Update for Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Astrid and Ares continue to be night owls. Ares brought back a Woodcock at 1:44 AM. Astrid had no interest in it and didn’t even bother to come off the eggs. However, when he returned with the same prey at 2:07 AM, she took it from him and flew off into the canyon. Later on, we noticed that she didn’t have a full crop, so I think there’s a fair likelihood she stowed it someplace or disposed of it. That way she wouldn’t have it gifted to her a third time. During the day, there were many switches at the nestbox – one taking over for the other. For the most part, they were smooth transitions. They are not engaging in continuous incubation yet. Especially when Ares is on duty, he doesn’t brood for more than a minute before going out onto the crossperch and looking to see what Astrid is doing. We expect continuous incubation to begin soon – perhaps tomorrow. We also expect the third egg to be laid tomorrow evening, that is if Astrid reverts to her traditional 60 hour interval between eggs. We shall see.
