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Another wet chilly night was followed by a wet chilly day. It seems like May was inside out and backwards this year – cold at the start, hot and dry in the middle, and then wet and cold at the end. Astrid spent much of the night on the east veranda or otherwise near the nest. Ares came to the box with food at 4:13 AM. Astrid took it from him, began to feed the nestlings, but then abruptly bailed from the nest. The fire alarm was going off at the State Office Building and we think that upset her. She came back with the food at 4:21 and resumed the feeding. The alarm was shut down about five minutes later, only to go off again ten minutes after that. The nestlings were doing a lot of wing flapping both before and after the feeding. At 6:59 Ares brought more food. Astrid handled the feeding. The next food delivery was at 8:39. Ares brought it and she did the feeding. It was a small meal, and it went by quickly. At 9:37 Astrid took her perch on the steeple. Ares was on the west veranda. For a while he was snoozing. By 11:40 he was out of view and Astrid flew to the roof of the nestbox. At 12:44 PM one of the chicks did a very convincing rendition of the cackle-call. I thought it was produced by one of the parents for a few seconds.

At 12:48 PM Ares came to the nest with a hunk of a Pigeon or Mourning Dove. Astrid flew off the roof, made a tight circle in the canyon, and returned to the nest. She snatched Ares’ prey and hopped into the center of the box. During the feeding Astrid doled out rather large chunks of food to two of the chicks. They took it to their respective corners and attempted to self-feed. After leaving the box Ares went to the east veranda and Astrid to the State Building. Following the meal the chicks took turns flapping their wings. At 1:18 Astrid was on the east veranda near Ares. She was posturing to him – it looked a lot like the posture she adopts when requesting to mate. However, her vocalizations sounded more like she was encouraging him to go hunting. At 3:00 Ares stopped at the box to do a chick-check. He was out of view for a long while after that. Astrid did one ten minutes later and got squealed at profusely by the chicks who were by that time getting hungry. Astrid flew around the State Building checking Ares’ pantry ledges but came back with nothing in her talons. At 3:30 she was up on the roof of the nestbox – a reaction to people in the office. She was still there ninety minutes later, and Ares was still out of view. At 5:35 Astrid was on the hotel. She was in hunting mode. A couple of minutes later Ares flew to a ledge west of the nest. He had prey. Astrid first flew to the box and then flew to him. She took the food and dashed over to the nest. The chicks were roaring with hunger and could barely contain themselves while she plucked the meal. She fed it out in less than ten minutes. Following the meal both falcons were out of view again. At 6:25 Astrid showed up on the south facing steeple perch. She was still in hunting mode. At 6:41 she had secured prey and was plucking it on the hotel. After she fed herself, she brought the food to the nest and fed the chicks. She was on the east veranda for a little while following the meal. She was back on the roof of the box at 7:00 PM. We thought the show was over for the night, but then Ares brought prey to the box at 7:56. She took it from him and flew over to the hotel. She fed on it for five minutes before carrying it back to the box and giving the nestlings their supper. Goodnight falcons.

It was another chilly night with temps down into the low 40’s. Rain fell off and on. Morning was overcast and cool. Temperatures stayed low. In the afternoon, temps rose into the 50’s but the wind brought a chill. Astrid was on the west veranda for most of the night. Ares brought food at 4:34 AM. Astrid came over, grabbed the prey, and served it to the nestlings. At 6:03 one of the nestlings found a food scrap on the floor, held it with her foot, and picked away at it. At 6:29 Ares brought prey to the nest. Astrid handled the feeding. As is typical of late, one of the chicks stands back while the other two partake. The other comes in at about the half-way point. After the meal Astrid spent some time on the steeple. It was Saturday and there was no need for her to obsessively monitor the “office monkeys”. At 8:48 Ares screeched over to the box with the next meal. Astrid served it out to the chicks. After the meal Astrid picked at some food scraps in the box. One of the chicks stomped on its sibling and then beaked with it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb7gEc1dcYM

