The overnight was cold with temperatures in the low thirties. Conditions improved quickly after sunup and the temperature shot up into the mid-fifties. By late morning cloud cover came in but the temperature stayed in the fifties and precipitation held off. Light rain started in the early afternoon and continued until evening. Astrid was on the nest all last night. At 5:27 AM Ares came to the box and the pair did a very quick switch. At 5:52 Astrid landed on the State Building and Ares gave squeaking calls to mark the occasion. At 7:08 Astrid was back to the box and the pair executed another quick switch on the eggs. At 7:34 Ares was on the State Building. An hour later we could hear him giving long calls. At 10:36 he had landed on the east veranda. At 11:10 both were giving alarm calls – her from the box and him from his pillar perch. We weren’t sure what they were calling about, but neither left their stations. At 12:20 PM Ares came to the box and asked to take over incubating. Astrid refused to leave, and he left instead. Five minutes later he was back on his pillar, and they were both vocalizing. At 1:10 Ares was looking around a lot from his pillar perch. He was looking mostly up. Soon both were giving intruder alert calls. Astrid got off the nest and dove into the canyon. Obviously, she was chasing off an intruder – probably a female Peregrine. After a couple of minutes Ares came to the nest and resumed incubating the eggs. At 1:20 Astrid returned to the canyon and landed on the State Building. Ares gave squeaking calls when she landed. She was up again only a few minutes later. At 1:34 Ares was squeaking like he saw her, but we couldn’t find her. At 2:15 the local Pigeons were all stirred up. They were dashing through the canyon, and some were flying evasively. Ares was calling too which could have meant that Astrid was hunting them. At 2:36 Ares called out again and this time we located Astrid on the south facing ledge of the Steeple. She was there preening in the gentle rain until 4:09. After that she was on a perch on the State Building. At 5:00 PM Astrid came to the box. She then took almost ten minutes trying to convince Ares to let her take over on the eggs. After leaving he spent some time on his pillar perch. He was there until about 6:40. Most probably, Astrid is in place for the night. Goodnight all.
Little Falls Falcon Update: One of the three eggs appears to be pipped meaning a hatch could come at any time. Anna was staying tight on the nest for most of the day and so it was difficult to see what was happening with the eggs. Also, unlike with the Utica Falcons, we cannot access the video stream remotely. In other words, someone needs to be on site to monitor them. We should know what’s happening tomorrow – Stay tuned