There were no feedings in the overnight hours. There was also no adult seen guarding or visiting the nest box during that time. At 4:54 AM, food was brought to the box and a feeding took place. At around 5:30, we noticed that A &A had both landed on windowsills on the State Building and stayed perched there for some time. This is interesting since they normally avoid the windowsills in favor of the much more narrow perches above the same building’s window frames. When they are on the actual windowsills they run the risk of being startled by people in offices. Of course, no one is usually in the offices at 5:30 in the morning, and that may have played into their calculations. We have noticed in past years that as fledging time approaches, the adults will land in atypical places. We think they do this in order to demonstrate to keen-eyed youngsters that there are some easier places to land. For fledglings, flying isn’t nearly as difficult an activity as landing. Landing on a wide window sill is an advisable thing for beginners attempt. At 7:04 AM, more food came in and another raucous feeding was underway. At one point, Spirit stole a piece and brought it into a corner while Zander nipped at Astrid’s tail (this is getting to be a reoccurring thing!) Max and Luna settled in and let Astrid give them a good feed.
Today a group of fledge watchers hiked the canal trail to the Utica Marsh with the aim of seeing either Astrid or Ares hunting. We never did see them. We saw a lot of other raptors and quite a few vultures. Highlights included two adult Bald Eagles, three Osprey and at least one Red-tailed Hawk. A falcon flew over us at one point and we thought for a minute it was Ares. Luckily it stopped to perch on a distant power-line. We put the scope on it we saw that it was an American Kestrel. Well, we had the falcon part right anyway! Lots of songbirds were heard and seen between the river and the canal all the way to the marsh. There is certainly no shortage of prey species for the falcons in that area. Just before noon, we spotted Astrid on the hotel ledge. Her wings were spread out at her side and she was in a squatting position. She was obviously sunning herself. A few minutes later Ares screeched up to the nest box with most of a morning Dove. Astrid abruptly abandoned her sunbathing and flew over to the box. She took the prey from Ares and conducted a pretty well-disciplined feeding. This time all for nestlings were vying together in one group and were well behaved, at least at the beginning. As the feeding went into overtime it kind of devolved into the usual anarchy.
The appearance of the nestlings continues to evolve as flight feathers, body contour feathers and now even spotted chest feathers are growing in. There is more and more wing exercise happening in the box now. So far the youngsters seem to be taking turns, which is good because if all four tried to do it at the same time it wouldn’t work. The nestlings spent much of the afternoon sprawled out in the shady corners of the nest box. This was their first hot afternoon experience in sometime. By 5:00, they started getting restless and very vocal. Astrid was nearby, but Ares was nowhere to be seen. At 6:00 PM, he finally came to the box with food. Astrid arrived and took it, but as soon as she came into the box the famished chicks rushed at her – all four screaming like barnyard pigs. Spirit grabbed the food away from Astrid and took it to the corner. The three other chicks took turns trying to rip pieces off the carcass. Yes, they were feeding themselves. Instead of grabbing the food back and doing a feeding, Astrid just left the stage and allowed them to sort it out themselves. They did manage it, if clumsily. Self-feeding in this manner constitutes another milestone in their development.
Our on site falcon watch began at 6:30 PM, and our guests didn’t have to wait long before the action began. At 7:02 Astrid came back with most of a pigeon and conducted a long and fairly orderly feeding session. At 7:20 Ares brought in a hunk of some unidentifiable prey and Astrid served it to the young. As it got darker, I could still make out the forms of Astrid and Ares on their respective perches – her on the steeple and him on the State Building. It’s hard to believe, but we are getting very close to the beginning of Fledge Watch. Please consider volunteering to help us out this season. With four nestlings, we will need all hands on deck!
