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The overnight was cool and dry with Temperatures dropping into the low forties. As has been the case lately, weather fortunes turn around after daybreak and the mercury rebounded into the 70’s by noon, surpassing 80 degrees by midafternoon. Astrid was on the nest all night long – mostly brooding. Ares brought prey at 1:53 AM, but she refused to take it. He was back an hour later, but she refused again. However, third time was the charm, and at 4:08 when he was back, she accepted his contribution and went on to feed the nestlings. It looked like it was only a small item when Ares brought it, but she fed it out for about ten minutes. At 4:28 we noticed that Ares was on the west veranda as he had been for part of the night before. He was gone an hour later. At 5:40 Ares brought more food, this time bringing it right into the nestbox. Astrid took it and tried to conduct a second feeding, the problem being the chicks were not interested in feeding. It was quite soon after their last meal. Astrid then took the food out and stored it on the State Building. Ares came into the nest to babysit, and Astrid took a high perch on the State Building. Only a couple of minutes later she flew to the box and took over brooding from Ares.

At 4:00 PM Ares came to the box with a small prey item. He then came into the nest to shade while Astrid fed it out. Of course, the chicks begged to Ares, while Astrid tried to get their attention. The feeding was over after only three minutes and then Astrid went into shading mode right alongside Ares. At 4:20 we noticed that they had split the clutch. Ares was shading the eggs, and Astrid, the chicks. That may have been unprecedented behavior. At 4:22 Astrid left the whole clutch to Ares and flew out into the canyon. At 4:46 She returned and tried to take over shading the two chicks and the two eggs, but Ares was an immovable object. She gave tututututu calls and other impatient scolding-type vocalizations, but Ares held firm. Finally, at 4:50 she went beneath her mate and scooped the clutch up with her wing and moved them beneath her. That was crafty! Ares didn’t stay long after that. After Ares left Astrid spent the next couple of hours looking very stressed and frequently jostling and shuffling the nestlings. The temperature was in the mid-80’s and the sun flooded the box. At 6:00 PM we saw that Ares was on the east lookout post on the roof of the State Building. Most likely he was in hunting mode. Ten minutes later he was gone.  At 6:45 Ares screeched to the box. From the crossperch he negotiated with Astrid to let him take over. After a couple of minutes, she agreed and left the box. Ares then took over shading, but the chicks didn’t make it easy. Initially, they were about 5 inches apart and Ares had a hard time hitting both the chicks and the eggs with his shadow. Astrid was back to the box at 7:04 PM and she immediately tried to take over. Ares resisted for a minute and then he left. Later, he was on the State Building. Astrid seemed to be in the nest for the night. Goodnight all.

Astrid left the box at around 8:33 AM and Ares came in to watch over the clutch. About ten minutes later Astrid arrived with food and she stated a feeding. Ares flew out into the canyon. At just before 9:00 AM the feeding was over, and Astrid went back to brooding. At 11:45 Ares brought some scraps of food to the box. Astrid took it and fed it out. At 11:55 Astrid left the box. Ares flew over from the steeple and took over chick-sitting for a while. They switched at 12:18 PM and then Astrid was back in the chick- saddle. At 1:06 Astrid suddenly got off her clutch and left the nest. Ares came in to take over only a minute later. At 1:45 PM he was giving squeaking calls which meant he must have seen Astrid in the canyon somewhere. Seven minutes later she came in and landed on the State Building. The pair switched again at 2:00 PM. We noticed that he was on the steeple 45 minutes later. At 3:20 he was up.

Little Falls Falcons Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nClyyr2t9fg

The overnight was chilly with temperatures in the low forties. After daybreak temperatures rose fairly quickly and it was in the mid-sixties by early afternoon. Astrid off and on her clutch last evening until around 9:00 PM when she finally settled. It was warm enough to be off of them a while. Ares came to the box with food at a few minutes before 2:00 AM. Astrid took the food and did a feeding. He was back with more at 3:10 and Astrid fed out that meal as well. We noticed that Ares was on the west veranda at 3:23. He was wide awake and preening. By 5:00 he seemed to be snoozing, but then an hour later he was gone. The next feeding took place at 7:38. Ares brought food to the nest, actually bringing inside. Astrid scrambled to take it and then started doing a feeding. He bought another small food item at 8:07 – this one he also delivered inside the box. Astrid took it and fed it out to the chicks. Ares was on the steeple perch at 8:15. At 9:39 Ares delivered yet another meal inside the nestbox – making it easy and less hazardous for Astrid to take it, instead of scrambling over the tightrope crossperch. At 10:00 Ares screeched to the box with more prey. She declined it and he flew off to store it. At 10:25 he landed on the steeple. Astrid called out when he landed. He started giving some long calls and then flew to his favorite pillar top.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjJevA-RkV0

