Falcon Cam

The Evanston Public Library FalconCam:   Spring 2008 —Peregrine Falcons Nest at the Library Again
The falcons once again returned to nest at the library in 2008. The same pair that nested here in 2007 succesfully raised four chicks, three of which survived fledging.

June 16- Neal ventures away from the nest.

2008 Saved Images:


May 24 —Awwwwwwwww!


May 14 —Everyone queue up!


May 9 — Feeding time


May 9 — Four chicks and Nona


May 7 — Feed me!


May 7 — Three chicks!


April 5 — Four eggs


April 3 — Three eggs


April 1 — Two eggs


March 29 — First egg


March 5 — Nest Inspection

Update — 7/2/2008

A short video of Neal. Also, Brigid was found to have no broken bones. She will have ample opportunity to hone her flying skills at SOAR.
Update — 6/25/2008

Brigid will be taken to the Lincoln Park Zoo hospital for x-rays today, and then over to SOAR (Save Our American Raptors) for rehabilitation. She ended up on the ground twice in the last twenty-four hours, once at Chase Plaza yesterday afternoon and once on Church and Orrington in front of the library in the wee, small hours of this morning.
Update — 6/23/2008

It appears that Neal, Brigid and Rebecca have succesfully fledged. They have been spotted flying and landing on various rooftops and other high perches around downtown Evanston. Sadly, Mistress Hussey died flying into the Chase Bank building on June 16.


June 16- Brigid back in the flower box at the library after an early flight attempt.
Update — 6/3/2008

A short video of the banding.

Update — 5/30/2008

Today the nice folks from the Field Museum and Shedd Aquarium banded the falcon chicks and figured out we have one male and three females [Correction: Mistress Hussey turned out to be male, so there were actually 2 males and 2 females. He was presumed female at the time of banding because there was some doubt as to gender, and Mary Hennen of the Field Museum always errs on the side of female to prevent any chance of a still growing leg becoming constricted by the smaller male band.] The chosen names were:
  • Neal for Neal Ney - semi-professional bird and nature lover, former Evanston Public Library Director
  • Brigid for Brigid O'Shaughnessy the main female character in the Maltese Falcon
  • Mistress Hussey for Mistress Margaret Hussey who was compared to a falcon by poet John Skelton
  • Rebecca for Rebecca West the author of Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia.
Update — 5/21/2008

The chicks will be banded and named on Friday, May 30 at 11:00.
Update — 5/9/2008

All four eggs have hatched.
Update — 5/6-7/2008

It appears that three of the eggs have hatched, possibly starting the evening of May 6.
Update — 4/5/2008

Four eggs.
Update — 4/3/2008

Three eggs.
Update — 4/1/2008

Two eggs.
Update — 3/29/2008

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 evening 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

Chick - 2004
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.

Nest with chicks - 2005
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)


May, Dashiel, and Robinson
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.

Chick - 2007

In 2007, there were four chicks, three males and one female.

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.

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:
Peregrine Falcons" from the Encyclopedia of Life
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.
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