Since late August, tens of thousands of Australians have been tuning into “Nest-flix”, a 24-hour drama reality channel that first became a hit during the Covid pandemic.
Sometimes compared to Game of Thrones, it features dogfights, cuckoldings, births, breakups and earthquakes, courtesy of its stars: the peregrine falcons who live atop a Melbourne skyscraper.
Fans are currently awaiting the moment when this year’s chicks, which began hatching at the end of September, will attempt their first flight.
They can be seen running up and down flapping their wings on the ledge (34 stories high) as their mother flies by with pigeons in her talons. “She teases the chicks and says, ‘Do you want to eat? Well, you have to fly,'” says Dr. Victor Hurley, founder of the Victorian Peregrine Project.
Prompting and deliberately reducing food encourages them to fly and helps them lose weight, he says. “Their wings are growing and getting bigger and they get a better ratio of wing loading to wing loading area so they can take off more easily.”
The launch of ‘Nest-flix’
Dr Hurley was first informed of the peregrine’s nesting site in the office building at 367 Collins Street in 1991, the year he established the Victorian Peregrine Project, a group of volunteers dedicated to the preservation of the species.
But he realized that the falcons were not having success because they had laid their eggs in a metal gutter, which acts as a heat sink, carrying heat away from the nest. “In winter in Melbourne, rain gutters always ended badly,” he says.
Dr. Hurley recommended that the building administrators put up a nest box, which they agreed to do, and three chicks hatched the following year. A CCTV camera was installed to observe the nest in 1993 and each year during breeding season Dr Hurley would drag his big screen TV into the lobby so people in the building could see it.
Then in 2017, a webcam was installed and “Nest-flix” was broadcast live on YouTube. The Falcons also have their own Facebook fan page with over 50,000 members.
“It’s a pretty supportive corner of the internet where people just enjoy watching birds,” says Kylie Humrick, who joined the group in 2017 and has since become one of its moderators. “During Covid, the group exploded because it gave people a sense of connection to the world around them.”
“We hear a lot about how wildlife is struggling and it’s good to see some birds thriving in the built environment,” he adds. A favorite moment was in 2021, when the livestream captured a hawk being scared from the nest by an earthquake.
Fights and ‘floats’
Over the years, the nest has been inhabited by between six and seven different pairs of falcons, possibly more. Real estate in central Melbourne is “highly prized” by birds, Dr Hurley says. “There are pigeons and sparrows that run guaranteed hot and cold all year round. That’s why we offer them food.”
This, and the fact that peregrine falcons are extremely territorial (the closest they nest to each other is about 1.6 km) has led to some spectacular fights over nesting sites with “floaters” (peregrines that have not mated or established their own territory) launching raids.
In 2022, drama ensued when a male falcon (described as “weak” by Dr. Hurley) was replaced by a younger bird midway through the incubation period after a weeks-long battle.
The older male was almost certainly killed by the “stepfather” who was “trash” at his new incubation duties, Dr. Hurley says, although he notes that at least he didn’t eat the chicks when they hatched, as is known to happen, and in fact provided them with their first meal.
“People started referring to him as the dad who stepped up,” Mrs. Humrick says.
Then, in 2023, the resident female falcon appeared to have suffered brain damage after being “hit” by another female. “She held the territory for a couple of weeks, but she was standing by the eggs all night one winter night, so she was clearly not feeling well,” Dr Hurley says. That year there were no chicks.
Years earlier, another female hawk died in a seven-hour fight that was so loud that building administrators called Dr. Hurley.
Dr. Hurley emphasizes that these behaviors are natural and has rejected pleas from hawk watchers to intervene. “These things kill other birds for a living, that’s their specialty and when they take over the nests there’s no prisoner abuse scandal, they just kill each other.”
Peregrine falcons, once nearly exterminated in Australia due to the use of pesticides in agriculture, have recovered since the 1980s, when DDT and other chemicals were banned.
The birds, known as the fastest animals on the planet, reaching speeds of up to 389 km/h, are now found in almost every major city in the country, where tall buildings mimic the cliffs they prefer in the wild.
But they still face challenges, including their first flight, which for the chicks at 367 Collins Street is expected any day soon. The male chick is expected to fly first, possibly on Saturday, followed about a week later by his two sisters. Females usually weigh 30% more than their brothers, so they take a little longer to develop the strength necessary to fly.
Dr. Hurley hopes everyone takes their time, as it means they “will be stronger and more capable”; An untimely gust of wind could crash them into a window or land badly. One of last year’s chicks had to spend several weeks in a rehabilitation center after becoming trapped behind a glass partition on a balcony of another skyscraper.
Once they kill for the first time, they will be alone and potentially be driven out of the territory depending on the cruelty of their parents. A 60% mortality rate in the first year means it’s a “tough job” to be a young peregrine falcon, Dr. Hurley notes, adding that such a rate is common among predators.
“If every lion born survived to become an adult and reproduce, we would run out of zebras and wildebeest pretty quickly.”
It is unclear what has happened to previous Collins Street chicks despite up to 40 of them being banded, but they typically travel tens of kilometers away to establish their own territories and avoid inbreeding. If they survive the second year (two-thirds do not), they can begin to reproduce after three.
Excitement is growing among Facebook watchers ahead of the long-awaited inauguration. “We are heading to Melbourne soon and the binoculars are already packed, hoping to see them!” a member of the group posted this week. “Stay still, my frightened heart,” wrote another as a chick perched near the edge of the ledge.
“It’s always an exciting time in the group, the audience definitely increases the closer we get to the start. People look forward to seeing them go out into the world,” says Ms Humrick. “We don’t know what happens to them after they fledge, but it’s nice to see them reach that milestone.”