At 11:05 AM both adults were giving cackle-type alarm calls but neither left their places. She remained at the nest, and he stayed on his pillar. Evidently, they were only warning some migrant raptor off. At 11:29 Ares brought prey to the box and, just like the previous three times, he hopped inside the box to present it to his mate. She grabbed it and commenced feeding the chicks. At 11:37 she was done with the feeding and left the box. Ares came right in without missing a beat. He brooded the clutch for a couple of minutes and then Astrid was back in, and he was out. At 12:10 PM Astrid was trying to bring up a pellet while brooding the clutch. Ten minutes later we heard Ares giving alarm chirping calls from somewhere in the canyon. Astrid hopped off the nest and scrambled into flight. She flew in a circle around the State Building, gaining height, and then dove off towards the west shooting like an arrow. Ares then came to the nest box to be with the chicks. He made some squeaking calls when Astrid landed on a high ledge on the State Building moments later. At 12:37 she came back to the box and took over brooding from him. He went to the steeple. At 1:00 he started giving long calls and then he flew. At 1:39 Astrid got up from brooding, left the nest, and left the chicks alone. It was nearly 70 degrees by that point. She went to the State Building but then was back to the box and brooding only five minutes later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQb-NpCkzp8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rty8QJCjCcM

At 2:30 PM Ares was back on the steeple and giving some long calls. They switched at sometime before 2:44 and Ares was in the box. She came in and took over at 3:08. At 4:06 we heard cackle-type alarm calls from Ares. We don’t know what triggered him. At 4:19 Ares came into the box. Astrid was shading at the time and seemed to have no intention of leaving the nest. They did some talking and then Astrid agreed to leave. She was then back about a minute later with food – undoubtable something from one of Ares’ pantry ledges. She then proceeded to feed the chicks with Ares remaining inside to provide the shade. This new behavior they developed only this week is something they are really taken with. At 4:35 after the meal was over Astrid began shading too – so the pair were both being Peregrine parasols. At 5:10 he had left the box. At a minute before 6:00 Ares brought a small prey item to the nest. Astrid took it from him on the crossperch and then began doling out the food. He came inside the box for a minute, but it was awkward this time and so he left. At 6:47 PM Ares came to the box and requested a turn shading the chicks. After about a minute of refusing to leave, she unceremoniously got up and flew out. By this point the chicks had gotten separated from each other – by about eight inches. Ares didn’t seem sure of what to do. He partially opened his wings and shaded an area just short of where the chicks were. At 7:06 Astrid flew back to the nest and took over shading duties. Ares went over to the State Building. At 7:40 Ares flew to the box with a small hunk or food. Astrid accepted it on the crossperch and then fed the chicks their supper. After the meal was done, she spent a little time out on the crossperch and then she flew out into the canyon. After a couple of minutes Ares screeched over to the nest to babysit. Astrid returned to take over at 8:30 PM. Goodnight all.

Little Falls Falcon Update:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KzYe0Mlp5w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnpGza7kz_A

The overnight was quite chilly with temps getting down close to the freezing point. After dawn things improved rapidly with the temp rising into the mid-sixties by late morning. By midafternoon it was in the mid-70’s. Once more it was windy, and the skies were mostly cloudless. Astrid was on the nest all night as expected. At 2:57 AM Ares came to the box with food. Astrid took it and conducted the first feeding of the day. The feeding went on for about ten minutes. At 5:00 Ares was back with a small prey item. He tightrope walked across the crossperch with it and then hopped into the box. Astrid didn’t have to scramble to get it this time which was nice. About eight minutes later she had finished the feeding. She left to store the leftovers and came right back to resume brooding. At 5:36 Ares flew over to his pillar perch. She called out during his transit. At 7:53 Ares came to the long perch but then was immediately up again. At 8:12 he was on the west veranda perch. Astrid got off the eggs and went to the lip of the box where she could see Ares. She squawked at him and then went back to her clutch. At 9:00 Ares brought food to the box. She took it and started a feeding. By 9:10 she was finished serving out the meal and went back to brooding. At 10:43 the falcons switched and then Ares had a turn with the chicks. At the start he just stood next to the clutch but, after a little while, he started kind-of brooding them. It was around 64 degrees and they didn’t really need to be brooded so much. At that point Astrid buzzed by the box and then flew to the State Building. We figured that she was checking on the box and seeing how her mate was managing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CN3oM8r22c

