Chicago Peregrine Falcon Blog

What a good morning for me! As I arrived on the garage roof at 8am this morning, I saw the female flying towards me. She landed on one of the garage’s lighting fixtures and peered down at me. I’d never been this close to the female! I set up my spotting scope as quickly and quietly as I could, sure she would leave any second. But no! She stayed!

She gave me three long and beautiful minutes to view her leg band. Long enough to confirm, confirm and confirm what I saw, write it in my journal, confirm again, then take her picture.

My journal: “b/r, W/*D” – This translates to black over red band, which is an old color scheme for the Midwest US, and W over a D on its side to the right. I couldn’t wait to tell Mary.

When I got to work, Mary and I excitedly looked this band number up on the Midwestern Peregrine Database. As I’d expected, the larger of the pair is a female! Her name is Bern.

And here is where I would tell you something about Bern. However. If you go to the post for May 25th, you will find an entry regarding a mistake I made reading the band. After reviewing my photographs, I noticed that one picture yielded a clear enough look at the female’s band that we had photographic evidence to back up what I’d spotted through my scope. And that’s when I realized I’d inverted the number.

The actual leg band number reads: b/r, *D/W. The female is not “Bern” but rather is named “Hercules”. You can read her history at the bottom of this post. Personally, I liked the name “Bern” better, but c’est la vie.

I decided to edit all of the posts mentioning the name “Bern” so that people reading this for the first time wouldn’t become hideously confused For those that started reading this journal early, before rewrites, edits, etc… – I called the MCC female “Madeline” early on, after the little girl in the Madeline books. I simply found it easier to type than “MCC female peregrine” and, to be honest, a bit more personal. Then, when I misidentified the bands, she went by Bern. Her correct name is Hercules. These are all AKAs for the same bird, not three different females.

Sorry if that’s been confusing.

A number of bird carcasses littered the roof of the garage today. There has been a change in the remains since last week. The bodies I found last week were stripped of the breast meat and innards, basically hollowed out. The back, wings, tail and legs remained intact. Today, the remains consisted only of the bottom half of the bird. I’ve taken to calling these “half birds”. Since they are hard to explain, I’ll try to take a picture of a good one and put it up later.

It seems that the MCC parents take these “half birds” back to the nest for the chicks after eating the top half themselves. Whenever Hercules, particularly, leaves the nest, she carries the scant remains of one of these half birds with her. Often, she drops it on the garage roof, which is nice for me, as I can then get a look at what they prefer to eat.

Hercules jumped off the light post, soared down and out of scope range and then came back up with a starling, which she tore apart with great abandon while perching in her favorite spot on the Monadnock. She took some of the bird (the lower half, I’m sure) back to the nest.

James ambled up as I waited for Hercules to reemerge. A tall fellow in a uniform and carrying a broom and dustpan followed him. James introduced him as “Tom, from maintenance.” He seemed very nice and the three of us chatted while watching the nest. Finally, after 20 minutes, Hercules popped out of the nest and soared east and out of sight. Tom seemed very impressed with her.

Welcome to falcon watching, Tom! The falcons and I have yet another new friend!

Posted in Chicago MCC

When I arrived this morning, the male was oot and aboot hunting. As I watched, he got a starling, which he took to the top of a lighting fixture on the outer wall of the building directly west.

Sadly, the little starling was not all the way dead, but I am happy to report, he dispatched it quickly, which made me happy as I have no stomach at all for animal suffering. In a stunning display of carnage, he placed one talon on the bird’s chest and bit the starling’s head off. He dropped it over the side. Then, he plucked the bird with alarming speed and great gusto, causing feathers to, literally, billow around him, at times, completely obscuring my view. He ate the entire thing and dropped what looked like the tail and legs over the side of the fixture.

I would have taken a picture of this, however, I thought it more important to watch him through the scope so I might see any leg band information. I was partially successful when I saw a flash of purple from his right leg, indicating that he’s a Midwestern wild born falcon.

On peregrine hunting habits – Peregrines only eat prey they can capture in the sky – so birds and bats (insects are too small to sustain them, human skydivers a bit too big to manage). They generally look for prey while circling in the sky (soaring) or from atop specially selected roosts, selected for the unobscured view of the hunting area.

I notice that both MCC falcons have selected favorite hunting roosts and they habitually use them – the smaller falcon (male?) prefers the skyperch, the larger falcon (female?) prefers the Monadnock ledge.

