Hundreds of viewers have been tuning in from around the world to watch Charles Sturt University's peregrine falcons, which have been getting up to a little bit of hanky panky ... sometimes as much as 14 times a day.
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However, what they are really hoping to see are some chicks hatch and successfully fledge this year after the copious mating between the resident couple, Diamond and Xavier, paid off with the eggs being laid this week.
Charles Sturt University adjunct lecturer Dr Cilla Kinross has been studying the life and mating cycles of the peregrine falcons for the past nine years.
The FalconCam Project involved the installation of 24-hour cameras in the nesting box 35 metres above the ground in a water tower at the university.
"Hopefully we will have a good year this year," Dr Kinross said, noting that Diamond lays three eggs every year but not all of them always hatch.
Most years there are at least two eggs that hatch, and unlike some other raptor species, the chicks do not fight each other for survival so there can be multiple fledglings.
The cameras cover multiple angles, including the birds' preferred mating spot on the top of the tower, have been connected to a live stream leading to the scientific study becoming a reality TV soap opera of sorts with a live chat where viewers detail the time-stamped activity for Dr Kinross.
Last year we had one chick and it didn't last a week after it fledged, we had a week of thunderstorm.
- Dr Cilla Kinross
Once the eggs hatch, there will be a public vote to name the chicks from about 10 names Dr Kinross has pre-selected with a different theme each year.
Peregrine falcons are the fastest animals on earth and are able to reach a diving speed of 300 kilometres per hour and some viewers tune in for the breeding season in Orange from the northern hemisphere because it's their off season.
The viewers include people from the USA, Switzerland and Japan, among others and it means there's always someone watching who can report what is happening, which Dr Kinross said is more accurate than a previous camera system that was installed earlier in the study.
On Thursday afternoon more than 400 viewers watched the box camera live stream at the same time while Diamond slept on top of the eggs.
A tribute video made for last-year's fledgling Yurruga, who disappeared a week after he began to fly in December, had more than 40,000 views on Youtube.
The camera also has night-vision and there is plenty of action that people tune in to watch including courtship behaviours, Xavier delivering prey, as well as a recent fight on the top of the water tower between Diamond and an unknown female a day before Diamond laid her first egg of the season.
It's suspected the unknown female was making a bid for the nest box, affectionately named the "concrete Hilton" for her own breeding season.
"I started collecting data in 2012, I'm still collecting data in a way but the main study finished at the end of last year's breeding season and at the end of August 2021," Dr Kinross said.
She said in that time about 20 chicks have been born to five peregrine falcons.
"Last year we had one chick and it didn't last a week after it fledged, we had a week of thunderstorms," Dr Kinross said.
She said fledglings are more likely to have accidents such as flying into powerlines, getting caught by cats and foxes or they may get hit by cars trying to pick up road kill.
However, a male fledgling from the previous season hung around longer than usual, for "months and months" right up to the breeding season until Diamond and Xavier evicted him.
"He was there for months and months and hunted, he was capable," Dr Kinross said.
"Eventually, the parents stood sideways at the [entrance] of the box to stop him coming in, he was called Izzi.
"He left in August 2021 and was a 2020 juvenile."
Hopefully we will have a good year this year.
- Dr Cilla Kinross
Dr Kinross said the peregrine falcons mate for life except if one dies they will find a new partner and rarely a female, which is one third bigger than the male, will drive off her mate if he fails to deliver.
She said that has not happened with the CSU birds but this is the second female and third male, following two instances of males going missing.
Dr Kinross said the current female Diamond arrived in 2015 and Xavier arrived a year later, is name was a twist on the word savior because he saved the season.
"He arrived in 2016 when the other male had disappeared, presumed dead, and her eggs were just hatching," she said.
Dr Kinross said Diamond appeared to be distressed when her mate did not return to help feed her and eventually she left the eggs to find food and it's believed she made a distress call while she was out.
"When she came back a series of suitors showed up including a female," she said.
Diamond sent all the suitors off, except Xavier who stepped in and provided food for Diamond and the three chicks that hatched that year, although the didn't actively feed them or try to sit on the eggs.
All three chicks fully fledged and he came back again the following year and became more involved and sat on the eggs, which led to two fledglings, and the two birds have stayed together ever since.
Dr Kinross estimates the current pair to be at least nine, and eight years of age respectively, but they could be older and there could be other pairs in the region that have not been able to establish a suitable next site.
Dr Kinross said the birds appear to lose fertility as they get older and it also becomes more difficult for them to defend their nesting site, as was the case with the original female, Swift.
When Dr Kinross started the study the first pair were named Swift and Beau after the study's first sponsor, the Beaufighters' Squadron, whose mascot is a peregrine falcon, and whose motto is 'Strike swiftly'.
- READ ALSO: Orange water tower's peregrine falcon family
"He wasn't very good at sitting on the eggs," Dr Kinross said of the first male, Beau.
After Beau disappeared Swift gradually allowed Diamond to take over the box.
Diamond and and Bula, which is the Wiradjuri word for 'two', took over the nest in 2015 and it was his three chicks that Xavier provided food for.
Dr Kinross said the food the male catches is often smaller than what the female catches, such as pigeons, galahs, cockatoos, cuckoos and rosellas.
"They have even been known to catch an ibis, I suspect if they caught something that big they might eat it on the ground," she said.
However, they mostly catch starlings, which Dr Kinross said Diamond doesn't like but she will take them if he removes the winds and the head for her.
The falcons have also brought in micro bats in the past and young birds like cicadas, which are easier for them to hunt.
Dr Kinross said the falcons were not only faster than a cheetah but they have excellent eyesight. She said Diamond will fly out to greet Xavier, if he brings food home, and she has been seen flying out to greet him before he reaches the CSU grounds.
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Tanya Marschke
I am based at Orange and cover a wide range of subjects as well as the weekly business column. I've worked consistently in the the media industry since 2006 including the past seven years at the Central Western Daily. Before moving to Orange, I worked as a journalist at weekly newspapers the Beaudesert Times and the Gold Coast Sun in Queensland, as well as the Scone Advocate in the Hunter Valley. I started my career at the Ridge News in Lightning Ridge while I completed my journalism studies remotely at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst.
I am based at Orange and cover a wide range of subjects as well as the weekly business column. I've worked consistently in the the media industry since 2006 including the past seven years at the Central Western Daily. Before moving to Orange, I worked as a journalist at weekly newspapers the Beaudesert Times and the Gold Coast Sun in Queensland, as well as the Scone Advocate in the Hunter Valley. I started my career at the Ridge News in Lightning Ridge while I completed my journalism studies remotely at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst.