At 9:16 AM Ares came to the nest with more food. Astrid took it from him and handled the feeding. Only a few minutes into the feeding, she left the box with the food. She must’ve decided that the nestlings had already eaten enough and the food should be stored for later. After stowing the food, she went back to her steeple perch. Ares was on guard duty on the east veranda. Ares brought food at 10:09. Astrid fed the chicks. He went to his pillar perch following the drop off. At noon Ares came to the box for a chick-check. While there he scrounged around on the floor for scraps, presumably to feed to the babies. While doing this a chick backed up in his direction and plastered him in the face with whitewash! Poor Ares! He left shortly after. I think we need to put a towel dispenser in that box. At 12:56 Ares came to a west ledge with prey. Astrid met him there, but then both falcons abruptly flew off. Ares returned – this time to the east veranda. Astrid met him there. After a brief tug-o-war, she took the food into the nest and started a feeding. As it happened that would be the last feeding for serval hours. The appearance of the nestlings is changing again. Dark contour feathers are starting to poke through the fluffy white down feathers on the larger two nestlings. Those two are just beginning to get the salt & pepper look. Also, the nestlings’ dark and tan flight feathers continue to grow at a rapid pace, creating an ever-lengthening fringe around their wings and tail. Each day the young birds are less awkward in their movements. Their eyesight also continues to improve. They now see their parents when they are quite far from the nest, and they can track them. They are looking out into the canyon more and more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzGom4FnTeA

Ares came to the box to do a chick-check at 2:21 PM. He started long calling and they all began squealing. Astrid was on the veranda but flew off during the vocal session. Both parents were doing periodic checks at the nest until just after 4:00 and then Ares was out of view for quite a while. Astrid continued to do chick-checks, usually prompting a squeal-fest each time she did. Astrid appeared to be hunting but wasn’t having any luck. She seemed to be waiting for Ares to return with something. The nestlings’ hunger increased as the afternoon wore on. They were screaming at Astrid when she came to check on them. At 6:46 PM Ares finally returned to the nest site. He had prey in his talons. One of the large chicks snatched it from him as soon as he entered the nest. She dragged the food to the back of the box and started picking at it. He followed her in and tried to pull it back. He succeeded and then attempted a feeding. The fisheye camera distorts the size of the birds and so watching it on that cam, Ares looked very tiny compared to the monster-sized babies he was feeding. At 6:49 Astrid came into the box bellowing her donkey call, she grabbed the prey away from Ares and got the feeding going properly. The nest sounded like one might imagine a pterodactyl nest would sound like. All in all, it was a raucous feeding session. When it was over Astrid went out onto the crossperch. The smallest chick stretched his wings out while one of his sisters watched him and cocked her head. Some things just make more sense when seen upside-down.

At 7:23 PM Astrid showed up on the upper ledge of the hotel. Her hunt was successful; she was plucking a Pigeon. Ares landed next to her to check out her catch. He then flew to the box and roused the chicks. At 7:38 she brought her Pigeon to the nestbox. One of the big chicks immediately tried to pull it away from Astrid. She yanked it back and then proceeded to feed the masked thief. Ares arrived with his own catch at 7:50 ish. He stayed on the lip of the box holding his prey as his mate’s feeding was in progress. After a few minutes with no one seemingly noticing him, he began to feed on his catch himself. Finally, he brought it in and began to feed one of the chicks even as Astrid fed the other two. It was a rare double parent feeding. After about 5 minutes Ares’s food ran out and he left the box. Astird’s feeding continued on for another few minutes and then she departed. After the meal, Ares was on his pillar perch and Astrid was on a window ledge east of the nest. They had a short conversation and Ares flew. A little later, Astrid moved to the east veranda. She appeared to be there for the night. Goodnight falcons and all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqZjnyS2Mqk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mqil_0KFrqI

The overnight period was cool and it never really warmed up. Temps stayed in the high 40’s for much of the day. Rain was falling by afternoon, and it went on through the evening. During the previous night, for the most part, Astrid stayed close to the nest – usually on the east veranda. Ares arrived at the box with prey at 4:18 AM. Astrid came over from the west veranda, took the food, and started the feeding. One of the chicks seemed especially grabby during the meal. At 5:48 Ares came back with more food. Astrid conducted the feeding. At 6:25 Ares was on the crossperch guarding the nest. As it happened there was a lot of nest guarding by both parents. Ares then moved to the east veranda. Astrid had been on the State Building, but then, at 6:49 we noticed that it was her on the east veranda. Somehow, they had changed places without us noticing. At 7:53 Ares was perching on a window ledge on the east face of the Adirondack Bank. Reportedly, he had been there for a while. At 8:39 Astrid was up on the roof of the nestbox. That meant she was obsessing about people in the office (or office monkeys) again. At 9:02 she came into the box to do a chick-check. That activated all three nestlings and they began squealing. At 9:33 Ares brought food to a west ledge. Astrid met him there, took the food and flew to the box to do the feeding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfV4t9s6lio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBi81Ig_3Tk

