
CHARLES Sturt University (CSU) has some new residents - three peregrine falcon chicks.
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The chicks were born four days ago and have made a home for themselves in the Orange campus water tower.
A camera is monitoring the parents and chicks, and staff expect the birds will remain in the water tower until next month.
“At the moment they’re three tiny white blobs,” environmental management lecturer Dr Cilla Kinross said.
“They’re very little but they’re growing very fast.
“They should be fledging in around the third week of November and then they tend to hang around for another two weeks or so teaching the young ones to fly.”
Falcons have been using the water tower as a nesting site since CSU staff built a nesting box in 2008.
Staff hope to install a 24-hour camera by December that will stream falcon activity live on the web.
The footage will be used in classes and research.
Dr Kinross said although falcons were a native species, they weren’t commonly spotted in Orange due to a lack of nesting sites.
“What’s been done here is very good for the species,” she said. “I’m confident now they’ll come back regularly.”