Thursday, May 14 – Warmer Days Have Finally Arrived & The Chicks Become Ambulatory in the Nest

Astrid spent another chilly night brooding her two chicks on the nest. Ares brought a small prey item to the box at 3:39 AM. Astrid scrambled out to grab it. She took it into the box and prepared to feed it out to the nestlings. She tore at it for a moment and then made the realization that there was nothing to it. It was all feathers. She left the box after that and returned 8 minutes later. A real feeding took place at 8:20. Ares brought more prey to the box at 9:10. Astrid took it and did the feeding. At 9:50 Ares came into the box and asked for a turn with the chicks. Astrid consented but she wasn’t gone for long and was back brooding by 10. She was out of the box again at 11:15 and Ares came in to babysit. It was warm by this point in the morning (60 degrees) and so Ares was doing his shift on the crossperch and not in the nest. Ten minutes later he was up, and the nestlings were home alone for a while. Astrid came to the long perch at 11:50 and was in the box brooding the chicks by 12:06. A minute later she gave her trademark donkey calls and flew excitedly into the canyon. She saw Ares fly through with prey and (apparently) she wasn’t going to wait for him to deliver it. They transferred the food somewhere out of camera view. She took it over to the hotel to feed on. As for Ares, he took a perch on the steeple.
Astrid left the hotel ledge at 12:11 but she didn’t come right to the box. Instead she ended up on the State Building. We couldn’t tell if she still had the food with her. At 12:52 she was back brooding in the nestbox. Interestingly, she tucked the neglected eggs underneath her along with the two nestlings. At 2:06 we noticed that the kids were alone in the box again. Both parents were on the State Building. Ares came to the longperch at 3 PM. He wasn’t brooding – only monitoring. Meanwhile the chicks were becoming more mobile in the box and the larger one even exercised its wings a little. At 3:44 we thought Ares was feeding them, but he was only looking at them close up and contemplating brooding. He left shortly after that and the chicks were alone again. Astrid spent some time on the steeple and then came over to the crossperch at 4:48. She was out and Ares was in only a minute later. While the parents were out, the younger nestling walked around in the box and did some wing flapping. At 4:54 Astrid came to the box with stored prey and did a feeding. At 5:40 she was moving around in the box, biting at stones and doing housework. They switched at 6:15 PM. On his way into the box Ares picked up a scrap from the floor. It looked to be a clump of feathers. He handed it to one of the chicks as if it were food. The chick dropped it back to the floor.
At 6:56 Astrid was at the box and Ares was on the State Building. She moved over to the west veranda and perched there for a little while. At 7:16 she left and came directly back with stored prey. After the feeding she was out of the nest again. Astrid was on the steeple at 7:35 and then up a half hour later, flying around the State Building and checking Ares pantry ledges for more food. At 8:10 PM she was feeding on something on the hotel ledge. She brought it to the nest five minutes later and did a feeding. The prey appeared to be a shorebird – a Solitary Sandpiper as best we could tell by its remains. By 9:00 Astrid was on the crossperch guarding the nest. She came into the box for a short time but then was back out on the perch until at least midnight. Ares was on the north face of the State Building on and off until at least 12:00 AM. Goodnight falcons.