When the falcon spots prey, it tucks its wings and dives, headfirst, towards it at speeds which, as I’ve mentioned before, can reach an astounding 200mph. The falcon attacks with its talons, generally killing on impact. The prey drops and they retrieve the prey either from midair or from the ground.

A peregrine will eat most types of birds, but flock birds are most susceptible, so our city pigeons are probably a great, slow-moving, feast. Peregrines can kill a bird as large as a waterfowl and has also been known as the “Duck Hawk”.

Often, when peregrines are actively hunting in an area, there will be a number of bird heads scattered on the ground. This is because they habitually bite the head off the prey upon landing with it, probably to ensure the prey is dead, although the impact of the strike generally kills the prey.

I notice that the MCC pair not only have favorite hunting perches, but favorite eating perches as well. Both birds like the aforementioned lighting fixtures to the west. The larger of the two mixes business with pleasure by favoring the Monadnock perch for both hunting and eating. The smaller of the two, and occasionally the larger, likes the corner of the southwest stairwell’s roof, right next to where I generally stand on the garage top. The two puzzling pictures of drain spouts attempt to point this out, as there seems to be quite a collection of parts and pieces on that stairwell roof.

I would very much like to climb up on that roof to look and see what species of birds are up there. If I did so, however, I’m fairly sure I’d be kicked out. It isn’t worth losing the best viewing spot in the city for the MCC pair. So, at this point, I use the spotting scope focussed through the drain pipe to see what I can see.

New this morning: the bottom half, wings and head of a warbler. Interesting. Looked pretty fresh.

As I took these pictures, the female came out of the nest carrying what appeared to be the remains of a grackle. She dropped it right on the roof above and to my right. It is that puff of black feathers in the center of the drainpipe in the first picture.

Literally, there were 4 new bird carcasses out there today, so the pair is really eating! I am hoping that from this vantage point, the next time one of the pair lands on the roof I can get a great, great view of the leg bands. It’s my new obsession.

As I busily snapped pictures, a man came up behind me. A man in uniform, in fact. I put my camera down and waved ‘hello’, swallowing down a small bit of nervousness. In the post-9/11 world, folks view suspiciously people taking photographs, seemingly of neighboring buildings, in the downtown of a major metro area. It also doesn’t help that my area contains the Sears Tower, the Chicago Board of Trade, the tops of most of the huge federal reserve banks, a good many federal buildings, and, well, a maximum-security prison.

The man looked at me suspiciously and said, in a very authoritative manner, “You cannot be up here taking pictures. You have to leave now.”

I reached down and grabbed my Field Museum badge hanging around my neck and held it up for him. I introduced myself, produced other ID and explained why I was there. The male falcon helped by putting on a nice diving display in which he sped two feet over our heads on his way to the nest ledge. I also gave the security guard numbers he could call to verify all of my information. Briefly, I considered offering my camera or watch, but that seemed imprudent, as this security guard seemed like the type who would stand no foolishness.

To my surprise and delight, he eased up considerably as Max zoomed over and introduced himself – “James.”

James asked a number of questions about the falcons and I could see he’d formed an instant fascination. I answered what I could at this early date in my falcon education and promised to research the questions I couldn’t answer. I let James look through my scope as we talked. As I packed up to leave, James handed me his card and asked me to drop off my contact information before fledging season so that he and his coworkers could alert me to grounded chicks.

This is one of the huge perks of this assignment, I think. Although I consider myself far more an animal person than a people person, I really do dig how excited folks get when they learn something about the natural world co-existing with us in this urban environment.

As I got on the elevator, James called to me. “Hey! You ruined me! Guess what I’m going to do now?”

“Go take all your breaks on the garage top and watch the birds?” I called back.

“Oh yeah, that, of course! But, I’m also going to the library right after work to check out some books on falcons. This is really cool! Learned something new today!”

So, welcome to falcon watching, James! The falcons and I both made a new friend today.

Posted in Chicago MCC

Yesterday, I didn’t get any pictures, but I did find out that we can view the pair from our loft’s windows!! I can see the Monadnock ledge, the skyperch and some of the garage using Mary’s spotting scope set up in the southeastern corner of our loft. The window glass causes a tiny bit of distortion, but still and all, it’s nice to be able to check in on them anytime I want.

From yesterday to today, we saw a falcon (both falcons?) with birds and one bat on at least seven different occasions. Man, they are really eating! It’s way too far away to see any leg band information, though.

