Cal Falcons is a website and social media community featuring three live streaming webcams trained on a peregrine falcon nest site atop Sather Tower at the University of California, Berkeley. Cal Falcons is known for its extensive social media presence and following. [1] The live stream runs continuously throughout the year, recording all facets of the falcon lifecycle, including courtship, breeding, and raising young. The site launched with two cameras in January 2019. [2]
Peregrine falcons initially established a territory and nest at Sather Tower in spring of 2017. [3] Initially, the falcon pair laid their eggs on a broken sandbag on the upper balcony of Sather Tower, which was replaced by researchers with a nest box after scientists found that eggs were rolling off of the sandbag. [4] In the wild, falcons nest on rocky ledges and cliff faces, so the gravel-filled nest box was designed to mimic those conditions. A permanent wooden nest box was installed in 2018, prior to the pair's second breeding season. [5] Two cameras were installed prior to the 2019 nesting season, allowing continual remote viewing of the nest area. [6]
The breeding pair that established the territory in 2017 were named Annie and Grinnell as part of a crowdfunding campaign to purchase the cameras. [7] Annie, the female, was named after Annie Montague Alexander, a naturalist who founded the University of California Museum of Paleontology and Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. Grinnell, the male, was named after Joseph Grinnell, the first director of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology.
On October 31, 2021, Grinnell was injured in a territorial battle with another falcon. [8] He was taken to the Lindsay Wildlife Experience for evaluation and rehabilitation. Grinnell was diagnosed with several injuries, including puncture wounds, a wing injury, and a damaged beak. During the period Grinnell was in the hospital, an unknown male began to court Annie. [9] Grinnell was released from care on November 17, 2021 and subsequently reclaimed the territory from the unknown male. [10] During the 2022 breeding season, Annie disappeared for a week prior to laying eggs, leading to speculation that she had been injured, killed, or driven away from the territory, as multiple unknown female birds were seen courting Grinnell. [11] After her return, Annie laid two eggs with Grinnell. On March 31, 2022, Grinnell was found dead in the road in downtown Berkeley. [12] Cause of death was not known, but he may have been hit by a car after being attacked by a rival falcon. [13] On April 1, 2022, Annie was courted by a new male who quickly established a pair bond with her, leading to a third egg being laid and the entire clutch being incubated by both Annie and the new male. Following a public vote, the new male was named Alden, after Alden Miller, a UC Berkeley ornithologist who succeeded Joseph Grinnell as director of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. [14]
In late 2022, Alden disappeared and was replaced by Lou, named after Louise Kellogg, who was the best friend of Annie Alexander. [15] He is nicknamed "Cheeto-feet" because of his bright orange feet.
Between 2017 and 2021, Annie and Grinnell raised a total of thirteen chicks, [16] twelve of which successfully fledged. One, named Lux, died shortly after leaving the nest site by hitting a window. [17] Prior to Grinnell's death in 2022 Annie also laid two more eggs assumed to be fathered by Grinnell. As of April 2022 Annie has also laid an additional egg of unknown parentage. The chicks, eventually named Grinnell Jr. and Lindsay, grew up, but two months after fledging, Lindsay got killed by red-shouldered hawks. Each year Cal Falcons holds an naming contest for the season's chicks largely via social media. [18] Previous names have included Berkeley's motto (Fiat/Lux), chemical elements discovered at UC Berkeley, conservationists critical to the peregrine falcon's recovery, California state plants, falcon figures in Native American tradition, famous scientists, and Grinnell-related topics. [19] Two of the chicks fledged from UC Berkeley, a female named Lawrencium (aka Larry) and a male named Sequoia are known to have established territories in the San Francisco Bay Area. [20] However, after Sequoia's mate succumbed to avian flu, he disappeared. [21] Lawrencium has successfully raised several broods of chicks on Alcatraz island. [22] In 2023, they had three chicks.
Berkeley is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emeryville to the south and the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington to the north. Its eastern border with Contra Costa County generally follows the ridge of the Berkeley Hills. The 2020 census recorded a population of 124,321.
The University of California, Berkeley is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Founded in 1868 and named after Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkeley, it is the state's first land-grant university and the founding campus of the University of California system. Berkeley is also a founding member of the Association of American Universities. It has been regarded to be among the top universities in the world.
The peregrine falcon, also known simply as the peregrine, and historically as the duck hawk in North America, is a cosmopolitan bird of prey (raptor) in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-grey back, barred white underparts, and a black head. The peregrine is renowned for its speed. It can reach over 320 km/h (200 mph) during its characteristic hunting stoop, making it the fastest member of the animal kingdom. According to a National Geographic TV program, the highest measured speed of a peregrine falcon is 389 km/h (242 mph). As is typical for bird-eating (avivore) raptors, peregrine falcons are sexually dimorphic, with females being considerably larger than males.
Sather Tower is a bell tower with clocks on its four faces on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. It is more commonly known as The Campanile for its resemblance to the Campanile di San Marco in Venice. It is a recognizable symbol of the university.
The razorbill, razor-billed auk, or lesser auk is a North Atlantic colonial seabird and the only extant member of the genus Alca of the family Alcidae, the auks. It is the closest living relative of the extinct great auk.
People's Park in Berkeley, California, is a plot of land that is owned by the University of California, Berkeley. Located east of Telegraph Avenue, bound by Haste and Bowditch Streets, and Dwight Way, People's Park was a symbol during the radical political activism of the late 1960s.
