This week at the Gulf Tower, peregrine parents Dori and Louie are in the home stretch of The Big Sit with their five eggs due to hatch between April 19 and 21. Meanwhile they trade off incubation duty, though not always willingly.
April 7 was a typical “Day In the Life of Incubating Peregrines” as shown in this slideshow.
In the half-light of 7:00am Dori awakes to a call from Louie. He incubates until she returns at 10:00, but when he wants to take over at 1:20pm and again at 2:10pm, she says No. After the second denial she watches him circle above. Was he annoyed? It’s not until 3:20pm that she finally relinquishes her place.
“Is it my turn?” asks Louie. As the chicks get close to hatching Dori will be saying “No” more often.
The Gulfcam is zoomed in close so you can watch for pips in the eggs. See them here.
(snapshots from the National Aviary falconcam at Gulf Tower)
Must run in the family. We’re all very familiar with E2’s stubbornness in relinquishing incubation duties to Dorothy in years past.