This morning the first changing of the guard happened at 5:43 AM. At that time Ares relieved Astrid but brought her no food tribute. Lately it has been like a treasure hunt for Astrid; when she leaves the box she flies around the state building looking at all the ledges where Ares may have stored prey. At least that’s what we think she’s doing. There’s always room for interpretation when considering motivations for wildlife behavior. As a rule the changeovers were very quick today and the eggs were seldom unattended for more than a few seconds. At 11:40, Ares was seen sunning himself on the ledge of the hotel, but not for long. By 11:51 he was taking over incubation duties at the nest box. After that it was Astrid’s time to fly and she really took advantage of the opportunity. She soared in high circles around the canyon, drifting south until Deb couldn’t see her anymore out the window and I couldn’t see her with the PTZ camera. It was quite warm today and so throughout the afternoon the falcons needed to shade the eggs nearly as much as they incubated. During Astrid’s turn in the box in the late afternoon, Ares did almost exactly the same thing she had done earlier. He circled high and tacked to the south until he disappeared from view. We figured that he was in hunting mode. They switched again at 5:37, and then it was Astrid’s turn to go hunting. Evidently she was successful because she came back with a very full crop. The final changing of the guard took place at 7:45 PM. Astrid was on the eggs for the night shift and Ares went off to wherever it is he goes off to. That’s still a mystery we have yet to solve.
