The overnight was warm and mild. In the morning we experienced a considerable warmup with the temperature rising close to 80 degrees by noon. Cloud cover increased by midday and rainstorms were threatening. Rain and wind came in the midafternoon and afterwards a significant temperature drop occurred. Astrid spent most of the night on the outer perches around the nest area. At 2:38 AM Ares brought prey to the east veranda. Astrid took it and started a feeding. After the meal was over, she hopped out onto the crossperch. She flew out into the canyon at 5:16 and Ares came into the box to chick-sit. Astrid returned moments later and took her place on the crossperch. At 5:33 Ares came back to the nestbox and hopped inside. While his back was turned, one of the chicks bit his tail. He didn’t seem to notice. Astrid came in and the two switched – he was out and she was in. At 7:12 both chicks were sleeping, Astrid had moved over to the west veranda and Ares was on the State Building. When Ares came to the east veranda two minutes later, the nestlings were awake and squealing. At 7:40 Ares was on one of the light poles mounted on the roof of the Adirondack Bank. He seems to like those perches just lately. At 8:00 Astrid was on the long perch. A few minutes later she was cackling about something and then she scrambled into pursuit of something. At 9:06 she was back to the long perch. The chicks started calling when she landed. She then moved over to the west veranda where they couldn’t see her. Ten minutes later she was doing a feeding. We weren’t sure if she had brought the meal in or if Ares did. At 9:34 Ares arrived at the nest for a standard chick-check. At 10:07 Astrid was in the box and engaged in another feeding. It seemed to end abruptly and then she was out.
At 11:49 AM Ares brought a Goldfinch to the nest. Astrid dashed over to him and grabbed it like it was made of actual gold. The two chicks were on opposite sides of the box at that time. First, she fed one a few bites and then changed sides and gave the other one what remained. Ares was on the east veranda giving long calls near the beginning of the meal. We weren’t sure what that was about. The feeding was over at 11:54 and Astrid moved to the crossperch. By 12:10 PM both parents were out of camera view. At 12:19 Ares brought more prey – this time to the east veranda. Astrid scrambled over in fast motion to get it. She then flew away with it before returning to the box and conducting another feeding. This time she was able to feed both chicks in the same corner. At 12:25 Astrid went out onto the crossperch and began cackle-calling. She obviously saw something that upset her. After that, both parents took flight. Ares went to his new light pole perch on the bank roof. She stopped at the long perch a few minutes later, but she wasn’t looking happy and she soon darted off again. At 12:36 Ares came into the box to do a chick-check. At 2:12 Astrid was engaged in feeding out something at the nest. We think it was something that Ares had brought in. Ten minutes later she was done with the feeding and gone from the box. At 2:30 both parents had assumed guarding positions on the perches around the box. At 3:38 they were giving cackle alarm calls again. Obviously non-falcon intruders were active in the canyon on this day. By this point a thunderstorm was poised to hit the downtown area and yet the parents were nowhere to be seen. At 3:56 Astrid came into the box just as the rain was starting to come down. It soon became very windy, and sheets of rain blew sideways through the canyon. Some loud claps of thunder were also making the whole area tremble. The chicks remained spread out in the box and Astrid didn’t seem concerned about rounding them up and putting them beneath her. Instead, she went into one of the corners herself – facing in. By 4:28 the storm had passed, and all was returning to normal. It was still very windy.
Ares came into the box to do a chick-check at 4:51 PM. He stayed with youngsters for about fifteen minutes and then left. At 5:10 Astrid plunked down on the roof of the nestbox. Soon after that she was up again. She then returned with prey form Ares’ pantry and she conducted a feeding. At 5:20 one of the chicks walked away while the feeding was still going on. It soon changed its mind and went back to take advantage of the offered meal. By 5:34 Astrid and Ares were on adjacent ledges on the State Building. Ares left at 6:52 and stopped to check on the chicks. His visit made the chicks squeal. The temperature had dropped since the highs of the early afternoon. In late afternoon/early evening it had gotten down to 63 degrees. Ares was up and then he screeched back to check on the chicks a half hour later. At 8:23 PM Astrid finally showed up on the long perch. The wind was buffeting her as she clung on. Instead of going in with the nestlings she opted to tuck in on the west veranda. Perhaps she was anticipating Monday morning and people returning to offices and she wanted to be there on guard. Goodnight all.