UC Berkeley wants help naming 3 fluffy peregrine chicks

BERKELEY - Fluffy, Cottonball and Marshmallow or Bruce, Clark and Diana?

University of California, Berkeley officials are asking for help naming three fluffy peregrine falcon chicks that hatched last month in the iconic Campanile bell tower on campus.

The adult birds return each year to nest at the same place, and this is the second year for the grown Campanile peregrines, said Glenn Stewart, a researcher with the UC Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group.

"They eat their food where they catch it. But when they have babies, they bring the food into the nest area. So when the food started coming into the balcony on April 23, we knew the eggs had hatched," he said .

Last year, the community cheered when two chicks took their initial flights and mourned when one died after flying into a window.

Peregrines are the fastest animals in the world with a diving speed that can top 200 mph (322 kilometers per hour).

So far, suggestions for the two males and one female have honored literary, scientific, and superhero figures.

One person suggested "Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent and Diana Powers," although Wonder Woman's last name is Prince. A Shakespeare fan thinks "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and Ophelia" would make swell names for the birds.

And a woman named Bunny suggested by Twitter that the birds be named Fluffy, Cottonball and Marshmallow, the San Francisco Chronicle reports , but those names might be too cuddly given that grown peregrines are sharp and deadly.

The new chicks will be tracked for the next couple of decades.

The public can participate by Twitter or Facebook. The deadline is Monday.

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Information from: San Francisco Chronicle, http://www.sfgate.com