It was cool overnight but the temperature came up fast after daybreak. The sun had also come out by mid-morning and temperatures soon reached 70 degrees. Astrid spent most of the night in the vicinity of the nest. There were no overnight feedings. Ares came to the box with a small prey item at 4:55 AM. Astrid handled the feeding. The meal went by very quickly. In the next half hour both parents came by the nest to do quick chick-checks. Each time the nestlings squealed wildly. At 5:22 Astrid came to the nest with a Black-billed Cuckoo. Obviously, it came from storage or from Ares directly. Astrid’s traditional aversion to cuckoos has yet to manifest itself this season. The largest chick stole the cuckoo from Astrid and took it to the back corner. Astrid yanked it back, plucked it, and began the feeding. The second largest chick tried to steal the food as well but couldn’t manage it. The meal was over by 5:33. Astrid was on the steeple after that, and Ares was on the State Building. At 7:58 Astrid had become irritated by people in their offices near the nest. The Memorial Day holiday was over and now Astrid had to put up with office monkeys near her nest again. She gave some cackle calls and began obsessively watching the office windows. At 8:07 Ares brought food to the west veranda. Astrid scrambled over to him to get it. She flew into the canyon and then back to the nest. The prey appeared to be a small sandpiper, possibly a Least Sandpiper. Astrid fed it out to the chicks.
At 9:55 AM Astrid went onto the roof of the nestbox. She was on guard duty again. Ares made a food delivery at 10:06. Astrid took it and did the feeding. At 11:04 Ares was on the hotel ledge. He was plucking and eating part of an unusual Pigeon, It was smaller than the average size for its species and it had odd black and white plumage. We struggled to identify its headless body, but then we saw its pink legs and we knew it had to be a Pigeon – odd plumage pattern notwithstanding. At 11:09 Ares flew in with the prey. Astrid came off the steeple to meet him at the box. Screeching, she grabbed the prey from him, hopped into the box, and fed the chicks. At 11:54 Astrid was annoyed at the offices again and did some hazing of the 15th floor. At 12:05 Ares brought over a Blue Jay. Astrid accepted it and fed the chicks. Nesting number 2 had a short tug-o-war with Astrid but mamma prevailed as she always does at this stage. Soon a time will come when she won’t be able to get the food back. At 1:35 another meal was underway. Astrid was conducting it. The prey she brought in was another Blue Jay. Were they on sale today? Apparently Ares gave it to her on a west ledge. Astrid did a few more chick checks but we only confirmed one more feeding for that day and that was at 8:38 PM. Ares brought prey to the west veranda at 4:30, but for some reason no feeding took place. It was very warm in the box in the second half of the afternoon. Sometimes the parents withhold food in such conditions. Astrid spent the night in the vicinity of the nest as expected. Goodnight all.