Golden State Today

A public contest to name UC Berkeley's four falcon chicks concluded with a decisive outcome. The newly named peregrine falcons are Aurora, Eclipse, Equinox (Nox), and Solstice (Sol).

"The Earth Day birthday names were a runaway hit," said Sean Peterson, an ecologist with Cal Falcons, which organized the naming contest. Of the 3,896 votes cast by the public, 49% favored these names. Peterson noted that recent natural events such as a solar eclipse and visible auroras across parts of the U.S. inspired the winning suggestions.

Three of the chicks—offspring of parents Annie and Archie—hatched on Earth Day, April 22. The fourth chick hatched on April 24. On May 15, they received ID bands and pieces of colorful electrical tape on their legs for identification purposes.

Peterson explained that Aurora was named after her green band "like green auroras," while her sister was named Solstice (Sol) because of her yellow band; "sol is Spanish for sun, which evokes yellow." The male chick with only a silver ID band was named Eclipse, and his brother with a blue band was named Equinox (Nox). "The word nox means night in Latin," said Peterson, noting that blue is often associated with nighttime.

Peterson added that Nox is undoubtedly the youngest chick, “with two days’ less feather development, so he’s currently fluffier than his siblings.”

The new names are now listed on the Cal Falcons' website alongside those of 17 other chicks produced by Annie and various mates. This list includes their ID numbers, leg tape colors, and current whereabouts if known.

In second place in the naming contest were characters from Beverly Cleary’s books: Beezus, Ramona, Henry, and Ralph.

Peterson mentioned one memorable name proposed during the contest by children through a partnership between Cal Falcons and Berkeley Public Library: Pam the Funkstress. “I never knew how much I wanted to have a falcon named Pam the Funkstress,” he said until librarians chose it as a finalist along with Lucky, Tyranta, and Sunny.

As they approach their first flights, two major behaviors are being displayed by the chicks: exploring outside their nest box and attempting to self-feed. “They’re starting to grab food from Annie,” said Peterson. “Annie still likes to baby them and typically will try to make sure they don’t take food away from her.”

Eclipse is expected to be the first to fly in early June since males typically fly before females. Nox and his sisters might follow a few days later. “We’ll see though,” Peterson added. “So much of fledge timing is dependent on the personalities of the chicks; they’ll go when they’re ready.”

---