At 10:51 PM Astrid called out as she landed on the box’s crossperch. Eight minutes later we heard Ares giving long calls from somewhere in the canyon. At that point, Astrid had been gone from the nest but was back. At 11:10 Ares screeched to the long perch. He remained on the lip of the nest box for a short time after that. At 12:06 Ares brought prey to a west ledge. Astrid flew over, retrieved the food, and flew to the box to do a feeding, which is exactly what happened during the previous feeding. At 2:17 Astrid was on her steeple perch and Ares was on guard duty on the east veranda. At 2:27 Astrid came into the nest with food. A fairly raucous feeding occurred that featured plenty of grabbing, squealing, and wing flapping. When the meal was over one of the large chicks was still biting at Astrid’s bill. At 4:04 PM the adult Peregrines were still guarding the nest from both verandas – her on west and him on east. It had been raining for a few hours by that point and we wondered if the falcons were going to be able to catch prey. The nestlings were sure to be hungry soon. Ares came to the crossperch for a chick-check at 5:27 and then Astrid did one only minutes later. Both parental visits were greeted with wild squealing of the kind that only baby falcons and barnyard pigs can do. Of course, the nestlings were getting legitimately hungry by that point. At 6:21 the parents had managed to catch prey and were both in the process of plucking and eating on one of the hotel ledges. At 6:22 Astrid came into the box with her catch and proceeded to do a 50 minute feeding which may have set a record for length. Ares had come back from the hotel and was perched on top one of the pillars. With that large meal the nestlings were good for the night. By 8:13 Ares was off his pillar perch, Astrid had come to the east veranda. That’s where she was intending to spend the night. Goodnight all

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cKWqoTsp20

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCbGBxDcHI0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTxtM4WEDjo

Thursday was cooler and much more comfortable than it has been lately. The morning felt like old-fashioned May back before climate change was a thing. Temperatures were only a high as the 60’s by midday. Astrid was at the nest off and on through the night. Likely she was never too far off, but only out of our camera view. After a few nights of no nocturnal feedings, last night they resumed. Ares brought a small prey item to the nest at 3:30 AM. Astrid was on hand to do the feeding. He brought another course at 4:00 and, once again, Astrid doled it out. At 5:24 one of the parents (we think Astrid) was seen flying around the State Building. After soaring past the building’s west face, she gained speed and went into a partial dive. She was likely making a play for one of the Pigeons that lives south of the building. At 5:43 Ares brought most of an American Golden Plover to somewhere west of the nest. Astrid accepted it, flew into the canyon, and then boomeranged back to the box with it. She then proceeded to do a feeding. If the prey’s ID is correct, this would be the first time that Ares caught a Golden Plover. At 6:40 Astrid stationed herself on the west veranda. She was staring at the window and waiting for the office monkeys to arrive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRvrJHawvdU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNJxfyAmQRI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj12UNgqyoE

At 7:30 AM Astrid was back in the box feeding out the scraps left from the previous plover meal. At 7:47 a light coming on in the office near the box was all it took to get Astrid back onto the box roof and starring at the office. At 8:12 she hopped onto the east veranda and the chicks squealed when they saw her move. Five minutes later Astrid darted around the canyon and then went right back to the box roof. At 9:40 Ares brought a staling to the east veranda. Astrid took it, flew out into the canyon, and came back into the nest. She then served it to the chicks. When the meal was over, she was back to the box roof. At 11:15, another meal was brought by Ares and an astonishingly fast exchange took place on the east veranda. Following that, Astrid did the feeding. At 11:39 both parents were flying around the canyon. Astrid came back to the roof of the box and Ares took a perch on the State Building. At 11:40 Ares was still on the State Building and Astrid was still up on the box roof. Of course, she was watching the window just in case of a zombie attack. At 1:54 Ares did a chick-check and then Astrid did one a few minutes later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaFoWmvt2Ew

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXvVVyeLDhs

At 2:36 PM The nestlings were calling. Astrid sailed over to the crossperch to check on them. The wind was now strong and steady. The temperature was still in the mid 60’s. At 2:38 Astrid came to the box with a Black-billed Cuckoo (another one of Ares’ stored catches). She fed it out to the squealing nestlings. The chicks acted ravenous, snapping at ever piece offered to them and noisily vying with each other. At 2:46 Ares stopped at the box for a quick chick-check. There was no need to shade the nestlings today. Relatively cool temps and constant wind offset the sun’s heating powers. At 3:44 Ares brought home more food. Astrid took it and fed it to the chicks. At one point the eldest chick grabbed onto the meal even as Astrid was holding it in her talons and tearing at it. The chick tried ripping off its own piece. I’m not sure if she was successful. By 5:20 both parents had been out of view for a while. At 5:32 Astrid was on the State Building but then she was up again moments later. At 6:20 Astrid buzzed by the nest. It was a lightning-fast chick-check. A few minutes later she was on the steeple. At 6:45 Ares brought food. Astrid snatched it and took it to the hotel to feed on it herself. After a few minutes she brought the rest of the meal to the box and fed it to the nestlings. The chicks again acted ravenous at this meal. We noticed how the tan cheek patches are beginning to develop on the two older chicks. Their dark wing and tail feathers are protruding at least an inch now. At 7:40 Ares came to the box with food. When Astrid didn’t rush in to take over, he took the initiative and started a feeding. As it happened, he was able to serve out the entire thing. Astrid was busy plucking and partially eating a Pigeon, so she was too occupied to know what was happening at the nest. She brought a large hunk over to the box, but Ares was done serving by then and had left the nest. She then proceeded to feed the chicks who acted like they hadn’t just eaten. That will probably be the last feeding for the night, but one never knows for sure. Goodnight falcons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYvnkx2LWgU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AytWuKBp2FI

