The overnight was cool with temperatures in the 50’s. By noon we were in the mid 60’s and up to 70 by late afternoon. The wind was nearly constant and the sky was mostly clear which is the recipe for a perfect falcon fly-day. Astrid was at the box area for part of the night. Ares arrived at the nest with a Great crested Flycatcher at 2:53 AM. He acted like he was going to feed the nestlings from the lip of the box; however, after ripping off one piece he dropped the food like a hot potato and left. At 5:00 both chicks were feeding on it in the corner. Astrid and Ares were on the State Building by that time. At 5:56 Astrid came to check on the chicks. She jumped into the box to look for food scraps but Kara chased her out again. Astrid then proceeded to dance across the crossperch and to the east veranda; she did it twice. She seemed to be showing the nestlings how to get to the veranda. She was in demonstration mode. At 6:00 Ares brought a Black-billed Cuckoo to the nest. Astrid took it from him, flew away, came back and tried to start a feeding. Neither chick was interested. Kara was more interested in her flycatcher leftovers and Percy was looking into the canyon from the lip of the box. Astrid picked up the cuckoo and flew out with it. After their mother left, Percy did some wing flapping on the lip. Kara joined him there a minute later. At 6:41 Astrid landed on the east veranda. That tantalized Percy and within a minute he had hopped over to the veranda and Astrid was up. Indeed, he had made it onto the veranda with little difficulty. A few minutes later Astrid was back to the veranda but then she flew onto the roof of the nestbox. The chicks squealed in response to her move. While Percy was on the veranda, we noted some distinguishing details in his plumage. His malar mark is narrower than his sister’s. Also, the stripes on his tail are much more discernable than Kara’s. These features should help us to tell the two apart in the future when they may be on separate buildings. At 7:20 Percy adeptly made it back into the nestbox. It was like he had been doing it for weeks. At 8:06 Astrid landed on the crossperch and got the chicks excited once again. At 8:15 Percy went to the west veranda – again with little difficulty. While there he did some wing flapping and some head bobbing. Kara got very excited watching her brother’s antics on the veranda and for a moment we thought she may go over there as well but she held off. At 8:23 it seemed like Percy wanted to come in through the office window. Perhaps he was intrigued by a reflection. By 8:24 he was back in the nestbox with Kara. At 9:00 both nestlings were snoozing on the floor of the nest. At 9:41 Ares brought prey to the east veranda. Astrid took it, flew away, came back, and hopped into the box. Kara snatched it away and brought it to the back of the box. Astrid made a failed attempt to recover it, but soon gave up and flew off. Both nestlings fed together in the corner. At 9:56 Percy went back to the west veranda. Meanwhile Kara laid down in the nestbox. At 10:38 Percy adroitly returned to the nest. At 11:15 Astrid came to the crossperch to do another chick check. Fifteen minutes later Astrid went up on the roof of the nestbox. Ares was on the State Building at that time. At 12:41 PM Astrid came to the long perch. Percy moved to the east veranda shortly after that. He did some wing flapping and his sister did the same inside the nestbox. Kara then moved to the lip of the box where she continued her wing exercising. Astrid visited the long perch twice within an hour. At 12:52 a stiff wind allowed her to float down onto the long perch. By 1:30 both nestlings were laying down – Percy on the east veranda and Kara in the box.
At 1:39 Astrid came to the crossperch to check on the nestlings. As expected, her visit animated the chicks. Ares came to the nest a minute later. He hopped into the box only to get chased out by Kara who squealed the whole time. At 1:41 Percy came back onto the box from the east veranda. At 2:57 Astrid was back for another chick check. A few minutes later Percy hopped back over to the east veranda. He was getting increasingly comfortable about getting on and off the verandas. He was back in the box with his sister at 3:35. Soon they were both sacked out. Astrid brought in most of a Pigeon at 4:08. After an initial tug-o-war, Astrid prevailed and carried out a feeding – the first one she was able to manage for the day. Both nestlings behaved reasonably well. By 4:27 Percy had had enough and went to perch on the lip of the box. From there he moved to the east veranda. Meanwhile, Astrid continued feeding Kara. A few minutes later even Kara had enough and Astrid finished the rest. It seemed like she was eating clumps of feathers at one point. She left the box at 4:36, but then she came right back to the long perch. By 4:53 both nestlings were resting again – her in the box and him on the east veranda. At 5:15 both parents were on the State Building. Interestingly, Astrid was perched on a windowsill. This is something she often does during fledging time. She wants to show the nestlings that the winder windowsills ledges are easier to land on. It’s amazing that Astrid knows to do this and it’s something she has learned over the years. At 6:00 PM the nestlings began to get active again. Suddenly both were flapping their wings. Kara was also bobbing her head while she looked into the canyon. That’s what young falcons do right before they make their maiden flights. Hopefully, that wasn’t her plan! By 6:30 both youngsters had settled down. At 6:35 Astrid was up from her perch. Her flyby of the nest building caused the nestlings to start calling but they didn’t get overly animated. At 7:13 Ares delivered a cuckoo to the east veranda. Astrid took it from him, plucked it, and fed a few bites to Percy (who was still on the veranda) before flying away with most of the meal. That seems to be her rule with cuckoos – no more than a few bites. At 7:19 Percy was doing some intense wing flapping. He had moved out onto the east veranda perch and was really pumping away. He did a couple of hop flights back onto the veranda platform. The way he was bobbing his head he looked like he was considering flying across town. As he flapped, Kara stared at him from the lip of the box and cocked her head like a perplexed dog. He then moved to the crossperch and from there did nice jump back into the nestbox. Once in the nest he was a bit wild. He loped over to his sister and bit her tail. At 7:42 Ares brought some piece of well-processed prey to the box. Astrid dashed in and grabbed it and started feeding it to Kara. Percy had no interested in it and instead preferred to stand on the lip of the box and look out into the canyon. A minute later he hopped over to the east veranda. By 7:45 the meal was over, and Kara moved to the lip of the box where she peered back at her brother. Just when we thought she might try to come over to join him, she turned around and hopped back into the box. At 7:55 it looked like Percy was considering going to the window ledge beyond the east veranda. Thankfully, he didn’t and instead went back to the veranda perch, and from there he jumped into the box. At just before 8:00 PM Astrid was on a steeple perch, Ares was on the State Building, and the two nestlings were huddled together in the nest. They were probably done with their antics for the night. Goodnight all.