Today, I went to the garage roof before work. The parents came in and out of the nest with food 5 times during my hour there. The male (?) landed on the top of the stairwell building on the garage again, but that wily guy took off before I could back up enough to see his leg bands. We really stared each other down, too. They have such intense eyes.

I took this very difficult to decipher photo after he took off from the stairwell building and went about 15 stories up from my 12-story spot onto the ledge of a building to the north – the skyperch. He sat up there for a bit of time. Then, he jumped off the ledge and went into an exhilarating tuck dive. He was going so fast and it was so stunning to watch, I completely forgot the camera. He rolled and came right for me, swooping up about 2 feet over my head and then sailing over to the edge of the nest for a noisy, chattery switch off with the female. I was stunned.

Mary told me that peregrines can reach up to 200mph in a dive and are the fastest animal on Earth. Sean says that’s sort of cheating, because most of the speed can be attributed to gravity rather than the animal’s own locomotion. I think it’s just danged fast. Anyway. The MCC male probably wasn’t going that fast, but he was MOVING out. What a show off!

As I walked to the bus stop on State Street, I looked up and saw a huge flock of pigeons come around the corner from VanBuren, flying in from the west to the east. They turned and went north up Plymouth. Max flew in hot pursuit at about a 7-story level, right up Federal. He flew that circuit a few times and then I saw him heading back to the nest with something in his talons. I wonder if people in these buildings ever look out their window to see pigeons screaming by, followed by a big falcon?

Posted in Chicago MCC

(Chick’s Day One, if I am right and the chick(s) hatched today)

I didn’t get any pictures yesterday due to the constant drizzle of rain and the rather high wind. Today, however, it was crystal clear so it wasn’t hard to talk Sean into going to the garage viewing spot with me.

We left the house at 9:15am and by 9:30am had set up camp on the roof. I had my spotting scope out, my camera ready and my field notebook open. We scanned the sky hopefully. And scanned. And scanned. 30 minutes later, my very patient husband sheepishly asked how much longer we might be staying.
“Oh, about 5 minutes,” I said, feeling dejected. I really wanted him to see at least one of the adult falcons.

No sooner had I said we were going to leave, then down VanBuren flies one of the falcons. It lit on the ledge of the nest niche and chattered and squawked loudly. An answering, but quieter, chattering and squawking came in return. It jumped from the ledge and disappeared down into the nest niche. Right after, a larger falcon hopped out of the nest niche and took off. It’s coloring was slightly different too, Sean and I both agreed. It cruised down
VanBuren, going east, and soon was out of sight.

Male Peregrine Falcons generally are smaller than the females. I noticed today, and even a bit yesterday, that one of the MCC falcons is markedly larger than the other. So, the one that cruised down VanBuren probably is the female. We shall see when I get the leg band numbers.

At any rate, Sean was instantly enamored.

An interesting note. About 5 minutes before we finally saw the first falcon, we were adjusting the scope’s tripod and both saw the very swiftly moving shadow of a bird travel across the ground. By the time we looked up, it was gone, but we both agreed it certainly looked “raptor-shaped.” Then, we heard a commotion down by the entrance of the jail. On the corner, under the eaves, by the front door, I notice three prison employees taking a smoke break. They stared and pointed at something that had just dropped on the ground about 5 feet to the left of them. It was a dead pigeon. Sean and I wonder if the falcon shadow and the dead pigeon were related, since they happened, literally, seconds apart.

Probably sometime in the night or this morning, one or more chick hatched. I noticed immediately that the MCC falcon’s seemed to be behaving differently. One or the other stayed within eyesight of the nest at all times. A lot of vocalization occurred when the parents switched places in the nest niche. This had been a silent switch in the preceding days. Plus, Sean and I saw the female (?) bring a half a starling into the nest. In my small time watching, they’d never done this.

On Nesting Seasons – The peregrine nesting season in Chicago occurs on a predictable timetable from year to year:

• February – March: Adult pairs begin courtship, copulation.
• Early April: Females lay eggs.
• April – May: After eggs are laid, the 32 day incubation period commences.
• Early May: The eggs hatch.
• Late May – Early June: Mary begins putting leg bands on the chicks at about 21-24 days old, when the chicks have grown to their full-size.
• Mid-June – Early July: Chicks fledge (fly for the first time) at around 40-42 days old.
• Late June – Mid-July: For around three weeks after the chicks have fledged, the adult parents will teach them to fly and hunt. At some point, the chick flies away and starts its adult life.

