The Evanston Public Library FalconCam

The Evanston Public Library FalconCam: Spring 2007 — The Peregrine Falcons came back!. For the Fourth year in a row peregrine falcons chose to nest at the library. The same pair as last year succesfully raised four chicks in the nest located inside one of the column caps near the library's Church Street entrance.
Zipporah back for a rest in the flowerbox at the Library 6/26.	Saved Images: June 13 — Wing exercises June 1 — What's for dinner? May 14 — Four Chicks May 11 — First chick April 10 — Four eggs. April 7 — Three eggs. April 5 — Two eggs. April 3 — The first egg. April 2 — Getting ready.
Update — 6/25/2007 All four chicks fledged on Friday, June 22. One ended up on a downtown sidewalk on Friday, and another turned up on alley pavement on Saturday, but both took flight when potential rescuers arrived. All four birds have since been spotted flying and perching around downtown Evanston. Careful observers can expect to see them over downtown Evanston for the next several weeks.
Update — 6/20/2007 One of the males, Baker, attempted a first flight on Tuesday, 6/19. For a while it appeared that he had been successful, but at around 8:30 PM he was found perched on the roof of a red sports car in front of the Orrington Hotel, unwilling to have anything further to do with flying. Two volunteers from the Peregrine Project picked him up, examined him, and returned him to the flower box. This morning before 8:00 AM two other chicks glided down to join Baker in the flower box, which is out of view of the webcam.
Update — 6/8/2007 The four chicks, three males and one female, were banded this morning. They will grow their flight feathers over the coming days and will probably be ready to fly in two to three weeks. As they get nearer to flying the chicks will move around more and, if past experience is a guide, may well move to a nearby planter, out of view of the webcam. The birds were named: Zipporah — for the wife of Moses. Her name in Hebrew means “little bird.” Baker — for John Alec Baker an obscure British librarian who wrote a memorable book of nature writing titled Peregrine. Horus — for an Egyptian deity usually represented as a falcon or a falcon headed man. Boccaccio — for Giovanni Boccaccio the author of The Decameron, which contains a memorable story about a falcon.
Update — 6/6/2007 — Banding day The chicks have grown a lot over the last month, and they are now ready for banding. Their bones are near full size so a permanent numbered metal band can be attached to one leg, but they are not quite ready to fly so they are still relatively easy to catch and handle safely. Mary Hennen, director of the Chicago Peregrine Program at the Field Museum of Natural History, and her team will once again be on hand to do the banding Friday, June 8 at 9 AM.
Update — 5/14/2007 The chicks have hatched. The first chick hatched on Friday May 11, and the others followed shortly after (probably on Saturday). As they move about and huddle together, it can be a little difficult to count them sometimes, but there are definitely four chicks. They are small now, but they will quickly grow and be ready to fly in mid to late June. Banding day is tentatively set for June 8.
Update — 4/10/2007 Four eggs!
Update — 4/07/2007 Three eggs.
Update — 4/05/2007 Two eggs.
Update — 4/03/2007 We have an egg! The nesting pair (as yet unidentified, but quite possibly the same pair as last year) have been showing interest in the same nesting site as last year for some while; this morning the first egg appeared. The mother should lay two or three more over the next few days, at which point the pair will start sitting consistently.
Falcons at the Library Banding, 2004 Peregrine Falcons nested on the Library for the first time in the summer of 2004. That year there were four eggs, but shortly after the eggs hatched the female broke her wing leaving the male to raise the chicks on his own. Only one chick successfully fledged, the other three succumbed to malnourishment and disease. The female with the broken wing received veterinary treatment and now appears in nature education programs. Chicks in the nest - 2005 In 2005 the same male returned to the Library with a new mate and three chicks fledged successfully. In the fall of 2005 the male broke his wing; despite treatment the wing did not heal and he had to be euthanized. 2005 marked the debut of the FalconCam. The Evanston Review had an article about the falcons: "Falcon family thrills a rapt library crowd" (Evanston Review, June 30, 2005) Dashiel, Robinson and May on banding day. 2006 was another good year. Four eggs were laid in mid April, three chicks hatched in mid May and all three fledged successfully between June 27 and 29. For a short while they were seen around Evanston, but they soon dispersed, and their current whereabouts are unknown. On Monday June 12, 2006 staff and volunteers from the Field Museum banded and took blood samples from the chicks, and they posed for a photograph. One of the three chicks is female and two are male. They were named: May — for May Theilgaard Watts the late famed naturalist for Morton Arboretum, an ecology pioneer in the Chicago area Dashiell — for Dashiell Hammett the author of the Maltese Falcon Robinson — for Robinson Jeffers an American poet who wrote a number of memorable poems about birds of prey The mother was the same female that nested here in 2005, an unnamed bird born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
For the latest in breaking peregrine research: The Peregrine Fund World Center for Birds of Prey Has photos, an online research library and newsletter about peregrines and other raptors. Peregrine Falcons- U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Brief facts about the peregrine. The Canadian Peregrine Foundation Has a raptor photo identification gallery, live webcams, and a reference page on peregrine biology. The Raptor Center Sponsored by the University of Minnesota's College of Veterinary Medicine,this site has information about what to do with an injured raptor, a section on the birds the center has treated, reports on peregrine falcons, and migration tracking maps. Users can view pictures and movies, and listen to individual bird sounds. For further information about Peregrine Falcons see: Web Sites: The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology; Peregrine Falcon, Falco peregrinus. The Field Museum's web site about the reintroduction of Peregrines to the Chicago area. The Chicago Wilderness article "How Peregrines Learned to Hack the Big City" Adult Books in the Library's Collection: Tennant, Alan. On the Wing : To the Edge of the Earth with the Peregrine Falcon. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 2004. Tennant relates wild adventures while radio tracking Arctic Peregrines on their migratory journeys. Baker, John Alec. The Peregrine. New York, Harper & Row, 1967. One of the most remarkable pieces of nature writing. Baker, untrained in ornithology, devoted ten years of his life to studying Peregrine Falcons near his home in England. Children's Books in the Library's Collection: Unwin, Mike. Peregrine Falcon. Chicago, Ill., Heinemann Library, 2004. Wechsler, Doug. Peregrine Falcons. New York, Rosen Pub. PowerKids Press, c2000. Jenkins, Priscilla Belz. Falcons Nest on Skyscrapers. New York, HarperCollins, 1996. Green, Carl R. The Peregrine Palcon. Mankato, Minn., Crestwood House, 1986. Arnold, Caroline. Saving the Peregrine Falcon. Minneapolis, Carolrhoda Books, 1985.