Chicago Peregrine Falcon Blog

Jail Chicks!

•June 17, 2008 • Comments Off

Yesterday (the 16th), Dan Cozza sent Mary and I email saying he’d seen a peregrine chick on the jail ledge on his way into work at 7am! I’d spent a large amount of time on the ‘el platform beneath the ledges over the weekend and had some suspicion we’d be seeing the chicks soon. They were very, very noisy and active in the nest.

I hustled over after work to take a look and ‘lo! A chick! So, this morning, I got up extra early so I could go check them out before work. As I rounded the corner on Clark, I immediately saw not one chick, but three!

I watched them for quite some time. One of the chicks is huge – so, a female who takes after her mother. One of the chicks is pretty small and has almost no puffs of baby down left – so, a male! The other one is sort of in between. I’ve been vacillating back and forth between a large male and a small female.

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Posted in Chicago MCC, IL Evanston

Uptown Banding and St. Michael’s Check

•June 11, 2008 • Comments Off

The Uptown banding day excites all of us a great deal because we gain entrance to one of Chicago’s hidden treasures – The Uptown Theater.

(Most info from Wikipedia) The Uptown Theater is a massive movie palace in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood. It was constructed in 1925 for the Balaban and Katz theater chain by architects Rapp and Rapp.

The theater is immense – in fact it is the largest in Chicago! It seats 4,381 people and its interior size (volume) is said to be larger than any other movie palace in the United States, including Radio City Music Hall in New York. It occupies over 46,000 square feet (4,300 m²) of land at the corner of Lawrence Avenue and Broadway in Chicago’s Uptown Square Entertainment District. The mammoth theater has an ornate five story entrance lobby with an eight story façade.

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Posted in Chicago MCC, Chicago St. Michael's, Chicago Uptown Theater

Book Fair Weekend

•June 9, 2008 • Comments Off

Ah, a Warehouse favorite time of the year comes ’round again here in Chicago – Printers Row Book Fair, wherein our neighborhood’s illustrious printing industry past is celebrated with the Midwest’s largest literary event. For us, lots and lots of literature literally ludicrously local – meaning much money missing, more monographs.

We actually came away a bit light this year, for us. We purchased four very nice books: Richard Cahan and Mark Jacobs’ Chicago under Glass: Early Photographs from the Chicago Daily News, Julia Bachrach and Jo Ann Nathan’s Inspired by Nature: The Garfield Park Conservatory and Chicago’s West Side, David G. Clark’s Route 66 in Chicago (Images in America) and Peggy MacNamara’s Architecture by Birds and Insects: A Natural Art.

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Posted in Chicago MCC

Wacker Banding and UC Trip

•June 6, 2008 • Comments Off

Yesterday, we banded the two Wacker chicks – a boy and a girl. We had quite a big group for Wacker, including a special invited group from CNA, so I spent much of the time talking with them. However, I did get a chance to snap a few pictures of the Wacker female. I am quite happy to report that we’ve confirmed the female is Rahn (b/g, 01/A). So, kudos to Rahn for finding a mate so quickly after Etienne passed. The CNA folks and the young son of my favorite building engineer, Fred, named the chicks:

Big Red (F) – for the CNA building, which the employees call, well, Big Red!
Nel (M) – for Darnel. We still have to find out who Darnel is. Fred and his son are going to be coming to the museum soon for a special tour, so I’ll try to remember to find out then!

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Posted in Chicago South Wacker, IL Hyde Park, Leg bands

Short Update

•June 3, 2008 • Comments Off

Hi all! Here’s a quick update on bandings.

5821 N Broadway – Three chicks, two females and one male, were banded on May 28th.

Evanston Library – Four chicks, three females and one male, were banded on May 30th.

Waukegan – Five chicks, three females and two males, were banded on June 2nd.

125 S. Wacker – Banding to take place this week.

Uptown Theater – Banding to take place next week.

University of Illinois at Chicago – Banding to take place next week.

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Posted in Chicago Lakeview, Chicago Lawndale, Chicago MCC, Chicago North Broadway, Chicago Pilsen, Chicago River, Chicago South Wacker, Chicago St. Michael's, Chicago UIC, Chicago Uptown Theater, IL Evanston, IL Waukegan, Leg bands

Feeding Time at the Jail

•June 2, 2008 • Comments Off

So! I promised to catch up and alas, I have not. However, I AM fully caught up on my work in the Insect Division, so all is not lost.

