Famous Berkeley falcon found sick days after release to wild

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- The youngest of four peregrine falcons that hatched this year at the University of California, Berkeley’s Campanile bell tower and grew up in front of a devoted social media audience was found this summer floating in the city’s marina with a broken wing. On Monday, only days after being released to the wild following surgery and months of rehabilitation, “Nox” was once again in trouble.

Nox, short for Equinox, was released Friday into the East Bay Regional Park District after the long road to recovery. Three days later, the juvenile falcon was spotted by a Richmond resident in her neighbor’s backyard needing assistance, UC Berkeley News reported.

There were no broken bones found, UC Davis said, and further testing showed that Nox suffered from acute emaciation. He received a blood transfusion on Tuesday from another peregrine falcon named “Phoenix.”

“Nox is eating and currently stable,” UC Davis said in an update.

UC Davis California Raptor Center Director Michelle Hawkins said Wednesday that Nox “looks much better than he did when he came in,” though “he’s not out of the woods by any stretch of the imagination.”

Nox hatched on UC Berkeley’s Sather Tower on April 24, following his siblings Aurora, Sol and Eclipse, that all hatched on April 22 to parents Annie and Archie. Before a public naming contest determined the Equinox moniker, he was nicknamed “Little Boy Blue” because of the blue band he was given to differentiate him from his siblings. On June 4, Nox took his first flight from the 307-foot-tall tower.

The family of peregrine falcons is closely followed by the Cal Falcons group, which shares live streams and updates with an engaged public through social media. The group of scientists behind Cal Falcons host a number of events each year, including a hatch day and banding day Q&As, a naming contest for baby chicks and an in-person gathering when the falcons are ready to take their first flights.

Nearly a month after fledging from the tower, Nox was rescued on July 3 from the Berkeley Marina waters by Bay Raptor Rescue. He was then transported to WildCare in San Rafael where X-rays uncovered the serious wing fracture. Two days later, Nox was transported to the University of California, Davis Veterinary Hospital and underwent surgery.

The battered peregrine began recovery inside the California Raptor Center, where medication was hidden inside his meals of mice. In September, Nox was paired with Bill Ferrier, a veterinarian and falconer with nearly 60 years of experience, to continue developing the life skills needed before release.

Prior to his release at an East Bay shoreline park, Nox was affixed with a GPS-tracking backpack that provides location updates several times a day, according to UC Davis. He was tracked to Treasure Island and the San Pablo Bay, as well as circled Richmond, where he was eventually found emaciated.

Experts with the California Raptor Center said that 20 years ago, Little Boy Blue’s wing injury would have resulted in euthanasia, “but technology and advances in veterinary medicine have made it possible for birds like Nox to fly free in the wild again.”

UC Davis said Wednesday that the reasons for his emaciation remain unknown.