the peregrine falcon livestream that has Australians glued to their screens

Since the end of August, tens of thousands of Australians have been watching “Nest-flix”, a 24-hour high-drama reality channel that first became a hit during the Covid pandemic.

Sometimes compared to Game of Thrones, it depicts fights, cuckolds, births, separations and earthquakes in the air, courtesy of its stars – peregrine falcons who live atop a Melbourne skyscraper.

Currently, fans are waiting for the moment when this year’s chicks, which begin to hatch at the end of September, will try their first flight.

While their mother flies with pigeons in her paws, they can be seen running up and down the 34-storey-high ledge, flapping their wings. Founder of the Victorian Peregrine Project, Dr. “He makes fun of the chicks by saying, ‘You want to eat? Then you should fly,'” says Victor Hurley.

He says provoking and deliberately reducing food encourages them to fly and helps them lose weight. “Their wings get bigger and bigger and they get a better ratio of wing load to wing load area, so they can take off more easily.”

Dr Hurley was first made aware of the peregrine nesting site at the office building at 367 Collins Street in 1991, where he founded the Victoria Peregrine Project, a volunteer group dedicated to the conservation of the species.

But he noticed that the hawks were not successful because they had laid their eggs in a metal trough, which acted as a heat sink and directed warmth away from the nest. “Rain gutters were always going to end badly in the winter in Melbourne,” he says.

Dr Hurley advised building managers to install a nesting box (which they agreed to do) and three chicks were born the following year. A CCTV camera was installed to monitor the nest in 1993 and each year at breeding time Dr Hurley dragged his big screen television into the foyer so people in the building could watch.

Later in 2017, a webcam was installed and “Nest-flix” was broadcast live on YouTube. Falcons have their own Facebook fan page It has more than 50,000 members.

“It’s a very supportive corner of the internet where people enjoy watching the birds,” says Kylie Humrick, who joined the group in 2017 and has been one of the moderators ever since. “The group has exploded during Covid because it has given people a sense of connection to the world around them.”

“We hear a lot about how wildlife is struggling, and it’s nice to see some birds thriving in the built environment,” he adds. One of my favorite moments was when a hawk was seen on live broadcast in 2021 being spooked from its nest by an earthquake.

Over the years, the nest is inhabited by six to seven different pairs of hawks, possibly more. Dr Hurley says real estate in central Melbourne is “very valuable” to birds. “The pigeons and sparrows are guaranteed to run hot and cold all year round. So food is readily available for them.”

This, and the fact that peregrine falcons are highly territorial (the closest nest to each other is about a mile apart) have led to some spectacular fights by raiding “floaters” (peregrines that have not paired up or established their own territory) on the nesting area.

In 2022, after a weeks-long battle, drama unfolded when the male hawk (described as “weak” by Dr. Hurley) was replaced with a younger bird midway through the incubation period.

The older male was almost certain to have been killed by the “stepfather” who was being “nonsense” in his new incubation duties, says Dr Hurley, but notes that at least it is known that he does not eat the chicks when they hatch and in fact provides them with their first feed.

“People started referring to him as the step-up dad,” Ms. Humrick says.

It was later revealed in 2023 that the female hawk living there had suffered brain damage after being “beaten” by another female. “He guarded the area for a few weeks but one night in the winter he stood by the eggs all night so he was definitely not well,” says Dr Hurley. There were no chicks that year.

Years ago, another female hawk was killed in a seven-hour fight that was so loud that building managers named it Dr Hurley.

Dr Hurley emphasizes that this behavior is natural and has rejected calls from hawk watchers to intervene. “These things kill other birds for a living, that’s their specialty and there’s no scandal of mistreatment of prisoners when they take over nests, they just kill each other.”

Peregrine falcons, which were nearly wiped out in Australia due to the use of pesticides in agriculture, have been on a recovery since the 1980s, when DDT and other chemicals were banned.

Known as the world’s fastest animals, reaching speeds of up to 389 km per hour, the birds are now found in almost every major city in the country, and tall buildings mimic the cliffs they prefer in nature.

But they still face challenges, especially for their soon-anticipated first flight for the chickens at 367 Collins Street. The male chick is expected to fly first, probably on Saturday, followed by his two sisters about a week later. Female chicks are usually 30% heavier than their brothers, so they take a little longer to develop the strength needed to fly.

Dr Hurley hopes they all take their time because it means they will “become stronger and more capable”; An ill-timed wind could blow them into a window or they could land badly on the ground. One of last year’s chicks had to spend several weeks in a rehabilitation center after being trapped behind the glass balcony curtain of another skyscraper.

After committing their first kill, they will be left on their own and, depending on their parents’ brutality, potentially be removed from the area entirely. Dr Hurley observes that a 60% mortality rate in the first year means being a young peregrine falcon is “a tough job”, adding that such a rate is common among predators.

“If every lion born survived to become an adult and reproduce, you would quickly become extinct from zebras and antelopes.”

It is unclear what happens to the first chicks on Collins Street, although they are grouped in numbers of up to 40, but they will often travel tens of kilometers away to establish their own territories and prevent inbreeding. If they can survive their second year (two-thirds do not), they can begin breeding at age three.

Excitement among Facebook viewers is building ahead of the anticipated new development. “We soon set off for Melbourne and already had our binoculars ready, hoping to spot them!” a group member posted this week. “Still be my scared heart,” another wrote as the chick perched near the edge of the ledge.

“It’s always an exciting time for the band, the audience is definitely growing as we get closer to development. People can’t wait for them to go out into the world,” says Ms Humrick. “We don’t know what will happen to them after they leave, but it’s nice to see them reach this milestone.”