If the Wacker chicks began to hatch on the 4th, two days ago, it seems conceivable that the MCC chicks might be hatching now too. On Monday, I’ll tell Mary about the behavior changes and see what she thinks.

So, I can picture the MCC chicks at least, since I’ve seen the Wacker chicks. They should weigh about 1.5-1.8 ounces and are covered with gray-white down. Just little, fuzzy bundles at this stage, who have to have the parents sit on top of them (brood) in order to stay warm.

Unlike their parents, which have bright yellow-orange legs and beaks, the chick(s) have pink-gray legs and beaks. They are virtually blind at this stage, so pretty helpless. They won’t feed for the first 24 hours or so. Rather, they live on the bit of yolk from their egg that they eat as the last meal. After 24 hours, they will begin begging their parents for food. The parents will tear off small strips of meat and dangle them in front of the chicks. You can see this stage here.

Back to the adults, who I can see. The larger female (?) favors the ledge beneath the eave on the top southwestern corner of the Monadnock. This spot provides direct sight line with the nest niche, since the Monadnock building stands to the northeast of the MCC, across the street. She grooms and rests up there, but always keeps one eye on the nest.

That is, unless she is actively hunting. While Sean and I watched, she spotted a few starlings flying in and silently sprung from the ledge into a dive. A small noise and a puff of feathers followed and she swooped up, holding a starling in her talons. She chose to perch near the top of the Manhattan building, to the east across two streets. After a bit, she went back to the nest with some of the starling and dropped in.

I suppose it is becoming clear (or, rather, washed out, over-dark and/or pixelated) I am no wildlife photographer. Partially, this is because I am too excitable at present to remember I’m holding a camera most of the time. I hope in the next weeks that I’ll calm down a bit.

The other problem is the digital camera I’m using. It is a nice camera that Sean and I borrowed (for years) from our friends John and Jim, but it is more of a snapshot camera. It has a 3x zoom, but it is digital rather than optical. As well, it records at 1.3 megapixels.

After our experience with the falcons, Sean and I went home to look at cameras. We’ve been wanting to return John and Jim’s and get our own anyway and I’d done some research on new options. Thankfully, amazon was running an extraordinary sale and we found one of the cameras I’d been lusting for marked down about 50%. So, as I type, a new Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20K 5MP Digital Camera with 12x Image Stabilized Optical Zoom is on its way.

Hopefully, my picture quality will reflect the brilliance of the camera. Hopefully.

Posted in Chicago MCC

The Metropolitan Correctional Center is located in downtown Chicago, as I said, about 2 blocks from our loft. It is an administrative facility designed to hold male and female federal prisoners of all security levels while they are awaiting or in trial. The building is triangular in shape, which causes an optical illusion that makes it appear about a foot thick from some angles, so that’s neat.

The MCC falcons, (or “The Jailbirds” or “The Prison Pair” as they are also called) picked one heck of a spot. They nest on the north side of the building, down inside the heating/cooling vent niches (I’ve made a notation on the larger version of the picture to the right).

Because of the inaccessibility of the niches, the MCC falcon babies cannot be banded unless they end up on the ground after their first flight. I am told this is relatively common – it’s called “grounding”. The site doesn’t lend itself to observation, either. Consequently, little is known about this pair or pairs that had nested in the prison niches in years past.

A 12-story garage stands across the street to the north of the MCC. Mary told me this was the ideal spot for viewing as it looks directly across to the nest site. Mary loaned me a 48x spotting scope and a tripod and this morning, for the first time, I set up shop on the SW corner of the garage top, right by a little stairwell building.

It didn’t take long for one of the adults to come out of the nest, but I wasn’t quite expecting it to head straight for me! It landed on the roof of the stairwell building about 3 feet above me but out of my sight-line. I backed up very slowly, up an incline to the north of it, in order to get a picture.

My God, what a beautiful bird! It watched me intently, but just as I got far enough up and back to see the legband and snap a picture, it took off and flew off to the east. For the next hour, I watched, transfixed, as the pair came in and out of the nest. When they left the area, they generally went to the southeast or east. The Wacker pair have the territory to the north and northwest. The UIC pair have the territory to the southwest and south.

At last, it was time to head to the museum. I wandered off down VanBuren, heading for the State Street bus stop. As I waited for the bus, I scanned the skies above the little 1/2 block city park area to my west. I spotted one of the birds cruising around above the park, probably hunting.

Excellent first day.

Posted in Chicago MCC