It’s not just the bankers on Collins Street who have sharp claws.
Melbourne’s finance and boutique strip is home to a new pair of baby peregrine falcons, as excited viewers watched the eggs hatch in real time.
The birth of two baby falcons was live-streamed on the 33rd floor of 367 Collins Street. The newest sets of claws in the finance strip.
The nest has sat on the 33rd floor of 367 Collins Street since 1991, with a CCTV camera set up to live stream the breeding pair’s behaviour online.
And after days of anticipation from devoted falcon watchers, the nest welcomed its two newest arrivals on Wednesday morning.
The small white chicks could be seen moving about the nest underneath the black-hooded adult falcon.
Peregrine falcons don’t build stick nests, preferring to instead carve out scrape nests on a high cliff or the window ledges of skyscrapers.
Falcons swoop at speeds of up to 300 km/h, which can be fatal if they collide with overhead wires.
“Here, 80 per cent of the young die within the first six months of leaving the nest,” Victorian Peregrine Project manager Victor Hurley told The Age in 2012.
“They hit windows, hit cars, hit wires, drown in rooftop swimming pools, get inside a building and starve to death on the weekend,” he said.
“And they’re trapped, shot and poisoned illegally by people who race pigeons.
“You name it, things are happening to them.”
Falcons are birds of prey, feeding on small and medium-sized birds, as well as rabbits.
Melbourne’s green spaces, said Mr Hurley, are rich with quail, sparrows, starlings, pigeons, and other tasty treats.
Albert Park Lake and the Altona grasslands are particularly popular feeding spots.
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