TWO FALCONS VISIT THE LAB SCHOOLS
April 2: Two Peregrine Falcons were sighted on The Lab School's Blaine Hall today.
We think one is a male and one is a female.
One falcon has a band on its leg.
April 3: One falcon was seen today, and it appears to be nesting. Is this the female spotted yesterday?
April 24: Sadly, the falcons seem to have moved on. No one has seen them for the past two weeks.
Click Here To See More Falcon Pictures
Web Info About Falcons
Cornell University All About Falcons
Falcon Videos
Birds of North America--Peregrine Falcon
National Geographic--Peregrine Falcon
Illinois Raptor Center
More About Birds
To see a fantastic collection of bird and animal pictures visit Emil Martinec's web page. His site includes local Chicago birds and birds from around the world. Click here.
| Courtyard Crows Nest 2007
April 9: Adult crows are nesting. Can’t see any eggs, but they are sitting on something.
April 10: Routine eggsitting.
April 12: Not-so-routine sitting in the rain, sleet, and snow. Who said parenting is easy?!
April 19: First sighting of baby crows! Those red mouths are saying, “Feed me, feed me!”
April 25: Four babies are a bit bigger, have more feathers, and are still hungry. I can’t hear them from 15 feet away, but I suspect they make a bit of noise.
April 30: Growing up fast! Now the nest looks crowded and way too small.
May 10: The babies don’t look like babies any more! They are almost as big as the parents, and their feathers have filled out very rapidly.
May 17: All the baby crows have left the nest. For the past several weeks they have been stretching their wings and going on test flights. And now after barely more than 4 weeks they have hatched, grown up, and flown away. Amazing.
Be sure to check back next year in early April to see if another crow family returns to the nest.
Click here to see pictures of the crow's nest and the baby crows in our courtyard.
3rd Grade Cricket Project
- As part of our study of insects this quarter each third grader will have a cricket to care for, observe, and house. In class we will discuss all that is necessary to keep the crickets healthy and happy.
- Each student must provide a small cage to house the cricket. It should be small enough so that it can easily be taken home and brought back to school. The cage must let in fresh air and keep out other curious animals like pets. Large plastic containers with flat bottoms and holes poked in the lids work nicely.
- I have a limited number of containers for those students who can’t find their own cricket houses.
- Students should bring their containers to school no earlier than Friday, April 25 and no later than Monday, April 28. We will start our study of crickets about that time.
- For more information about crickets and cricket care go to my insects page.
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