Annie Montague Alexander was an explorer, naturalist, paleontological collector, and philanthropist.
The lanner falcon is a medium-sized bird of prey that breeds in Africa, southeast Europe and just into Asia. It prefers open habitat and is mainly resident, but some birds disperse more widely after the breeding season. A large falcon, it preys on birds and bats. Most likely either the lanner or peregrine falcon was the sacred species of falcon to the ancient Egyptians, and some ancient Egyptian deities, like Ra and Horus, were often represented as a man with the head of a lanner falcon.
The western gull is a large white-headed gull that lives on the west coast of North America and the Pacific Ocean. The western gull ranges from British Columbia, Canada, to Baja California, Mexico.
The prairie falcon is a medium-large sized falcon of western North America. It is about the size of a peregrine falcon or a crow, with an average length of 40 cm (16 in), wingspan of approximately 1 meter (40 in), and average weight of 720 g (1.6 lb). As in all falcons, females are noticeably bigger than males. Though a separate species from the peregrine, the prairie falcon is basically an arid environment divergence of the early peregrine falcon lineage, able to subsist on less food than the peregrine, and generally lighter in weight than a peregrine of similar wing span. Having evolved in a harsh desert environment with low prey density, the prairie falcon has developed into an aggressive and opportunistic hunter of a wide range of both mammal and bird prey. It will regularly take prey from the size of sparrows to approximately its own weight, and occasionally much larger. It is the only larger falcon native only to North America. It is resident from southern Canada, through western United States, and into northern Mexico. The prairie falcon is popular as a falconry bird, where with proper training it is regarded as being as effective as the more well known peregrine falcon.
The University of California, Berkeley, School of Information, also known as the UC Berkeley School of Information or the I School, is a graduate school and, created in 1994, the newest of the schools at the University of California, Berkeley. It was previously known as the School of Information Management and Systems (SIMS) until 2006. Its roots trace back to a program initiated in 1918 which became the School of Librarianship in 1926 and, with a broader scope, the School of Library and Information Studies in 1976. The program is located in the South Hall, near Sather Tower in the center of the campus.
The Taita falcon is a small falcon found in central and eastern Africa. It was first described from the Taita Hills of Kenya from which it derives its name.
Roy and Silo were two male chinstrap penguins in New York City's Central Park Zoo. They were noted by staff at the zoo in 1998 to be performing mating rituals, and one of them in 1999 attempted to hatch a rock as if it were an egg. This inspired zoo keepers to give them an egg from a pair of penguins, which could not hatch it, resulting in both of them raising a chick that was named Tango.
Joseph Grinnell was an American field biologist and zoologist. He made extensive studies of the fauna of California, and is credited with introducing a method of recording precise field observations known as the Grinnell System. He served as the first director of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California, Berkeley from the museum's inception in 1908 until his death.
Hacking is a training method that helps young birds of prey reach their hunting potential by giving them exercise and experience. This technique is used to prepare the falcon to become an independent hunter. The sequence of the procedure includes captivity, releasing, flight, and either the falcon will be recaptured for falconry or released into the wild. This has also been adapted to other raptor species to preserve the population. Generally, falconers agree that hacked falcons are better and more preferred in the field. Hacking is beneficial, not only for the falconers, but for the bird itself and the species; however, there are some criticism and restrictions that come along with this method.
Peder Sather was a Norwegian-born American banker who is best known for his legacy to the University of California, Berkeley. His widow, Jane K. Sather, donated money in his memory for two of the school's most famous landmarks. Sather Gate and Sather Tower, which is more commonly known as The Campanile, are both California Historical Landmarks which are registered National Register of Historic Places.
The gyrfalcon, the largest of the falcon species, is a bird of prey. The abbreviation gyr is also used. It breeds on Arctic coasts and tundra, and the islands of northern North America and the Eurosiberian region. It is mainly a resident there also, but some gyrfalcons disperse more widely after the breeding season, or in winter. Individual vagrancy can take birds for long distances. Its plumage varies with location, with birds being coloured from all-white to dark brown. These colour variations are called morphs. Like other falcons, it shows sexual dimorphism, with the female much larger than the male. For centuries, the gyrfalcon has been valued as a hunting bird. Typical prey includes the ptarmigan and waterfowl, which it may take in flight; it also takes fish and mammals.
The shaheen falcon is a non-migratory subspecies of the peregrine falcon found mainly in Pakistan It has also been described as a migratory subspecies. Other common names for the subspecies include the black shaheen and Indian peregrine falcon. The word shaheen in these names may also be spelled as shahin. This species was termed as the black shaheen by falconers to separate it from the true shaheen of Persian literature. Scholars of Persian and the Russian ornithologist Georgi Petrovich Dementiev have noted that the name shaheen in Persian literature actually referred to Falco peregrinus babylonicus.
Jesse Arreguín is an American politician serving as mayor of Berkeley, California. He served on the Berkeley Housing Commission and Rent Stabilization Board from 2004 to 2009 and represented District 4 on the Berkeley City Council from 2009 to 2016. He is the first Latino elected Berkeley's mayor and one of the youngest mayors in the San Francisco Bay Area. Mayor Arreguín is the president of the Association of Bay Area Governments, the Bay Area's regional planning agency.