Chicago Peregrine Falcon Blog

Yesterday, we did our last official chick banding of the 2009 season. I say last official, because if one of the MCC chicks (who haven’t appeared on the ledge as of yet) ends up on the ground, we’ll band it. But, I have to hope every year that all of the MCC chicks will fledge without grounding, so there you go. But back to this last nest!

I’ve mentioned in this blog that Mr. M and Helen, 2007 & 2008’s Field Museum/South Loop birds, did not return to the Field Museum this year. Let me give you a bit of history.

Continue reading ‘The Last Nest!’

Here’s a Mary update, sent 6/5/09

Hi Everyone!

Banding has occurred at a number of sites. New cliff site found in Alton, IL. I have removed from the list a number of sites that have been inactive for over a year such as Bloomington.

Please send me any sightings or questions (mhennen@fieldmuseum.org .) If you notice any mistakes, please let me know. Final days for the webcams before the birds fledge. Be sure to check out them out at http://www.epl.org/falconcam/ and http://www.earthcam.com/usa/illinois/midwestgen/

Mary

Continue reading ‘Mary Update #2′

I wanted to mention this in it’s own post rather than burying it in the UIC banding wrap-up. At the end of the UIC banding, a young woman approached me and introduced herself. It turns it that Diane (Bintie on Flickr) reads this blog and has also posted UIC pictures to my Flickr group Midwest Peregrine Falcons. We chatted for a good long time and I made her promise to post her photos from that days banding (she did, too! Go take a look!). It was so nice to talk to her and great to have yet another friend by way of the falcons!

I’ve met a LOT of new people working on this program. I think I’ve said before that it’s one thing I love about this whole adventure. I’ve met building engineers, prison guards, wildlife rehabbers, photographers, EPA people, security people, property managers, CEOs, politicians, teachers, lawyers, writers and on and on and on. Often times, there would be no reason for our lives to ever intersect. Yet, here we are, meeting each other because of a really neat common interest and an urge to help a fellow planet inhabitant regain it’s footing and thrive.

So, I wanted to let everyone know that you have enriched my life greatly and I’m very glad to have met each and every one of you! I look forward to many years of peregrine watching for all of us!

Today marked my first ever banding trip to my alma mater, the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Considering I spent four years in the Behavioral Sciences building, which sits in the shadow of University Hall, the east campus’ tallest building and home to the UIC peregrines, that fact actually surprises me. But only a little.

Fact is, for as long as I’ve been part of the Chicago Peregrine Program, so has UIC graduate student Isabel Caballero. Isabel does part of her research here at the museum and is also member of the peregrine program. Her dissertation involves a DNA analysis of population structure and subspecies composition of reestablished Peregrine Falcon populations in the Midwest, a fascinating topic to be sure. As she is on campus most days of the week, she’s the logical choice to monitor the UIC birds! So, there’s never been a need for my presence at UIC, since Isabel is quite good at verifying the adults every year.

Continue reading ‘UIC Banding’

Today, we visited Wacker, another of my favorite falcon sites. Wacker is the oldest peregrine nest in Illinois, having been occupied since 1988. Because of this, Mary has long standing relationships with a number of people on the engineering staff, so I have to say she always seems very excited to do this banding.

In preparation for the banding, I’d spent some time Sunday downloading and printing a number of pictures. Mary had specifically requested I bring the two photos Sean took of building engineer Fred and his son when they visited us at the museum last year. I was happy to do so and also selected two of my favorite Joe pictures and a picture of Rahn and this years chicks.

Continue reading ‘Wacker Banding’

Ok! I’m finally updating the blog today. My apologies for my tardiness, but I do have a good reason this time. On the 17th of May, Sean and I spent a lovely, sunny day out and about monitoring the St. Mary’s and MCC sites. Sean had been sick with a cold and had missed two days of work the previous week, so Sunday was his first day out in the fresh air. As for me, I felt GREAT…until Sunday night.

Long story short, I caught Sean’s cold and lost my voice. No big. I felt sort of lousy, but not bad enough to stay home from work, so I made it through Thursday. By Thursday afternoon, my voice was completely gone and my throat felt swollen shut. My husband and co-workers began hinting that maybe I should see a doctor. I told them not to worry, it was just ebola. But, Friday things had gotten worse, so I went to the doc.

Continue reading ‘Sicko’

Thank goodness I’m finally healthy enough to attend a banding! I was afraid I was going to miss the whole danged thing this year. Right in time, too. I’d HATE to miss the Uptown Theater banding most of all.

As always, Dave the caretaker was outside the door of the theater when Mary, Katrina (Lincoln Park Zoo vet tech) and I arrived. I genuinely like Dave, so it’s a pleasure to catch up with him every year. While we were doing just that, Matt, Kanae (longtime Uptown monitor) and John (Brookfield Zoo vet tech) arrived. The banding team complete, we prepared to go into the theater, but Dave stopped us, saying that he had two more guests on their way.

Continue reading ‘Uptown Banding’

Well, I’m still too sick to attend any bandings, alas! But, I do have the skinny on both from Mary.

Evanston had three girls and one boy. The library generally names all of the chicks, hence the long tradition of excellent literary names. This year, Mary asked that the restaurant across the street, The Celtic Knot, be allowed to name a chick. She thought this was appropriate since we’ve used their outside seating area as a peregrine watching stand every year. Anyway, here’s the names:

Ean (F, b/r 03/E): This was the name the Celtic Knot submitted. It is the Gaelic name for “bird” – appropriate since Ean is, indeed, a bird!

Continue reading ‘Evanston and Broadway Bandings’

I did not attend the Waukegan banding today, but I have the chick info! Waukegan had four chicks: three girls and one boy. Mary told me that Waukegan decided to go with either Celtic or Gaelic names, so I looked them up and this is what I think they mean.

Cara (F, b/r 00/E): This means “dear” or “beloved” in both Celtic and Gaelic.

Neala (F, b/r 01/E): This means “champion” in Celtic and “ruler” in Gaelic. Either way, it’s a good name for a peregrine female!

Ealga (F, b/r 02/E): This means “noble” in Gaelic.

Kevan (M, b/r 10/D): This means “gentle” in Celtic and “handsome” in Gaelic. I bet they were going for the Gaelic translation.

This was the first banding, so the score stands: females (3), males (1)!

I am happy to report that Sean seems to be well on the way to recovery! I, however, seem to be coming down with something that seems to have a striking number of symptoms in common with Sean’s illness. Ugh.

This morning, we left for St. Mary’s Hospital bright and early. Our plan was to monitor the goings-on and come home in the early afternoon so that we could watch the playoff game between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit Redwings.

Chicago stunned us with another beautiful day, but sadly I had to keep my tender skin under the cover of clothing due to yesterday’s oversight. The sunlight and fresh air seemed to do Sean a world of good, though, since he’d been cooped up in our house for the last four days.

Upon arrival, we almost instantly spotted an adult peregrine plucking prey near a vent at the top of the hospital’s south face. I handed Sean the camera and got my binoculars out, but the bird was too far away for either gadget to pick up much in the way of detail.

Continue reading ‘St. Mary’s Check’