At 10:48 Astrid came to the nest and Ares was out. She didn’t have to tell him to leave; her intensity alone told him that he had best cede the nest and go while the getting was good. At 12:09 PM Astrid came off the nest and hopped onto the crossperch and from there, flew into the canyon.  Ares arrived seconds later, screeching into the box, and coming in close to brood. The chicks started begging to him, but he didn’t have anything for them. Three minutes later Astrid came into the box with food. Ares was out and she began a feeding. He spent time on the steeple for the next hour or so, making one foray out at one point. Astrid left the box at around 1:25. She went to the State Building, and he came in to babysit. At 1:33 he started giving chirping-type alarm calls. He dove out of the box and went after something. A couple of minutes later Astrid came in and resumed brooding. At 2:10 both adults were again out of the nest. We weren’t sure what was happening. If the intruder that Ares chased away earlier was back or if was something different. A minute later we noticed that Ares was on the steeple, so he wasn’t dealing with the problem. He then flew over to the box to babysit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWMD9sFobro

At 2:18 PM Astrid was back from her adventure and had taken a perch on the State Building. She took over from Ares at 2:30. At 3:16 we noticed that Astrid was shading the clutch. It had gotten quite warm by this point and the sun was flooding into the box. At 2:24 Ares brought prey to the nest. Astrid took it from him and started a feeding. Five minutes later we heard Ares giving cackle-type alarm calls from somewhere in the canyon. Astrid didn’t seem to get upset. At the time she was busy alternating between shading and brooding. At 4:40 Ares came to the box and asked to take over shading duties. A few minutes later she let him. At 5:10 she was back with food. And then, just like the previous day, Astrid proceeded with a feeding while Ares remained in the box casting shade on the chicks. He did it through the entire meal and continued even after Astrid had finished and left the nest. It was an amazing example of cooperation (yet another example) between these two birds. We need to verify this with our records, but we couldn’t recall them doing this in previous years. At 5:39 Astrid returned to the box and this time tried to take over on the clutch. Ares was still shading and seemed to want to continue. She started brooding and eventually he got the hint and left. After he was gone, she switched to shading and continued with that until after 7:00 PM. Ares was up and down from the State Building during that time and perhaps making hunting forays. He came to the crossperch at 6:54. She let him take over the clutch a few minutes later. He then stayed in the box shading until Astrid was back at 7:16 PM. The falcons appeared to be done for the night. Goodnight all.

Here are some videos from the Little Falls falcon nest:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ6xSt-Tbw8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvqqAMQ7XIo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dddfKSixjuA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdSMw7XGpPc

The overnight was cold with temperatures down to the freezing point. By daybreak it had become moderately windy. Mostly clear skies prevailed for much of the day and by early afternoon the temperature was 65 degrees. Astrid was on the clutch all night. Ares came to the nest with food at 3:26 AM. Astrid accepted it on the crossperch while doing her usual balancing act, and then she conducted a feeding. By 5:00 Ares was visible on the State Building. Astrid was doing a lot of clutch jostling which led us to think that perhaps we would have another hatch sometimes soon. At 5:22 Astrid got up off the nest, stretched and flew off into the canyon. She returned a minute later with a hunk of leftovers. She then began the second feeding of the day. At 5:34 she was out again with the leftovers. Once she was gone, we were able to view the eggs without obstruction and we could see no obvious pips. At 5:35 Ares screeched to the nest, but she came in seconds later and he was out again. While no parent was in the nest, we thought we were hearing the muffled call of a chick inside one of the remaining eggs. Still, we had no confirmed pip. The calls could have come from one of the nestlings. At five minutes before six PM, Ares was back on the State Building. At 7:02 he brought prey to the nest. Astrid took it and started a feeding. The feeding was over in ten minutes. During the meal we thought there may be a small pip on one egg, but we couldn’t be sure. At 7:49 Astrid was jostling her clutch again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVS00PZAEpU

