Another Big Day

•May 29, 2007 • Comments Off on Another Big Day

Keeping WatchI met Mary at the museum at 8am. We had a fairly big mission for the day, which would require us to travel all over the Chicago metro area. A number of adult birds remained unidentified, so we planned to start at Evanston and work our way down through the city to Hyde Park, identifying as we went.

We arrived at the Evanston Library at 8:45pm and quickly scanned the sky and known perches. Neither of us saw any sign of the adults, so we decided to go inside and wait. As I might have mentioned, the Evanston nest has a web camera and we set up shop at a table near the base of that. It isn’t possible to see the actual nest from inside the library (a good thing for the birds), but the adults tend to land on the beam above the nest and that is visible. In fact, that’s where Mary and I got the female’s leg band number last year.

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Posted in Chicago Lakeview, Chicago River, IL Evanston, IL Hyde Park

Oot and Aboot

•May 27, 2007 • Comments Off on Oot and Aboot

Adult Peregrine Soars WestSean and I went to a Sunday matinee this early afternoon in order to see Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. It turned out to be a pretty good flick, though I’d say it could have used some more editing. Some really, really funny moments, though, and the Keith Richards cameo was priceless.

After the movie, Sean and I decided to walk home so that I could do some more River Bird searching. On the way, Sean took me for a tour of his new office in Tribune Tower! It’s a really, really cool place and I am so proud of him. Not to be falconcentric, but he also has a view of Allerton, one of the first nesting sites of the River Birds. I told him to keep his eyes open for them, just in case.

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Posted in Chicago MCC, Chicago River

Rainy at the MCC

•May 26, 2007 • Comments Off on Rainy at the MCC

Sean had an idea about two months ago that it would be interesting to walk the length of Clark Street, from Howard at the north end to Chinatown at the south. The entire route is about 12 miles and goes through many neighborhoods and ethnic communities. I signed on and so did a few of our friends. We set the date for today, but alas, the weather decided not to cooperate. We woke up this morning at 6am, ready to catch the red line up to Howard for a start time of 8am. I looked outside and found a steady rain drenching everything. At 6:45am, the walkers agreed the trip was officially rained out.

Since we were up so early on a weekend, we decided to go catch some breakfast at the Plymouth Restaurant and then go over and watch the MCC birds for a bit. When we got to the top of the garage, we both zipped our coats – very windy and chilly. But, at least it wasn’t raining.

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Posted in Chicago MCC

Max and Hercules!

•May 25, 2007 • Comments Off on Max and Hercules!

So, I had a busy, busy day today – a lot of catch-up stuff that fell by the wayside due to peregrine season. However, while at home, I monitored the MCC from our windows. As I’ve mentioned, I haven’t seen anything of Max for some time. I have to admit I began to feel concerned. I mean, it’s a hard-knock life for falcons. Stuff happens.

I am quite happy to report that around 5pm today, I swung my scope around towards MCC airspace and instantly spotted both adults sitting on the EPA roof railings (the skyperch). Kicking my scope up to x75, I could just make out the colors on the bands. The bird on the right had a black/red band, so was probably Hercules. The bird on the left had a black/green band, so was probably Max. Yay! They both look great, by the way.

Posted in Chicago MCC

Uptown Theater Banding and Updates

•May 24, 2007 • Comments Off on Uptown Theater Banding and Updates

Uptown Theater Fire EscapesI do not consider myself a pushy person. I’m generally laid back and prefer working hard and waiting to be given things over asking for things outright. This year, I have to admit that the Uptown Theater held the top spot on my “Nest Sites to Visit” list. So, I worked hard and waited and ‘lo! Last week, Mary asked me to come along on the Uptown Theater banding. Huzzah! Thank you, Mary!

(Above left: The fire escapes in back of the Uptown Theater with the nest site noted)

This morning, I made my way to the museum around 8:30am. Mary scheduled the banding for 11am, so I figured that would give me time to monitor the museum pair for a bit before we were due to leave.

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Posted in Chicago Lakeview, Chicago Uptown Theater

Pilsen Banding and St. Michael’s

•May 22, 2007 • Comments Off on Pilsen Banding and St. Michael’s

L/N is PeevishThe first banding of the season!

I met Mary at the museum at 8:30am all geared up for the first leg banding trip of the season. At 9am, Mary, Isabel (a graduate student at UIC doing a genetic study of the Chicago peregrines) and I packed into Mary’s car and got on the road. First stop, the zoo to pick up John the vet tech. Next stop, Pilsen!

