Chicago Peregrine Falcon Blog

Toews Down!

•June 18, 2010 • Comments Off

Chicagoans experienced a brutal and exciting storm tonight, with winds reaching the 80mph range, lightening strikes all over the place, eardrum bursting thunder, downpours flooding streets, mayhem, hands flailing over heads, etc…

I love storms. No, that’s not exactly right. I LOVE STORMS. In fact, when I moved to Chicago in 1995 from Oregon via Montana via California, the first two things that made the super-flat, urban environment survivable for me (a dyed in the wool western mountain girl) was the lake and the storms.

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Posted in Chicago South Loop

Dave & the River Renesters

•June 14, 2010 • Comments Off

Got this email and a couple of very cool photos from our contact at the London Guarantee, Dave:

This is the first afternoon visit since the y’all went out to monitor and place the four eggs safe from flooding over some pea gravel on the 8th. Autumn was highly pissed off and stayed away from us all last week, rarely perching when few were in sight and never staying long. Today she took a break for about 30 minutes, sitting calmly observing an office full of people move about (and near, some came right up to the window) while the father sat on the nest (they chatted occasionally). She then left to do some “grocery shopping”.

Very cool! I really hope that Autumn Rose and her mate hatch a couple of late chicks!

Posted in Chicago Mag Mile, Chicago River

North Broadway Banding

•June 9, 2010 • Comments Off

Wow, what a prolific pair. We banded five chicks today – two females and three males. Matt’s wife came along for the banding, so it was nice to see her!

I actually missed the banding part as I stayed stationed in the small electrical closet off the nesting ledge in order to try for the adult bands. I did manage to get Auntie Em’s bands finally by holding the camera out the window, snapping and hoping that I got something. One picture came out, though it is canted at an angle. Couldn’t care less — I got the bands so huzzah.

I didn’t see the male the whole time I was in the closet. He probably was up above me. Dang.

Posted in Chicago North Broadway

South Loop Banding

•June 7, 2010 • Comments Off

I was pretty excited for today’s banding at the South Loop. I’ve been routing for Helen and Mr. M. to find a good nest since they lost their very first egg off the roof of the museum in 2007.

The folks at 1130 S. Michigan have really taken their role as falcon hosts to heart, doing everything they can to help the pair raise their second batch of chicks this year and looking towards the future with the hopes that they’d make it a permanent home. They’ve been amazing to work with and as accommodating as one could hope for. By next year, in fact, the South Loop falcons should have a nest box to go along with the snazzy web cam!

We’ve gotten to know the humans of 1130 and I like every single one of them a great deal. So, when they brought up the idea of supporting Chicago’s own Blackhawks hockey team (currently playing for the Stanley Cup) by naming the chicks after players and wearing ‘Hawks garb for the banding pictures, we were MORE than happy to comply.

The banding went very smoothly. We had about 10 guests and Isabel came along to help out before returning to Texas. The building decided to name the lone female chick “Buff” for Blackhawk Dustin Byfuglien. If Mr. Byfuglien ever catches wind of this, I hope he isn’t offended that a girl got his name. As one of the more fearsome and large Blackhawks, it only seemed fitting that the much larger and much stronger female should have his name. The two males were named “Toews” (for team captain Jonathan Toews) and “Kane” (for Patrick Kane).

With any hope, this brings luck to the ‘Hawks, courtesy of the Falcons!

Posted in Chicago South Loop

UIC Banding

•June 4, 2010 • Comments Off

Well, the UIC banding is done! Three chicks — one female, 2 males. While Matt and Isabel banded the babies for the press, Mary and I washed the windows — me inside, her outside. That should make it much easier to see the action from the web cam!

Posted in Chicago UIC

Renesters

•June 3, 2010 • Comments Off

I mentioned before that Autumn Hope and her mate, previously our Magnificent Mile pair, have renested in the River Birds territory on the London Guarantee building. On May 25th, Mary and I went to the London Guarantee to check things out and found Autumn Hope sitting on two eggs.

