The overnight was warm again with temperatures in the mid 60’s. After sunup the temp was in the 70’s, That held until later in the morning when a thunderstorm passed through and cooled things down. Astrid was on the long perch at the box for most of the night and there were no nocturnal feedings for the first time in a while. The chicks did a lot of moving about during the night, but not usually at the same time – one would be active for a while and then the other. Astrid left the perch just before 5:00 AM. At that same time, we noticed that Ares was on the lookout post on the roof of the State Building. Most probably he was hunting and not on watch for intruders. At 5:21 Astrid came to the west veranda and Ares landed on a west ledge. We initially thought he had prey, but his talons were empty. At 5:35 Ares came to the crossperch. Astrid arrived too – assuming that he had food, but she was disappointed. The chicks were roused by the arrival of their parents, but there was no breakfast for them yet. Astrid then dove after something – probably a local Pigeon. Ares went back up to the lookout post to continue his hunt. At 5:45 the male nestling was having some fun flapping his wings and playing with one of the eggs. At 5:51 he backed up to and onto the lip of the box to defecate. They have that behavior down now. A few minutes later Astrid was on the hotel. She too was in hunting mode. At 6:10 both chicks were squealing and looking into the canyon like they saw something interesting. Most likely they saw Ares hunting. Astrid came right back to the box to see what was up. A few minutes later Ares arrived on the east veranda with prey. Astrid took it, flew into the canyon, and came back into the box to do a feeding. As soon as she entered the nest one of the chicks snatched the prey from her and took it to the corner. Astrid seemed momentarily unsure about what to do and she retreated onto the crossperch. She then garnered some resolve; she pushed her way into the corner and recovered the meal. She then proceeded to feed the chicks. Both were more than eager to feed. By 6:31 the meal was over, and Astrid was out. Meanwhile, Ares was on the hotel processing prey. He brought it to the east veranda and Astrid took it from him. She then served it to the nestlings.
At 7:42 AM Astrid was up on the box roof staring menacingly at the office window blind. Perhaps someone was in there plotting to take Astrid’s chicks and put leg bands on them. Relax, Astrid, that’s not happening. At 8:48 Ares brought another prey item to the nest area (we think the west veranda). Astrid took it and handled the feeding. The meal was done by 9:04. Less than five minutes after that, Ares was back to the nest with another meal. This time Astrid wasn’t coming over and so he thought he would try to do the feeding himself. He gave squeaking calls; he ripped off little pieces of food; he tried to get the chicks interested in what he had for them, but it wasn’t working. They were full and he didn’t have Astrid’s magic touch. At 9:11 he gave up. He took the food out and probably stored it. At 9:25 Astrid was back on the roof of the nestbox. Both parents were on the crossperch at 10:05 – about the time that the rain began falling. As the rain devolved into a thunderstorm, both parents stayed to guard the box – Astrid on the box roof and Ares on the box lip. They remained in place for the next few hours. For the most part the nestlings were calm through the storm. At 1:41 Ares brought prey to the east veranda. Astrid grabbed it and flew into the box to do a feeding. When she came in the female chick tried to take the whole thing, but Astrid clung onto it. She then proceeded to serve it out to both nestlings. At 2:07 PM Astrid was on a steeple perch and Ares was on a window ledge east of the nestbox. Rain and thunder continued intermittently through the afternoon and into the evening. The temperatures dropped into the mid 60’s. At 3:02 Astrid took up her guard position on the roof of the box and Ares assumed his guard post on the lip of the box. At 4:18 Astrid was up, and Ares had moved onto the long perch. At 4:50 he was on the steeple and Astrid was on the box roof. At 6:30 the chicks were getting a little cagey and no doubt a little hungry. They were moving around more and squealing more often. With a new round of rain and thunder, Astrid was stationed on the box roof again and Ares was on his pillar perch. By the end of the day the chicks were looking a bit different. More dark feathers were beginning to protrude from the white down covering their bodies. Their dark wing and tail feathers are also continuing to grow out. No doubt on Thursday they will have a more salt & pepper look about them. By 7:10 the chicks were doing more wing flapping and more squealing. They were asking to be fed. Ares was on the south facing steeple perch at that time and didn’t seem to be actively hunting. At 7:39 Ares brought prey to the nest. Astrid took it and conducted a very raucous feeding session. Goodnight all.
