What do noble gases from periodic table have in common with peregrine falcons?

At a falcon banding at We Energies Valley Power Plant, a very clever fifth-grade class from Carollton Elementary School in Oak Creek named four peregrine falcon chicks after the gases from the far right column of the periodic table.

Krypton, Argon, Radon and Xenon

Three sisters gained the honor of being named Argon, Radon and Xenon, while their little brother and only boy, Krypton, was the last to be named. Although he was the last, his name was chosen first by the students, after the fictional home planet of Superman. This isn’t the first time the students named a hatchling using Superman terminology. They named a duckling, that hatched in their classroom, Steel, after the man of steel.

Carollton Elementary fifth graders

The students learned that here on Earth, Krypton is a noble gas from the periodic table. They studied the table and found the other suitable names for the chicks. The children were instructed to choose gender neutral names since the sex of the falcons isn’t determined until banding.

The chicks’ parents are Hercules, born in 2011 at St. Joe’s Hospital in Milwaukee, and an unbanded female whose origins are unknown. Hercules is the son of another Valley Power Plant falcon, Herbert, who was found injured earlier this spring and is being treated at the Wisconsin Humane Society’s Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. Herbert was born at the Valley Power Plant 11 years ago.