Dead Celebrity Alert

Cielo — a member of San Jose’s celebrity falcon family whose birth, along with her siblings, created a bird lovers’ reality show — has died. She was 2 months old.

The peregrine falcon, who had been living on a ledge at San Jose City Hall, had been recently learning to fly. She most likely suffered a clumsy landing and crashed into the building. She was found bruised and dehydrated Monday morning, and died late Monday night or early Tuesday. …

Cielo’s siblings, Meyye and Mercury, are still alive. Her sister and brother are flying about, and are expected to leave the nest for good sometime this summer.

The family has drawn widespread interest from falcon watchers from Silicon Valley, Europe and beyond. With Web cams and the Internet, they frequently peer into these once-endangered birds’ lives, watching them sleeping, eating dead pigeon meat, and in the last few weeks, learning to fledge, as flying is called. … Read full story

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