A famous falcon who lives atop UC Berkeley’s Campanile bell tower has been missing in recent weeks along with her latest mate, and experts who monitor the birds worry that they might have fallen victim to the highly contagious avian flu.

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Annie, a peregrine falcon who has lived on the tower since 2016, and her new partner Archie have not been seen on the campus in nearly two months, according to Cal Falcons, the group of scientists and volunteers who track the birds.

The group said neither bird has been seen in the skies above UC Berkeley or in video from the bell tower’s three 24/7 webcams since around the start of January.

In a social media post, the Cal Falcons group said “this absence is abnormal” and mentioned highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI, as “the elephant in the room” for why the falcons aren’t there since they often hunt other birds.

“It is hitting peregrines very hard right now in some parts of the world, probably due in part to their habit of taking shorebirds and waterfowl, the latter of which tend to be carriers of HPAI,” the group said.

There have been no signs of sick or dying birds on or near the tower but the group said  it has to consider “it is possible that Annie and Archie have tragically succumbed to HPAI.”

Other possibilities mentioned in the post are that the pair are merely hunting off campus and may return, that they moved to a new nest, or that they may have fallen victim to a predator like an eagle or owl.

Annie went missing before, at the peak of breeding season in 2022, and Cal Falcons said at that time that she was probably dead. Then she returned “like nothing had changed,” the group announced.

“Animals are complex and there could be any number of external or internal factors at play in any particular observation. Annie may have simply decided she no longer likes the taste of pigeon and wants to spice things up with some sandpipers. We may never know,” the group said.

UC Berkeley has celebrated the falcons over the years, including holding a Hatch Day event last April for the newest chicks that hatched from eggs in the Campanile nest.

Any updates on the falcons will be shared on the Cal Falcons’ social media platforms and at https://calfalcons.berkeley.edu.