Astrid spent the entire night on the eggs. The day was cold, windy, and rainy with a few snow flurries. Temps bottomed out around the freezing point and wind speeds increased as the day progressed. At 4 AM Astrid began calling from the box. It sounded like she wanted to be relieved early. Instead of waiting for him to get to the box, she just flew out. Ares came in less than a minute later and got onto the eggs. She was seen feeding on something on the hotel at 4:15 – at least it looked like that’s what she was doing – it was pretty dark over there. Five minutes later she was on the State Building. Ares chirped when she arrived and then again when she flew off and returned to nearly the same spot. They switched again at around 5:30 and then Astrid was on the nest.
At 6:10 Astrid was vocalizing a lot. We didn’t know if she was calling for Ares to take over (so soon after the last switch) or if she was upset about something. At 6:32 he came to the box and was asking to take over on the eggs. She gave animated vocalizations and sent him away. At the time we thought she was only ordering breakfast, but not long after that we saw workmen on the roof of the bank building. They were working on the light fixtures that run all across the edge of the entire roof. We worried this wouldn’t go over well with Astrid and that it would serve to take her off the nest, which could have been a threat to the developing eggs giving the cold temps. But, fortunately, she stayed put, even when the men were working on the part of the roof right above the box. Astrid of a few years ago would not have put up with that. That Astrid would have been swooping at the intruders and giving cackle alarm calls. Ares was out of view at this time but came to the box at 8:12 and the two did a normal switch (Ares muscled her off the eggs a bit), despite the workmen above them. Astrid was monitoring the situation from a high perch on the State Building for a while but left at around 9:15. She was on the steeple for a bit and then moved back to the State Building. It was clear she was staying close to the nest area.
Astrid flew to the box at 11:10 and the pair switched. The workmen on the roof had left for a while but returned right after Astrid arrived. She cocked her head as she heard their voices. Ares was out of view of the cameras for a while but arrived on the State Building at 1:28 PM. The next switch took place at 2:49. Ares took over on the eggs and Astrid flew to a ledge on the State Building. She was still monitoring the work on the roof but not getting overly distraught. The work on the bank roof ended by 3:45 ish (thankfully). At 5:06 Astrid landed on the long perch. The wind was very strong and buffeted her. She was moving her tail up and down in a manner not unlike that of a Kestrel. She hopped into the box and asked to take over on the eggs, but Ares didn’t want to leave. She quickly walked around him, stepping on his tail as she moved along his right flank. She then beaked with him and made impatient short “cluck” calls. He got up pretty quick and relinquished the nest to her. We did not see where he flew to, but it looked like Astrid was in for the night.
