The four peregrine falcon chicks that hatched in early May outside Aurora City Hall have finally left their nest, ending months of livestreamed drama that turned an exterior crevice on the building’s second floor into one of downtown Aurora’s most-watched attractions. One of the young falcons even took a detour into the Fox River before making it out safely, in a rescue that residents and city staff say captures just how far the river itself has come.
The chicks belong to parent falcons named Vixen and Dave, who nested at Aurora City Hall in April, according to the Chicago Tribune. Aurora city staff set up web cameras so residents could watch the eggs hatch and the chicks grow, with the livestream displayed on screens around City Hall offices and piped in through a Wi-Fi connection donated by the nearby Riverfront Playhouse, which even let the city run an electrical cord through its ceiling for the cameras. The feed drew hundreds of views as residents tuned in to watch the falcons learn to fly and receive food from their parents.
One young falcon’s path out of the nest was rockier than the rest. Local residents helped rescue a young falcon that had become trapped in the Fox River, using nothing more than a bucket and a towel, an effort that unfolded in June. Quentin Johnson, an Aurora city animal control officer, was photographed holding the young peregrine after its rescue on June 11. The rescue succeeded in part because of shoreline vegetation planted along the riverbank as part of ongoing restoration work, since water willow restoration helped save the young falcon that fell into the water.
A River That Used To Smell Like Sewage
For longtime residents, the falcons’ presence at all is remarkable. Tom Schrader, a lifelong Aurora resident, said that 60 years ago the Fox River smelled like sewage, fish had sores, and birds of prey were scarce. Schrader credits the falcon population’s recovery to decades of Fox River cleanup efforts, tying the birds’ comeback directly to cleaner water, since clean water brings more fish, and peregrine falcons hunt shorebirds and waterfowl that eat fish…