TWO peregrine falcon chicks have hatched out of a batch of three eggs at Charles Sturt University.
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The first chick hatched at 4.35am on Wednesday morning in a matter of minutes.
The second hatched on Wednesday night.
Charles Sturt University environmental management adjunct lecturer Doctor Cilla Kinross has been studying the progress of the falcons Diamond and Bula and their eggs.
“You can see a hole first of all in the egg when the little critter is using its little point on the end of the beak and then the hole gets bigger and bigger,” Dr Kinross said.
She said the mother, Diamond, also helped the chick hatch and although the chick was out a day before the others, it did not mean the others will not hatch.
“Quite often there will be one chick and a couple of eggs for a few days but I wouldn’t want it to go more than a week [before others hatched],” Dr Kinross said.
Dr Kinross said the chick is a bit clumsy but both parents had been attentive and although the male does most of the hunting he has also spent some time incubating the other eggs.
“She’s started feeding the chick fairly small amounts,” she said.
Dr Kinross said it would be difficult to tell the gender of the chick, she said adult males are generally smaller than the females but the males develop faster.
While watching the progress on the universities webcam, Dr Kinross had another find.
She said usually Bula brings in parts of birds but he brought in a whole bird the other day and she was astonished to see it was a white browed wood swallow.
“I haven’t seen one for quite a few years,” she said.
“I couldn’t believe it, they do come into Orange.”
A live feed of the peregrine falcon next is available online at www.csu.edu.au/special/falconcam/Streams/camera-one.htm.
tanya.marschke@fairfaxmedia.com.au