Campus news

Nox the UC Berkeley falcon returns to UC Davis for hospitalization

Found Monday in Richmond after being released into the wild last Friday, the juvenile is stable after a blood transfusion.

By Gretchen Kell

Nox the falcon flies toward a grove of eucalyptus trees in an East Bay shoreline park.
On Wednesday night, Oct. 23, Nox died at UC Davis Veterinary Teaching Hospital, despite efforts to save him after he was found in Richmond and admitted to the hospital with acute emaciation.

Michael Bannasch/UC Davis

October 23, 2024

Nox, the first-year peregrine falcon from UC Berkeley who received surgery for a broken wing last summer at UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, was returned there yesterday (Tuesday, Oct. 22) with acute emaciation, according to the UC Davis California Raptor Center.

The juvenile raptor was rescued in Richmond on Monday, three days after he had been released into the wild and following several months of rehabilitation.

Nox received a blood transfusion yesterday at the hospital from Phoenix, an ambassador peregrine falcon, and is eating and currently stable, “though the reasons for his emaciation remain unknown,” the center reported.

“He looks much better than he did when he came in,” said Michelle Hawkins, director of the California Raptor Center. “But he’s not out of the woods by any stretch of the imagination.”

For all updates on Nox, see the UC Davis California Raptor Center Facebook page.