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FALCON FEST
Re:
“Falcon Quest” (“Chicago
Journal,” December/04). Attached you will find my photograph of
“our” female peregrine falcon perched on a Cobb Hall gutter,
taken from the fourth floor of the Administration Building last spring.
This is the very bird whose cries to her mate, usually seen on the northeast
corner of the Surgery Brain Research Institute across the street, disturbed
the provost’s meetings for a few weeks during egg-laying season. The
bird pictured on page 23 of the Magazine is indeed a Cooper’s
hawk, also occasionally seen hunting pigeons around campus. Peregrines take
their prey, always birds, in flight; Cooper’s hawks can take prey
in the air or on the ground, and eat not only birds, but also small rodents
(U of C squirrels, beware!).
Nesting peregrines have graced the campus for a number of years, first on the steeple of the First Unitarian Church of Chicago at 57th and Woodlawn, then, after it was demolished, on Green Hall, and, unfortunately, less successfully since then on various campus aeries. Both peregrine falcons and Cooper’s hawks contribute mightily to controlling the pigeon population.
Veronica Wald, AB’71
Chicago
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