UC Berkeley has two new residents, and they aren’t students.
Two peregrine falcon chicks hatched atop the campus’s iconic bell and clock tower this week, and you can watch their every flap and roll in a live streaming video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaJuC-rxVAQ
A third chick didn’t make it out of its egg. From the Cal Falcons Facebook page:
The Campanile has been home for Annie and Grinnell, the chick’s parents, since 2017. The falcons hatched two chicks that year and three more in 2018, subsequently named Berkelium, Californium and Lawrencium.
In February, the university installed cameras in the nest after raising $14,500 from a crowdfunding campaign.
Per the university, here’s what you can expect by way of the live stream: Falcon parents sit on their chicks for about 10 days after they first hatch to keep them warm. But soon the chicks will be running around and learning to fly; in about six weeks, they’ll be hunting on their own.
City falcons eat a plentiful supply of pigeons, but they will also hunt doves, crows and other birds. A baby falcon eats about 5 ounces of food every day. Falcons dive, an action also called stooping, at speeds faster than 200 miles per hour. They are the fastest animal in the world.
Peregrine falcons have recovered spectacularly in North America thanks to the Endangered Species Act. While only two peregrine pairs were known to nest in California in 1970, which was the population low, more than 400 pairs are estimated to flourish in the state today.
You can follow the falcons on Twitter (@CalFalconCam) and Instagram (@cal_falcons). UC Berkeley has more info on peregrine falcons in its press release.
Bay City News contributed to this report.
Correction: This post originally said that three chicks were hatched, not two.