I have been out and about doing peregrine stuff all season, even though I haven’t been writing much about it. This weekend, I happily stayed closer to home, watching my favorite crazy kids – the jailbirds. As I’ve noted elsewhere, Hercules (have her bands, so this is for sure) and Max (b/g 5/? – so that one is pretty sure too) decided to nest on the western side of the jail again this year. This means that I am spending less time on the garage top and more time skulking around the CTA platform below the nest.

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Posted in Chicago MCC

The Evanston Banding

•May 30, 2008 • Comments Off

Hi all! Just a quick note to say that Matt and Mary have successfully banded the four Evanston Library chicks! Since Mary and I were able to get the adult IDs in an earlier trip, I decided not to go up this year for the banding. I am going to save my extra hours to attend some bandings where we don’t have both adult IDs. Here’s a short VIDEO. As usual, it was VERY well attended.

The library folks have come up with great names for their three girls and one boy:

Neal – for Neal Ney, semi-professional bird and nature lover, former Evanston Public Library Director.
Brigid – for Brigid O’Shaughnessy the main female character in the Maltese Falcon.
Mistress Hussey – for Mistress Margaret Hussey who was compared to a falcon by poet John Skelton.
Rebecca – for Rebecca West the author of Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia.

Congratulations Evanston!

Posted in IL Evanston

St. Mary’s Hospital

•May 24, 2008 • Comments Off

Awhile ago, I began receiving mail from a Flickr member in the Wicker Park area regarding peregrine sightings at St. Mary’s Hospital. Kevin turned out to be a very good source of information as he checked in on the sight with some regularity and always had his camera in tow.

I wanted to document the sightings here so that we have it on hand. Several people from our program have gone out to St. Mary’s and they, too, have seen a peregrine – though only a single bird. Kevin, on the other hand, has not only seen two birds at one time, but has also gotten photos. So, we are keeping close watch on the sight and will do so next year as well.

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Posted in Chicago Other Locations

Geez, stop laying already!

•May 22, 2008 • Comments Off

A quick update.

It seems as if the museum pair has finally stopped laying eggs! They are still around, but we are seeing less of them as time goes on. It’s been a week since the last egg was lost and no one has seen any copulation since. Hopefully, Helen and Mr. M. will be back next year.

The huge roof renovation here at the museum should be done sometime this fall. At that point, we’ll install a nest box. Hopefully Helen and Mr. M. will actually use the box in lieu of laying their eggs in such precarious spots!

Anyway, the final tally. Helen and Mr. M. lost a whopping NINE eggs this season. Now, that is persistence. Here’s the timing:

4/7: 1st egg lost (museum)
4/8: 2nd egg lost (museum)
4/12: 3rd egg lost (museum)
4/18: 4th egg abandoned (museum)
4/22: 5th egg lost (museum)
5/9: 6th and 7th eggs abandoned (construction site)
5/21: 8th and 9th eggs lost (museum)

We will all keep our fingers crossed for next year. As for now, the pair looks very healthy and continue to hunt the area.

Posted in Chicago South Loop

UGH!

•May 21, 2008 • Comments Off

Oh man, did I get behind! My life has been so busy of late, I haven’t had time to keep up with anything, but I am terribly sorry for the lack of updates! I’ll go back and fill in some of the blanks over the weekend, but let me start with a quick recap of this month’s events. I’ve written some more detailed entries, but haven’t posted them. I’ll try to backdate and post them over the long weekend. Anywho! Without further ado:

125 S. Wacker Falcons – The male at Wacker has been confirmed as Joe (b/g 59/H). Joe replaced last year’s male Etienne, as Etienne died over the winter. The female has yet to be confirmed, but is most likely Rahn, the female from last year. We were all very pleased to see that Rahn found a mate in time for this nesting season after the loss of Etienne in January. Joe and probably-Rahn are currently busy taking care of four chicks and we should be banding them shortly after Evanston.

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Posted in Chicago Loyola, Chicago MCC, Chicago North Broadway, Chicago Pilsen, Chicago River, Chicago South Loop, Chicago South Wacker, Chicago St. Michael's, Chicago UIC, Chicago Uptown Theater, IL Evanston, IL Waukegan