Sunday night was another cold one – this is starting to get old! Astrid was on the nest all night. At 1:36 AM Ares came to the box with prey. Astrid accepted it and doled out a very early breakfast. Ares brought another meal to the box at 4:50. Astrid took it and did the feeding. She left the box at 5:42 and was back before a minute was up. Ares’ screech call was heard echoing in the canyon at 8:00. He came to the nest with prey shortly after that. Astrid relieved him of it and began a feeding. Following the meal Astrid polished off the leftovers. At 9 AM Astrid hopped up onto the crossperch of the box and had a long-distance conversation across the canyon. She flew and Ares came in to brood the chicks. As usual, when the nestlings are active, he doesn’t seem to know quite what to do. He doesn’t have any food to give them. If he did Astrid would’ve taken it. He needs to wait for them to settle down before he can brood them properly. Once again, there was no time for that. Astrid returned a minute after she left and took over on the nestlings. Ares brought more food to the nest at 9:41. Astrid handled the feeding.
At 11:34 Astrid stopped brooding the chicks and walked out onto the lip of the box. She seemed to be distracted by something. She hopped out on the crossperch and then, after a minute, she was back on the nest. She then left the box at 11:41. We weren’t sure why. Ares arrived moments later and tried to brood the chicks, but they wouldn’t settle down, so he went onto the crossperch. He gave a few long calls and then Astrid came back and got onto the nestlings. Less than five minutes later she was giving loud cackling vocalizations. We could not find what she was so upset about. Thankfully, she calmed down quickly. At 11:53 we located Ares on the ledge of the hotel. He was probably hunting from there. He flew at 12:14 PM and came to the box with food at 12:55. Astrid grabbed the food and did the feeding. Ares was back on the hotel at 1:20. He had prey and was either feeding on it or processing it. He brought it to the nest a minute later and handed it off to Astrid. She fed the chicks.
After his food drop, we didn’t see Ares for a few hours. Astrid seemed to be watching for him. A couple of times during the afternoon she left the nestlings and took a high perch on the State Building. Likely she was watching him or watching for him to return. At 5:18 PM Ares finally showed up in the canyon. He was on an upper ledge of the hotel plucking prey. Astrid was watching him from her perch on the State Building. When he left the hotel, she flew directly to the nest. There she called and anxiously awaited his arrival. When he came he landed on the east veranda’s perch. She lunged over there, but we didn’t see the exchange. She flew off with the food and he jumped into the box to watch the chicks. Within five minutes she was back and feeding the brood. Ares circled the canyon, flew by PTZ one before taking a perch on the State Building. He came to the box at 6:24 and asked to have a turn with the nestlings. Surprisingly, she granted it and then went over to the State building for a little while. She landed on the very same narrow ledge where he had been only minutes before. When she came back at 6:44, she had a chunk of food with her. Ares left while the feeding got underway. Astrid would be spending yet another seasonably cold mid-spring night tight on her nest. As for Ares, he was seen through the late evening on a high perch on the north face of the State Building – standing guard. Goodnight Peregrines.
