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Astrid was in the vicinity of the box for part of the overnight period. The nestlings were active on and off through the night. They seemed to be reacting to their parents nocturnal hunting. Of course, we couldn’t see them with our cameras, but the falcons possess far greater visual acuity. Astrid came to the long perch sometime in the small hours of the morning but was gone before 5:00 AM. At that time Ares was on the State Building. We noticed right away today that Freya had lost a lot of her white down feathers overnight and was looking darker and more like her brother. She didn’t have his taste for adventure yet. At 5:37 Gary went to the west veranda. Ares brought a small piece of food to the box at 5:45. We weren’t sure if he dropped it off or if he flew away with it. Ten minutes later Astrid came to the nest for a chick-check. She picked up a scrap of food from the floor and fed it to Kendra. At 5:56 Gary was flapping his wings like mad on the crossperch! That made us a little nervous. Was he really ready for that yet? By 6:19 Gary was back on the veranda. At 7:00 A&A were on the State Building while, in the nest, Freya was peering out into the canyon like it was the most fascinating place anyone had ever seen. Meanwhile Gary ambled back over to the west veranda – apparently without problem. At 7:18 he had moved to the base of the crossperch and nearer to the box. At 7:44 Astrid went up onto the roof of the nestbox. She was guarding against office monkeys again.

At 8:15 AM Gary went back into the nestbox. At 9:32 Astrid moved from the nestbox roof and joined Ares on the State Building. At 11:15 Ares brought food, Astrid took it and lost it to Freya who pulled it into the corner. All were screeching. At 11:22 Astrid was either hazing the 15th floor or she was doing a flight demonstration for the nestlings. There were no alarm calls so perhaps it was an instructional. At 11:24 Gary tried to get a share of the food Kendra was eating. That wasn’t about to happen, so he moved on to other activities. At 11:28 Gary was flapping and vocalizing a lot. Was he asking for food? At 11:39 Astrid came to the box with food. It was a pigeon. Gary came back into the box and she preceded to do an old fashioned feeding. All the nestlings were relatively well behaved. She fed Freya first and then the other two. Kendra was fed last but wasn’t shorted. In fact, Astrid kept stuffing food into her. Meanwhile Freya was crammed into the corner of the box with her bill pointing up against the wall. The meal was still going on when Gary ventured onto the east veranda for the first time. He was flapping his wings intensely on the veranda perch. He then did a slight jump onto the veranda platform. It was a good stunt for a young lad. After the feeding Astrid went to the State Building. Freya then began flapping her wings in the box and making the cast off feathers on the floor swirl into the air. At 2:38 the kids were all tired out. The sisters were in the box and Gary was on the east veranda. At 3:09 PM he was calling again and flapping his wings. Ten minutes later we heard Ares screech from somewhere in the Canyon. That started Gary flapping again. At 3:30 Freya was looking out into the Canyon with great interest. Gary was on the crossperch and then back to the east veranda. One parent was visible on the State Building.

At 4:45 PM Astrid visited the nest box. Gary was still moving back and forth between the east veranda and the crossperch. At 5:17 Ares brought prey to the east veranda. Astrid came to take it, but Gary had gotten it already. Both parents deported the scene as their precocious son picked at the prey and then jumped around with it. At 5:20 Astrid came to the long perch and was cackle-calling. We don’t know what got her going. Five minutes later both her and her mate were on pillar perches above the box. At 5:36 Astrid was on the east veranda picking at the meal that Gary lost interest in. She brought it into the box and Freya grabbed it away from her. Kendra got involved and the two female nestlings had a tugging match. At 6:39 PM Gary was flapping his wings on a crossperch once more. He was really feeling the wind on his wings. At 7:17 Ares brought food to the east veranda. Gary was already there. He took the food and began to eat it. Astrid then showed up on the east veranda and didn’t look very happy. She seemed poised to take the food back, but she didn’t. She came back a couple of minutes later and tried again to take it but failed. At 7:44 Ares landed on his pillar perch. After that he landed on the east veranda and took the food that Gary abandonded. While this was happening Gary was on the cross-perch begging. That roused the other two nestlings. At 7:48 Gary was on the crossperch again and flapping his wings. At 7:50 PM Astrid did a chick-check and got everyone screaming. She flew off after that. At that point Gary was on the base of the crossperch. At 7:51 Ares brought a hunk of food to the east veranda. Astrid met him there and processed the food. At 7:54 Astrid took the food to the nest and, predictably, Freya grabbed it she took it to the corner of the box and everyone was screaming. At 8:11 Terry was in the box looking around on the floor for tidbits. Fifteen minutes later he was back on the east veranda flapping his wings. At 9:00 o’clock PM both parents we’re on the State Building. At some point before 10:00 Astrid moved to a guard position on a window ledge to the east of the nest. Goodnight Falcons.