At long last I’ve created a slideshow of the best peregrine photos from the Gulf Tower’s 2010 nesting season.
It was an amazing year. On March 20 the long-standing female at Gulf Tower, Tasha, lost her nest to Dori even though she’d already laid two eggs in it. On April 2 Dori began laying her own eggs next to Tasha’s and by April 7 the nest held five eggs from two mothers. All five nestlings fledged and only one, Blue Girl, is known to have died. Quite a successful year for all that drama!
The photo below shows Dori and Louie courting in the early days of their relationship. It was March 26 and Louie had just brought Dori a huge, tasty meal which is bulging in her crop (she’s on the left). Now that she’s been fed they’re bowing to cement their pair bond. Behind Louie you can almost see Tasha’s two eggs waiting to be joined by Dori’s three.
Special thanks to everyone who sent me images from the webcam last spring and to Jim Altier and Sharon Leadbitter for contributing their photos.
(photos in the slideshow are from the National Aviary Gulf Tower webcam, Jim Altier and Sharon Leadbitter)