Trip Report: Field Museum Peregrine Collection Tour

by Edward Warden

On a beautiful but blustery spring day, a small group of excited birders gathered on the might marble steps leading up to the Field Museum of Natural History. For all intents and purposes it’s a typical weekend on Chicago’s museum campus; gulls and vultures circled high above and families streamed into the museum doors. But this particular group was holding a different kind of ticket; a pass behind the scenes to get a glimpse of Peregrine Falcons from around the world.

It’s often been said that Chicago is a world class city. One such reason but often overlooked is the ability to see, study, and marvel at birds from around the world. The collections at the Field Museum are in fact world class and host one of the largest assemblages of scientific bird specimens anywhere. On top of that, what you see on display in the public areas of the museum is a small fraction of what is contained in the building overall. So when planning began for the Year of the Peregrine, our friends at the museum’s bird division were more than happy to open their doors and give us a chance to learn more about peregrines through the lens of their carefully preserved collections.

Mary Hennen soon greeted us at the door and escorted us inside, into a freight elevator, past rows of specimen vaults, and into a classroom. As Director of the Chicago Peregrine Program, Mary is THE expert when it comes to Chicago’s Peregrine Falcons and was more than prepared. Inside the classroom was a mind-boggling array of not just Peregrine Falcon skins, but eggs and bones as well as examples of peregrine prey items, confusing look alike birds, and a screen displaying a live feed of an active peregrine nest.

As our wide-eyed group explored the array before us, Mary spoke extensively on peregrine biology, how they vary across the planet, their conservation history, how museum collections helped bring them back from endangered status, the role of the Chicago Peregrine Program, and so much more. After nearly two hours of knowledge sharing and question fielding, Mary took us for a short tour of the collection storage areas and specimen prep lab before closing out for the day.

We are so tremendously thankful to Mary Hennen and the Field Museum for delivering what was essentially a master class in Peregrine Falcons for free. To learn more about the bird division at the Field Museum and support their work, visit:

https://birds.fieldmuseum.org/