A pair of falcons that regularly roosted at UC Berkeley haven’t been seen in months now, leaving researchers, volunteers, and fans speculating that they died of the bird flu.
Annie, a peregrine falcon that has lived at UC Berkeley’s Campanile bell tower since 2016, and her new partner Archie haven’t been spotted since the new year. According to the group of scientists and volunteers who track the pair, Cal Falcons, it’s the longest time they’ve gone without seeing either of them.
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Annie and Archie’s absence was considered “abnormal” earlier this year, as peregrine falcons, like other birds of prey, have defined territories and breeding patterns. When they’re healthy and their environments are stable, predatory birds rarely’ are away from their homesite for more than a few days — unless something goes awry.
A similarly, uncomfortably eerie has played out with Rocky, the famous burrowing owl at Point Isabel in Richmond that had been wintering there for several years. The adorable ground bird hadn’t been spotted in months, leaving scientists and the public alike fearing something had happened to him. Earlier this month, their woes were confirmed when Rocky was found dead, believed to have died after contracting the avian bird flu, H5N1.
The pair of peregrine falcon’s growing absence has only let speculation as to what might’ve happened to them grow. A reality, too, is growing more certain: Annie and Arhcie likely have died after succumbing to H5N1.
Though their bodies have yet to pop up, Cal Falcons posted a prompt on Instagram last week asking followers and fans to share how Annie and her suitors and offspring “have impacted your life/health/awareness, during the pandemic or any time.”
The post has garnered hundreds of likes and dozens of comments, some users recounting truly heartfelt moments the birds have helped them through tough times.
“[The birds] gave me a glimmer of hope during Covid 2020,” user pixelchic1994 writes. “I felt better watching these amazing live cams.”
She wasn’t alone in that sentiment by any means. Most of the shared stories narrate times when Annie and company offered everything from hope and awe to respite and calm amid the pandemic. (One heard about the birds through Reddit; she watched the running live webcams often from her dorm at Oxford — thousands of miles from where they were roosted in Berkeley.)
One user and her husband often get asked questions about my Cal Falcons shirts when wearing them around their Upstate New York home. Perhaps the most tear-jerking anecdote came from [at] endless_barrage, who would watch the live cams during Covid with their mom; she would often get “absorbed for long periods of time’ watching the falcons, and the users found themselves frequently joining her to share the virtual experience.
Their mother has since passed, but they found a sort of evergreen solace and comfort watching them after her passing.
“Since [my mother] passed, I’ve continued to watch them nest each spring,” he wrote on Instagram. “It makes me happy for the falcons and reminds me of that time with my mother.”
Tissue box, please.
// Cal Falcons is actively gathering more anecdotes to presumably publish a piece on how the Falcons impacted people from not only the SF Bay Area but across the world. Those with anecdotes about the birds are encouraged to contact gkell@berkeley.edu
Thanks for this Matt. Many more people are missing the birds. Myself included.