I watched the Ritz-Carlton nest on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday, not much happened between 5:00 pm and 7:00 pm.

So, on Friday I visited around 4 pm. When I arrived, the male was circling ear the nest with a small rodent, which could either have been a mouse or a small rat. Somewhat comically, two Rock Pigeons were chasing him for a few minutes. He dropped the rat off, but didn’t stay on the nest. He just left.

The female then left the nest with the rodent, went three buildings to the west, and ate it. She returned to the nest within ten minutes.

(This is typical behavior. To keep the nest clean, the female will almost always eat off the nest. And I’m not surprised the male didn’t stay and incubate the eggs. I’ve seen it take a few days for an inexperienced male to understand his “duties”.)

After she returned to the nest, we found the male in a high tree in the Hallett Nature Sanctuary. The Bluejays found him and after ignoring their abuse he flew west.