It’s amazing how often our falcons do something right smack on the hour. One begins to suspect they carry pocket watches. The first change-over took place at 6:00 AM. Ares screeched as he approached the box, announcing himself as he usually does. He brought no food tribute. After leaving she flew in circles in front of the west face of the State Building – this was almost precisely the same thing she did the previous morning. She was likely checking the window ledges for stored prey. At 6:30, we didn’t see her with our cameras, but we believe she was perched somewhere near the box. She must have called, because Ares gave what sounded like response vocalizations and then he abruptly leaped off of the eggs and darted though the canyon. He was heading north. Before two minutes were up, Astrid returned to the box and resumed incubating the eggs. At 8:00, Ares was back with prey. She grabbed it and flew off with it while he took over nest duties. At 8:30 she was back. Her full crop indicated that she had eaten; however, for some reason she just stayed out on the box’s perch and didn’t ask Ares to switch for a while. That was unusual. These days they don’t normally both stay at the box together for more than a minute. The rest of the morning through early afternoon featured several more typical changeovers. The last one took place at 2:40. That time Astrid took over and remained there for the rest of the day and evening. Ares spent some time on the State Building, but after that we weren’t sure where he ended up. We suspected that since the weather had cleared up some (it had been gently raining) he may have gone hunting. Sure enough, that’s what he had been up too. At 5:30 PM he was seen on the hotel ledge plucking prey and then devouring a good share of it. He flew away with the leftovers, but didn’t bring it to Astrid. We suspect that he stored it and will give it to her in the morning. Or perhaps she will pull it out of the pantry herself. We shall see.