At 9:08 AM Ares was on the steeple giving long calls. He was up at 9:34. A couple of minutes later Ares brought food to the crossperch. Astrid took it and did a feeding. Again, we thought we could hear the muffled call of a chick inside an egg, but it wasn’t a sure thing. At 9:43 the chicks were toppled over and satiated, and Astrid helped herself to the leftovers. When she was done, she went back to brooding. Ares was on the west veranda at that point. At 10:22 Astrid was doing more egg jostling. She was also vocalizing. Was she talking to the unhatched eggs? At 10:42 Ares came to the box and asked for a turn on the clutch. He was denied and he hopped over to the west veranda. At 11:01 he flew off giving a cackle alarm call. At 11:14 she started cackling. He was on an east ledge at the time and neither of them scrambled in pursuit. It was likely only a passing vulture or raptor and no threat to home or hearth. At 11:47 Ares came into the box and tried to get a turn with the clutch. He wasn’t very pushy, but he walked around behind her, encouraging her to leave but not stepping on her. When that didn’t work, he came around in front of her and had a face-to-face moment. She made it clear that she wasn’t going anywhere, and he vacated to the west veranda. At 11:55 both falcons were cackling, but again, did not launch after whatever stray migrant was passing through.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8i6GxvW0UI

At 12:27 Ares was giving long calls. He flew out, boomeranged back, and landed on the east veranda. Both were calling – we think in reaction to some very loud sirens from passing emergency vehicles. Five minutes later Ares screeched to his pillar perch. At 1:12 we heard him giving more long calls from somewhere. He screeched to the east veranda ten minutes later. At 1:29 he brought prey to the crossperch. Astrid took it and began a feeding session. At 1:35 the chicks had had enough, and Astrid had a portion. She then flew out with the leftovers – presumably to store them. Ares came in to babysit, but she was back only a minute later and took over on the nest. At 3:00 he was back to the box and asking for a turn. She had been shading the chicks from the increasingly intense sunshine flooding into the box. This time she seemed happy to cede the clutch to him. Once she was out, Ares just stood alongside the clutch. He may have thought he was throwing shade on them – he wasn’t. At 3:22 Astrid returned with a small hunk of leftovers – it looked to be a wing with something attached. Once she was done plucking it, she saw that there was nothing left to feed out. The chicks didn’t seem interested anyhow. Ares had left and she settled down to half shade and half brood. By 3:25 her job had become only shading.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCOfNRp1tHs

At around 4:40 PM the pair switched – Astrid left, and Ares came into the box. He started shading right away this time. Ten minutes later Astrid was back. When she saw that he wanted to stay, she left again but was back in less than a minute with food. We expected that Ares would leave once Astrid came in and started doing a feeding. That was not the case; he stayed where he was and continued shading. As it happened, he shaded during the entire meal. Interestingly, and oddly, at the start of the meal it looked like Astrid was trying to feed Ares too! Regardless, as far as we know, one falcon shading while the other fed the chicks was new behavior for our pair. When the meal was done at 5:00, She flew out with the leftovers, and he stayed on being a falcon parasol. Five minutes later, when he was just switching over from shading to brooding, Astrid came in and started brooding. This time Ares took the hint and left the nest. Astrid soon switched to shading. With her wings partly open, her bill agape, and panting, she was looking pretty stressed, buts that’s just how Peregrines deal with the heat. We’re sure it looks worse than it is. At 5:52 Ares moved from the State Building to the west veranda – screeching in for a landing. He hopped over to the long perch at 6:27, this time long-calling as he arrived. Two minutes later he came into the box and took over from Astrid. Moments after that he was shading. At 6:45 they did a quick switch and then it was her turn to brood the clutch. At 7:12 Ares screeched to the east veranda. The action for the day seemed to be over at this point, but there are never any certainties in falcontown. Speaking of which, will there be any more eggs hatching? We don’t know, but we decided that neither of the remaining eggs are pipped – only stained. Goodnight falcons.

