There are a fair few peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) nesting in Chicago, including a few in Hyde Park, but here, from Facebook, is a pair that chose an unusual nesting site:
Imagine being able to watch that through your window! Maybe I’ll get lucky and be invited over. . .
h/t: Matthew Cobb
I used to work at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. A pair of peregrines nested atop the Biomedical Research Building. I worked in an adjacent building and one day I went out for a breath of air. I looked up to see what the weather was and caught a peregrine stooping down on a hapless pigeon. I could see the falcon “punch” the pigeon, which lazily spiraled down, one wing akimbo, between two buildings.
That is amazing! Hope they don’t crash into the glass.
Irresistible. I saw the email and had to look. I ❤️ Peregrines!!
That is great. Hope they stay so they can get pictures as they grow.
4 healthy looking chicks, lots of pigeons for them to eat.
Lucky condo owners! Field Museum ornithologists monitor Chicago peregrine breeding territories. Most likely they know about this pair, but maybe not. The date of the fb post (1/19) implies that these birds are nesting now, but that is very unlikely. Almost certainly the photo is from a previous year. Chicago peregrines don’t begin egg laying until late March or early April, and the size of the young indicates that this photo was taken in late spring or early summer (probably June).
Delightful!
One of the University of Pittsburgh’s longtime (est 2002) Peregrines on the 38th floor of the Cathedral of Learning, Dorothy, died recently. Apparently replaced by one called Hope. There’s another one unceremoniously called E2. They have a webcam, and, like the Penn State squirrel, they have a Facebook page.
They have chicks in January? Is that normal?
The chicks make me nervous. Do they ever mistakenly go overboard before they can fly? It’s a long way down.
One could not say that it never happens but these birds evolved to nest on cliffs and crags so presumably the chicks are well adapted to retaining a firm foothold. Tall buildings in cities have proven to make an acceptable cliff substitute for this species in cities around the world. There can be very few nests, though, that offer the inhabitants of the building quite such a spectacular view of the nest!
Wow! I am so envious! I would love to have peregrines nesting outside my window like that!
Me too.
Which begs the question…
If we all had such nests outside our windows, would that make us a peregrination?
Chick-cargo!
http://chicagoist.com/2015/08/24/the_falcons_on_the_balcony.php#photo-10
Check out the Audubon link in the article.
Bird-friendly architecture must be a thing, given how many birds are killed each year by buildings. Surely such works could also be designed with specialized nesting facilities.
Who’s watching who? From the photo, it seems the whole family is checking out the photographer. Cool.