I had to go into work today, partly to get some things done at my own job, but partly to be on hand for a special visitor.

I think I’ve mentioned that when our banding team went to Wacker to band the chicks, Fred, the building engineer we’ve all gotten to know over the past couple of years, had his son there to witness the event. Although he’d gotten approval from the building prior to bringing his son all the way in with him to work, some confusion ensued and his son was not allowed to attend the banding. Fred Jr. was, needless to say, crushed.

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Yesterday, we banded the two Wacker chicks - a boy and a girl. We had quite a big group for Wacker, including a special invited group from CNA, so I spent much of the time talking with them. However, I did get a chance to snap a few pictures of the Wacker female. I am quite happy to report that we’ve confirmed the female is Rahn (b/g, 01/A). So, kudos to Rahn for finding a mate so quickly after Etienne passed. The CNA folks and the young son of my favorite building engineer, Fred, named the chicks:

• Big Red (F) - for the CNA building, which the employees call, well, Big Red!
• Nel (M) - for Darnel. We still have to find out who Darnel is. Fred and his son are going to be coming to the museum soon for a special tour, so I’ll try to remember to find out then!

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Hi all! Here’s a quick update on bandings.

5821 N Broadway - Three chicks, two females and one male, were banded on May 28th.

Evanston Library - Four chicks, three females and one male, were banded on May 30th.

Waukegan - Five chicks, three females and two males, were banded on June 2nd.

125 S. Wacker - Banding to take place this week.

Uptown Theater - Banding to take place next week.

University of Illinois at Chicago - Banding to take place next week.

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Oh man, did I get behind! My life has been so busy of late, I haven’t had time to keep up with anything, but I am terribly sorry for the lack of updates! I’ll go back and fill in some of the blanks over the weekend, but let me start with a quick recap of this month’s events. I’ve written some more detailed entries, but haven’t posted them. I’ll try to backdate and post them over the long weekend. Anywho! Without further ado:

125 S. Wacker Falcons - The male at Wacker has been confirmed as Joe (b/g 59/H). Joe replaced last year’s male Etienne, as Etienne died over the winter. The female has yet to be confirmed, but is most likely Rahn, the female from last year. We were all very pleased to see that Rahn found a mate in time for this nesting season after the loss of Etienne in January. Joe and probably-Rahn are currently busy taking care of four chicks and we should be banding them shortly after Evanston.

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Three Eeee-ggs Lost!
Two Le-eg Bands!
AND SOME PERE-GRI- iiiNES IN OUR CIiiii-TY!

*ahem*

An exciting day today!

First, an update on the museum pair. We’ve been checking the stairs outside the north entrance diligently and haven’t seen any more egg splats. On the sad side, we’ve seen very little of Helen and Mr. M as well. I will hope that they’ve gone to another site to lay eggs in a less precarious place, but time will tell. This follows the same cycle as last year, so I suspect we may not see them again until next season.

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A few weeks ago, Sean and I went down to Peoria to help his grandfather set up a new home computer network. After grandpa used it for a week, Sean and I realized there were a few more little things that needed fixing, so we decided another trip was needed. Generally, I would have gone with him, but there was little that I could actually do to help him AND peregrine season is in full swing.

Saturday morning, I rolled out of bed very early, which wasn’t so easy since I’d been up until three in the morning on Friday playing a video game. Good to know I still haven’t grown out of that. I packed all the camera gear, my binocs and some water after checking out the window to see a gloriously beautiful day dawning.

I decided to start at the top of Michigan Avenue and work my way down through the loop. I had three pairs of birds as a goal - the River Birds, The Wacker Birds and the Jail Birds.

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I made a few trips up to the garage top last week with the hopes that I’d see
Herc and Max getting the ole’ nest ready for baby season. I fervently hoped that this year, they’d choose to nest on the north side of the building rather than the west side, as they did last year. As anyone who read last year’s journal entries knows, watching them on the western exposure presents quite a challenge.

First things first, it seems that many of my friends from the garage moved on over the winter. Sadly, I won’t be seeing Tyrone, Tom or Nichelle this year. I suppose that’s sort of the way these things go, but they will be missed.

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Here is Mary’s final report! Sorry it’s a bit late posting, but I’ve been a busy girl! This year, I’ve decided to help the Chicago Bird and Collision Monitors and Flint Creek Wildlife Rehab by transporting the DOA birds from Flint Creek to the Field Museum. As well, I’ve been out there with my camera, trying to get pictures of some of the migrants to add to my Chicago Bird Field Guide project. I’ve had a very successful Palm Warbler and Ovenbird year, but haven’t gotten many other good pictures. Oh, well, it’s a work in progress!

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The time had come to make the trip to Wacker for banding day. I can’t believe it’s only been a year since my very first banding trip!

I arrived at the Wacker building at 10:15am and saw Matt standing in the lobby with a woman I didn’t know. I waved as I walked up and exchanged happy hellos with Matt before he introduced me to his friend - well, our friend! Turns out, Mary had invited Karen, the woman who works directly across from the Wacker ledge in the Sears Tower and has been monitoring them for nearly eight years. It was really nifty to meet her and I could tell she was just thrilled to be at her first banding.

Mary and zoo vet tech Kristina showed up shortly thereafter and soon the five of us were in the elevator on our way up to the machine room. Fred, the young maintenance guy, met us at the office and took us back to the ledge door room.

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ACTIVE SITES, NESTING VERIFIED

5821 N. Broadway
Adult female Auntie Em (b/g 5/*P, 1999, Milwaukee, WI) and adult male Tracy (b/g *P/M, 1997 Broadway, Chicago, IL) had five eggs. The first chick was sighted on May 9th.

Belmont & LSD
In the fall of 2006, a pair of peregrines began using the ledges of a building near Belmont and Lake Shore Drive. On November 21, 2006 the female was identified as Ballistic (b/g 69/C, 2005, Cleveland, OH) and the male was identified only as far as having a b/g band. We received no new reports regarding this pair again until then end of April 2007. Apparently, two eggs were laid in a gutter and lost during a rainstorm on 4/2/07. Ballistic was reported at the end of March over at St. Michael’s, paired with adult male Hops (see St. Michael’s below).

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