Little Falls Falcon Update:

Feedings continue for the growing nestlings at the Little Falls nest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_tcM-u1NdQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNzwH2l5xUs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRjOyshdnnM

The overnight was cold with temperatures only in the high thirties. The wind kicked up by morning and the temperature slowly rose to near 60 degrees by noon. As it happened that would be the day’s high. Astrid was on the clutch (eggs and chick) util Ares came to the nest with a small prey item at 2:21 AM. She took it and conducted the first feeding of the new chick. It was difficult to see in the video stream due to the hour, but we could just make out the little nestling accepting tiny bits of food torn off and gently offered by Astrid. At 2:28 the feeding was over, and Astrid got back onto the clutch. Ares was barely visible on a high ledge on the State Building. During the feeding we could hear the begging calls of a second chick – from inside a pipped egg. At 5:18 Ares came to the nest and relieved Astrid. As Astrid got up to leave it was clear that the second chick had hatched. It was white and dry already, so the hatch must have happened about an hour earlier. Ares really only had time to look at the two chicks; Astrid was back a only a minute after leaving and she immediately got back on top of the clutch. At 5:18 Astrid was eating some of the eggshell that surrounded the nest scrape. Ares brought another small food item at 5:48. This time Astrid wouldn’t come out to accept it and Ares soon left with it.  At 6:10 Astrid was jostling her clutch and vocalizing. We wondered if the calls were an appeal for Ares to return with the food her brought earlier. At 6:40 we saw that Ares was on the State Building. He was up a half-hour later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6flTfmGPiQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3fsE1_f2ew&t=15s

At 8:38 AM The pair switched, and Ares had a turn with the chicks and eggs. Ares chomped on some eggshell pieces as the chicks begged at him for food. He had just started getting around to brooding when Astrid returned. She got right onto the eggs and Ares quickly vacated the premises. At 8:50 Ares was back with another meal in tow.  Astrid accepted the food and fed both chicks for almost eight minutes. Both appeared to be vying well and it was difficult if not impossible to tell which one hatched in the morning and which the night before. At 10:54 Ares was on the west veranda perch. At 11:30 he flew to the nestbox, and she left. Instead of getting right onto the clutch he started doing some housework around the place – digging in the corner and puttering. He then approached the clutch and pulled one egg towards him. It seemed like he was going to start incubating the one egg but then Astrid came back into the box, and he was out again. At 11:56 Ares brought more food to the nest. Astrid took it and began a feeding. She fed them until a couple of minutes after 12:00 PM and then she took out the leftovers – presumably to store them. The eggs and chicks were alone for only two minutes and then she was back in the nest and brooding again. At 1:12 we noticed that Ares was on his pillar perch. It’s possible he gave a cackle warning call – we weren’t sure. She called out in response. Maybe a non-falcon raptor was flying over the canyon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuMK115Insg

At 1:56 PM Ares landed on a window ledge to the east of the nestbox. At 2:40 Astrid was vocalizing loudly. Perhaps Ares did a flyby or visited the box briefly and that’s what brought on her excitement. At a few minutes before 3:00 Astrid was shuffling the eggs (and the chicks). She’s obviously trying to induce the remaining two eggs to begin the hatching process. At 4:37 Ares came into the box and Astrid left. Once inside, Ares seemed at a loss for what to do. The chicks were giving high pitched squealing calls and he was just looking at them from a half-foot away, not sure whether to try and brood them or not. At 4:41 Astrid blasted back into the nest and Ares was out again without ever having to deal with the kids. Traditionally, Ares seems to prefer sitting on eggs over brooding chicks. At 4:50 we heard him screeching from somewhere. He probably had prey and was processing it somewhere nearby. A minute later he came to the box with prey. Astrid grabbed it from him and conducted a feeding. Both chicks ate during the nine-minute feeding. When it was done Astrid flew out with the leftovers and probably stored them. He came into the box after she left, and he started trying to brood. Astrid then barged back in and sent Ares packing. He went up to his pillar perch. At 6:29 Ares came to the crossperch, and she immediately sent him out again. He ended up on the east veranda. At 7:04 Ares came to the nest and tried to oust Astrid. At first, she resisted going but then he went around behind her and pried her up. Surprisingly, she let him do it and she flew out. He then lingered about a foot away from the clutch. One of the chicks began giving begging calls while Ares produced some light squeak calls. Finally, he approached them and started trying to brood the egg and chick combo. He seemed to be doing well but then he became distracted by a hunk of eggshell behind him. He got off the brood and munched on the shell for a little bit. He then came back to brood, but just then Astrid returned, and he was out. We saw no pips on the last two eggs during any of the times they were visible. By 8:00 PM Astrid seemed to be settled for the night. She was on the clutch and Ares was out of view. As for the last two eggs, they may hatch at any time during the next few days. Certainly, we will keep observing the situation and will relay anything that occurs. Goodnight all.