Welcome our chick at a falcon banding on Friday, June 9

Plus, name two members of our falcon fam!

The Evanston Public Library is excited to welcome our new baby falcon chick into the world. 

The chick was hatched on May 14 – just in time for Mother’s Day –  in a scrape under the eaves of the Main Library. 

On Friday, June 9, EPL and our partners at the Field Museum’s Chicago Peregrine Program will host a banding and announce the name of our baby chick and its mama at 10:30 a.m. on the third floor of the Main Library. The public is welcome to join us and watch as Mary Hennen, Director of the Chicago Peregrine Program at The Field Museum, bands the young peregrine falcon. The chick will be removed from the nest, brought inside, and then returned to the nest after the banding is done, and Hennen will answer questions from the audience.

The Library is also accepting nominations for names for both the unnamed female and the chick. Falcon fans are encouraged to submit their name ideas, and the names of the two birds will be announced at the banding. 

Name the falcons!

Peregrine falcons have been nesting on the Main Library since 2004, a welcome sight after the species were nearly eradicated by pesticides in the mid-twentieth century. The species has made an incredible rebound thanks to regulation of pollutants, programs like the Chicago Peregrine Project, and the work of volunteers like the birders of the Evanston Peregrine Falcon Watch. Peregrines are fast fliers and can reach speeds of up to 69 mph when directly pursuing prey. 

The current couple, a male named Coach Kevin and an unnamed female, laid three eggs this season, one of which successfully hatched and is growing rapidly in the scrape. Watch the birds live at epl.org/falconcam. 

For more information on our falcons, visit epl.org/falcons. 

EPL Extra

Ask a climate scientist this Sunday

Ask your most pressing questions around climate change! Climate Up Close believes Americans should reach their own judgments about climate science, by seeing the evidence for themselves and putting their questions directly to climate scientists.

Climate Up Close scientists will help you better understand the stories you might be reading in the news and discuss questions that are central to how scientists think about the problem, but are not often featured in the public conversation. Join EPL and Climate Up Close scientists for a presentation, followed by a Q&A session and time to mingle and have an informal chat with a climate scientist. All ages. Registration helpful but not required. Sunday, June 4, 2-3:15 p.m., at EPL’s Robert Crown Branch Library.

Register