The overnight was cool with temperatures in the high 30’s. It warmed up quickly after dawn and temps reached into the mid-fifties by noon. There were a few rain showers around and then mostly sunny skies prevailed. In the afternoon the temperature hit 60 degrees. Astrid was on the nest incubating all night. Ares showed up on the State Building at around 5:20 AM. At 5:51 The pair did a quick switch and then Ares was on the eggs. She initially went to the State Building but then did some flying around. Whenever she moved Ares gave light vocalizations from the nest. Evidently, she pulled something out of Ares’ pantry. At 6:15 she was feeding on leftovers on the hotel ledge. It may have been Woodcock, but we couldn’t tell for sure. She didn’t eat much of it and was on the steeple ten minutes later. At just before 7:00 Astrid came to the box and the pair did a quick switch on the eggs. At 7:43 Astrid was heard calling from the box and shortly after, Ares was up on his lookout post on the roof of the State Building. He was probably hunting from there. We didn’t suspect an intruder at that time. At 8:43 Ares came to the nest to ask for a turn on the eggs. Astrid didn’t want to leave, and he wasn’t pushy about getting her to go. He left instead. At 9:04 we heard Ares giving long calls from somewhere in the canyon and she responded with calls from the nest. It turned out that Ares was on his pillar perch to the east of the box. While there he spent some time preening. At 9:16 Ares returned to the box. He wanted his turn incubating and this time he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. He went behind her and stepped on her tail and wing tips to shift her. It worked; she was out, and he got onto the eggs. The next changeover occurred at 10:44. It was quick and businesslike, with him going out and her coming in.
At 12:29 PM it was raining in the downtown canyon. Ares came to the nest at 12:37. He came into the box and tried his best to get Astrid to vacate. He tugged at her tail with one foot, but she didn’t react. He left instead and hopped over to the west veranda. At 1:34 he was giving long calls from the steeple. She called back a few times, but then adjusted herself on the eggs and continued incubating. Suddenly Ares darted out after something, and that made Astrid start vocalizing again. More long calls were heard from Ares, but we didn’t know where he was calling from. At 1:41 he was back on his pillar perch again. Ten minutes later he had returned to the nestbox and this time he got Astrid to let him take over. She then spent the next few hours on the State Building while he incubated the eggs. At 4:21 she came to the crossperch and, after a couple of minutes, Ares left and she took over on the nest. They switched again at 6:13 PM and then Ares had a late turn on the eggs. She was out of camera view until she finally came back to the nest at 8:00. Ares had a long late session and was ready to cede the eggs to Astrid. He flew out into the darkening canyon as Astrid settled on the eggs for the night. Goodnight falcons.