The overnight period was chilly with temps getting as low as the mid-30’s. The rebound was quick as the morning sun gained height. The afternoon was seasonably warm and the wind increased as it wore on. Astrid was with the nestlings all night. Ares brought prey to the long perch at 2:35 AM. Astrid stretched out, grabbed it, and flew away with it into the canyon. Ares followed her. She came right back and landed in the middle of the nest floor. The prey looked large, but it was too dark outside to identify it with certainty. It was probably a Common Grackle. Astrid spent some time plucking it before she started the feeding. At 2:55 Ares was back with more prey. She was still busy feeding out the previous meal and sent him away. He came back at 4:04 with still more food (perhaps the same prey he brought earlier). She took it this time and conducted a feeding. She left the nest at 6:11 but then came right back and resumed brooding. Ares came to the nest with prey at 7:40. As usual, Astrid handled the feeding. At 9:43 Ares was back again with food. Astrid took if and flew over to the Hotel. Ares guarded the nest as she plucked the meal. Nine minutes later she was in the box and feeding the nestlings.
At 11:56 AM we heard Ares screech from somewhere in the canyon. As it turned out he had just landed on a steeple perch. Ares left the nest at 12:14 PM and the chicks were alone for a few moments. Ares came back into the box at 12:19 and guarded the nestlings for a while. Astrid came to relieve him at 12:22. Ares brought lunch fifteen minutes later and Astrid doled it out. When it was finished, she got up, stretched her wings, and took a brief tour around the canyon before returning to the nest. Ares was on the State Building at that time. At 2:04 Astrid flew over to the State Building and Ares screeched to the box. Five minutes later Astrid took over again. He brought food at 2:13 and she did the feeding. At 3:26 she was out on the crossperch. Obviously, the chicks don’t need constant attention anymore, especially when the temperature is above 60 degrees. By 3:45 the sun was flooding into the box and Astrid hopped in to do some shading. Ten minutes later, Ares had taken over and he was sort-of shading the chicks. A minute later she was on the crossperch and he was out again. It was her turn to do some shading of the chicks.
At 4:33 PM Astrid took a break. She hopped out of the nest and went to her steeple perch. Ares came in less than a minute later and stood guard in the nest. He rolled the egg over and then stood back a little and just looked at the nestlings. That lasted only a moment and then Astrid was back. He moved out onto the crossperch and then flew into the canyon. At 4:53 Astrid left the nest again but was back two minutes later. At 5:19 Ares brought food to the nest. Astrid took it and started plucking it. After sufficient processing she fed it out to the chicks. Astrid left after the feeding was done and Ares came in to take over. At 5:52 she was on the steeple and he was on the State Building. The nestlings were sprawled out in the box. She checked in on them at 6:00 and then flew out and sailed around on the wind for a while. Both spent time on adjacent perches on the State Building. At 6:14 she came to the nest with what looked to be a hunk of a Blue Jay. She served it to the nestlings. She was back out when the meal was finished. Ares was in the box at 6:48 trying to feed the kids the leg of a songbird. The nestlings weren’t interested, and he left. At 7:08 she was on the crossperch, but only to do a quick check. She soon sailed back over to her perch on the State Building. Ares came to the crossperch at 7:23. He gave a big screech and then went into the box and perched next to the baby pile. He left at 7:52 when Astrid left the State Building. She was back in the nest at 7:53 and then she was out again. It seemed she was making the most of her newfound freedom. At 8:03 PM she was back with part of a carcass. That would be the chick’s supper. She appeared to be in for the night at that point. Goodnight all.