Astrid was at the nest site off and on through the night. There were no nighttime feedings. Ares screeched to the box at 5:08 AM but his talons were empty. Astrid landed on the west veranda at 5:13 and that got the nestlings going. She flew into the canyon and then returned immediately with food. Obviously, it was something that had been stored. She then fed the chicks their breakfast. During the meal we noticed that the largest chick held off vying for food until the others had several bites. Following the meal, she was on the steeple and he was on the State Building. At 6:19 Ares brought food. Astrid grabbed it from him and handled the feeding. At 6:41 she was on the east veranda and he was on the State Building. Astrid flew to the roof of the nest box at 7:12. At 8:53 Ares brought a Blue Jay to the nest. Astrid did the plucking and feeding. After the meal, she went to the box roof and he was on the crossperch. At 10:56 Astrid was on the east veranda looking through a small gap in the window blind and getting upset. Ares brought food at 11:16. She took it and served it to the nestlings. By late morning, the temperature had already gotten into the mid-80’s. It was promising to be another hot day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFcpq5xRYmg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FzJTSaEUOg

At 1:16 PM a cackle-call from one of the chicks brought both parents to the nest. Astrid landed on the crossperch looking very intense. She was probably sure she was going to confront an office gremlin in the box messing with her babies. Ares came right over too. He landed on the east veranda but then went into the box proper to count the chicks. After that they were both on the State Building. The wind had picked up and storms were threatening. At 1:26 Ares came to the box to check on the nestlings. Two rushed at him when he came in – expecting him to have food. To escape he hopped back onto the crossperch. At 2:10 the wind noticeably increased. The PTZ cams and even one of the box cams were shaking and distorting. My internet failed at one point. When it was restored, I couldn’t find either parent. Astrid arrived at the box at 2:16 just before the heavy rain. She got into the back of the box with the nestlings and tried to huddle with them. However, they were more interested in biting at her bill. She moved into the corner briefly, but then decided to lay down in the front of the box facing the opening. The front of her head was over the lip of the box. Hail came down and pelted her, but she closed her eyes and held that position. As for the chicks, they stayed in the back of the box, huddled together. Astrid got very wet, and even had some hail accumulation on her back, but she stayed where she was with eyes closed for about twenty minutes; up until the worst of the storm was over. At 2:44 Ares came into the box and relieved Astrid. The nestlings rushed over to him squealing. He retreated and stood on the lip of the box. meanwhile Astrid went to her perch on the steeple. She relieved him at the box at 2:52.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLM1UFZ4YqQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdoMP7f4VFM

At 3:20 PM Astrid flew with purpose into the canyon. She came back ten minutes later, soaked and with a Pigeon in her talons. She flew into the box, without first landing on the crossperch, and plunked down on the floor with her thanksgiving turkey. She then proceeded to feed the nestlings for over a half hour. At 4:13 Ares screeched to the crossperch, hopped into the box, and then hopped right back out again. He came back five minutes later after Astrid had left. He started giving long calls from the long perch at 5:20. Astrid took over from him a minute later. The Rain started up again and fell pretty hard for a little while. That whole time Astrid stood out on the crossperch. At 5:33 she became terribly upset about the goings on in the office behind the nest. She sat on the roof of the box and cackled for several minutes. She flew off and returned about three times in rapid succession. At 6:18 she was on the west veranda – by that point it had started raining again. At 7:16 Astrid came to the box with a Black-billed Cuckoo. This had to be one of Ares’ catches. She must’ve taken it from storage. To our knowledge it would be the first cuckoo that Ares has gotten this season. If past is prolog there will be a lot more coming in. At 7:38 PM it was raining again and Astrid had come back to the nest. She was coming on guard duty – probably for the night. Goodnight all.