Today, Mary, Matt and I went back to the LG to spiff Autumn Hope and mate’s nest ledge with some some pea gravel. I was really hoping that the mate would come in so I could get leg bands, but, sadly, that didn’t happen.

We DID see the fierce and furious Autumn Hope and four, yes – four – eggs. Matt and Mary spread a nice layer of gravel under her watchful gaze and laid all four eggs right in the center.

This is the first real renest I’ve seen. Mary and Matt have seen a few and I’ve read about late, successful renests in Michigan and Wisconsin.

Posted in Chicago Mag Mile, Chicago River

St. Mary’s Adult

•June 1, 2010 • Comments Off

So, the adults at St. Mary’s did actually lay two eggs, but they were abandoned. Mary and I went to retrieve them and ‘lo and behold, one of the adults was hanging around! It (turned out to be the female) was perched on the roof ledge on the opposite corner as the eggs. Mary stationed me over by it in hopes of getting the bands. I was there for about 40 minutes, veeeery slowly scooting closer to her while she sat there staring at me. It was really cool. By the time she stood up off her feet to scratch, I was less than 10 feet away from her so I could actually read her bands with the naked eye – b/g R/90. I snapped some nice pictures of the bands and then backed off. She honestly seemed completely unconcerned.

When we got back to the museum, we were surprised to note that she wasn’t in the band database. So, at this point, we don’t know more than her band numbers. Mary said she’ll start calling around to other state monitors and see what we can find out.

Posted in Chicago St. Mary's

Wacker Banding

•May 28, 2010 • Comments Off

Every year, I try to make sure I go to the banding at south Wacker. The very first banding I ever attended was Wacker, so the site has a special place in my heart. This year, it rose a bit further in the sentimental ranks due to four special guests – husband Sean, boss Margaret, co-worker Gracen and David from exhibits (who has made a number of our peregrine shelters on his off time).

Margaret and Al, curators in the Insect Division at the Field and my bosses, have been very kind to let me continue my work with Mary, Matt and the peregrines. They’ve consistently allowed me to pick up and leave for hours in the middle of a work day in order to make site visits, go to bandings, track adults, and on and on. You may recall, my previous boss, Carl, was equally accommodating. In fact, now that I’m typing this, I realize I’ve been incredibly lucky to work for the curator’s I’ve worked for at the Field. I have not had even one bad experience. It’s just a great group of people, one and all.

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Posted in Chicago South Wacker

Pilsen and the New River Birds

•May 25, 2010 • Comments Off

A two-site trip today, one really fun, one sad.

First, the Pilsen site has failed. The adults are fine, but the chicks didn’t make it. We’ve recovered the bodies and will work to find out why that nest failed.

Second, Mary and I visited London Guarantee! When the river birds nested there in 2008, the office had just been vacated, so it was an expansive, dark, unoccupied space.

So, it was almost shocking to emerge from the elevator today into a beautiful and modern white reception area. Honestly, I thought we had the wrong floor. Fortunately, our guide, a building engineer, knew were he was going. We followed him into reception where we were directed through a doorway into the office proper.

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Posted in Chicago Mag Mile, Chicago Pilsen, Chicago River

Waukegan Banding

•May 24, 2010 • Comments Off

I’ve watched the Waukegan birds via the webcam for years now, but I’ve never actually been to the site. Today, that changed. Mary and Matt asked me to accompany them on banding day and try to identify the adults while they banded the chicks. My favorite thing!

Fran, the adult female, started nesting on the roof of a large power plant in 2001. As far as I understand, they’ve been able to identify Fran every year since then, but the male has remained elusive. I had high hopes and spent most of the long drive up psyching myself up, “Just get the shot. Don’t think about anything else. Don’t go for the pretty picture. Just get the shot.”

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Posted in IL Waukegan