We arrived at the Pilsen building 45 minutes later, just as Matt pulled up. He had his 9-10 year old son, Sean, with him – a very delightful young man. Sean had his camera along and was planning to take pictures for an end of the year presentation to his class. What a cool presentation that is going to be!

Dan, the building manager, met us at the entrance and we all exchanged pleasantries as we piled into the elevator headed up to the 10th floor. As I’ve mentioned, the Pilsen site is in a very large, 1920’s era factory that now houses a storage company. The upper floors haven’t been renovated yet, so they completely lack light. In preparation for the banding, Dan had kindly set up a small folding table near the fire escape door with a shop light dangling over it.

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Posted in Chicago Pilsen, Chicago St. Michael's

Downtime

•May 21, 2007 • Comments Off on Downtime

"If I close my eyes..."This past Friday night, I stayed up way past my bedtime playing poker at our friend John’s house. Sean and I got home just before 4am and when I let the kittens out of the back room before we crashed, they were so happy, they spent the next three hours loudly celebrating. Suffice it to say, I got about 1 – 2 hours of sleep, so Saturday was a bust.

I did a little MCC peregrine watching throughout the day from our windows. I saw one perch and eat on the Monadnock, the Manhattan, the jail camera and the EPA. My scope isn’t powerful enough to read leg bands at that distance, of course, but I hoped I was seeing both Herc and Max as I never did see two birds at once. After every meal, I saw the adult swoop down for the nest, so they are taking good care of the chicks.

Unfortunately, I got some bad ceasar dressing on Saturday night, so Sunday was a bust too! What a bummer.

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Posted in Chicago MCC

News from the Garage Top

•May 17, 2007 • Comments Off on News from the Garage Top

Hercules GlaresI noticed the wealth of prey debris littering the garage top as soon as I arrived this morning. Three feather piles lay atop the stairwell roof, a wing hung over the Monadnock ledge, a few piles of feathers graced the Board of Trade annex roof and there were even birds on the northwest niche of the MCC. I set my scope up and looked over at last year’s nesting ledge, spotting a nearly whole starling and a half pigeon – so a little cache of food.

One of the adults flew far over my head and cruised east, looping slowing above the Harold Washington Library. I pulled a Games magazine from my pack and flipped it open to a new crossword puzzle, ready to settle in and spend some hours watching the MCC activity.

As I worked the puzzle, Tyrone came up behind me, followed by Tom. We exchanged pleasantries and talked weather – everyone agreed a storm was on its way. I pointed out the dot in the sky over the library and we all watched the adult turn lazy circles.

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Posted in Chicago MCC

MCC and the River Birds

•May 14, 2007 • Comments Off on MCC and the River Birds

DSCN0327I’m just back in from a morning spent watching the MCC pair from the garage top. They were very, very active and took lots of food into the nesting niche on the western side.

(To the left: One of Sean’s pictures from our Sunday walk on the river. It’s the Merchandise Mart reflected in the glass of 333 W. Wacker. He took a lot of really nice pictures of buildings while I scanned the sky for the River Pair, a pair of peregrines that nests in different locations along the river.)

Hercules landed across the way on the Chicago Board of Trade Annex and I watched as she plucked a starling and ate a bit before taking it into the nest. Before she left, she stood on the very edge of the ledge and gave me a nice, long look at her legbands. If only Max would do that!!

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Posted in Chicago MCC, Chicago River

Another Wacker Visit

•May 11, 2007 • Comments Off on Another Wacker Visit

Peregrine Falcon (adult female at Wacker)A falcon enthusiast who works in the Sears Tower watches the Wacker pair for Mary, since she works in an office directly across from the nest. The enthusiast reported that she’d seen chicks on Wednesday, so today, Mary and I went to the Wacker building to see the chicks. Our other mission was, of course, the female’s legbands.

By the time we left for Wacker Drive, the pleasant morning’s temperature had dropped about 20 degrees and a frigid wind blew in from the lake. So, it surprised us not at all when the adult female refused to budge from the nest the entire time we watched.

As per usual, we had about 20 seconds of ledge time before the ever-vigilant male, Etienne, silently dropped onto the ledge between us and the nest. The poor little guy had trouble maintaining his footing on the ledge as the wind whipped up the side of the building, but he stayed to protect his family anyway. Good Dad!

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Posted in Chicago MCC, Chicago South Wacker

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