Bill McCleery

bill.mccleery@indystar.com

Schatzi, the peregrine falcon that hatched this year at Market Tower in Downtown Indianapolis, has died.

Laura James-Reim, who writes the falcon blog at IndyStar.com, broke the news on Facebook today.

"It is with tears as I type, but Schatzi's body has been recovered," James-Reim wrote on the KathyQ page. " I will post more later. I'm so sorry everyone. But we always must keep in mind that the mortality rate is high for these fledglings."

KathyQ is the name of Schatzi's mom. KathyQ's male mate is known as Will.

Others in the central Indiana bird community quickly began offering condolences and memories on the KathyQ Facebook page.

"Very sad," wrote Don Gorney of the Amos W. Butler Audubon Society. "So sorry, Laura, and to everyone else who invests so much of their time and souls to the peregrines."

Reached by phone, James-Reim said she was still absorbing today's sad news.

"She at least got to touch the sky before she died," James-Reim said. "That is what they are built for and what it's all about for them. She made it that far to taste freedom a little bit. If we could fly for them, we would, but we can't."

The body was found in a Downtown Dumpster, she said, and through some investigation volunteers — known as falconheads —learned that a parking garage attendant found the body and disposed of it.

That's not how James-Reim would have liked to have seen the body treated, she said.

"Maybe this could be a teachable moment," she said. "If anyone Downtown would ever encounter a dead falcon, they should call DNR (the Indiana Department of Natural Resources), particularly if it is a banded bird."

Details of how and why Schatzi died likely will be forever unknown, James-Reim said.

"The volunteers had not seen her all day yesterday or today," she said. "The weather has not been ideal as far as the rain, but any theories on how she died would just be speculation. I am just sorry for the falconhead community. We didn't have a success this year, (but) we just hope for next year a better outcome."

Despite the bird's short life, Schatzi helped introduce numerous people to peregrine falcons, James-Reim said — such as a group of Martinsville elementary school students who traveled to Indianapolis on May 21 to watch Schatzi being banded by a biologist.

Call Star reporter Bill McCleery at (317) 444-6083. Follow him on Twitter: @BillMcCleery01.