Lindsay, the daughter of two peregrine falcons who live on the towering Campanile at UC Berkeley, was found dead on the west edge of campus Thursday, Cal Falcons said.
The young falcon was likely killed by a red-shouldered hawk, according to Cal Falcons.
Lindsay hatched in May, one of the last babies from beloved Berkeley falcons Annie and Grinnell. Grinnell was found dead in March after he was probably struck by a car, leaving Annie and three eggs alone atop the Campanile. Annie quickly found a new mate in Alden.
Lindsay was last seen at the Campanile in the first week of August, and it appears she died not long after, Cal Falcons said on social media. She was found Thursday under the nest of a hawk, and had been dead for around two weeks, according to UC ornithologist Sean Peterson.
“The first year of life is really really dangerous, so it’s not surprising that we had a bird die,” Peterson said. “It’s tragic but it goes to show how many threats these birds experience in their day-to-day lives.”
Survival rates for young falcons are just around 40 to 50%, Cal Falcons wrote on social media. Lindsay left the nest in June, Peterson said, and she would have needed to learn to hunt on her own and protect herself from a wide range of dangers, from window strikes to starvation.
Lindsay’s body is now at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. She was named after the Lindsay Wildlife Experience, an East Bay wildlife center and hospital which cared for her father, Grinnell, after he was injured in 2021.
Emma Talley is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: emma.talley@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EmmaT332