Senior High-Rise Plays Host To Baby Falcon

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago is the home of sports stars, great architecture and, it seems, falcons.

Yet another has been found here. And now conservationists will be able to keep track of it for years to come.

CBS 2's Jim Williams reports.

Residents at Clare Senior Center on the Gold Coast have seen so much in their lives, but they were in awe Monday as they watched Mary Hennen of the Field Museum put an identification tag on a baby falcon.

The baby and its parents were discovered making a home on a ledge of the high-rise – real urban living.

"The city is nothing but a pseudo-cliff with lots of ledges. Every time we add another building, you add another great place for them to check out," Hennen says.

For decades, the falcon population in the United States dropped dramatically because of the insecticide DDT. But now there are more than 20 pairs in Illinois, and Hennen wants to keep track of them.

They're calling the falcon -- likely a female -- Clare.

The baby bird squawked during the tagging process. Her parents apparently didn't like it either. They could be observed outside the window, distressed.

But they were soon reunited.

Chicago now has something of a community of Peregrine falcons. Last week, a police rescued a young falcon in the Loop after it fell during a flight. And CBS 2 recently reported about another outside of Juanita Jordan's home on Lake Shore Drive.