Hatch Day festivities are planned Wednesday at UC Berkeley to celebrate a new group of peregrine falcon chicks that recently hatched atop the school’s famous bell tower.
Three chicks have hatched so far this week on top of the Campanile, the third-largest bell-and-clock tower in the world and the home since 2016 of a female falcon named Annie, according to the Cal Falcons group of scientists and volunteers who monitor the falcons and share footage and information about them on social media.
Annie recently paired with a new male companion that arrived earlier this year and got its moniker Archie from a naming contest held by the Cal Falcons group. Eggs appeared in the pair’s nest last month and the first chick hatched on Monday, which also happened to be Earth Day.
The Hatch Day event planned for Wednesday will take place at the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, where there will be a live video feed of the falcons’ nest on BAMPFA’s outdoor screen from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
It is the third-annual version of the Hatch Day event in honor of Annie, the bird that is in its eighth breeding season and has produced more than a dozen chicks.
Cal Falcons will staff an information booth near the outdoor screen at BAMPFA at 2155 Center St. and Berkeley Public Library officials will host family-friendly projects there from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
More information about the Hatch Day event can be found on the BAMPFA website.