Peregrine falcons protecting chicks and dive-bombing Chicago pedestrians

CHICAGO (AP) — A pair of peregrine falcon parents are raising three chicks along Chicago’s busy Wacker Drive, and beware to any pedestrian who ventures too closely to their nest. Just ask Chuck Valauskas. He was leaving work last week, walking below the nest situated on a seventh-floor ledge when he felt a thud against his head. Valauskas tells the Chicago Sun-Times, “It felt like a 16-inch softball.” Valauskas sustained a 1-inch gash on his head and now avoids the path beneath the nest. He has since gotten a tetanus shot to be safe. Building security guards say at least one other person has been clobbered by the birds.