Overnight was chilly again with temperatures in the high thirties. Temps rose quickly after dawn, but once again the wind was unrelenting and it made it seem colder. The temperature was close to 50 degrees by noon. The afternoon was sunny and milder with temperatures in the mid-fifties. Astrid stayed tight on the eggs all night. We noticed that Ares was on the State Building at 4:00 AM. They switched on the eggs at 5:00 sharp. When Astrid left, she went to the State Building and to the same ledge that Ares had just vacated. At 7:58 the falcons changed once again, and Astrid took over on the eggs. Ares then flew back to the State Building. At 8:55 an intruder flew by the nestbox. Ares was still in place on the State Building, so we knew it wasn’t him. Astrid gave excited calls and quickly dove from the nest to give chase. Given Ares lack of action and Astrid’s swift response, the intruder must have been a female Peregrine. Ares came directly over to the nest and took over incubation. At 9:32 he was calling, and Astrid was back on the State Building. At 9:51 Ares was giving long calls from the nest. He momentarily got off the eggs only to get right back on again. At 10:17 Astrid moved to a steeple perch. She came to the nest 15 minutes later and they switched. Ares went to the State Building. At 11:04 Ares was up again. We heard him calling from somewhere in the canyon but couldn’t find him with the cams. A few minutes later we located him on the hotel. He was feeding on prey. He stopped short of eating the entire thing and flew off to store the leftovers. At 11:45 Astrid was calling from the nest. Ares was on the State Building so she may have been trying to ask him to come and take over or perhaps she wanted him to bring her a meal. She called on and off for the next hour. During that time Ares made a few forays from his perch but he didn’t come to the box.
At 1:05 PM Astrid was calling in the box and Ares was back on the State Building. At 1:47 Ares flew to the nest and relieved Astrid. She only took a little bit of coaxing to leave. At 3:02 Astrid was on the State Building. Five minutes later Ares was giving chirping alarm calls from the nest. He then dove out and left the eggs alone. Apparently, there was an intruder active in the canyon. Most probably it was male since he was perturbed, and Astrid wasn’t. Within a minute of him leaving the nest, Astrid was there and resuming incubation. At 3:25 Ares returned from his presumed joust and landed on the State Building. Astrid called out to announce his return. He made at least one foray out in the succeeding hour. At 5:43 he came to the nest and Astrid ceded the eggs to him. She initially went to the State Building but then was out of camera view for a while. She was back on the State Building before 8:00 PM and the falcons did their last switch of the day shortly after. Astrid was then in place for the night. Goodnight all.