Welcome to Chicago, Ballistic!
This morning, Mary came into my office and told me to gather my gear. Apparently, a pair of peregrines set up shop on the ledge of a building on Lake Shore Drive and the residents were unsure what to do.
The day was beautiful – clear and warm for November. We pulled into the parking area and were greeted by the building manager. He took us around to meet a number of people before we went up to a condo on the top floor to take a look at the birds.
An older gentleman greeted us at the door and led us into his absolutely beautiful corner condo. He gave us a tour of the huge house and then took us out onto a small semi-covered balcony.
You couldn’t miss the peregrines, as they were perched about 8 feet above us, glaring down. I started madly snapping pictures and got a good one of the female’s bands. Unfortunately, the male was perched in such a way that his bands were completely unreadable.
Mary talked to the gentleman for a long while and he reluctantly admitted that his wife was pretty scared of these giant raptors and had stopped going out on her balcony to take care of the potted plants. I think that by the end of our visit, he felt much better.
The covering over the balcony was enough to protect anyone standing there. Mary convinced him that it would be highly unlikely for a peregrine to fly up and under it just to get at a human.
When we got back to the museum, we eagerly looked the bands up in the database. The female is young! She was born in 2005, in Cleveland. I love her name – Ballistic.
Welcome to Chicago, Ballistic!
Chicago Peregrine Falcon Blog 