. He was out again five minutes later. He returned to the nest at 1:07. He was giving squeaking calls and, once again, not getting onto the eggs. A few minutes later he landed on the State Building where he could see her, and that made him happy. However, at 1:20 PM he became highly agitated and started giving chirping-type alarm calls, which means a falcon intruder was in the canyon. He darted over to the State Building and perched near Astrid for a moment before flying off and presumably chasing after the interloper. The eggs were left alone in the box. Astrid flew off at 1:35 and didn’t return for fifteen minutes. She then flew to the nest and got right on the eggs. At 2:06 she was looking very alert on the nest. Something was going on. She went to the crossperch and started calling. Ares made a dramatic fly through and landed on the State Building. He had returned from his encounter with the intruder. Astrid started giving her hungry pterodactyl calls. Then again, maybe she wasn’t so hungry. She stood on the crossperch and preened for a few minutes land then went back onto the eggs. At 2:46 Ares came to the box and the pair switched. He stood on the lip of the box for a while and then was off, leaving the eggs alone. Astrid was on the steeple at this point. It’s possible they mated, but we didn’t hear Ares’ chatter call. At 3:02 PM Ares was back at the nest and giving chirp-type alarm calls. Suddenly both falcons were out of view. Were they chasing an intruder? Fifteen minutes later he was back to the box and this time he was giving squeaking calls – most likely for Astrid’s benefit. The pair was heard mating at 3:23. At 3:46 he was up on the lip of the box casting shade on the eggs. We weren’t sure if this was intentional or inadvertent shading. It was sunny out but pretty cold (45 degrees). At 4:26 he was giving long calls. He may have been responding to some loud emergency sirens blaring in the canyon. He flew ten minutes later, again, leaving the eggs alone. He was back to the box at 4:44 and back on the eggs ten minutes later. At that point he became serious about incubation and remained tight on the eggs until Astrid came to the nest at 5:45. The pair had a conversation over the eggs which was almost like a ledge display, but not quite. Ares left two minutes later, and Astrid got onto the eggs. He returned to the box with prey at 6:01 PM. Astrid took it from him on the crossperch and then she flew over to the hotel. Ares left to check and see where she went. When he was satisfied that she run off to Cancun, he flew back to the nest and resumed incubation. She finished her meal at 6:11 and flew to the State Building. At 6:30 he was off of the eggs and onto the crossperch. He got back on the eggs, chewed on something in the stone, made two scrapes, pivoted around the eggs in a circle – he was being very hyperactive. At 6:42 he flew out. Moments later we heard his mating chatter. At 6:45 Astrid was back in the nest and on the eggs. She was probably there for the night. Goodnight all