The overnight was cool with temperatures in the 50’s. some rain fell overnight the thunderstorms predicted never materialized. The morning was cool with highs in the low sixties. The afternoon was sunny with a high of 75 degrees. Astrid spent part of the night on the long perch at the nest. There were no overnight feedings. At 5:00 AM Astrid was perched on a windowsill on the State Building and Ares was on a high ledge on the same building. By 5:10 Ares was up and the nestlings were becoming active. They were doing lots of wing flapping. At 5:36 Astrid came to the box for a chick check and got Percy and Kara very excited. At a minute before 6:00 Astrid made another visit to the nest. The effect on the chicks was even more dramatic since they were more eager for their breakfast. At 6:16 Ares came to the nest with food. Astrid took it and then Kara stole it from her as soon as her mother breached the threshold of the box. Kara absconded with it to the back corner. Astrid went to the crossperch and seemed to be considering her options. Kara was picking at her ill-gotten meal and Percy was begging to his mother. After one failed food-recovery attempt, Astrid went around the back wall, skirting Percy and plucking the meal away from Kara. She then proceeded to feed Kara. After three minutes Percy got in line and started getting some servings. The next meal came at 7:18. Ares brought it and Astrid handled the feeding. When it was over Astrid flew to the steeple. Five minutes later she was on the roof of the nest box glaring through the window blinds at people in the office. At 8:15 Percy had gotten up on the lip of the nestbox and was looking out into the canyon. He stayed perched there for close to ten minutes. At 8:28 he hopped up on the lip once more – this time staying for another ten minutes. At 8:52 Ares brought more prey to the nest. Astrid flew in and grabbed it and then began a feeding session. She fed Kara first and then Percy joined in after about four minutes. At 9:14 Astrid was back up on the roof of the nestbox. Percy was back on the lip of the box at 9:46 but this time he was only there for a minute. At a few minutes before 11:00 Astrid got on the roof of the nestbox while the nestlings had a naptime. Thirty minutes later they were up and excited again. Percy found a food scrap on the floor and started picking at it. A minute later he hopped up on the lip of the box one more time. That time he was perched for two minutes before getting down. At 11:52 Ares was on the east veranda and the chicks were going crazy. Percy hopped onto the box lip and was looking around the corner at his father. He also bit at the side of the box. For a moment it looked like he might try to get onto the veranda, but luckily, he didn’t. It’s way too early for that! Astrid came to the crossperch just after he jumped down and she vocalized at him. Was she chastising him? After Astrid left, Ares danced across the crossperch to the west veranda and then came back onto the crossperch and looked at the nestlings. He seemed to be showing them how to navigate the verandas. It’s too early for that, Ares!
At 12:14 PM both nestlings were giving loud cackle calls. We weren’t sure what brought that on. It was probably just practice. At 12:22 Astrid took off from her steeple perch and after something – likely prey. She then came right back. The nestlings squealed as they watched her. Five minutes later Astrid did a hazing run at the 15th floor office windows. She must have seen someone near a window. At 12:45 she stationed herself on the roof of the box. We were not sure how long she was there. At 2:50 Astrid was back on the box roof. Predictably, that got the nestlings squealing again. Half of the box interior was in the sun at that point. At 3:15 Percy was up on the lip of the box again. He held out his wings a few times, but thankfully, he didn’t go anywhere except back into the nestbox. One of the parents did a quick chick check at 3:35. At 3:42 we could hear Ares giving long calls from somewhere in the canyon. Five minutes later, Astrid stopped back at the box for another chick check. At 4:21 Kara got up onto the lip of the box! that was more of a surprise since female nestlings are usually not so adventurous. With that move she was keeping parity with her brother. She was down and back in the box less than a minute later. At 4:30 both were on the box lip. It was a brief but nerve racking moment for those of us watching. At 4:47 Ares brought prey to the nest. Astrid darted off the steeple perch to get it. She took it into the box and Percy tried to steal it. Astrid hung on to it and then began a feeding. Percy got most of the meal served to him this time. At 5:30 the parents were out of view for a while. At 5:51 Ares came to the nest with more prey. Astrid conducted the feeding which lasted almost ten minutes. Ares brought in another meal at 6:26 Astrid grabbed it and started feeding Kara. Percy wasn’t interested this time. He looked out into the canyon while his sister fed. As it happened Kara wasn’t all that keen on having a third course either; Astrid noticed; she cut the meal off and removed the leftovers. Perhaps she stored them. After she left, we noticed that Ares had moved onto the east veranda. At 6:47 Percy was up on the box lip once more. He then went half on and half off the lip with wings flapping. At 8:20 PM Kara had the stage and was doing most of the wing exercising. At just before 9:00 the nestlings had mostly settled down, but then Kara tried to beak with Percy. He seemed less than enthused about it. By this point Astrid was on the west veranda and Ares was on the State Building. Goodnight all.