At this famously liberal campus, there were no safety nets for the chicks, who were hatched sometime in late May. But there was plenty of support from volunteers on the ground. The campus police were given instructions on what to do if they found a baby falcon on the pavement below.

Signs were posted, and university departments were put on alert. A crew of falcon lovers led by a retired medical researcher, Mary Malec, trained a monocular on the tower and constantly scanned the skies for the babies, ready to rescue them with cardboard pet carriers and rush them to a vet if their flight failed. They called the effort “Fledge Watch.”

Peregrine falcons are the world’s fastest animals, capable of diving more than 200 miles an hour to capture their prey (other birds) in midflight. The birds were on the brink of extinction five decades ago, their eggs made too fragile by the pesticide DDT, which was delisted as an acceptable pesticide by the federal government in 1972.

Since then, the peregrine’s remarkable comeback has been a model case for environmentalists. The birds perch on top of cliffs and increasingly on skyscrapers and other urban structures; they were taken off the endangered species list in 1999.

Peregrine falcons have had layovers on the Berkeley campus over the years but this is the first time they have been spotted nesting there. Administrators hope the parents will re-enroll next year and have more chicks.