Evanston Peregrine Falcon Watch main@EvanstonPFWatch.groups.io
EVANSTON PEREGRINE FALCON WATCH
Nest Site: EPL
2004 through 2020
2023 -
Season 2023
As of the first half of March, our pair were mainly spending time at the back of the hotel, boding the unwelcome prospect of a 3rd year without young, given the likelihood of eggs laid in a gutter being washed out in the rain. Fortunately, their attention started shifting to the library. An early morning April 4th column check by library maintenance staff made the exciting discovery of 3 Eggs, indicating that the first would have arrived no later than March 31st. We’re on watch for a fourth. Watch this space…
…Just the three eggs in this clutch. Unfortunately, there were frequent, significant interruptions in incubation (due to a number of times when the female failed to appear after the male (Coach Kevin) finished a ‘shift’ on the eggs. The cooling of the eggs for prolonged periods of time on numerous occasions likely factored in to only a single egg hatching, a male named Bibli.
Bibli turned out to be a slow developer. His juvenile feathers grew in slower than normal and were still incomplete at the time of his two groundings (see Fledging info). Additionally, some of his flight feathers were misaligned.
Upon his second grounding (July 2nd) Bibli was taken to Willowbrook Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. The Willowbrook staff found that he was behind in development and had some misaligned flight feathers. Additionally, his flapping was labored, and he was never observed flying or even attempting flight. The labored flapping suggested indeterminate internal issues. Being incapable of flight he was non-releasable. Mary Hennen and Willowbrook staff were in the process of exploring whether it would be possible to place him in an accredited facility as an education ambassador bird, but on 8/16 he was found dead, cause uncertain. Mary H simply wrote that he was incapable of flight with limited mobility and died naturally.
Bibli's life was brief but hugely impactful by the measure of the emotional investment of his watchers. The seemingly much belated hatching of his egg contrary to all of our expectations, his weak and wobbly first days casting serious doubt on his survival, and his slow, abnormal development made watching him an emotional rollercoaster. In the end his innate peregrine instincts could not overcome his physical limitations.
His body will go to the Field Museum for preservation. He never got to live free as a wild peregrine, or become an education ambassador bird, but he will exist as an education specimen in the Field Museum collection.
I know we were all touched by his struggles and saddened by his loss. He’ll always have a place in my heart.
F: "Teca" (named by EPL), b/blu, M/43. Hails from the Carmeuse Lime Plant, Gary, IN, 2019
M: Coach Kevin, b/blu, 43/D, Hails from the Hilton Garden Inn, Chicago, IL, 2019
FalconCam - April 4th
https://www.epl.org/attend/special-events/falcon-cam/
https://www.youtube.com/live/gdSh49C5Vto?feature=share
Nest-Column: 5
Egg Laying
1) Discovered 4/4
2) Discovered 4/4
3) Discovered 4/4
4)
Hatchings
1st - Revealed May 14th, 1:05 PM (dubbed a Mother’s Day miracle)
2nd - Failed to hatch
3rd - Failed to hatch
Banding: June 9th
1 - Bibli, M, b/blu, Z/45
2 - N/A
3- N/A
1st Nest-Ledge Sighting
Saturday June 24th, 12:38 PM (immediately followed by a fall to the ramp below - see Fledging info)
Drop-Downs to Window-Box (WB)
1.N/A
2. N/A
3. N/A
Fledging
Saturday June 24th, 12:41 PM: Lost balance on SW corner of nest-column and fell to library ramp. Placed in window-box 5.
Saturday July 1st, 8:00 AM: Made it up to window-box ledge for the first time.
Sunday, July 2nd, 2:08 PM: Flew off window-box ledge and grounded on library ramp. Taken to Willowbrook Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.
Disclaimer: The EPFW is an independent group acting in cooperation with the Evanston Public Library and the Chicago Peregrine Program.
Deborah Cohen, Group Owner
C) 847-877-2971
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