Witty title and great photos from a reader who caught a glimpse of two of Uptown's most fabled residents last week:
"I live a few doors south of the Riv on Racine and occasionally see one of Uptown's celebrated raptors perched on a tree branch in our woodsy courtyard. (I've also stumbled across their crime-scene leftovers — decapitated pigeons — from time to time.) I've been trying to photograph them from my third-floor home and, this past week, two of them paused long enough nearby for me to snap off a few shots before they rocketed off.
I don't have the best gear in the world and wish I had a better telephoto lens, but these turned out alright.
There are two birds here: the one facing right is one (wondering if this is Stan, the patricidal son I've read about?), and the one facing left are another falcon (perhaps a recently hatched juvenile?). I know absolutely jack squawk about avian species, so couldn't tell you who's who here. I just think it's immensely cool that the fastest creature on earth is Uptown's unofficial mascot and helps cull the pigeons fattened up by Pigeon Lady near the Lawrence CTA station."
Those aren't Peregrine Falcons, they are hawks. They both look like Cooper's Hawks to me. It's not uncommon to find such hawks in Chicago neighborhoods. Interesting birds to watch too.
ReplyDeleteLast summer a pair of Cooper's Hawks had a nest in the alley between St Boniface cemetery and Magnolia. Maybe the pair is back?
ReplyDeleteIts strange that the Cooper's Hawk can live so close to the Peregrines. Yet they seem to get all riled up at the Arctic Owl moving in.
ReplyDeleteWe have enough pigeons and squirrels for them all and then some.
I haven't heard of Peregrines attacking Cooper's, could be wrong.
The strange world of bird relations....